Page 28 of A Man of Wealth

“Well, nonetheless, congrats,” Sebastian says.

“So, what exactly happened at the gala? You haven’t even filled us in since we spoke after the car chase,” Sebastian adds.

I had spent an entire day in discussions with Sebastian, Aiden, and Bryce about our security, the likelihood of a tracking device on my car, and then I had a completely different sidebar with Sebastian and Aiden about Vivienne and my thoughts on the possibility of my father’s company being involved in transporting the illegal drugs.

Sebastian had Alexis, who he had re-hired to work in his office, start researching to see if any shipping logs were submitted to the port authority. So far, Alexis hadn’t found anything.

“Well, Vivienne spoke to Jared as you know. She didn’t get any intel at the gala, but she is supposed to have dinner with him this week,” I grumble as I glaze over why she didn’t get intel. I take full responsibility for her sudden departure from the event, but my best friends don’t need to know everything.

As if reading between the lines, Sebastian raises an eyebrow. “Why do I feel like Vivienne is no longer an enemy of the state?”

I narrow my eyes at him. My brothers know me too well. “I’m not discussing it, but no, she’s no longer on my shit list. She’s on our team, and she can be trusted.”

“Noted,” he says with a little mirth in his tone. I know he wants to question my judgment, but our trust is the core of our friendship, so my assessment of Vivienne will stand.

“Anyhow, we need to figure out when Jared’s next shipment is arriving. If your intel is correct, Aiden, then this stuff is probably in refrigerated containers. There are literally hundreds of them there. It’s beyond a needle in a haystack. If we can get a date of when they arrive or when they shipped, then it’s feasible that we can find them.”

Aiden’s eyes widen. “You are going to break into your father’s shipyard, and loot through containers. All in hopes of finding a few containing an illegal substance that you may or may not be able to verify as being an illegal substance?”

I raise a hand to stop him from talking because his logic is giving me a headache.

“Do you have a better plan?”

He cracks his knuckles and purses his lips. It’s his telltale sign of deep thought.

“If I was there with you, then perhaps…maybe, I could run a quick on-site analysis. I don’t like this plan though. It has way too many possible points of weakness.”

“By all means, please come up with something more concrete and secure,” I state dryly.

“I’ll think about it. What about all the other connections? If we’re taking down the entire ship, then we need more than some illegal drugs.”

Sebastian nods. “I know. I’m working on it. Bryce has a friend who knows a hacker that may be able to pull emails, text messages, and the like along with anything they’ve hidden on the dark web.”

“We’ll need all that evidence if we take anything public,” I state.

“I know. It’ll take time, a few weeks,” he adds.

“Should we talk to Chuck?” I ask, mentioning the one mentor from the brotherhood that we trust, especially Aiden. Sebastian’s mentor was a former president who passed away two years ago from cancer. My mentor is an irritating, former professor who now makes the rounds on talk shows. I seldom speak with him.

“No, not yet,” he replies.

We silently exchange looks. We’re all well aware that this could likely end our careers. It might very well end everything as we know it. I’ve been spending too much time thinking about that lately. And I’ve started working to arrange an exit plan for us. I just haven’t shared that with them yet. They’ll learn about it all in due time.

“I need to go. I have an early meeting tomorrow,” I announce as I grab a glass and fill it with water.

“Whoa! I thought we were hanging out. We have plans to make and an empire to crush,” Sebastian says.

“We do. And that plan involves intel, does it not?” I ask as I down my water and set the cup in the sink.

Sebastian and Aiden pause, waiting for me to explain myself.

“If my father won’t come to me, then I guess I’m going to him.”

Aiden’s eyes widen. “Damn, someone grew some massive balls this week.”

“First, we both know I have massive balls. And second, I’m tired of Lena giving me the runaround.”

Sebastian is still quiet, and we both look at him.

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