Garik is waiting down the street in a dented and rusting Ford truck, its engine running surprisingly smoothly. I slip inside and give him directions. He drives away silently with just one curious look at the pink Victorian home. Years ago, he picked me up often at random women’s homes, but this time is different.
“I’m keeping her.”
A light rain begins to fall, and he flicks on the windshield wipers. “Your lawyer?”
“Yeah.” It’s crucial he know that.
“Okay.” It’s equally important that he makes the vow I need. Both his expression and his tone remain level. “I’ll protect her with my life.”
Good.
She’s just the beginning. The soft and spirited foundation I plan to hone to retake the empire my father wanted me to run. It’s not just birthright. Or revenge. The need, the desperate craving, to put my hands on the amethyst crystals that power Hologrid Hub at a regular interval and not just once, is a physical pain. I’m meant to charge those.
Every time somebody uses the platform or likes or shares, my crystals gain strength. As do I now that I’m connected to the large crystal again. In prison, I paid plenty for amethyst rocks to hide around my cell and made sure the purple ink of my tattoo held crushed-up particles of the purest one I could find. Having that extra protection helped me to stay alive. Even so, I felt the loss of that connection to a larger stone every second.
“Tell me about the meeting tonight.” I watch the rain fall. It has been seven years since I felt the tears of the gods. By the look of the bulbous clouds, I’ll feel plenty when we arrive at my storage unit.
“I have the eight planning to be at the bar. Three are solid, three are close, and two are unsure but unhappy with your brother.”
There isn’t a need to remind him that Hendrix is my half brother. “Who’s the mole?”
“My guess? Uri Sorokin.”
I nod. “He’s one of the unsure ones?”
“No. He’s solid. But I think he’ll turn to you if he sees a good future.”
That makes sense. Hendrix isn’t going to give up the helm easily, even though I have a stronger connection to the stones than he does. Not once did he visit me in prison, not that I expected it. If he’d gone to prison, I certainly wouldn’t have visited him.
His mother arranged for us to be enemies from his birth. “Tell me about Hendrix.”
“Don’t know much about him,” Garik drawls, driving the decrepit truck fast and with ease. “We don’t run in the same circles.”
No shit. “You’ve kept an eye on him. What do you know?”
“According to page six of the social register, he’s busy representing Hologrid Hub at every high-end function in town. Named one of the ten most eligible bachelors in Silicon Valley, he’s still in mourning for his younger brother.”
Right. Hendrix and Cal had hated each other. “What number is he?”
“One,” Garik says. “Of course, now that you’re out, you’ll probably end up back on top again.”
Like I care about that. Even back in the day, that part of my life amused me. Now it irritates me. “I’m not eligible.”
“You’re serious about that?”
“Da,” I say, dropping into Russian because this matters. I don’t believe in love and certainly have no intention of allowing any woman to dissuade me from my path. But there’s something about Rosalie Mooncrest that calls to the darkest part of me. I have no clue if she’s a decent lawyer and couldn’t care less. She’s soft and kind, and there’s intelligence in her too-blue eyes. Even after one night sleeping next to her, I feel her beneath my skin. The life I’ll build will be solid and true, and it’ll need goodness in it for my children. I plan to have many to ensure the longevity of Hologrid Hub, and she’s the one I want for this life. There’s no need for me to question why.
Who cares? It is as it is. I’ll have both my personal and professional lives in place, solid, and impenetrable.
Garik hands me his phone. “Here’s the latest annual report and stock earnings of Hologrid Hub.”
I hold the device and then press on the screen. My phone seven years ago certainly lacked several of these impressive abilities. “I need to update my phone.”
“They cost more than a grand these days.”
I also need to access my money. Sooner rather than later. I would’ve given much of it to Garik, if possible, but my greedy stepbrother had managed to have it frozen the second the jury had declared me guilty.
Somebody had gotten to the jurors, because the evidence against me had been full of reasonable doubt. Mostly. I shook myself out of the memories and read through the reports ... on a screen. Hendrix has done a good job with the company. Not as good as I can do, because he doesn’t have the connections with the amethyst servers that run through my blood faster than any electrical charge.
