I nod to the car and reheat the smile I’ve been using all day with the stalwarts in Congress. “Sorry. Gotta go.”
I allow their persistent questions to harmlessly bounce off my back while we stride to the car.
“Why are they always so interested here?” I ask Jin Lei, dropping my head back against the seat. “I walk outside in London, Paris, Milan—not a peep.”
“For one,” Jin Lei says, “they don’t see you as much. Two and three would be your brother and father. One is a soon-to-be presidential forerunner and the other owns one of the largest oil companies in the world. Americans don’t have royalty, so they’re interested in anything that comes close. Apparently, the Cades come close.”
I mis
s anonymity. Those days when the only people who really took notice of my existence were the students in my class when I was a TA getting my doctorate. My Kingsman days were simple, sweet. Though too few, my fondest memories from that season of my life are in Amsterdam.
“Is the new office set up?” I glance at the passing scene of downtown DC.
“Yes, sir.”
“Apartment upstairs?” It’s temporary, but I need my workspace within striking distance of where I sleep, considering how little I sleep.
“Yes, sir. Both are ready.”
“Good.” I rub my hands over my face. “Hell, I’m exhausted.”
“This was your last commitment for the day,” she says, her dark eyes concerned. “You hit the ground running.”
“I’m used to it. I’ll be fine.”
The hotel’s penthouse is marble floors, a wall of windows, and the height of modern minimalism. The elaborate arrangement of orchids on the foyer table is the only thing alive in the place. Everything else feels lifeless, impersonal and outrageously luxurious.
“It’s perfect,” I say.
In the office, a plasma wall displays multiple screens—CNN, CNBC, Market Watch, and news from international markets. I widen the feed so the entire wall displays the show I recorded.
“It was that political show Beltway you wanted the recording of, right?” Jin Lei asks.
“Uh, yeah,” I say distractedly, watching the show’s title package. “I’m expecting my brother. Tell them downstairs the senator and his detail can come up as soon as they arrive.”
The door closes behind Jin Lei, and I watch this Bryce asshole interview Kimba and Lennix, who is impossibly more than she even was before. More beautiful. More confident. More passionate. Everything about her appeals to me on a level few things ever touch. She views Bryce through knowing eyes, remaining composed when he tries to fluster her. Undaunted when he tries to intimidate. Dignified when he patronizes. She is exactly who the last ten years have made her, and I regret missing the journey.
I tried. I had hoped the months I was away in the Amazon would soften her position—give her room to cool off and reconsider. The unanswered correspondence didn’t deter me, but when I returned to the States, Wallace Murrow did. A few well-placed inquiries revealed Lennix was dating Vivienne’s brother. Nix had been very loud and clear about not wanting me in her life. There is a fine line between going all out for a woman you believe wants you as much as you want her, and stalking, harassing. I couldn’t land on the wrong side of that line, not with Nix of all people. Controlling her own destiny means everything to her.
There always seemed to be something. If it wasn’t another man in her life, it was a hill to climb in mine. Those first few years, many of the things I did were with my father in mind—to show him how wrong he was about me, but eventually it became about who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do.
Once it was buying a company with little hope of surviving, but with endless potential. Pulling that company out of the ditch consumed every waking moment for three years, but it became the foundation for the CadeCo conglomerate.
Another time it was fending off a hostile takeover. They regretted crossing me. I performed a backflip takeover, turning the tables on them and acquiring that company for my holdings instead of being gobbled up. Every challenge seemed to take me closer to my goals and farther away from Lennix, the girl I could never forget.
But I’m here now, Nix. And you will deal with me.
“Getting to the good part, I see,” my brother says from the door.
I turn and smile, glad to see him for the first time in months.
“Can you please leave your guard dogs outside?” I ask, nodding to the two dour-faced men who look on high alert. “And tell them this place is basically Fort Knox. They can relax.”
He grins and says a few words to them before closing the door.
“You’ve got a guard dog of your own.” He removes his suit jacket, undoes his tie, and flops onto the leather couch facing the plasma wall.
“Jin Lei’s growl is worse than her bite,” I say, taking a seat across from him. “But her growl is pretty bad.”