SWNOVELS : Chapter 107
“I’d like to see Nina this afternoon,” I told Alexander.
He’d just taken his seat beside me at the breakfast table. “You and I could link back up in the evening for dinner. How’s that sound to you?”
“Sounds great.” He took a big bite of omelette, looking pensive as he chewed. “That’ll give me some time for extra training with the pack, actually. They could use it. Just let me know when you want to do dinner.”
I nodded. “Another thing I wanted to talk to you about,” I added.
“Well, I was thinking about you and Conrad, and everything you’ve told me now about your arrangement.”
Alexander’s movements slowed. He put his fork down and reached for his water glass, sipped it and watched me carefully. I was verging into historically problematic territory for us by talking about the company.
“May I ask for a few more details about that? I guess what I’m asking is really, how involved are you with the company’s operations? If Conrad is more or less running the show?”
“Well. Conrad handles all the day-to-day. He has a lot of discretion. I don’t ask him to run anything by me, that’s part of our arrangement. But I keep myself
informed about the company and I step in to make some decisions when necessary.”
I thought this over. It was vague, but it answered my query.
“That makes sense. Okay, new question.”
He tilted his head, curious. “Okay.”
“Now that Scarlet is in the position she is in… having dissolved her rival company, lost her personal fortune, been disgraced. Might this be a good opportunity to go public? Make your ownership of the company known? She is no longer in any position to attack Crescent Ventures. It might be the perfect time to do it.”
Alexander looked at me blankly. “What would I gain by going public?” he finally asked.
“Positive notoriety.” I was a little surprised he had to ask. “Acclaim. A following?”
He gave me a very serious look that told me he had truly not considered this before.
“You are going to be King someday. Perhaps it’s time to start making a name for yourself. Your people should know that you are more than just a fearsome warrior.”
Alexander looked impressed. Pleased with my idea indeed, now that he was fleshing it out in his imagination.
“And how should I go about doing that?” he asked.
“What would be my first step?”
“You could do an interview. I’m sure any finance
magazine would put you on the cover once they knew the story you were selling. After that, the opportunities will come to you. You could pick and choose which you’d like to capitalize on.”
Alexander pushed his plate aside and shuffled his chair, angling it to face me directly.
“So what do you think?” I asked.
“I think you’re brilliant,” he said. “I think we should do it.”
“Look what they gave me.” Nina was holding up a small, rectangular sticker with a QR code on it. She’d been in her car waiting at the front of the palace.
“What’s that?”
“A security pass.” She peeled the backing off the
window cling and fixed it to the top left corner of the windshield interior.
“What for?”
“They said I can go through any of these interior gates now. So next time I come pick you up, I can drive in to that parking lot over by the training field. Where Kayden parks. Close to your room so you don’t have to meet me up here.”
“Oh. That’s great! They just gave it to you?”
“Yeah, apparently Alexander left it for me.”
“Hm. That was nice of him.”
Nina smiled distractedly, shifting the car into gear. “I thought so. Now buckle up and let’s get out of here. I can’t wait to show you my place.”
—
“That may be the biggest bed I have ever seen.”
Nina laughed. “It just looks big because the room is small. Yours is probably the same size, it’s just in the middle of that enormous suite.”
Her new apartment was in a nice building, nothing too fancy but newly renovated and very clean. Her one-bedroom unit was on the ninth floor, accessible by an elevator from the lobby, and she had a teeny tiny balcony with a gorgeous view of the downtown skyline.
“Speaking of the palace. You have to come by sometime and see my new home office set-up I was telling you about. It’s super cute.”
“I’d love to! That was nice of Alexander to do that for you. And just in time for your new work stuff, huh?
How’s that going? You had your first meeting to run yesterday, right?”
“Yes. It went really, really well.”
“Yay! That’s awesome, Fi! Good job!”
She gave me a big hug. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been needing it. “Thank you Nina. I am so tired, though. And all I’ve done is one meeting. I’ve got two weeks more of this ahead.”
“Yeah. You can handle it, though. Just try to keep a lid on the over-ambitious tendencies, you know?
Know when enough’s enough and it’s time to take a break.”
“Yes, I know.” Nina knew me better than anyone. “It’s
a balancing act. A lot of the extra work hours really are necessary.”
Nina’s stomach started growling and she suggested we order lunch. Lounging on her new, fluffy couch and eating takeout whilst enjoying the view out her windows sounded absolutely delightful. We ordered pizzas from a place down the block and they arrived in record time.
“So, what’s going on with that weird girl?” Nina asked, handing me a big, greasy slice on a paper plate. “She still stalking you?”
“Fortunately, I haven’t seen her since that last odd interaction I told you about. But she’s there. She’s around.”
Nina scowled. “I don’t like it. I don’t trust her.”
“It’ll be fine. She is… irritating and strange, but Alexander is keeping her away from me, at least.”
“Hm. Well, good news,” she said, switching gears.
“This is my last week at the club. I got a new gig starting week after. Dancing, but for events. Cooler spots, bigger audiences. Less shadowy corners. A very different vibe. I don’t know what the tips will be like, but it’s a better job.”
“That’s awesome, Nina.”
“Yeah, the club’s been good to me. But I can’t shake the jumpy feeling I get in the parking lot now.” She cringed, remembering the recent incident.
But then she shook it off quickly and changed the subject before I could make any further comments.
“Wanna see something?” she asked.
“Sure.”
I followed Nina into her bedroom, then into a smallish walk-in closet. She had an iron safe in there. I watched with great interest as she plugged in a code and popped the door open.
Out came a small black duffel bag. It dropped to the floor with a thud. She crouched down and tugged the zipper open.
“Holy shit, Nina. Are those all hundreds?”
She grinned. “Yeah. I take the smaller bills to the bank. Just kind of started stashing away the hundreds for fun, then they started adding up over the weeks.”
I looked at my best friend in horror. “Nina, cash hoarding is not the way to grow wealth. You should be
investing this in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds—”
“Okay, nerd.” She put her hand up flat like a stop sign.
I laughed. And snorted, which didn’t help my case against the nerd accusation.
“Tell you what. I will let you teach me about investing.
Show me how and I’ll start putting something aside.
But the cash bag stays put. What if I need to go on the run, huh?”
“Nina.” I broke into laughter again. “Who would you need to go on the run from?”
She shrugged, like it didn’t matter.
“And how is Nina doing?”
“She’s great,” I said, not meeting Alexander’s eyes. I was changing for dinner and he was watching me.
“Just moved into a new apartment. It’s small, but much nicer than her last place.”
“Good for her.”
“I was thinking about inviting her over sometime. I’ll be crazed at work the next couple weeks, but maybe she could come by next weekend. I want to show her my new desk and everything.”
“Sounds wonderful. Should I see if Kayden can join us? The four of us could have dinner here. Or we could even go out together, do something different.”
“Hmm.” I pursed my lips. “I think… maybe not?”
Alexander understood quickly. “Ah. I take it Nina is no longer interested?”
“It may be more accurate to say she has acquired a new interest.”
He nodded, pressing his lips together like he was trying to hold back a smile. Then the smile spilled out, along with a single chuckle. “I’m sorry. I’m just laughing at Kayden right now.”
“What? Why?”
“He really liked Nina. But I think he’s known for a while that it’s over.”
“Aw.” I puzzled at Alexander being amused with his friend’s heartbreak. “That’s sad. Why did you laugh?”
He shook his head. “A guy thing, I guess.” He used his hand to wipe the smile off his mouth. “Don’t worry about Kayden. He’ll be fine.”
“Are you going to tell him?” I suddenly felt guilty about discussing Nina’s love life with an interested party. I didn’t realize her fling with Kayden had had any substance to it, I guess. Didn’t realize he cared.
“No.” Alexander laughed again. “Definitely not. Don’t worry. I don’t need to get in the middle of that.”