Page 58 of The Lieutenant

“We have a meeting to go to.” That was that. What had just occurred was shoved aside and I was once again expected to obey him. He headed toward the door, stopping short when he realized I wasn’t behind him. “You are my single light in a dark and cold world, Kara. I never intend on hurting you, but I suspect during the time we share, you’ll come to hate me if you already don’t feel the burning need to destroy me. Then you’ll leave and return to your life. While I’ll understand, that doesn’t mean I will allow it to happen. You are mine.”

CHAPTER 17

Havros

“Mr. Nomikos, your guests are in the conference room.”

My assistant, Alisa, handed me my iPad, the handheld ready with the necessary information for the meeting. In my mind, this was nothing but a formality, although the officials didn’t seem to believe we had any right to purchase the land located in Thessaloniki for the purposes of turning it into an entertainment mecca.

As the second largest city in Greece, and a major economic, industrial, commercial, and political arena of over three million people, it was a perfect location to provide another sinful club.

Only they weren’t interested in our business. Today was all about… changing their minds.

My way.

“Thank you,” I told her and kept walking. The feel of having Kara behind me was more of an electric prod. She’d caught me completely off guard before and I’d lost my cool. I’d certainly never done so around a woman. Why her?

Because I craved everything about her. Hell, I admired her tenacity and spunk to the point I wanted to hire her almost as much as I wanted to fuck her. Did that make me some kind of barbarian? If you added in that I’d told her more than once she belonged to me, then you bet it did.

And I didn’t care.

Our fight had invigorated me. It felt as if I had fire under my feet. However, I was currently in the process of placing my desires in an appropriate box to be opened later after what I considered a victory. I stopped just outside the closed door.

“You are my assistant on this day. Do you understand me, Kara?”

“Yes.” Her voice still held the earlier defiance. She’d sat as far away from me in the car as I’d driven back to the office. She hadn’t said a single word.

“You can write notes, but you will not speak unless spoken to. This isn’t about your job. It’s about mine. Any discrepancies will be handled accordingly.”

She choked then laughed. “So barbaric of you. Yes, Master.”

Her voice was a soft purr, a subtle reminder she wouldn’t be so easy to tame. At least she’d confirmed I’d crossed over from being a man to a beast. So be it. That was what she did to me.

I opened the door, sweeping in without bothering to look the three men in the face. I couldn’t care less who they were orwhat their credentials were. I was running this meeting and they would simply listen and agree. If not, I would take every measure necessary to turn their lives into miserable hell.

“Gentlemen. This is my assistant, Kara. She will be joining us today. Let’s get started.” I pointed to a chair beside me, waiting until she sat down before yanking out the single one at the head of the table and slowly easing into it. My smile was genuine. To me, this was just a game, the fun part of the business.

Not one of them could carry a poker face. They were utterly terrified. Why? Because they knew from the crumbs my people had left that I’d found out every detail about them: their work, their families, and more important, their secrets. There wasn’t a rock anywhere in the world where they could go and I wouldn’t find them.

My advantage was necessary to keep the peace.

Or to keep from getting additional spots of blood on my shirt. I’d been more careless than I’d thought, deciding not to change after hearing of Theo’s death, going close enough to his house I’d managed to catch the investigators already working on the case. The press had snatched the piece of information quickly. From what I’d learned, Theo had been slaughtered and without a doubt, fingers would be pointed in my family’s direction. We’d be prepared, but we couldn’t allow it to impact the final authorization of our designs and intentions.

“Mr. Havros. We should talk about the situation.”

Their names were on my documentation, but quite frankly, I’d simply used their identities to get the dirt on them I needed. However, one man’s name I’d purposely remembered. Luke Galanis was the head of the Ministry of Environment, a powerfulman who rarely attended permit meetings. He had a personal dislike for my father, something Luke was trying to use against us. “I’m certain you’re prepared to provide the required permits so we can move forward with our project.”

The other two men didn’t appear eager to open their mouths, leaving the tough work to their boss. He finally leaned forward, steepling his hands on the table. He spent too much time leering at Kara. I found myself shifting into unwanted emotions all over again.

No one fucked with what belonged to me.

“I’m afraid your permits have been denied.” Luke made the statement with absolute ease, as if his word was directly from God’s mouth.

I sat back, shifting my gaze from one to another man before responding. “I don’t think that’s a wise move, but first, I’ll ask you the reason.”

Why not offer him the opportunity to dig himself out of the hole?

“Because you and your family are criminals, Mr. Nomikos.”

---