Page 77 of Beast: Part Two

Priest shakes his hand. “You speak as if you know me.”

Dominique chuckles. “Oh, I do. Nice to meet you, Hiroshi, Gabriel, Maksim, and Milo.” He says to all of us.

“Is Killian, Lucien, and Seth not joining us?” his gaze narrows in confusion.

“I don’t know about this guy,” Lucien says through the earpiece. “How does he know all of us?”

Good question. Priest asks the same thing out loud.

“Come inside,” Dominique says holding out his hand toward the office door. “I will explain everything.”

“After you,” Priest says.

Dominique chuckles but leads the way into his office. The inside is like most billionaire offices, large, stunning views, and dark furniture. Dominique leads us to the seating area on the left side of the room. Priest sits in one of the wingback chairs. Dominique sits on the other one beside him. Many takes a seat on the couch. I stand with my back against the wall where I can see everyone and everything. Zel is behind Priest’s chair. Maksim is near the door. The one guard that entered the room with us is standing opposite of Maksim on the other side of the door.

“I’ve been dying to meet you since I was a young boy and heard all about you,” Dominique says.

“And how did you hear about me?”

“My father. He was close friends with Robert Shelton.”

By now we all knew who Robert was. Priest’s ally in the Church. The man that got him in.

“How close of a friend?” Priest asks.

“Not as close as you’re thinking,” Dominique laughs. “They went to law school together. Robert talked about you and your skills often. He boasted about you as if you were his own child. For a while, I thought you were.”

“If you knew him so well, why sign the order?” I ask.

“Good question, Beast,” Hawk says through the earpiece.

Dominique stands up and walks over to the wet bar in his office. He pours brown liquor from a glass decanter into two whiskey glasses.

“Would you believe me if I told you, I signed the order so that we could do exactly what we’re doing right now,” he says bringing the glasses back over.

He sets one on the table in front of Priest and then takes the other back to his seat. He leans back in the chair placing his right ankle over his left knee.

“He’s telling the truth,” Albany says, “At least half of the truth.”

“But that’s not the only reason, right?” Priest picks up the whiskey and takes a sip as he sits back in his seat.

Dominique watches him with a grin on his face. He chuckles as he leans forward and puts his glass down.

“Everything Robert said about you is true,” he says gleefully. “You are correct, that isn’t the only reason I wanted to meet you. Let’s get down to business. I have no issue withdrawing my name. I’d planned to do it in the first place. However, I will be honest and tell you it will not solve your problem.”

“How so?” Priest asks.

“Corbyn already has three other members ready to sign a new order. The moment I withdraw my name, another order will go into action.”

“Fuck,” I hiss.

“I should’ve known Corbyn had something like this in place,” Maksim says shaking his head.

“Your father is a smart man, Maksim. But I think we can outsmart him.” Dominique smirks. It’s easy to tell that he dislikes Corbyn. He grimaces every time he mentions his name. I’m still not sure if we can fully trust him yet.

“And how do we do that?” I ask.

Dominique’s gaze lands on me and stays for an extended time. He doesn’t speak or react, he just stares.

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