Page 208 of Ruthless Kings of Havoc

“Yes.” I walk over to grab my water bottle, unscrew the cap, and gulp down the frigid ice water. I love the feel of it going down my throat that’s scorching hot like the rest of my body. “Does he have the intention of doing what I asked for?”

“It’s perceived as so, sir,” Hannah admits. “I’ve been analyzing his movements, though difficult.” That’s amusing for her to admit because nothing seems difficult for Hannah.

Until Mr. Wright.

“I can see why his company was sought by my father,” I admit. “How’s that coming along?”

“Progress on acquiring the Wright Empires is about sixty percent successful, sir. We’ll need two more meetings of negotiations to break a profitable deal, but we can push it to one with your approval.”

I think about it.

“Keep it at two. I don’t want them getting suspicious and thinking there’s some hidden value in their assets now that we’re intrigued. Having two ensures they believe we have multiple options. Emphasize them in the next meeting of the competition and give them a glimpse of the numbers. That will push them to make haste with their deal-making and wrap things up at the next meeting. Ensure the clause is firm in all the paperwork regarding the ownership and capital revolving around the inheritance.”

“Yes, sir,” Hannah approves. I can hear her fingers typing swiftly across her multiple keyboards. How this womanmultitasks with ease while I can’t box and process speech at the same time is beyond me.

“I’d like permission to share some intel, sir,” Hannah reveals.

Gossip.

“Speak freely, Hannah,” I encourage. Picking up my phone, I open the unencrypted file to reveal the ten images of the men I’ve sought out to rid this planet of for hurting Eva in the past.

Adding another red X on a photo is fucking satisfying, leaving me to smile while Hannah details the important highlights of whatever information she gathered.

“Ascension is approaching.”

That has my full attention as I lower my phone to grasp exactly what she said.

“How soon?”

“Next week.”

That’s not good.Not for our plans. At least my plans.It’s still a few weeks before I get that special package from Italy.

“Before or after the game?” I ask for clarification as I begin stretching so I can go shower.

“After, as of now,” Hannah confesses, giving a moment of silence for me to think while she’s typing away. “There seems to be an important set of guests coming to the game.”

“The NHL recruiters?”

“No, sir. They’re among the Royal Elite Party.”

I don’t like the sound of that.

“Their purpose?”

“Unidentified, sir.”

“Is Eva on their radar?”

It takes her longer to answer. Long enough that the sound of her speeding fingertips dancing across the various mechanical keys in haste begins to irritate me.

“One more minute, sir,” she ends up saying when she takes longer than usual.

I should take the advice Zander seems to give to Eva all the time.

Patience.

Laughable because I hate playing the waiting game, but we have to do it so often in our pitiful world because everyone’s a coward until they see a glimmering opportunity to one-up the other.

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