Page 23 of By His Rule

“Yeah, they were good,” I say simply.

“So? Did someone make the cut?”

Pushing to my feet, I stalk around my desk and toward my drink cabinet.

Without asking, I grab two glasses and pour a generous measure of scotch into them. From the look of Kingston’s dark eyes, he needs more than one to get him through the rest of the day.

“Martin has a couple of options,” I say as I pass him a glass.

“Lorelei?” he asks, abandoning beating around the bush.

“I’m not hiring her just because she’s Tate’s best friend,” I scoff.

“Did I say you should?” he counters.

No, he hasn’t. But the fact he told me that she’d applied and spilled the tea on the reason why she was currently unemployed in the hope of making the process as easy for her as possible, clued me in on his intentions.

I get it, he’d do anything for Tatum. But I refuse to put someone we can’t trust in a high-profile position like that; someone who will have access to our figures, our accounts, our everything.

She’s been fired for stealing, for fuck’s sake.

Tatum might have some kind of magical pussy or whatever it is that turns my hard-assed big brother to mush around her, but that doesn’t mean her demands have the same effect on me.

My focus is on the business and our future, and it always will be.

Lorelei might be the best candidate Martin saw today, but if we can’t trust her, then it doesn’t just put her at the bottom of the list, it makes her fall off it completely.

Our father, our grandfather, and those who came before them, didn’t work as hard as they did for us to lose our minds because of a woman and watch it all disappear from beneath us.

Not fucking happening.

“Kian?” Kingston warns when I don’t respond quickly enough.

“What?” I snap.

“What did you do?”

I sit forward, studying my brother, trying to figure out when he started being able to read my thoughts without me saying a word.

“I assisted Martin with her interview.”

“For fuck’s sake, Kian,” he groans, lifting his glass to his lips for another drink as if someone has magically refilled it for him. “I promised Tatum that?—”

“And there lies the fucking problem, brother,” I taunt. “Tate’s great. I love her, I do. She’s fantastic at her job, and the fact that she can keep you in check is a fucking bonus, but I’m not taking her assurances about her best friend at face value like you are.”

“Lorelei isn’t a thief, K. Her boss was an asshole.”

I smirk, shaking my head.

“Do you have any fucking idea how whipped you sound right now? The Kingston Callahan I remember wouldn’t even have considered interviewing someone with a possible theft investigation hanging over their head.”

His mouth opens to respond, but he quickly changes his mind.

“I need more scotch for this,” he finally mutters. “You done for the day?” he asks before standing from the chair and stalking toward the door.

“Uh…”

“Sorry, I’ll rephrase. You are done for the day. Shut down and let’s go.”

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