"If she tries to enter the studio... lock the door from the outside."
I walk out.
The elevator ride down is a descent into hell. My mind is still upstairs, hovering over her womb, calculating risks.
Vane Enterprises headquarters has moved.
We took over the Sokolov Tower in Midtown. It is a monolith of black glass that pierces the skyline like a shard of obsidian. I took Nikolai’s office on the top floor. I burned his furniture. I replaced it with steel and leather.
I walk into the conference room.
It is full.
My lieutenants are there. Luca. The heads of the gangs I bought—Chen, Marcus King, Diego. And O’Malley.
O’Malley is still wearing a bandage on his neck where Ivy cut him. He sits slouched in his chair, picking at his fingernails with a switchblade.
The atmosphere is wrong.
Usually, when I walk into a room, the air changes. Men straighten up. Eyes drop. There is a current of fear that I ride like a wave.
Today, the air is stale. There is a murmur of conversation that doesn't stop immediately when I enter.
They are comfortable.
Too comfortable.
I walk to the head of the table. I don't sit. I stand.
"Report," I say.
Chen speaks first. "Distribution is back to 100%. The ports are clear. The cops are still chasing their tails over the shipyard explosion."
"Good," I say. "Diego?"
"We secured the Jersey warehouses," Diego says. "But we’re having trouble with the local unions. They’re asking for a bigger cut."
"Crush them," I say dismissively. "Find the union rep. Find his family. Explain the new economics."
"Right," Diego says slowly. "About that..."
"About what?"
"Word on the street is... things are changing," O’Malley pipes up. He doesn't look at me. He looks at the knife in his hand.
I turn my gaze to him. "Elaborate, O’Malley."
He looks up. His eyes are beady, wet, and filled with a insolence that wasn't there last week.
"We hear you’re going domestic, Vane," he says with a sneer. "We hear the Queen got knocked up."
Silence slams into the room.
My blood goes cold.
Only Luca knows. And Dr. Aris. And the nurses.
Who talked?
