Chapter 1
Time is king. It bothers me that I can’t control it, so I have to make do with controlling how I spend it. Each and every day, I prioritize and maximize, so if there’s anything I hate, it’s wasting time on idle chatter with business partners.
Which is why appointing my brother as my head of operations is the second-worse decision my dad ever made before retirement. Second only to leaving my mother for a woman a decade younger than I.
Not that our mother isn’t taken care of. She is. My brothers and I made sure of that.
Not that I have a horrible relationship with my dad or either of my brothers. I don’t.
But I do hate it when my brother Hudson interrupts my morning when he knows I have my routine and dislike interruptions.
Annoyed, I put down the Business Review article and hit the green button on my phone.
Hudson’s tanned face pops up on my screen. His green eyes practically sparkle. In fact, his entire face sparkles, and it’s too early for him to light up like this. He smiles widely, showing me all his teeth.
I return the smile while scanning the background on the video feed. I don’t recognize the bedroom. It’s not his.
“Blake, my brother dearest,” he starts.
“Hudson. On a scale from one to ten, how important is this phone call?”
“A nine.”
“And what do I consider a ten?”
“The death of either of our parents.”
I nod. “I’m listening.”
“There’s a charity auction tonight. I completely forgot about it.”
Not a level-nine emergency. Sighing, I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Do you need a suit?”
“Nah, nothing like that.”
“A date?” I give him a blank stare.
“I need you to go for me.”
“I have a prior arrangement.” With a talented new Italian designer I intend to sponsor. I get publicity for it, so it’ll all work out in my favor. She’s picking her sponsors now, and I need to come out on top, and not lose to Helen, the other competitor.
“It’s a charity auction,” Hudson says as he reaches for a plate of eggs, hash browns, and pancakes. He’s in a hotel somewhere.
“I’ll have Aisha send money for the charity. Where to?”
“They don’t need money.”
“What kind of charity doesn’t need money?”
“The Italians. Well, no, the Russians, actually, but I can’t keep track of how they intermix anymore.”
“And how did you get involved with them?” Only I wheel and deal with our friends on the other side of the law. No need to get my older brother’s hands dirty too. If shit goes down, I’d rather be the one to take the fall.
“It was an accident. One thing led to another, and I got stuck with the auction.”
“Do I want to know the details?”
“Nah, you’re good.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“No.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“I swear.”
I sigh. “Fine. Where are you?”
His grin’s gonna split his face. “Vegas,” he says and shoves half the pancake into his mouth.
“We have a meeting in an hour,” I remind him.
“You have a meeting in an hour. I canceled.” My brother flips the camera to show me a cart filled with breakfast dishes, champagne, and a stack of poker chips he’s gonna tip the staff with.
Fuck, I miss Vegas. We used to vacation there all the time.
Not so much anymore. Too busy. Overbooked, actually.
If my secretary wasn’t vicious about turning down ninety percent of the people coming at me daily, I’d bury myself in work. She’s like my Department of Defense.
“Have a good time,” I tell him, a little jealous of his current circumstances, and a lot annoyed he canceled the meeting and I agreed to attend the auction for him. “Wait, what kind of charity auction is it?”
“A hymen exhibit.”
I blink. Perhaps I heard him wrong. “Can you repeat that?”
Hudson winks, and the screen goes black. A hymen exhibit. What does that even mean? No sense in wondering about it when I’ll find out tonight. I pick up the Business Review and start my timer so it pings when I need to leave for the meeting. Time is king, and I’m never late.