Page 114 of Sacrifice (Corrupt Empire 2)

She nodded, grinning before she pulled out her phone. Her wallpaper was her and a pink haired girl with their arms wrapped around each other. She was kind of cute in a hippy sort of way.

“She’s pretty, isn’t she, James?”

“Yes, very nice, Gertie. You’ve done well,” he responded.

I could tell he was just saying that to make Gert happy and he wasn’t at all impressed with her new girlfriend. I could hardly blame him. He’d had to mop up Gert’s tears alongside me. He hated seeing her upset just as much as I did.

I gave him a sharp look. All I got back was a shrug.

“I’m going to get a drink. You guys want anything?” Gert said, standing up.

I shook my head and James waved her away. When she was out of earshot, I turned to him.

“Are you trying to upset her?”

“What? No. It’s just you know what she’s like, runs headlong into these things without really knowing anything about them and then it ends badly. I don’t want her to get hurt again.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Are you sure it’s just that?”

“Do you think I’m jealous because both of you are seeing someone? Don’t make me laugh.”

“James…”

He sighed, rolling his eyes.

“I’m fine, Ave. Honestly, I don’t have time for girls right now. Not with Dad and Dante on my case. There’s something weird going on with them.”

James started working for his dad when we left school in the corporate offices of Bensons. He worked in distribution, which he somewhat enjoyed, but it didn’t mean he liked working for his dad.

“Weird how?”

“I overheard them talking about preparations and a girl, but I don’t know what the fuck it’s about. Dante was like, it’s still over a year away and Dad said they can never be too careful. I didn’t stick around, you know they’d only have got mad if they found out I was eavesdropping.”

That seemed odd. James didn’t really get along with Dante any longer. Shit with their family was weird. They’d lived away from their father for a while because of the abuse, but then something changed. James said Dante just flipped a switch and started being a dick to everyone. Things had just gone downhill from there.

I still got along fine with him whenever I saw him, which these days wasn’t often. I saw him as my big brother in so many ways. I’d spent so much time with the Bensons when I was younger. I didn’t care much for James’ sisters, Jen and Fi. The twins stuck their noses up at me, but Dante was different. He was five years older than James and me and looked out for us when we’d been at school until he graduated. That was when he’d taken James, Jen and Fi away from Zach. They’d lived with him until they were old enough to move out themselves.

“I’m sure it’s nothing, James. You shouldn’t get involved either, that won’t end well.”

“You’re right. I should just forget about it. Hey, what did UCL say when you told them you weren’t coming back?”

“They were fine about it, especially after my parents dying and me needing to officially withdraw so I could take over the company. I’m not upset about not completing my degree. You know it’s not what I wanted to do.”

Gert arrived back with her latte.

“What are we talking about now?” she asked.

“Just about what UCL said when Avery ditched her course,” James replied.

“I did not ditch my course. Don’t be a dick, James,” I said.

Gert grinned, rolling her eyes.

“She never really wanted to do architecture anyway.”

“She didn’t want to run a global company either.”

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