Page 146 of Corrupted Heart

“Tonight it is.”

She beams as she leans down to kiss me again. “See you then. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Well, shit. If my beast isn’t curled up quietly in a corner of his cage.

Content.

“Thanks for coming, Kratos.”

I nod as Arian ushers me into his study—I guess it’s his late father’s study—in the sprawling Upper West Side Gilded Age mansion which he now owns. I’m vaguely aware that Arian has a younger sister, but I’m unclear if she has much or anything to do with the family business. Regardless, she’s at college right now at Knightsblood University.

“Good to see you again, Arian.”

Honestly, I was wrong about him. Everything I’d heard about Davit’s son was that he was an aggressive prick. When I first met him, when I stopped over here to chat with his dad before Bianca’s and my engagement party, he seemed to live up to that hype.

But at the Black Swan the other night, he was calm, collected, and seemed to have his shit together—well, aside from hanging out with shits like Grisha Lenkov. And now again today, the man who greets me isn’t the scowling, snarling prick who all but told me to go fuck myself when I came to see his father.

“I hope the aftermath of my…disagreement with your guest the other night didn’t cause too much trouble for you.”

He smirks. “Not really. Truth be told, I think Grisha was so drunk he might not have felt a punch even from you.” He clears his throat. “Oh, and I passed on your message to Mr. Chernoff. The man who owed him seems to have skipped town. But Mr. Chernoff appreciated the debt being settled, however unorthodoxly. He considers the matter closed.”

I nod. “I owe you.”

His brow furrows a little before he shakes it off. “Don’t worry about it. Can I offer you a drink?”

“Whatever you’re having is perfect, thank you,” I nod.

Arian pours us a couple of scotches, handing me a crystal tumbler before we both take seats on the couches by the windows. He takes a sip of his drink and then exhales slowly.

“I owe you an apology, Kratos.”

My brow furrows. “For…?”

“My behavior, the first day we met, here in this office. I was…not myself.”

I shake my head. “It’s nothing, Arian. You had a lot to deal with. Your father was sick?—”

“That’s not entirely it. Though I appreciate the out.” He takes another sip of his drink before his brow deepens slightly. “It was my idea to lend your family the crucifix, you know. And the reason I was so pissed off when it got blown to hell isn’t because I give a shit about a bunch of old bones that my father’s mysticism-junky advisors get hard for. It’s because when it got fucked, I thought that was it for a potential alliance between your family and mine.”

I nod. “Again, you have my sincere apologies?—”

“It isn’t about the damn bones, Kratos,” he growls quietly. “This is about something bigger.”

He scowls, knocking back the rest of his drink before setting the glass on the table between us. He steeples his hands as he leans back against the sofa, his foot over one knee.

“Were you aware that the Barone family had another party interested in their West Side development project, before inking a deal with your family?”

I shrug. “I would assume they had a few offers. Though, yes, I know during the later stages of negotiations, we were aware of one other aggressive interested party. But they dropped out when we radically upped our price.”

Arian nods slowly. “You mean when Drazen Krylov became a silent partner in the deal, using his considerable assets to bump up the pot.”

I eye Arian curiously. He quickly shakes his head.

“That isn’t meant to be antagonistic. Just stating facts.”

My head nods. “In that case, yes, Drazen became a silent partner in the project. I think it’s fair to say we ended up paying more than expected. But it’s still a solid investment, and I doubt we’d have clinched the deal at all without Drazen and his money.” My brows knit “Where is this going, Arian?”

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