I didn’t mention how neither of us had timed the encounters, so who really knew who’d won? That wasn’t important.
A warm, heavy blanket of contentment draped over me as we lay in companionable silence and waited for our pulses to return to normal.
I’d spent my whole life chasing the next high. When you had everything, everything got boring fast. I wanted bigger, better, faster. I wanted something that would last, and when Sloane rolled to the side and curled up against me, I knew I’d found it.
This was my greatest high. Her, sated and happy, in my arms. Nothing in the world could ever beat this moment.
CHAPTER 26
Xavier
I could’ve stayed in my house with Sloane forever and been happy, but unfortunately, I had real-life responsibilities that required my attention.
On Friday, two days after my night with Sloane and one day after I almost made her late to work with a morning quickie (she still hadn’t forgiven me for that), I sat in a glass-and-chrome office atop one of DC’s most coveted addresses.
Icy green eyes regarded me with impersonal scrutiny. “Xavier Castillo.” Alex Volkov’s voice matched the man: cool, distanced, pitiless. “You’re the last person I expected to ask for a meeting.”
Name number two on Kai’s list.
I shrugged. “Things change. People change.”
As CEO of the Archer Group, the country’s largest real estate development company, Alex owned half the real estate in Manhattan—including my dream location for my club. The turn-of-the-century, honest-to-God bank vault was located in the basement of one of Alex’s skyscrapers, and if there were two things my target clientele liked, it was bank vaults and hidden gems.
Alex leaned back and tapped a finger on his desk. He was the only person who hadn’t told me he was sorry for my loss following my father’s death. I appreciated it; I was getting sick of the pity.
“You’re aware of how much that location costs.” It wasn’t a question.
Eight figures.
“Yes. It’s not a problem.” I didn’t have access to my full inheritance yet, but thanks to my last name and Kai’s introduction, I was in the process of securing financing from Davenport Capital, Dominic Davenport’s company. Name number three. I’d sent Alex documented proof prior to our meeting.
“Permits and licenses?”
“Silver & Klein is handling it. They don’t foresee any issues.” The prestigious law firm was based in DC, but it represented corporate clients across the country. Jules Ambrose, Silver & Klein. Name number four.
Alex peppered me with more questions. I answered them gamely, but I knew his decision hinged on one factor—the one I didn’t have in my pocket for this meeting.
“Your pitch is impressive. Your paperwork is in order. But I’ll be honest,” he said after I addressed his concerns about potential competitors on the market. “I don’t buy that you’ve changed so much, so fast. You’ve never owned, started, or operated a business, and you have a well-deserved reputation for reckless partying.”
“I don’t know about reckless…”
“I’m also aware your inheritance hinges on this club,” he continued, ignoring me. “What happens if it doesn’t pass muster during its first evaluation?”
It was a good question, one I tried not to think about too often. The prospect of failing so spectacularly in the public eye was like falling off that bridge in my nightmares: terrifying, out of my control, and damn near inevitable.
“I understand your concerns.” I covered the sudden lurch in my stomach with a confident smile. Fake it till you make it. “But what I did in my past doesn’t define who I am now. Yes, I’ve spent the better part of my twenties engaging in…other activities besides entrepreneurship, but as the progress I’ve already made proves, I’m serious about this.”
Alex stared at me, unmoved.
Dammit. Talking to the man was like talking to an iceberg—a low-key hostile one.
I searched for an argument that didn’t rehash what he already knew, and my eye caught on the single framed photo adorning his desk. In it, he stood next to a beautiful woman with long black hair and a sunny smile. Each held a baby in their arms; one was swaddled in pink, the other in blue.
Alex wasn’t smiling, exactly, but his face contained more warmth than I’d thought him capable of. He’d been married for a while, but I distinctly remembered a time when the cold, seemingly unfeeling CEO’s relationship with his now wife had made waves.
No one had thought he was capable of falling in love—until he did.
“You say you don’t buy that I’ve changed so much, so fast, but not all change is gradual,” I said slowly, forming my words as I went. “Sometimes, an unexpected event forces us to step up in ways we haven’t before, or we meet someone who changes our outlook. It happens every day. My father’s death was one of those triggers for me.” Sort of. But I wasn’t about to discuss my inheritance or my mother’s letter with a near stranger. “I’m not proud of the time I’ve wasted, but I’m trying to make up for it now.” I met Alex’s gaze with a steady one of my own. “Have you ever done something you regretted? Something you were desperate to fix but relied on someone, somewhere taking a leap of faith on you for it to change?”
He didn’t move, but a tiny glint of emotion flickered in his eyes.
“We don’t know each other well,” I said. “But I promise, if you take this leap of faith on me, I’ll do the location justice. Because it’s not just your name and reputation riding on this—it’s also mine.”
The ensuing silence stretched taut beneath the quiet hum of the heater. It was impossible to read Alex’s face, and just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, his chin dipped a fraction of an inch.
“Bring on a business partner. If I deem them acceptable, the vault is yours.”
My heart soared and crashed in the span of five seconds.
It was a bigger concession than I’d expected from Alex, and it was exactly what I didn’t want to hear.
Vuk wanted the location confirmed before he signed on. Alex wanted Vuk or someone like Vuk attached before he confirmed. It was one hell of a catch-22.
The universe truly loves fucking with me.
“I’m way ahead of you.” I smiled, projecting assuredness I absolutely did not have. “I’m in the process of bringing Vuk Markovic on as a silent partner.”
