She scoffed. “One man could never do so much alone.”
“I would employ trusted associates to manage operations in each port. People like you, with a thorough understanding of how things work.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you offering me a job?”
“Would you take it?” The corner of his lip twitched—a shadow of a smile.
She grimaced. “I would throw myself into the sea before I became your employee.”
His smile materialized, sardonic and thin, for only a moment before it disappeared. “It may take longer than I’d like, but you know I will prevail, Lucretia. I have more capital at my disposal than you. You cannot beat me.”
She met his cool gaze. He wasn’t bragging or blustering, but stating a fact as calmly as if telling her the current hour. Her lips tightened. He might be right—he certainly believed he was—but she couldn’t let him see that she feared she agreed with him.
“And after you conquer trade in Italy, what then?” she asked, a sarcastic bite to her words. “I expect you’ll raise an army and usurp Caesar Augustus himself?”
“No,” he said shortly. “My father was a provincial governor. I have no desire for that sort of power.”
“Your father was a governor?” She’d sensed Felix came from a good family in Rome, but she hadn’t realized his father hadachieved such a high position. How intriguing that Felix chose to pursue trade, rather than statesmanship.
“Yes. He died when I was nine.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured.
She expected the conversation to end there, but to her surprise, Felix opened his mouth, then hesitated, as if considering his next words.
“Until I was seventeen,” he finally said, “I believed he’d died of an illness. I spent my childhood studying history and rhetoric, preparing to follow in his footsteps, to honor his memory. Then, my mother told me the truth.” His features tensed.
Lucretia found herself leaning forward, drawn into this tale of his past. “The truth?”
“He’d been murdered,” Felix said, his voice clipped. “To cover up a scheme of corruption in the province.”
She drew in a sharp breath. She could imagine the sort of turmoil that must have caused, to have something he’d believed for so long turn out to be a lie. “You must have been angry with your mother for keeping that from you.”
“A little, at first. I came to understand why she waited to tell me. I wouldn’t have been able to understand, as a child. But it made me rethink everything I’d planned. What was the point? My father worked his whole life to attain greatness, one of the highest positions in the Republic, and what did he get for it?” Felix waved a dismissive hand. “He was killed for his sense of honor. For trying to do the right thing.”
The pieces were beginning to come together, shedding more light on why Felix was so driven, so relentless in pursuit of his goals. “So you turned to trade instead.”
He nodded. “I realized I’d been striving toward a dream that didn’t exist. Honor doesn’t matter. Dedication to the Republic certainly doesn’t matter—look at how things are now. Our republic is vanishing by the day. But whether we have consuls, ora king, or aprinceps, money will always be the most important thing.”
He wasn’t wrong. One only had to look at the state of their government to see that. Caesar Augustus, after all, had achieved his current position through leveraging his vast personal fortune. He’d used it to raise armies and buy loyalty, and now, though he’d nominally returned power to the Senate after the civil war, no one questioned his supremacy.
“I see,” she murmured.
Felix’s gaze dropped to her lips, then slid over the rest of her body before quickly moving away. He uncrossed and re-crossed his arms, shifting from foot to foot.
Those little movements—those trifling hints of unease—gave her a tiny kernel of an idea. A brazen, shameless, preposterous idea. But one that could potentially be her last hope.
“What if there was something I could offer you that you want even more than dominion over Ostia?” She sat straighter on the bed, giving her back a slight arch. “Something money can’t buy?”
His gaze flicked up to meet hers once more. “I’m listening.”
She knew Felix had desired her once, and in recent encounters, she sensed his attraction remained. She noticed the lingering glances, the moments where his aloof mask splintered. Perhaps it was time to use that to her advantage. But it would have to be managed carefully. She couldn’t allow him to have her without being completely certain she would get what she wanted.
Lucretia rose to her feet. In the small room, that movement alone put her within arm’s length of Felix, where he still leaned against the wall.
He tried to back up, but there was nowhere for him to go, which resulted in him flattening himself against the wall.
She allowed her mouth to curve into a smile. “Don’t worry, Felix. I’m not armed this time.”
