A valet wearing a rain jacket hurried out from under the covered awning and opened Kenneth’s door. As soon as Kenneth got out, he opened the umbrella and then my door. I stepped out of the Bentley under the umbrella and walked quietly beside him into the extravagant building. Since Christmas was just last week, the lobby was still adorned with Christmas decorations and a large tree. The lobby smelled heavily of pine and cinnamon. My guess was that it would stay this way until the first of the year.
We walked to the bay of elevators that were used to access the few penthouses in the building. Kenneth pressed the button and then smiled at me.
“I won’t be riding up with you, Mr. Christos, but Mr. Stone is expecting you.”
I nodded at him just as the elevator announced its arrival. “Thank you for the ride from the academy.”
“I’ll be waiting over there in the main lobby when you’re ready to return to the academy,” he said.
“Thank you.”
I stepped into the glass elevator and pressed the button for “Penthouse: Stone.” As I was carried away at a brisk but gentle pace, I turned to take in the incredible view of Central Park the building offered guests and residents. From April until September, the park was beautiful and vibrant. But in late December it was very drab and gray, just like the rest of this city. Most of the trees were bare and looked lifeless.
New York City was nothing like my childhood home in Greece. The air back home was so clean and clear with bright blue skies that I could see for miles. I closed my eyes for a moment and could picture my brother and father coming in from a day fishing out on the water.
I opened my mouth to keep my ears from clogging up due to the sudden altitude change. As the elevator neared floor seventy, I glanced down to make sure my coat was free of lint. For my own ease, I even double-checked the front of my pants to ensure they were free of any sort of jizz strings from my time with Lionel. I appeared to be presentable, and when the elevator came to a stop, I took a deep breath before stepping onto the slabs of white marble of my friend’s place.
I had only taken a few steps from the elevator lobby toward the long, open hallway. Just to the left was the start of the wide, winding staircase leading up to his two additional floors. The staircase was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows. To my right was the hallway leading deeper into his home.
“Atlas! You made it.” Wearing black pants and a crisp, white long-sleeved dress shirt, Will Stone stepped into the hallway and made his way toward me. I had been expecting to see his butler or possibly Stephen, his Omnia, before I saw him. Since it was him, though, I felt at ease with shedding my ultra-professional mask.
“Barely. The altitude of this place gives me a headache,” I teased as he held his hand out for me to shake. His genuine smile only broadened when I took hold of his hand and cracked a joke.
“Are you sure it’s the altitude and not me that gives you a headache?” Will teased back.
Will had always been quick with humor and even quicker with backhanded compliments. He was unlike John Edmondson, the previous King, and all the Kings before that. Will was truly breaking the framework of his predecessors. At just forty-eight years old, Will had been the youngest to ever take the position of president of the Reges Dei Society and the head King of the Kings of Jupiter.
“Now that you put it that way…”
Will laughed and let go of my hand.
“Let me get your coat,” he said as he stepped toward a coat closet in the hall.
“Don’t you usually have someone to handle the coat-taking for you?” I asked as I quickly undid the buttons on my coat.
“I gave Robert the rest of the year off. I told him to spend time with his wife and kids,” Will said as he took my coat and hung it up in the closet. “Besides, if I can’t handle taking care of hanging a coat up, we’re all fucked.”
He joked and made light of it, but there was also a lot of truth in that statement. The Reges Dei and Kings of Jupiter had their hands in just about anything and everything in the global financial sector and beyond. They’d been around forever, pulling strings and forcing politics to establish wealth wherever theywanted. The Reges Dei was the backdoor into every financial system in the world. The Kings were the richest of the rich that no one knew about, and they made the Mafia look like child’s play.
“I’m sure Robert and his family will enjoy their time together.”
We walked down the hallway toward his huge living room. All the furniture was white, with splashes of bright blue strewn about. Blue art on the walls, vases, rugs, and toss pillows all tied together with the glossy blue grand piano, which he played well.
“Have a seat, Atlas. Can I get you something to drink?”
I laughed. “First you’re hanging up my coat, and now you’re serving drinks.”
“Believe it or not, I actually know where the glasses are kept. What would you like?”
“Honestly, just some water would be great.”
I stepped into the massive living room and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Central Park. The Manhattan lights were starting to come on and light up the otherwise depressing skyline.
“I imagine the view never gets old up here,” I said.
“I love it, when I have time for it.”
At the start of last month, Will took over as president of the Reges Dei. On top of that, he was already the president of the World Bank, so he was juggling two very demanding jobs.
