My phone rang as I reached for the door.
I barely answered before Gregor's voice cracked through the line like a whip. "Where the fuck are you?"
"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to, Nephew?"
"Answer the fucking question."
"I'm handling business," I answered, rolling my eyes.
"And what business could be more important than the Senate vote? Isn't that vote the reason you're skulking around DC in the first place, making my life hell?"
Fuck.
The word hit like ice water. How the fuck did I forget about the Senate vote? That vote was everything. The entire foundation of my blackmail scheme. The reason I'd taken Anna at all.
Billions of dollars in dark defense funding hung in the balance, and where was I?
Standing outside some trust fund shithead's door because he'd dared to bruise what was mine.
"I found out why she isn't voting our way." Artem's voice came through, tinny with speaker phone distortion.
"What did you find out?"
"The bitch has been negotiating with the Irish. They're offering more money than we are and making moves on our territory. Word on the street is we're distracted. Divided."
"No shit," I said, rolling my eyes. "I know you've been distracted. That's why I'm fucking here."
"Yeah, well, your dramatic little blackmail plot doesn't really seem to be working now, does it? The senator is still in talks with the Irish," Gregor scoffed.
"Fuck," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I knew taking Anna was going to be a gamble."
"I thought taking the girl was going too far," Gregor said. "But based on what I saw at the Kennedy Center, it wasn't far enough. I don't think we have the senator's loyalty secured."
"I agree," I admitted. "Taking Anna was a miscalculation on my part. It wasn't far enough."
Even after witnessing it myself, I couldn't comprehend how threatening Anna's life hadn't been enough to control her mother's ambition.
I stared at the door in front of me. Two paths. Two choices.
Leave now and secure the vote—remind Senator Collins that her daughter wasn't my only weapon.
Or step through this door and make Anna's ex-boyfriend pay for every mark he'd left on her skin.
I could make the vote if I left immediately. Even then, traffic could ruin everything. But my presence would carry weight. Would drive the message home with finality.
But Anna's ex was right here. Right now. He'd put his hands on her, and that debt remained unpaid. Every second he walked free was another second she remained in danger.
I was a man of logic. Of cold calculation.
Weighing the pros and cons of any decision was second nature.
And business came first.
Always.
It was why I'd never stepped aside for Gregor and Artem, even when they'd wanted control. The empire demanded sacrifice, something they couldn't give anymore, not with their wives and children softening their edges.
It was why I'd been exiled to London, away from family, to handle the public face of our operations.
