Chapter Four #2
It’s a Payne family tradition for every man to have a woman at his side, serving them in every way: emotionally, sexually, and physically. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better than Katia.
Katia has anticipated my every move and need since the moment I met her, and although I tell myself I can easily live without her, the truth is I don’t want to.
She’s everything I need rolled into one, and she looks damn good.
The door opens, and Katia walks in. She struts like a model, and her looks encourage that sentiment.
She has wide hips—childbearing hips, as my mother would call them.
It wasn’t uncommon for the Payne men to knock up their help.
The children were bastards and not set to inherit anything, just members of the family.
I’d made it clear to Katia that wouldn’t happen with her.
I like her far too much to doom her to that kind of fate.
Her lips are tainted red with the lipstick she’s known for.
Her dark hair is naturally straight and hangs past her shoulders.
Her skin looks tanner than usual, and I’m sure she’s been spending what little free time she has out in the sun.
She’s tall, even more so in the six-inch heels, which she refuses to be seen without.
Everything about this woman is a wet dream. She’s wearing dark jeans that hug her curves and a black button-down shirt with a red bra that peeks from underneath, pushing up her breasts.
“Mr. Payne,” she nods, closing the door behind her. I raise an eyebrow but don’t say anything. I’ve told Katia many times that it’s not necessary for her to refer to me by my last name, but because my dad says differently, she listens to him.
I guess her fear of him outweighs any fear she has of me.
She’s carrying a pile of folders and gently sets them on my desk. I don’t have any other chairs because I don’t enjoy entertaining anyone here, but I might have to change that for Katia.
“Talk,” I instruct her as I open the first folder, glancing at the business name at the top.
“Some of these are your contracts with the brokered deals between House of Payne and your clientele. Others are memberships from the legal side of House of Payne, and a few detail money owed from loans that have already been issued.”
“I’ve seen these. Why am I looking at them again?” I close the folder and sigh. I don’t enjoy repetitive work.
“These are the quarterlies,” she reminds me.
Time to see which businesses will sink or swim.
I nod brusquely. “How many businesses are at risk of default this time around?” Whenever we loan money to external businesses, it’s under the clause that we understand they might not be able to pay us back in cash, but we have other methods of getting our money back. Nobody steals from the House of Payne.
“More than usual. About thirteen.”
A slow smile spreads across my face. Usually, it’s half of that. Regular loan sharks wouldn’t be so happy about such a number, but nothing about us is regular.
“Has Carlisle made any of them the offer?”
Katia smirks, reminding me she’s as deeply demented as I am. She enjoys chaos, maybe even more than I do. “More than half of them. Looks like it’ll be a good harvest this year.”
We haven’t had a good harvest in more than two years. I laugh. “So it appears.”
Today has proven to be a rather good day. After the stress I’ve been dealing with the past few weeks, the continuous good news is enough to make me stop tensing my shoulders.
“Is there anything else?” I ask, noticing Katia has yet to leave.
She sends me a longing glance, as her fingers find the buttons to her shirt. “You’ve gone weeks without me,” she notes.
“I’ve been busy,” I comment, although I’m watching her every move.
“Do you have an hour or two to spare in your schedule?”
I stare at her, and a long moment passes before a knock on the door interrupts whatever she’s about to say next.
Katia watches me intently with a dark gleam in her eyes. She doesn’t have to talk for me to know what she’s thinking. Don’t tell them to come in. Focus on me instead. I don’t say anything, hoping that whoever is behind that door will leave if they think I’m not here.
She seems pleased by my choice and slips one of her hands into her bra, cupping a breast and playing with it.
Then she pulls her breast from the confines of her bra, the nipple grinning at me while she rolls it in between her fingers, taunting me.
She’s not screaming right now, but if it were me playing with her nipple, she would be.
We have been sexually active for the past six years, once I couldn’t find anyone else to properly satisfy my itch.
I like being in control, and Katia is exactly the woman I can do that with. It’s one of the few situations where I can let my darker, baser side take the reins.
She lets her eyes fall closed as she leads one hand down her neck, between the valley of her breasts, over her flat stomach, and between the thighs that squeeze me whenever she rides me for everything I am.
Fuck me.
Katia knows exactly how to touch herself in a way that drives me mad.
I want to push her against the wall and bury myself in her until neither of us can see.
I’m a busy man, but I’m still a man. I’ve slept with my fair share of women other than Katia, but this woman knows what she’s doing. I don’t have to teach her how to dance with the devil.
“It’s important.” It’s Carlisle. “I can hear you by the way.”
Goddamn Carlisle.
It had better be important, or I’m going to put your head through the nearest wall.
I snort as Katia rolls her eyes, stuffing her breast back in her bra and buttoning her shirt. One more look in my direction and she opens the door, plastering on a fake smile for Carlisle. “You enjoy being a pest, don’t you? Aren’t you supposed to be out doing, I don’t know, your job?”
“Oh, sorry did I interrupt something?” Carlisle grins and points at her shirt. “You forgot the top button, unless the whore effect is what you were going for?”
“You would know plenty about them considering you can’t get a woman you’re not paying to like you.”
“Oh, and to think you were one of the few.” He puts a hand on his heart as if she’s hurt him.
Carlisle and Katia have never gotten along, and I don’t care enough to ask why. Their business can stay personal as long as they’re professional at work.
“Why are you here, Carlisle?”
He’s supposed to be out on a trip and not standing in front of me, trying to bait my assassin into giving him a reaction.
He shoulders past Katia, and I expect her to leave, but she stays next to the door. I would never let anyone else stand in on a meeting, but she’s one of the few people I trust. In fact, the only two people I trust are the ones in this office.
“I just finished going door to door with all the clients who have defaulted on their payments and owe us money. Katia was supposed to give you the folders with their information, and…”
“Unlike some people, I know how to do my job without prompting or any hand holding.”
“Oh, wow.” He turns to look at her. “You mean you’re good for something other than…”
“Enough,” I interrupt, aware of where the conversation is headed. “Continue, Carlisle.”
“Right.” His face is all business. “I thought now was as good a time as any to do checkups because of quarterlies. We’ve got the city officials breathing down our necks.”
“Is that so?” We’ve always had minor problems with the city. They’re aware that not everything we do is legal, but they don’t have a way to prove it, so there’s nothing they can do.
“It’s become quite the hindrance. They’ve been placing more checks and seizures at the ports. Our men are barely getting through.”
I don’t like the sound of that. That’s a big source of income for us. I frown. “What are we doing to fix that?”
“The Fitzpatricks are getting agitated,” he answers. “They’re asking us to set up another checkpoint because they won’t risk getting caught.”
“That’s no surprise.”
Setting up another checkpoint isn’t as easy as the Fitzpatricks think.
Contrary to what they might think, I can’t just snap my fingers and make it happen. Still, I know it’s only a matter of time before they start hounding me again.
It’s one of the downsides of being in business with the same families for so long.
Their sense of entitlement has always rubbed me the wrong way.
You can’t afford to make an enemy of them, remember? You need them as much as they need you, so just give the pricks what they want and be done with it.
“The Fitzpatricks have always been pussies,” Katia mutters. I spare her a quick glance. When it comes to these meetings, she’s nobody, and her opinions doesn’t matter. She can be seen but never heard.
She swallows, casting her head to the side while Carlisle sends her a triumphant glance before focusing back on me.
“She’s right, though. Out of all the families, the Fitzpatricks have the most to lose if their true business ventures come to light, and they’ll do anything to prevent that from happening. ”
A key reason we don’t fully trust them.
They would probably throw us under the bus to protect their family name. We have several measures in place to prevent that from happening.
“Then we don’t have much of a choice.” There’s nothing I dislike more than being left with few options. I huff. “And the campaigns? Any improvements?”
The subtle shake of Carlisle’s head gives me my answer.
“If anything, they’ve grown worse since Jefferson was elected mayor.
He’s been really pushing to end the corruption of the city, which has led to secret raids.
I was there the other night when the Fitzpatricks nearly got caught at the port with imported guns. It’s a miracle we weren’t caught.”
He calls it a miracle; I call it a lucky distraction. I don’t believe in chance.