Page 6 of Tamed

Ten would be appalled and it would make things difficult for Isabel, and considering he already made things pretty fucking difficult, it wasn’t fair on her. And it wasn’t as if I couldn't handle her myself.

Trying to make her quit was petty, I could acknowledge that, but if being an asshole would make her reconsider this ill-advised crush, then an asshole I would be. Not that I wasn’t one ordinarily. If I had a problem with someone, we either fixed it or that someone didn’t work for me anymore.

I shoved back my chair and stalked over to the windows, feeling restless.

The real issue was that Isabel was here because Ten wanted me keeping an eye on her. Ostensibly it was all about proving her worth as a potential CEO, but that was a bunch of bullshit he’d told her because he didn’t want her to know the truth.

Ten had said she’d been asking difficult questions about her mother and if there was one thing she couldn’t do, it was to ask difficult questions about her mother. Not when that mother had been the daughter of James Hamilton, head of one of the most powerful and dangerous families in entire country. Juliana Hamilton had died giving birth to Isabel and now, after twenty-three years of silence, Ten had heard rumors that the Hamiltons wanted Isabel back.

Naturally, he wasn’t having it, which was a pain in the fucking ass, because now he’d made it my problem.

Isabel had grown up — she’d always been headstrong and stubborn, and now she was even more so — and Ten wanted to keep her close to protect her. He’d always either held her too tightly or not tightly enough and now she was an adult, she was tired of his overprotectiveness. She wanted her freedom, yet she also craved security, and I knew it because I knew her better than her father did. I maybe knew her even better than she knew herself.

Boundaries. That’s what she needed. What she’d always needed.

I put my hands in my pockets and stared down at Manhattan, crouching below my office like a supplicant.

I meant to conquer this city and I wasn’t far off doing so already. With an office in Paris opening in a week and then two more in Singapore and Manila, my investment company was on track to be the biggest on the planet.

Not bad for an orphaned street kid from nowhere in particular.

I liked to think that Old Nick would have been proud, but Old Nick, the head of the crime empire I’d taken from him before he could stab me in the back, was dead and he could fucking rot in hell where I’d put him.

Unlike him, my ambitions had never been small.

This city was mine and after it the entire goddamn world.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I took it out, glancing down at the screen. It was Ten, because of course it was.

I hit the answer button. “Yes, she’s here,” I said before he could speak. “Yes, I had words with her for being late. And yes, she’s a pain in my fucking ass. Any more questions?”

Ten was silent a moment and then his cool voice said, “She can go work with Atlas, it doesn’t have to be you.”

“I thought you said a building site’s the wrong place for her.”

“It is.” Ten sounded irritated. “Though, I think now I may have to send her further afield.”

I stared down at the Manhattan streets, cars moving along them like ants. This could only mean one thing. “You have a problem with her mother’s family.” I did not make it a question. I already knew. Just because I’d gone straight years ago didn’t mean I’d gotten rid of all my contacts and my contacts had been very clear.

The Hamiltons were ready to move. Ten, Atlas and I were powerful, but they had blood on their side, not to mention access to the kind of generational wealth that had been sitting in Swiss bank accounts since before there was even a Switzerland. They had links to royalty, to government heads of state, and maybe even a few crime syndicates, and they were prepared to use any means necessary to get access to Isabel.

I’d told Ten years ago that a couple of visits with them wouldn’t have hurt and would have meant better relations with them now, but he was an uptight prick. They’d never forgiven him for taking their beloved daughter from them, and he’d never forgiven them for not accepting theri relationship. He didn’t want Isabel anywhere near them and perhaps turning her against him, since that’s the least of what they would do. They had a reputation for grudge holding.

“Cal,” he began.

“Leave it with me,” I said, not letting him finish. “I’ll deal with them.”

The Hamiltons might be powerful, but even though I’d gone straight years ago, I still owned the underworld. If I didn’t want anyone touching her, then no one would touch her, no matter how powerful they were.

“No.” Ten’s voice was flat. “I’m not having you start a war. We’re done with that.”

He might be. But I wasn’t. Ten had never been part of Old Nick’s empire. He’d refused. He’d had a kid to look after and didn’t want her dragged into that world, and I’d understood. It was only a pity that his scruples had caused more bullshit over the years than if he’d joined Old Nick along with me. He hadn’t, though, and so now we were dealing with this.

“Take her overseas then,” I said. “Or I could. The Paris office, perhaps.”

“She won’t go.” He sounded pissed and I couldn’t blame him. Isabel never did what anyone told her.

“She won’t go if you tell her to,” I pointed out. “If I explain it’s a promotion and she’ll be working in one of Cross’s new offices then she might.”

---