Page 26 of Monstrous Urges

“Well…” My lips twist as I turn to Gabriel. “Look, I want to, but?—”

“It can’t be Fumi,” Gabriel sighs. “Yes, she’s extremely qualified, and biased as I am, I think she’d kill it. But ignoring the fact that Elsa has longer tenure, higher billable hours, and more time in general sunk into this firm, it cannot be my wife.”

“You mean our newest managing partner banging the Governor might be perceived as a slight conflict of interest?” Alistair says dryly.

His brother shoots him a withering look but then rolls his eyes.

“To say the least—yes. It’ll hurt the firm, unnerve the board?—”

“Hurt you politically,” I add.

He nods. “Well, that too. But I’m thinking about my wife,” Gabriel growls. “It has the potential to make Fumi look like she fucked her way into the job.”

I exhale. “Unfortunately, I agree.”

“Not to mention certain…family connections that might come to light,” Gabriel adds.

Yeah. A few months ago, Fumi discovered that her family has deep roots in the Japanese Yakuza out of Kyoto. It came hand-in-hand with gradually reconnecting with her enigmatic half-brother, Kenzo.

Alistair frowns. “I hear you, but Elsa’s married to Hades fucking Drakos…”

I nod. “True, but the Drakos family has significant ties to everyday people and the voters of New York. They basically run a third of the construction projects in the city, which represents a shitload of jobs. Plus Dimitra Drakos sits on like ten different boards for immigrant rights and fair housing. That’s not necessarily a bad PR image. Meanwhile, the Mori-kai Yakuza?” I grimace. “Well, they don’t have a presence in New York at all, good or bad. But ‘Yakuza princess’ might get some PR blowback.” I exhale. “In any case, even though she’s my friend, I agree with Gabriel. Fumi’s one of the best attorneys I’ve ever worked with, but so is Elsa, and I think she’s the better choice for managing partner.”

Alistair smirks. “Are we gonna keep ignoring the pregnant elephant in the room?”

“Yes, let’s dive head-first into employment prejudice against pregnant women. That should do wonders for our public image,” Gabriel says dryly.

“She’s due, like, tomorrow, asshole,” Alistair sighs.

I grin. “Then she’ll take maternity leave. As long as we’ve got her nailed down as our third managing partner, that should do a lot to soothe Jen Quan’s boardroom nerves. Besides, you know Elsa. If we can get her to take twenty-four whole hours off after giving birth, it’ll be a miracle.”

“Okay. In the meantime, I’ll work on Terence De Hoef.”

“How the hell do you suppose you’ll do that if he’s already in Roger’s pocket?” Alistair mutters.

“Appeal to the angels of his better nature?” Gabriel shrugs. “Or there’s always murder him in a dark alley.”

Alistair snorts. Gabriel smiles one of his trademark slightly mask-like smiles that have a way of freaking me out just a little. Like, maybe I’m not the only one of the three of us that doesn’t allow the other two to see all of the real me…

“So, are we in agreement, then?” I say briskly, changing the subject. “Pending an official board vote, Elsa Guin will be the new managing partner for Crown and Black?”

“Yea,” Gabriel growls. “I can’t imagine better or safer hands to have at the helm of this firm while I’m gone.”

“It’s a yea for me, too,” Alistair nods. “I mean, at least until someone impeaches this fucker and he needs his day job back,” he grins, jerking a thumb at his brother.

I roll my eyes. “Obviously a yea from me.” I clasp my hands. “Shall we bring her in?”

“Sure, let’s roll the pregnant elephant in here.”

Gabriel shakes his head. “I swear to fuck, Alistair, you are a walking HR training video of what not to do.”

There’s a reason there’s an age-old saying about “the best-laid plans”.

After all that, Elsa ends up being a big honking “maybe”. It turns out she does have plans to take a chunk of time off after her and Hades’ daughter is born. Plus, she’s got her own reservations about her marriage to Hades affecting the firm’s reputation.

“Where I am now as an equity partner allows me certain…latitude,” she said earlier. “It gives me the freedom to do my work for the firm, but also to take on more…off the books sort of work for the Drakos and Kildare families. Being a managing partner would probably put an end to that.”

I mean, she has a point. But hey, it’s not a “no”. So we’re moving in the right direction.

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