10. Alexander

Amuscle ticks in my jaw as I stare at the man standing in front of my desk. His eyes hidden behind thick black framed glasses widen as I get to my feet, rounding the table. I stand in front of him, slamming the documents in my hand on the desk. He jumps at the sound.

“What’s your name?” I question.

“T-Th-Thomas, sir,” he stammers.

I study him for a second, wondering exactly how he was hired and who was in charge of the hiring process at this branch.

“Thomas,” I repeat. “I’m going to believe there’s a reason you have this job. But between you and me, a keen attention to detail isn’t one of them.”

He manages to look me in the eye, swallowing softly.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“You’re sorry?” I grit out. “Imagine these files were released to the public. A huge mistake like that could be detrimental. It only takes a single word, one sentence to jeopardize the hard work of several people. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll rewrite it all and return it before the end of the day.”

I nod once, gesturing for him to leave. He doesn’t waste a second before rushing out. I look up and notice someone leaning against the wall, watching my employee as he runs out. My eyes narrow at the sight of Graham.

“What the fuck? When did you get here?” I question.

He smirks, “Around the time you started to berate that poor guy,” he replies, stepping forward. “Ease up will, Xander? You know you have a nickname at HQ? Wanna know what it is?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me,” I say dryly, my mood souring completely at the sight of him.

Unexpected visits are Graham’s specialty. He likes it because it throws people off.

He grins, “Medusa. That’s your nickname, big bro.”

“Isn’t Medusa a woman?” I ask frowning.

“Yeah but the name came up due to the fact that the employees think you have the ability to petrify a person with one look. Take a look at ol’ Thomas. My man was about to pee his pants,” he says on a chuckle.

I roll my eyes. “How exactly are you even privy to stupid employee gossip?’

“I have my sources. Plus, someone in the family has to be close to the masses.”

“Whatever. Why are you here?” I ask, taking a sit at my desk.

He sits down in front of me as always without invitation.

“I’m here to see my big brother. Ensure he’s settling down well.”

“Bullshit. You wanted to come find out how things are going? Looking for damning information to take back to dad?”

“Maybe,” he smiles. “Unfortunately, all I’ve got is that you’re particularly skilled in making the workers scared shitless. Excellent leadership qualities, Xan.”

I grit my teeth. “If you’re done, how about you get out?”

“Not so fast. How are things going with your baby mama?”

I freeze, something flaring in my chest at the terminology. I look up into my brother’s eyes.

“Do you want me to beat the shit out of you?” I ask.

“Ha. Like you could,” he replies.

“You’re such a child,” I mutter, massaging the bridge of my nose. “Can you please just fuck off?”

“Nope. I’m staying in New York for a while. I’m bored and I have a feeling things might get interesting.”

I feel a headache starting to bloom. “Are you really that jobless? Father hasn’t provided you with any tasks. Or does he still not trust you after you last fuck up?”

“That’s none of your business. Tell me how you’re handling Katerina Mincetti.”

“No,” I answer gruffly, picking up a document to look over it and also ignoring him in the process.

“I can help you know? From what I remember, she kind of liked me.”

“Of course she did. Birds of a feather and all that,” I murmur. “I’m not sharing anything with you, Graham. Get out.”

He doesn’t move, but he also doesn’t speak. Seconds pass and I decide to pretend he’s not in the room at all. Time ticks by as we both sit in surprisingly comfortable silence. After several minutes, I look up and he’s scrolling on his phone.

“What is it exactly that you want?” I question.

He shrugs. “Like you said, I’m not quite in our old man’s good graces yet.” he suddenly smirks, eyes lighting up, “Remember when we were younger. I was 12 and you were 13 and he asked us to play a game of cards against each other. Remember how I won?”

“I remember you cheated,” I state, frowning.

“Yeah I did and then you told father, expecting me to be punished or some shit like that. He didn’t punish me though, he told you that there’s nothing wrong with getting your hands a little dirty so long as you get what you want. Cheating’s fine, just don’t get caught.”

“Any reason you’re telling me this?”

“Yes. You’re dealing with a woman in the outfit. Despite everything, she’s the head of an organized crime syndicate. And the woman is also kind of your Achilles heel.”

“Try not to make comments on matters you don’t understand, Graham,” I say through gritted teeth. “It’s unbecoming.

“But I do understand though. I know everything, just as I know you’ll inevitably fail. I’m not sure if father’s intentionally setting you up or if he truly believes you can handle her but you’re deluded if you think he’ll give you what you want.”

The worst part is, I get what he’s saying. He has a point. But still, I don’t have to sit here and listen to him.

“Again, what motivations brought you here? It almost sounds like you came here to warn me but I’m not deluded enough into thinking you actually care.”

“I do care though. I care about you messing up so I can swoop in and still your glory.”

My eyes narrow. “Seeing as that’s not going to happen anytime soon, how about you just leave?”

“No,” Graham says, slowly rising to his feet. “I wasn’t kidding about sticking around. I won’t interfere in your plans, but I also won’t stay still while you fuck up everything up.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I mutter, refusing to let him see how angry his words are making me.

“Talk to me again when you’ve successfully handled Mincetti.”

He walks out of my office and I’m leaning back in my chair staring into space. What both he and my father don’t get is that there’s no handling Katerina. If our last conversation is anything to go by, she’s not going to be backing down, and there’s no way to control her, not even by threatening her.

Our last conversation also tells me that there might have been some truth in Graham’s words. She can be my weakness because that conversation escalated into something volatile faster than I could breathe. She drives me crazy and not in a good way. I hate how much she affects me but considering it’s all in relation to my son, there’s not much I can do to stop it.

I let out a soft groan of frustration before opening my laptop to check on the programs I’ve been running. It’s cloaked with multiple VPNs bouncing my signal all over the world, every second in real time. Which means I can’t be tracked digitally or hacked into, allowing me to look into whatever it is I want to without worrying that anyone will find out.

Opening a cloaked window I tune everything else out as I feed in some keywords, easily breaking past the Mincetti’s family’s mainframe and firewall. I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking for. Blackmail material, probably. Even though it makes me feel like a horrible person. I feel like I’m sinking down to the depths of Graham and Katerina. Two people I know who would do anything, use anyone to get what I want.

There’s another hidden truth though. Another reason for hacking into the Mincetti’s. There’s something that’s been bothering me for years. Nine years ago, Katerina left the country and headed over to Moscow, almost immediately after she broke up with me.

I know something happened. Buried by either her or her family, I can’t say. I also know she would never tell me if I asked her outright. I’m not supposed to be curious, I’m not even supposed to care. But if what I find out leads me to even a silver of understanding her motivations and reasons why she did what she did. Then…

I don’t even know what the fuck I hope to achieve.

I arrive home later that night to find my son and his uncle on the couch, eating a bag of chips, eyes fixed on the TV. I’m momentarily surprised to find Graham lying there so casually, especially after the shit he pulled earlier today.

“You’re like a leech that just won’t go away,” I mutter in greeting, pulling my suit jacket off and unloosening my tie.

Nate looks up at the sound of my voice, his eyes lighting up.

“Hey, dad.”

“How was school today? And where’s your babysitter?” I question.

“School was fine. And Tara left. Uncle Gray asked her to leave,” he informs me.

My eyes land on my brother who’s doing his best to look innocent and unassuming.

“Who even let you in here?” I ask.

“The kid did.”

My son looks from me to his uncle, his expression pensive.

“Please don’t fight with Uncle Gray, dad. He said he’s in the city for a couple of days and doesn’t have a place to stay so I told him he could just stay here with us.”

My muscles tense. I look at my brother again and there’s a light smile playing on his lips.

“Your uncle can get a room at a hotel,” I say carefully. “He’s not staying here.”

“But we have an extra room,” my son counters innocently.

I run my hand through my hair in frustration. I swear one of these days I’m going to kill my brother.

“Graham,” I begin. “You can stay in a hotel, right? Or better yet, just go back home.”

My brother looks at me, stroking his jaw as he pretends to think it over.

“I could. But I think I’m gonna stay here,” he finally says, breaking out into a grin. “The kid wants me to. And it’s pissing the hell out of you, so I’ll take that as a win.”

I glare at him, he glares back. A phone in the room starts to ring and Nate climbs off the couch heading for the dining table and grabbing his phone.

He picks up the call. “Hi, Aunt Kayla,” he says enthusiastically.

I sigh softly before moving to sit on the love seat. Graham shoots me a wink that makes me want to punch his smug face. I swear his frontal lobe has never fully developed. No wonder he gets along so well with a ten year old.

“Yeah, dad’s home,” Nate continues to say over the phone. “Uncle Gray’s here too. He’s going to stay with us.”

I don’t hear what my sister says on the other line but suddenly Nate’s stepping in the middle of the living room and putting the phone on speaker.

“Listen up, dear brothers,” Kayla’s voice rings out. “I hear you’re going to be co-habituating for a couple of days and there can be no fighting, understand? Nate’s a sensitive kid and he doesn’t need all that bad mojo in what’s meant to be a stress free environment, okay?”

Nate nods, looking at both me and his uncle. “I’m a sensitive kid,” he repeats.

My lips twitch and Graham laughs outright.

“Alright, buddy. I’ll be on my best behavior, Kay,” he tells our sister.

“Xan?” Kayla prompts.

“Fine! He can stay. But you’re on breakfast duty.”

Graham snorts. “Sure, if you want to see the penthouse burn down.”

“Thirty years old and you still can’t cook. Exactly what are you good for?” I ask.

“Boys...” Mikayla cautions.

“Whatever. I’m tired. Nate order pizza,” I say to my son. “Bye, Kay.”

“Bye. I’ll come join the party as soon as I get permission from dad,” she informs us.

Mikayla’s 25 and should absolutely be allowed to go wherever the hell she wants, whenever she wants. But owing to the fact that she’s the only girl, my dad has a much tighter leash on her. He can be extremely protective and she’s had to deal with the weight of his overbearingness.

I head into my room to change. By the time I return, the pizza has arrived and we all settle in for dinner. Graham and I pointedly ignore each other, leaving Nate to carry on the conversation. When he gets to the part about finally making a friend, I perk up.

“Daniel and I have a lot in common,” he informs us. “And he’s funny and smart too. He has a little sister called Catherine and he lives in a big house with his mom and dad.”

“He sounds like a good kid,” Graham points out, eating a slice of pizza.

“He is. Yesterday, some boys were making fun of another boy and Daniel got right in the middle and told them to back off, or he would beat them. It was funny because Daniel’s much smaller. Those boys were in the 6th grade and they were mean but Dan still stood up to them.”

“He seems like a brave kid,” I say.

“He is. And he’s really cool too. He has all these toys that he brought to school.”

We listen to him ramble on about his new best friend for the rest of the night until he has to go to bed. I’m glad he was finally able to make one. I was getting worried. I guess the change of environment did him a lot of good.

After tucking him into bed, I get in a couple more hours of work before turning in for the night as well. My thoughts involuntarily go to Katerina. We haven’t made contact in three days. Mostly because I haven’t reached out to her and there’s no way she can reach out to me. Which must be driving her crazy.

I just need some space. To regroup, reform my defenses. I still remember the look on her face when I told her Nate thinks his mother is dead. She seemed heartbroken. It was the most emotion I’ve ever gotten from her. At least when it comes to her son, she has a heart. I’m just not sure how far it goes and I’m unwilling to find out.

Which is why I’m finding it hard to say yes to her request. My father warmed me to keep my son far from her and I plan to. But a part of me can’t help but think about what’s best for him. He was four when he came home and asked me why he didn’t have a mum. Seven when he asked me if I couldn’t just make him a new mom. We’ve all tried to fill that hole in his life but it’ll always be there.

Then again, Katerina isn’t asking for a chance to be part of his life. She just wants one meeting. From where I’m standing, she still hasn’t gotten her priorities in order.

I’mat the office the next day when I receive a call from the front desk on the first floor.

” Mr. Steele, there’s someone here to see you,” the woman informs me.

I arch an eyebrow. “I’m not expecting a visitor.

She sounds a little apprehensive as she speaks, “I informed her that she would need an appointment, sir but she’s insistent and refuses to leave.”

“Who is it?”

“She says her name is Katerina Mincetti.”

Of fucking course.

I run a hand through my hair once. “Send her up,” I state, before hanging up and dropping the receiver.

Three minutes later and she’s walking into my office. A loud exhale leaves me as my body tenses at the sight of her. She’s not just walking, she’s sauntering into my office like she owns the place. It’s one of the things I used to admire about her. Her lethal powerful grace.

Her eyes meet mine as soon as she’s inside and for just a second, I can’t look away. It’s a look filled with intensity. Although I can’t pinpoint exactly what intense emotion it is and how I’m contributing. She’s wearing pants today, her outfit business casual. My eyes drift down her body for a second, unable to help myself before I’m looking back at her face.

It feels like all the air’s being sucked out. I don’t get to my feet, simply raising an eyebrow.

“What are you doing here, Katerina?”

She places her hand on her hip as she stares me down, “I had to get your attention somehow.”