When he woke in the morning, it was to the kind of soreness that came from the very best fucking, and Jayden winced as he rolled onto his side to see what time it was. He had to squint to see the clock without putting his glasses on.

Almost 6AM. He'd have to get out of bed soon.

God, why wasn't Lucas in it with him?

He was every bit as amazing as Jayden remembered. Maybe even more so. There was a whole lot of difference between a quick fuck in a nightclub bathroom and the way Lucas had taken his sweet time on Jayden's ass yesterday afternoon.

He wasn't sure he could go without more of Lucas.

He pushed his sheets aside and reached for his glasses before he realized that they were damaged beyond repair and he hadn't left them on his bedside table. He needed to call the optician and get an emergency pair lined up. Should've done it yesterday, but he'd been kinda distracted.

Jayden smirked as he made his way to the bathroom, but he'd barely had time to pee before his cellphone rang, so he washed his hands quickly and hurried out to get it.

It wasn't Lucas. The Caller ID read Mom.

He answered and put the phone on speaker. "Hi Mom! This is early!"

"Jayden!" She sounded exasperated. "I've just seen the news! Are you all right? Were you hurt? Why didn't you call me yesterday! Are you okay?"

He blinked slowly. "The news?" he echoed. Then he felt his cheeks grow hot, and he groaned. "Oh my God, Mom, I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking. Yeah, I'm fine. They totally missed me. My bodyguard saved my ass. Nobody got hurt."

"Why didn't you call me?" She still sounded frantic, and he couldn't blame her.

"Urgh, I got interviewed by the cops for, like, ever, and then I just kinda crashed when I got back home." Better to leave out the bit about getting fucked. There were things in life mothers just didn't need to know about their kids. "Wait, this is on the news?"

"You're always in the news," she sighed, as the panic began to bleed out of her voice. "If you know where to look."

Jayden laughed. "You gotta stop Googling me, Mom!"

"Nonsense! Shall I come visit today?"

He shook his head. "Naw, seriously, I'm fine. My security's getting tighter today, and I've gotta meet with my attorney because I missed him yesterday. How about I come over this weekend and we can watch a movie or something?"

She gave a little huff that her phone barely picked up on, but then relented. "All right. But promise me I don't have to find out about you on the news again. I don't like it."

He smiled softly to himself and nodded. "I promise. See you Saturday, yeah?"

"Saturday," she agreed. "Be careful!"

"Always!"

Her only response before she hung up was a soft snort, and he had to agree.

Careful was not his middle name.

Lucas arrived dead on 8AM as usual, but this time he had an entire entourage with him. Jayden was, he felt, the very picture of calm and cool detachment as Lucas introduced him to the new team, most of whom would depart again soon after so that they'd be fresh for the later shifts.

Three teams of eight hour shifts to give him 24/7 coverage.

Jayden had to wonder whether this was his life now. Was he basically looking at a future surrounded by security in case someone tried to kill him in broad daylight? Or would this be over soon so he could get on with living?

Once two thirds of the new team had left, he sat with Lucas and worked through his day's schedule, but then he paused as an idea began to form.

"My afternoon's clear," he said. "I wondered if maybe I could meet your sister?"

Lucas' eyes widened. It might have been the most shock Jayden had ever seen him display. "What? Why?"

"Your niece's meds are from Deus Pharma, right?" At Lucas' nod he pressed on. "I'd like to get a ground level understanding of the impact the company's pricing policy is having on a real-world family. If she doesn't want to speak to me I'll understand completely, but it'd be really helpful if I can speak to a real human being about how this affects them."

Lucas pursed his lips. "Isn't it obvious? The more meds cost, the less of everything else we can afford."

"Right. But that's a very basic overview. I'd love to see her invoices, see exactly what we're charging, whether they're raising the prices across the board or on specific products. I don't have access to that data from the company side, so this is the only way I can find out this stuff now."

Lucas considered it, then sighed. "I'll ask her. But that's all I'm gonna do. No promises."

Jayden nodded. "Does all this extra protection come with an armored car now?"

"Yes." Lucas followed the change in subject with ease.

"Sweet. I've never ridden in a tank before!"

It wasn't a tank.

Jayden didn't know whether to be disappointed. The car didn't look any different from any other car on the road, other than it had tinted windows that turned the outside world slightly green.

They were heading north, though once they left the top edge of Central Park behind Jayden had to admit he wasn't too familiar with the area.

"Does she live in Harlem?"

"No." Lucas shook his head. "Inwood."

Jayden blinked. "Where’s that?"

Lucas smirked. "North of Harlem. I wouldn't expect you to have come up here before."

It was a barb, and Jayden knew it. What made it sting was that Lucas had every right to make it. Jayden had run away from home, fled to Oregon to study and mingle, but the moment he moved back to Manhattan what had he done? He'd settled into his multi-million-dollar apartment and he'd stayed pretty much south of the Upper West Side.

What the hell had happened to him? Did he think he was suddenly above everyone else because he was back home, or had wealth crept up on him, insidious and corruptive, turning him into the man his father wanted him to be?

He screwed up his face at that and looked out the windows.

Harlem was crazy pretty, with tree-lined streets and buildings that were rarely taller than five or six stories. The streets weren't anywhere near as crowded as further south, and the variety of restaurants looked amazing. It'd probably be prettier if it was all in focus, but it was going to take the opticians a few hours to put his glasses together.

"You're right," he admitted. "I think I got so caught up in Dad's death and then the fight with the board that I haven't taken the time to come up here." Jayden leaned back in his seat and continued to watch the world pass them by. "Money isolates people, you know. I've noticed that. I should've been aware it'd do it to me too. I mean, look at me now. I'm here, but I'm still isolated." He tapped the car door. "Hidden away, protected from other people."

Lucas shifted in his seat. "In fairness," he rumbled, "we don't know which of those other people want to kill you."

"Right?" Jayden agreed. "But most people can't afford you, Lucas. They just get killed instead." He glanced toward his bodyguard with a sad smile. "Ironic, isn't it? You've got valid beef with the rich, but we're the only people who can afford your service."

Lucas' jaw flexed, and he didn't answer.

Jayden couldn't blame him.

Inwood was like another city, quiet and tree-filled, with views over both the Hudson and the East River. This was the very northern tip of Manhattan, where some streets were so narrow cars couldn't pass on them, and as the car stopped outside an apartment block, Jayden let out a low whistle.

"Man," he breathed. "Who wouldn't wanna live up here? It's beautiful!"

"It's also an extra half hour's train ride," Lucas said as he opened the door and got out onto the street, checking the area before signaling to Jayden for him to follow. "Not everyone's willing to sacrifice an extra hour out of their day just to get lower rent and some hills."

Jayden exited and tugged his shirt into place, tucking it into his waistband. A long car trip had wiggled some of it free, so he made sure he was presentable as he tailed Lucas. "I guess I can understand that." After all, one of the best things about living in Midtown was the easy walking distance to hundreds of different restaurants with just as many different cuisines, but that convenience bore a hefty price tag.

He was limited to tailing Lucas as their driver brought up the rear. From what he could make out, the building they were heading into was made of a pretty red-brown brick, and was maybe five stories high in total. He had to squint to be able to count the windows, but just before he was done his line of sight was cut, and Lucas led him in through an unmanned lobby to a wide Art Deco stairway which coiled around a single elevator shaft.

"Not the elevator??"

Lucas shrugged. "That one was installed some time around the Thirties, but I'm not willing to trust a client's life to it."

Jayden crinkled his nose as they jogged up the stairs. The elevator shaft looked like it was made of wire mesh and very little else. "Not safe to use?"

"It's fine," Lucas explained, "but it's not enclosed. We'd be sitting ducks."

"Oh."

As they jogged up past the third floor, Jayden could see what Lucas meant now. The elevator car was sitting there, and he could see right through the cage walls. Well, as far as his shortsightedness allowed for, anyway. He could understand how, to someone like Lucas, that thing looked a whole lot like a great place to kill a captive target.

Lucas peeled off at the fourth floor and knocked on one of the doors.

Jayden heard a security chain rattle, and then the door was pulled open by a woman almost as tall as he was. She smiled up at Lucas, but that smile faded the moment she looked Jayden over.

"This him?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Who is it?" called a young girl's voice from inside.

"Just Uncle Lucas and some friends," she called. After a moment's hesitation, she offered Jayden her hand. "Lottie Neal," she said.

He shook it, intending to be gentle, only to find that she nearly wrenched his damn arm off. "Jayden Deus."

"Yeah," she said. "Come in."

Jayden followed Lucas inside, and their driver turned his back to the door to wait outside as Lucas closed it.

Lottie had her brother's brown hair, but her eyes were lighter. Her white skin was gently tanned, with some patchiness which he took to be freckles. He didn't want to weird her out by squinting or getting up in her space to find out.

A small herd of elephants trampled into the living room from elsewhere, a little girl who must've been eight years old at the most. Her brown hair was lighter, and done up in two pigtails which bounced as she ran toward Lucas and flung herself into the air at him, her arms wide.

Lucas laughed and caught her, hefting her up for a hug. "Are you getting taller? You're getting taller, aren't you? Must be! You were way shorter when I left this morning."

The girl laughed. "I'm way taller than I was then! Who's this?" She looked Jayden right in the eye.

"This is Jayden," Lucas said. "He's here to talk to your mom."

"Oh! Do you want to be Mommy's new boyfriend?"

"Uh," Jayden blinked.

"No," Lottie and Lucas said, almost as one.

"No," he agreed. "I'm not that, er. I mean, I don't..."

"Jayden likes boys," Lucas said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh!" Tamsin smiled. "Okay."

Lucas popped her down on her feet. "Have you got schoolwork to do?"

"Uh huh."

"Why don't you go do that, then maybe once you're done you can ask Jayden more questions?"

She thought it over, then nodded. "Okay. Nice meeting you, Jayden!"

"You too!" He gave her a little wave as she stampeded back out of the room, then found a spot on the battered old couch when Lottie invited him to sit. "She's a smart cookie."

"Yeah. She is. Top of her class, so she sometimes gets bored, but her teacher lets her read if she finishes too fast." Lottie sat facing him, while Lucas remained standing, taking up a posture Jayden was used to seeing in meetings with his attorney, but not so much in someone's private home. "What do you want, Mr. Deus?"

Straight down to business. He could respect that. She had things to do and was putting them on hold for him.

"I'd like to go through your invoices for your daughter's medical treatment, and to really understand the impact they're having on your family." He rested his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. "I don't want to regain control of Deus Pharmaceuticals and then just leave everything as it is. I need to know what the company is doing wrong so that when I get back there, I can hit the ground running, but until then I have no access to our records at all. And, to be honest, I think if a company loses touch with its customers it's already spiraling the drain, and it's just a matter of time before it flushes itself away."

She eyed him closely. "So really what you want is for me to save your company from going bust."

"The more affordable we are, the longer we can stay in business, and the longer those medications remain affordable. It's a win-win situation," he murmured.

She continued to examine him, then she stood. "Okay," she said. "Buckle up, man. There's a lot of paperwork."

"Then we better get started!"

Lottie went to a drawer and came back with a huge ring-bound folder, so Jayden made himself comfortable.

This was going to take a while, that was for sure.