Page 121 of Emergence and Ascendance

"Business associate." He kept his expression impassive.

"Why would he challenge the legality of me purchasing that property?"

"Because I refuse to partner with him on other things. It was a threat to force my hand which I handled."

"You said you pushed the process of me obtaining my deed because of my father."

He nodded. "I did."

"That's not what you said."

"More than one thing can be true, Scot. It was important for multiple reasons that there was no way for anyone to dispute the legality of the purchase."

I narrowed my eyes, considering what he was saying. "What kind of business associate is Parker?"

"One you don't need to be worried about. It's handled."

"Are you agreeing to whatever he wants you to do?"

"No. I no longer have a vested interest in partnering with him."

"Him or them?"

He smirked and I narrowed. "Come here?"

"Answer the question."

"Scot… come here." He dropped his chin and I sighed and crossed the bathroom, stopping in front of him. Christian grabbed my waist and pulled me between his legs before hishands moved down to my ass. "Based on your question, you know about The Collective. So yes, them. Parker is a member. They want Ezekiel and me to accept investors who would attach to our legal businesses but neither of us are agreeing to do so. He was either watching me or watching the deals I was making, which is how he knows about you. I made it clear that you were off limits."

"But does that really matter? You just said he was going to challenge my ownership of the property."

"I'll take care of it."

"How?"

"By taking care of it." Christian dropped his head and kissed my neck, gripping my ass. "How you doing?"

When he pulled me in closer, the hardness of his dick pressed into my stomach, reminding me of last night.

"I'm fine. Don't try to change the subject."

He chuckled and kissed my neck again. "The Collective is not an issue nor is it my concern right now, you are. Have you decided what you want to do?"

I sighed. "I talked to Alex this morning. I told him I was leaving."

"He okay with that?"

Christian's eyes were on mine. "Yes, he said he understood. How soon can we leave?"

"The jet is on standby. We can leave this morning but are you sure that's what you want?"

"I'm sure."

He squeezed my ass again then slapped it hard, making me smile. "Get dressed then. I'm going to let them know we'll be leaving in a few hours."

"Thank you." I lifted onto my toes and pecked his mouth. "I'm going to check in with Val before we leave."

He nodded and I left the bathroom to go call my sister. I was no longer interested in worrying about what anyone else thought about the decisions I made. I was doing what was best for me, and at the moment, best was Christian Devereaux.

---