I shouldn’t be surprised when Erin comes to me about the deal her family wants to strike, but I actually am a little bit. I thought it might take longer, but apparently they could only last a couple of days.

I’m sure they know that we know about Erin’s ownership stake in the Consortium. I’m sure James passed that bit of information along to them. Good old traitor James, so reliable. I’m happy he told them, actually.

It’s making them panic, and that’s exactly what I want. When they panic, they make bad decisions, and that’s what I need them to do.

But this deal they’re offering, it’s bullshit. Fisher has been slowly eroding the deal we were constructing over months and it already favors him. Not too heavily, but it absolutely does. Now that I have the upper hand, I see zero reason to sign that agreement.

They’re desperate. They’re willing to do almost anything. I just need to push them in the right direction, and I’ll get what I want.

As I pull up outside of the building where Rick Fisher lives, I can’t help but think about Erin. Of course I think about her. She grew up in this place, which seems so crazy to me. It’s a beautiful apartment building, and Fisher owns two floors of it, but it doesn’t seem very kid-friendly at all. In fact, the whole place seems too austere and beautiful to have children anywhere near it.

This is what she grew up with, or at least until she was sent away to school. She was more of a problem than a part of their family, and they sent her away so that she wouldn’t be underfoot anymore. I can feel my anger rising as I ride the elevator up to Fisher’s floor.

I step up to his front door and knock twice. It takes a minute before a man answers the door, a big guy with hard eyes. He looks at me sideways.

“Who are you?” he asks me.

I smile at him. “Griffin McGrath,” I say.

Clearly that name doesn’t mean anything to him. “Are you expected?”

“No,” I say. “But tell Rick that I’m here. He’ll want to talk.”

The man grunts and shuts the door in my face. I sigh and smile to myself. That guy is clearly some kind of security and it’s interesting that he thinks he needs security guys.

A couple minutes later, the door opens again, but this time it’s not the security goons. This time, it’s Ward Fisher himself, the prodigal son.

He doesn’t look happy to see me. “Mr. McGrath,” he says. “We weren’t expecting you.”

“No, I don’t think you were,” I say.

“What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to discuss business with your father.”

“My father is indisposed. You’ll deal with me.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Will I?”

Ward nods. He’s older than Erin, but he’s clearly not as bright. I think he takes after his father a little too much for his own good.

“Listen to me, Ward,” I say, stepping closer. “Tell your father he wants to cut a deal. Because Erin already offered to sell me her thirty percent for next to nothing. Imagine the bargaining power I’ll have when I already own thirty percent of your company.”

Ward’s eyes grow a little large. “Are you threatening me?”

I laugh. “I’m not threatening you, son. I’m pointing out the shitty position your father put you in. Now, go get him for me.”

Ward watches me for a second, clearly trying to figure out what to do. The boy is clearly too thick for his own good, but eventually he turns and heads back inside, shutting the door once again in my face.

I sigh but I don’t get impatient. A foyer is good enough for me. Truthfully, I don’t want to be invited into their house. I know keeping me out here is some kind of power play to them, but it really doesn’t matter. They can play all the games they want.

I have the real power in this situation.

Ten minutes pass slowly, but soon enough the door opens and Rick Fisher emerges. He looks dour and tired, his suit wrinkled and messy.

“Good to see you, Griffin,” he says, trying to muster his usual con artist’s charm.

“Rick,” I say, and neither of us moves to shake hands.

“What can I do for you?”

“Let’s skip the bullshit, okay?” I say to him. “You know why I’m here.”

He watches me and his eyes slowly narrow. He transforms from the affable salesman he pretends to be right into the snake that I know he actually is.

“Okay then, Griffin,” he says. “You married my fucking daughter and found out about the portion of my company that’s in her name.”

“That’s right,” I say. “Pretty shitty position for you.”

“What are you going to do about it?” he asks. “I offered you terms. You rejected them.”

“That’s because your terms were bullshit. But there’s one more thing I know.” I step toward him, eyes locked on his. “You sent Erin to spy on me. You want to try and destroy me by digging up my past, but that’s not going to work, not anymore.”

He doesn’t flinch or look away. “I assumed you knew.”

“I also know about James,” I hiss.

He stares at me for a second, and I think I’ve actually rattled him. “James is a dear friend,” he finally says.

“I used to say the same thing.” I smile at him sweetly. “So be careful about that.”

“What do you want, Griffin? It’s late.”

He’s right, it’s past six. I came straight here from the office after working all day.

“I want the original deal we wrote up months ago. The original contract we both nearly agreed to signing, before you tried all of this bullshit to weasel your way into a better deal.”

Rick looks at me for a second then sighs. “The Consortium is my baby,” he says. “Can you blame me for being hesitant to sell her?”

“I don’t care how you feel. Those are my terms.”

“You don’t dictate terms to me,” he snaps suddenly, eyes getting wide. “I’m Rick Fisher. I don’t fucking lose.”

I’m a little surprised at his outburst. He’s usually so composed.

“Apparently you don’t see yourself very accurately,” I say softly.

“Bastard.” He clenches his jaw. “I’m not giving you shit. Fuck you and fuck my little whore of a daughter.”

My anger flares up. He can say whatever he wants to me, I don’t care about that, but he can’t talk about Erin like that.

I take a deep breath to calm myself. His eyes look crazed and I think he’s a second away from attacking me. I know that if he does, I’ll kill him right here and now, and that won’t be good for anyone.

“It’s over, Fisher. The original contract or I come after you and destroy you.” I turn away from him.

“You’ll regret this,” he says.

“Take a couple days to consider it.” I step back into the elevator and turn around. “Make the right choice here. You lost already. Don’t make it harder on yourself.”

The doors slide shut. The last thing I see is Fisher’s haunted eyes staring back at me. He looks like a broken man.

The thought makes me smile. I only wish Erin could be here to see how far her father has fallen in such a short time. She deserves all the credit for this, or at least most of it. Without her, I wouldn’t have been able to make this happen.

I have a sudden and intense desire for her, and I’m so happy that she’s waiting at home for me. I can’t wait to get her undressed and celebrate this victory. I’ll tell her every detail, and then I’ll make her body feel better than I ever have before. By the end, she’ll be begging for more and thanking me, all at the same time.

I smile to myself, a thrill running down my spine, excitement building in my chest.