Chapter 9 Chapter 8

“Yes. They just need to sign. And then, we can take that vacation,” Edward remarked excitedly.

“Ah! The vacation where I hide in the belly of the boat or the one where I go first and hide on the island until your family leaves?” she asked coyly.

“No!” Edward declared boldly. “The one where we both get on a plane and go to Makrysha.”

“What?!” she called out, sitting up.

Edward stiffened but kept his focus on her face, throwing his arm casually behind his head, her eyes flicked to his taut abs, her lower lip trembled, then her eyes snapped back to his.

Edward’s heart swelled with a pride only a man in bed with a beautiful woman could.

“What?” he asked innocently, replying to her surprised retort.

“I’ve been trying to get you to Makrysha for years! And suddenly you bring it up by yourself?” she tossed lightly at him, shaking her head again, her long curls dancing over her shoulders.

“Is this…that…mid-life crisis thing I’ve heard about?” she continued slyly.

Edward laughed again. Another reason this particular mistress had outlasted any other – she made him laugh. Genuinely, from his heart.

When he had been younger, he had thought that maybe he loved her. But after a few years, of her, of others, he had come to accept that ‘love’ was a stretch.

The only thing Edward Kramer knew he loved was power. His family’s power. He loved that. And even more, he loved being the one to control that power, to grow it, to move it.

And now, he was on track to move it overseas to a whole new level.

He was on a high from that.

As for this woman with the lightly tanned skin and beautiful lips, he liked her. Almost admired her. Of that much, he was sure.

Her eyes drifted away from him, then back, searching his face.

“This contract… it’s everything,” she said, her voice shifting from playful to precise. “Once it goes through, you move Kramer Holdings into a new tier. But your problem right now is that someone already knows about it and is making you bleed before the ink is dry.”

Edward's expression sobered. He nodded. The incidents at his locations were not in the news, but those who moved in circles as high as his would have heard whispers.

Natasha was no exception.

“Then find the leak before the signing,” she said simply, settling back against him. “And do it quietly. You can't afford for your partners to think you're vulnerable.”

Edward said nothing, but his body stiffened and his jaw tightened.

“I'm not a little girl, Edward. Don't shut me out now,” she remarked evenly.

"I know," he replied. And he did. Of all the people in his world, Natasha was the only one who wanted nothing from Kramer Holdings itself. She had even played a key role in setting things up for the Junster sale.

That made her both his most trusted confidante and a dangerous loose end.

He filed the thought away and let the evening continue.

==========

“Tyler! Come in! Come in!” Lincoln called out from behind his office desk.

Tyler strolled into the brightly lit, well-apportioned office of the head mafia in Salvena City. It was almost midnight, yet the mafia boss looked like his day was just starting. And it probably was.

Tyler smiled. His first real smile, in front of a real person for that day.

“You have it?” Lincoln shot at him, all business.

“Here,” Tyler replied swiftly, handing his box of activated Junster to the mafia leader.

There were five other men in the room. Each one nodded to Tyler as he sauntered in, three of them leaving as the imposing young man with sleeked back hair and light eyes approached their boss.

“Mr. T.! Been a minute!” the taller of the remaining two men called out cordially.

“Harrison!” Tyler replied happily, “When did you get out?”

“Yesterday,” the man replied with a grin.

“And you didn’t come find me?” Tyler shot back, disappointedly.

“You’re here now, ain’t ya!” Harrison replied, still grinning widely.

Tyler laughed. “How is Frank?” he asked flippantly.

“Still being a good boy. Still keeping his hands to his fucking self. The one you left him, anyway,” Harry droned.

Tyler smiled again, shaking his head. “Yeah, well, I was in a bad mood that day,” Tyler replied cryptically.

“Uh hun!” Harry murmured, his eyes laughing.

Tyler wiped the smile from his face as he turned to the second man. Lincoln’s number two. Amika.

“Ami,” he said respectfully, placing his right hand over his left breast and bowing lightly.

“You know, I can’t get over how polite you are to Myka when you’re never so sweet to me!” Lincoln called out, sounding offended.

“He knows where loyalties lie,” Amika rumbled, his dark eyes on Tyler, “after all, we’ve known each other longer.”

“But I’ve met him more often,” Lincoln fake complained.

“Yes,” Amika droned dismissively, lifting his large frame from the large sofa only he – ever – occupied.

He put a hand forward, and Tyler shook the man’s hand, bowing lightly again.

Amika was built like a brick house on legs, but the man was a mage. A true-blooded mage. His size was no hindrance to anything that needed doing.

As he shook the older man’s hand, Tyler smiled inwardly at the banter between his oldest supporters even as his blood tingled, as it always did when in Amika’s presence.

But he pressed his lips together, preventing the gasp that wanted to escape as that constant overwhelming feeling swelled in his heart, without any reason, just like with gems, that Amika was something very special, very different.

He always had the feeling that the large, forty-something-year-old man could be far, far, significantly, older than he appeared.

The young man turned back to Lincoln.

“How is our young heiress?” Lincoln tossed lazily at his young friend.

Tyler rolled his eyes. “I might need to go to HR sooner rather than later,” he stated dryly.

Lincoln and Harry laughed. Amika moved back to his chair, his eyes on Tyler.

The young man kept his focus on his sponsor.

“Here’s the information on the mistresses,” Lincoln stated neutrally, tossing a flat file on his desk, toward Tyler.

The young man picked it up as he sat in the opposite chair.

Lincoln nodded at Harrison. The man moved to the office door and locked it.

Tyler flipped through the file slowly.

As Tyler went along, he pulled out some papers, placing them on the table. He repeated this process two more times.

Most of the papers from the file ended up on the table.

Five sheets remained in the file.

He handed it back to Lincoln. “These ones. Get me everything,” he said, almost brashly.

“See?” Lincoln commented lightly, his eyes moving between Harry and Amika, “See how he speaks to me?”

“He is the Master of the Miran Auction house, Boss,” Harry replied placatingly to Lincoln, his gaze on Tyler, whose eyes had gone distant.