Chapter 6

Damien

"Listen carefully because I'm only saying this once." I said to the bastard making sure my voice was venomous enough to remind him who is the boss here. "I'll give you forty-eight hours." I said.

"Forty-eight hours," I repeated. "If every cent isn't back where it belongs by then, you'll spend the rest of your life wishing prison was your punishment."

Three million dollars had disappeared from company accounts under his supervision.

Money meant for operations. Employees. Investments. And he thought he could disappear with it. Just because he was made manager in one of our branch jurisdictions. I already regretted not taking him out right from the start, holding on to the loyalty his father has for our company under my father. Only that he was nothing like his father. He was nothing a dumbass fool.

"You won't find me," he whispered suddenly.

And that made me chuckle. "You still think this is a game."

"When I find you—and I will find you—you'll beg me to kill you."

With that I disconnected the line. That should keep his brain moving on doing the needful.

Coward.

I tossed the phone onto my desk. The device slid across the polished wood. I loosened my tie and crashed back into my chair.

That bastard thought I wouldn't find him. He thought distance would protect him.

It wouldn't. Nobody stole from me and lived comfortably afterward.

A slow smile pulled at my mouth. Cold.

Violent. I was going to rip his life apart piece by piece. Then I'd make sure everyone else learned from his mistake.

My gaze shifted across the office. Dan was waiting for me to finish the call. For a second I had almost forgotten he was there. The bastard Evangelis had pissed me off way too much.

The quarterly report sat open in front of him.

Company growth. Apart from the boring side of  power. Guns and blood. There was the reality of the world. Spreadsheets, negotiations, shareholders, board meetings and making sure thousands of employees still had jobs.

I rubbed a hand over my jaw. I called Dan in earlier to review them because I wasn't sure the percentage is moving the way I wanted it to move meaning there is a loophole somewhere. And I am not someone who take chances with loopholes.

For a brief moment my attention drifted to the large portrait hanging on the far wall.

My father.

A man whose shadow still stretched over everything I touched.

A memory surfaced. When he called me to his room one day.  "Take care of the family."

I remembered standing beside his bed holding his pale sick hand.  I remembered promising him.

"Take care of the business. Protect our name and the Valmont famiglia."

The Valmont family which had been alive and strong for generations.

Long before me. Long before my father.

And on that sick bed, he had handed the responsibility to me. Not because I wanted it. Because somebody had to carry it.

I couldn't change the past. Couldn't undo mistakes. Couldn't bring him back. Sometimes I still wondered what would have happened if I had been there the night of the fire.

If I hadn't left. If I hadn't gone out drinking. If I hadn't been drowning in my own anger after learning the truth about Ariana.

Maybe I could have saved him. Maybe he would still be alive. Maybe everything would be different.

But maybes were useless. The dead stayed dead.

The living carried consequences. And I carried mine every day.

When I first took over as Capo after my father's death, many of them hadn't looked at me that way.

They thought the position should pass elsewhere. Thought I was too young. Some even believed another branch of the family should inherit leadership. They had spent months questioning every decision I made.

Months.

Until enemies stopped crossing our borders. Until profits doubled.

Until everyone learned one simple truth. I wasn't my father. And I never intended to be.

Where he ruled through patience, I ruled through fear. And that was the difference between me and the old generation.

My father built an empire. I intended to make sure nobody was ever stupid enough to threaten it under my leadership.

My gaze finally shifted back to Dan.

"Schedule an emergency meeting with alm the directors."

"What time, Sir?"

"As early as 8:30AM, tomorrow." I leaned forward and tapped the report sitting on the desk. "I want every director in that room explaining how ten percent disappeared from our projections without anybody noticing."

"If ten percent can disappear on paper, then someone is hiding something. And if they're hiding something, I want names."

Dan nodded. "Noted, sir."

"What about the other job?"

A knowing look crossed his face. Without a word, he picked up his tablet and tapped the screen.

Photographs of Ariana came into view.  In several building locations.  Hair tied back. Resume tucked under her arm.

My mouth twitched. Dan scrolled through several pictures.

"She applied to four companies. I've paid all of them off."

A smile slowly spread across my face as I studied the photograph. Last night's conversation flashed through my mind.

Her stubborn chin. The fire in her eyes. The way she'd looked at me without fear.

I thought she hadn't changed but clearly I was too quick to conclude.  If anything, Ariana had become more difficult. More defiant. More irritating.

And somehow that only made me want to push her harder.

The woman had actually rejected my offer. Mine.

Did she have any idea how many people practically killed for a chance to work at Valmont Holdings?

One of the largest multinational resource and infrastructure corporations in the country. Mining, logistics, energy distribution, construction—our company touched almost every major industry worth touching.

Thousands of applications flooded our offices every month. Yet Ariana had looked me in the eye and said no.

The memory made my jaw tighten.

Six years ago she never would have dared. What changed? Life? Time?

The thought irritated me enough to dismiss it immediately.

"What about the other guy?"

Dan picked up the tablet again and began.

"Matthew Walker. Twenty-nine years old."

I folded my arms.

"Go on."

"Parents died in a car accident when he was eleven. He was raised by his grandmother until she passed away three years ago. Worked multiple jobs growing up. Delivery driver. Warehouse assistant. Bartender. Eventually moved into freelance construction work and property maintenance."

I scoffed. What a poor life.

"No criminal record. No major debts. Average income history. He currently rents an apartment."

The photograph remained on the screen. He shared an apartment with Ariana and another female roommate with their daughter."

My jaw tightened immediately. The struggling boyfriend and struggling girlfriend combo.

The cheap apartment. Pathetic little life.

A bitter laugh escaped me. "So this is where she ended up."

The thought of her choosing someone like him over everything she could have had left an ugly feeling in my chest.

I didn't like it. Didn't understand it. And I certainly didn't want to examine it.

Dan lowered the tablet.

"What would you like me to do with him? Take him out?"

I slowly twirled my chair overlooking the city. "Nah. We're not getting our hands dirty with him."

The city lights reflected against the glass.

"My revenge isn't with him."

My fingers drummed against the armrest.

"It's with Ariana."

A cold smile settled on my face.

"Keep blocking every opportunity she finds. I don't care how much it costs. If she applies somewhere, I want them rejecting her before she even walks through the door. Until she has nowhere left to go."

"Eventually she'll come back." And when she does, she would be begging.