Chapter 15
SEPTEMBER 17 – WEDNESDAY 9:00 PM
N ash
The club was almost ready for our grand opening. A final push to completion included refacing the outside of the building and resurfacing the shitty, cracked, and overgrown parking lot. Our budget had been blown, much to Liam’s dismay, in order to draw the attention of the right clientele. Not that it mattered now. I could’ve purchased the entire street and not made a dent in the money from Mr. Genovese.
“I have to hand it to you, Nora. You have incredible taste,” I said, stalking from one room to the next.
Each offered a new experience depending on personal preferences.
“Oh, a compliment from Nash Collier. Whatever shall I do?” She smiled, pulling on her coat.
“Don’t get used to it,” I said from behind the bar.
The massive slab stretched across the entire lower level. Its surface was a sleek black and silver with red lights installed beneath. The glow gave this place a dark and gritty feel while remaining classy and upscale.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” She grabbed her purse and looked around. “The final touches will be done this week. There were a few things that I thought of after, but totally fixable. As soon as the outside is done you can open for business.”
“Excellent. I’m aiming for a Halloween grand opening.”
“Flashy and a huge party night, great idea,” she said.
“So, when are you moving in?”
“Not for a few weeks. I told them to concentrate on everything else first.”
I’d always liked Liam’s sister, but we were never close. I should’ve known that, just like her brother, we’d find an easy rhythm. She was his female version and almost as good with numbers. What the hell did that family drink?
“See you later, Nash. I trust that I can leave you to lock up.” Nora winked as she walked to the door.
“Get the hell out of here.”
“Going.”
The door opened, and the temporary bells jingled like Santa’s fucking sleigh.
Bending down, I tore open a box of custom black bottles. Unfortunately, I was still waiting on my liquor license. Some palms would need to be greased, but we should be set before the kickoff. If this place did well, then the plan was to open a second club in Seattle, and then who knows. Skies were the limit. Our alcohol was coming in from a few different distilleries in the area. Some of them were owned by families loyal to the council, while others were independents. This allowed me to build relationships with some of the smaller families from the ground up.
Loyalty. That was the key to all my plans. Mr. Genovese had told me I needed to cultivate a base that preferred working with me without attacking anything they had in place with my father. It allowed neutrality until the time was right. I’d spent every available night meeting, wining and dining the heads of families, signing contracts, and laying the groundwork for my future.
Mr. Genovese, a man I hardly knew, had laid out a blueprint for success. In a couple days, he made me feel like family, gave me logical business advice, and more trust than my father had in all nineteen years of my life.
Those damn bells sounded again.
“What did you forget this time?”
“So, this is where you’ve been spending all your time and money,” my father drawled. His voice was thick with sarcasm, and I slowly stood up to face him.
“How did you find it?”
“Please…I know everything,” he said, glancing around and it wasn’t hard to read the criticizing expression written all over his face.
It took everything I had not to tell him just how wrong he was, but I kept that shit locked down.
“Well, you didn’t know for almost a year, so…I guess your moles are slacking.” His annoyed glare found me at the bar.
“You missed the meeting with the new adventure capitalists that I arranged.”
Straight to his point then.
“No, I didn’t. I never intended on going.”
He narrowed his gaze at me, his dress shoes echoing on the shiny new floor at his approach. My knife felt heavy in my pocket, reminding me that I had it, just in case.
“You’d insult our investors that way?”
I shrugged.
“Why not? You did when you stood me up on purpose to fuck Vicky on your desk. Do you not remember that? Or maybe it was the night you were tied up and being whipped by my mother. It’s hard to keep your social calendar straight.”
“Watch your fucking tone with me,” he growled.
“No, I don’t think I will. You made it clear that you weren’t going to hand over the reins of the family, company, or council to me. How did you put it? I was nothing more than a disappointment, and you needed to make more heirs. Something like that, wasn’t it?”
Grabbing more bottles, I set them up on the shelves behind the bar, already picturing what it would look like with the mirrored background and LED lighting.
“Did you really think I was going to hang around and beg for whatever scraps you tossed down? Or let you humiliate me by forcing me to call Vicky mommy?”
Happy with the placement, I faced my father and his furious glare.
“I told you that would never happen. I meant it.”
“You’d rather work a bar for the rest of your life?”
“It’s a club, not a bar, and no, I have much larger plans. This is just the beginning.”
He put his hands on the new bar top. A quick glance down, and I was tempted to cut off his fucking fingers that were leaving prints behind.
“And where do you think you got the money to pay for all this? You owe me.”
“Are you referring to my trust fund?”
“What else would I be talking about? I know you cleaned it out.”
“I did, but it was just a loan. I don’t want one penny from you. Every cent has been returned. You didn’t know that,” I asked, not able to keep the sarcasm from my tone. “I thought you knew everything.”
He straightened to his full height, trying to intimidate me, but there was a thread of worry in his arrogant facade. His mind was running, desperately attempting to figure out how I had managed to get that much money. I smiled, ready to deliver my final blows.
“I also cut you a check for my car, truck, and everything else I own. You can check with your accountant. He took the payments and cashed them already.” I snapped my fingers. “Oh, and here is something else you didn’t know. I’ve moved out, and no, I’m not telling you where my new place is. I don’t want people I don’t like dropping in unannounced.”
“You fucking piece of shit,” he snarled, his hands curling into fists. “You will always owe the council.”
“You’re right, and I already have that arranged.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t sign any deal with you,” he said.
“You didn’t? You might want to check what you signed regarding the new bus line. Seems the council, including you, signed off on my company’s ownership. I’ve already secured our route with safe passage from California. Which took some work, considering Owen and Devin are at odds with the Mikhailovs. I’ll shave fifty percent off the top for the muscle to keep our route free from issues, pay the drivers, and cover any maintenance on the buses, and my cut. The council gets the remaining fifty percent.” Leaning back against the wine fridge, I crossed my arms. “That more than fulfills my obligation to the council of the normal thirty percent. Can’t argue with that…actually you could try, but then you’d just look like a vengeful, greedy old man who went back on his word to stick it to his son in a family dispute of your own making. You would look like someone that no longer has the council’s best interests at heart when I so clearly just want to help everyone prosper.” I laid my hand over my heart.
“You son of a bitch,” he growled, looking like he might actually try to leap over the bar.
“In most cases, that would be taken as an insult, but this time you’re correct. My mother is a bitch.”
“You’ll pay for this, son.”
“First, I don’t know why you’re pissed off. I’ve managed to stand on my own, without your money and have reimbursed every dime you’ve spent on me other than food. That’s hard to quantify, but since you did help create me, the least you can do is put in for the food I ate over the last nineteen years. Second, you’re the one who told me you had no intention of having me take over as head of the family. You got what you wanted. I won’t challenge you for the crown, and you can give it to whatever kid you manage to conceive at your age. Lastly, don’t call me son again. You’ve never been a father to me. I’m a man now and don’t need your approval.”
He smiled, but there was no warmth or humor in his eyes.
“Alright, Nash, you want to swim with the big fish in the pond…so be it, but I promise you’ll regret humiliating me like this.”
“Just be sure not to burn yourself while you’re focused on revenge. The council may not be happy if that happens.” I smirked. “I’m proving to be quite the asset.”
My father was predictable when it came to his fears. His first move would be to circle the wagons and ensure that all the prominent families were on his side with no intention of canceling contracts with Collier Enterprises. Then, he would try to bring in more money for the major shareholders to make them happy, but to do that, he would need to take the company public. That was what I was after.
If you couldn’t take on the head of the snake, then you started at the tail and worked your way up.
“Take care, Nash.”
The jingle of the bell was more ominous this time as the door opened, but fuck that felt good.
“You too, Dad. I’ll be waiting,” I whispered to the empty room.