CHAPTER SIX Business
XERXES
“HOW DID YOU get in here?”
I could see Vanya wanting to get up from where she was sitting and handle her ex but there was no reason for her to do so when I was right here. I put a staying hand on her forearm to get her to settle. She didn’t buck against the restraint the way I assumed she would. Her eyes flickered to mine, flashing the myriad of emotions she was feeling: annoyance, hatred and the slightest bit of fear.
We’d spent the previous day putting in the offer on the first home she’d found. As much as I wanted to play hardball and waste her time by showing me the other properties, once I saw the joy on her face with the first one I knew there was no need. Today we were celebrating. The house negotiations had been quick because Vanya put in the offer for cash and a three day close before we even left. They’d countered another two hundred thousand, which showed just how greedy they were. Most people didn’t have the luxury of buying a property that still needed work done so the house had sat for years and was basically a money pit for them. They’d had to keep all the systems at full functioning even if the house was empty. They got their increase plus one percent for them to get our deal completed. I’d already feigned stupidity about where to purchase light fixtures and furniture so we’d spent the entire day together going in and out of showrooms to view different options. As if the way she dressed wasn’t evidence enough, Vanya had wonderful taste. If a vendor didn’t have what we needed, she knew who to go to in order for it to be made.
We were ending the day having dinner at the only restaurant she would allow me to take her to. I’d wanted to fly to New York, maybe extreme but at least I hadn’t suggested Lagos like I’d wanted to. She refused and said she would like to treat me to dinner as thanks. Was I pleased? No. The idea of a woman paying for something for me was foreign and I didn’t like it. Even my mother got pushback when she wanted to do something for me. I’d given in to Vanya and allowed her to book us a private room at the McCormick and Schmidt’s. My chef was in the back overseeing the meal to ensure everything was to my standards.
Vanya’s emotions were because of my actions and I had no issue owning to what I’d done.
“I was invited.” It was haughty and arrogant and another mark against a man that I was already going to embarrass. The Rioja conference room we were seated in had a wall of wine bottles behind the rectangular table that was set up. There were only two place settings because I hadn’t expected them to eat.
“There’s no way—”
I squeezed her hand, the ease of touch between the two of us becoming as natural as breathing. This level of intimacy with her wasn’t something I took lightly especially given what I’d found out. “I asked him to come, zibā .”
Eyes filled with betrayal turned to me, watery yet angry. Her body was tightly coiled ready to strike and I wasn’t sure which of us was going to be her target. Probably me because she expected more from me. “But for what—”
I held up my hand hoping to stem her ire until I could at least explain my logic. “Please. Take a moment and remember I would never do anyzing zhat was not for your benefit. I have not come zhis far in my efforts to gain your favor to have you run from me on a simple mistake. I understand zhat zhis looks bad, but I am more zhan capable of handling any issue zhat may arise.”
She had nodded as I spoke, like she was silently affirming everything I said was true against a mental tally of actions since we’d met.
The smug look on his face had me ready to leap across the table, but I had a reason for him being here.
“So you’ve been calling me almost constantly begging me for a meeting. I decided to allow you a few minutes to tell me why my current representation isn’t as good as yours.”
Just then a white man walked in eagerly his eyes lingering far too long on Vanya for my liking. Since the asshole ex-husband of hers wasn’t making introductions, I waited for him to introduce himself. Instead, his eyes stayed on Vanya and her body got more and more tense. My fingers itched to pull out the gun on my side but I refrained for now.
The older man finally spoke up smoothing down his suit jacket and holding his hand out for me to shake. I looked at it with all the disgust I felt in my soul, knowing if I touched his hand I would break it. “Well, we have—”
My hand went up to get him to halt his speaking because the sound of his voice disturbed my soul. “I did not say we, I said you.” I pointed to Vanya’s ex completely ignoring the other man. “I do not work wiz men like Mr. Kennedy. He was not zhe one invited.”
Immediately, his privilege wouldn’t allow him to be ignored. “How are you going to tell me that I’m not allowed to sit in on something when I own the company?” Chest puffed up, feelings of anger worn on his face as though he were going to bully me.
My eyes narrowed at the thought of him thinking he could tell me what the fuck to do. “By using the words I just did to tell you zhat your presence is not wanted here. Zhe stench of you makes me ill.”
“How dare some Arab—”
“First off, I’m Black, Persian and Arab. Get my shit right. Second, no matter who or what I am, I’m better zhan you could ever hope to be. Sho!”
Sho immediately stepped from behind me and snatched the elder Kennedy up by the arm, halting the hatred he was about to spew.
“What is this? Get off of me. You can’t do this to me.” He tried to shake himself free but Shoaib wasn’t about to let him go. The smile on Sho’s face meant he hoped that the elder Kennedy kept acting up so he could fuck him up.
“I can when I have an ownership stake in zhis business. Zhis is a private room and you were not granted admission by my invitation. Your son’s doesn’t count. Now, if he wants to join you...” I turned to him, waiting to see if his loyalty or his greed would win out.
The younger Kennedy hesitated before he stayed quiet as his adoptive father was drug away.
I would’ve said there was some hope for him yet, but with the way he had treated my Vanya, his showing a backbone only angered me more. He could have shown it in the defense of someone else instead of simply for his own vanity. So really, it was only another strike against him.
“Mr. Cannon—”
“Who do you zhink you are inviting hangers on to a meeting I requested wiz you and only because of extenuating circumstances?” He looked surprised, as though my ire was only going to be directed toward his father.
“I’m sorry, what?” His surprise was comical and I saw Vanya even roll her eyes.
“Who do you zhink you are?” That question was loaded. I wanted to take the measure of the person who had been so intimately involved with my future wife’s pain. His answer would reveal how to devastate him, because it would show what he valued the most.
His face was a teak color, his hair cut low and his suit decent quality. Compared to his father, I could tell they were still cheating him out of commissions. “Well, my father is my broker and I wanted to ensure we had all areas of your business covered when we spoke to you about our proposal. Any facilities that you recommend looking to build wouldn’t be in the Charlotte proper area that Vanya specializes in. Our family goes to church with and does business with a lot of the families that still own larger parcels of land throughout the more rural areas. You wouldn’t want to have someone like Vanya representing your name or your brand around Charlotte, anyway.”
My eyes darted to hers noting the revulsion on her face before they went back to him. “Someone like Vanya?”
I saw her flinch at my words and now my interest was piqued.
He stepped closer nodding his unnaturally textured hair. “You think she got all those clients by being good at her business? She did them by using her feminine wiles to land clients. Sexual favors in return for contracts. It’s disgusting behavior.” His teak colored face was tight, eyes narrowed as he loudly admonished this woman like he expected her to ask for forgiveness.
“And what do you do to gain business?”
His eyes left her and focused back on me. The confusion at my not immediately ganging up on Vanya or attempting to proposition her was clear. “Excuse me?”
“What do you do?” I sat forward because it was about to get extremely difficult for Mr. Kennedy.
“I don’t think I understand what you’re trying to imply.” He had the nerve to look angry at what he thought I was implying when he’d just said it blatantly about Vanya. “I’m not like that.”
“And neither am I. But you say zhat Vanya’s bedroom skill was so miraculously better zhan anyzing zhe two of you could offer zhat you had nozing zhat could match it. Not lowering the percentage or getting zhem a property at a lower price since you have so many rural and urban connections? No, it was simply Vanya and her magical… bedroom skills zhat have made her so successful.”
He smirked at me eyeing slyly before he sealed his fate. “They’re rather impressive if you haven’t already sampled them. I’m the one who fucked her first—”
My body launched across the table, and my hands were around his throat before he could back up. Vanya gasped but didn’t say another word as I sunk the pads of my fingers into his neck. Quentin was chuckling behind us and Sho walked back inside unconcerned about why I had this man hemmed up. He was probably wondering what the hell took this long.
“Now, I invited you here as a courtesy. Well, zhat’s a lie. I wanted to prove a point in a very gentlemanly manner. But your filthy mouth has made zhat impossible. Did I not warn you before about speaking with zhat foul language in front of a sayyida ? And zhen to speak zhat way about her? You should lose your tongue.” I was speaking through clenched teeth and I was trying not to kill this man as my fingers sunk deeper into the flesh of his neck.
I felt the movement beside me and glanced over to see that Quentin held a hunting knife for me to use in enacting my words. His efficiency was more than appreciated and I was glad he was just as annoyed by this man as I was. The younger Kennedy started to speak some gibberish that almost sounded like an apology but I wasn’t in the mood to hear it. Nothing he had to say was important to me. His death would occur today, tomorrow, or a year from now. The end was a guarantee; the method was still up for debate.
The most interesting thing to me was that Vanya did not say a word. There were no protests as before. No wanting me to show mercy. No crying out as though she viewed me as a madman. Her silence intrigued me and as I faced her past, I had to ask her a few questions.
“What should we do with this man, zibā?” I knocked his head against the wood paneling watching the panic continue to mount in his eyes. Asshole had the nerve to be wearing blue contact lenses.
“You’ve already beaten him up once. I guess it didn’t take.” I turned to her and she look so casual at the idea of violence now that I could only hope we would continue along with the trajectory of our relationship positively. I took her in proudly. The way she crossed her legs to the unbothered look on her face as she sipped from her martini glass.
“Do you hear zhat Quentin? Shoaib? Our Vanya zhinks zhat we have slacked on the job.” I glanced at the two men who were as overprotective over Vanya as I was.
“You’re the one who said we had to keep him alive. We aren’t used to those parameters with work. Maybe we went too easy on him. Sho, we should get a redo.” Quentin was rubbing his chin looking completely offended at my having requested that we allow Jonathan to live. A request I’d made hoping to earn Vanya’s favor. I could see now the error in my ways.
To his credit, Sho grinned as Johnathan looked afraid. Why he thought I had a genuine interest in working with him had to be based on idiocy and misogynoir.
“If zhat is vhat vould allow us to regain zhe favor of Shahzadeh’s sayyida , I am more zhan happy to do so.” Sho cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders slightly.
“I just want him out of my space. I don’t appreciate you bringing him here when I have just finally agreed to work with you. Was this some sort of test?” Vanya’s eyes flickered to me and I could see the flames of anger begin to emerge. I half expected her hair to fan out around her like the fire starter.
“No, zibā . Zhis was so zhat you could see what he was saying about you to potential clients. To show you zhat zhere are some who might come at you—”
“I’ve already told you that they were doing that. You think I didn’t know who sent them? Of course I knew. They didn’t hide it. They were more than eager to talk about what they thought they would get extra from working with me.”
“My apologies. I should’ve asked your permission to look into zhis zhan to zhink zhat you were ignorant of zheir hate. You know far more about zhe monsters zhat you are dealing with zhan I do. Please accept my apologies.” I put my hand over my heart because I could tell I’d truly hurt her feelings. It was never my intention to insult Vanya, I wanted her to have a full understanding when I took their lives the reason behind it. Maybe it was the wrong move to bring this man who’d tormented her back into her space.
“You apologized.” Vanya’s eyes were wide, as though the concept of receiving an apology from me was foreign to her.
“Yes. What else is zhere to do when you’ve wronged someone?”
Her eyes flickered to the man I forgot I was choking. I turned to him, giving him another squeeze for good measure before allowing him to breathe. His face had turned an odd shade and I watched him gasp like a fish out of water as he tried to get air back in his lungs as quickly as possible.
“Let me guess, he was not one to use his words when he was wrong but used force to keep you in line and ignoring his mistakes.” She nodded her affirmation and I turned to spit on the man on the ground. “You are lucky zhe owner likes zhis rug as much as he does or I would soak zhe fibers with your blood.”
“Just make him go away—”
My ears perked up and even Shoaib looked excited at her request. “Permanently—”
Vanya smiled softly before looking down at the man on the ground and shaking her head. “No. I don’t want to be bothered by them anymore. The phone calls and harassment need to stop. I don’t want them dead because I have a perverse sense of joy I derive from knowing they are sitting around going broke and I’m thriving in a way they say I never could. I was too stupid to make it on my own, remember, Johnathan? But now little ole never gonna be anything Vanya is outselling your entire agency. Word is that you guys are on the cusp of losing your agency licensing because of how low your profits are. And very few people actually listen when you tell them I’m only successful because of the rumors you’re spreading.”
“Besides, vould it not be more honorable to condemn zhe man who would be so easily swayed by the offer of using a woman’s body zhan on her merit? I’ve never understood zhe desire to penalize women for zhe crimes of men.” Shoaib added his two cents as Quentin nodded his agreement like we weren’t all ready to commit a crime.
“It is because zhey are weak, Shoaib. Zhey have no discipline and no power outside of what zhey can exert against zhose weaker zhan zhem. I would love for him to try it wiz me, zhough.” I cracked my back wanting Jonathan to get up from the floor.
“He never would. Jonathan will probably be scared to go home with the way he disappointed dear old dad, isn’t that right Jonathan?”
Jonathan sat up turning his anger to Vanya. Sho, Quentin and I all moved to form a wall so he couldn’t get near her. “You’re going to be the one in trouble at the end of all of this. Not me. I’ve lived life the way I was supposed to. I’m getting ready to be sealed in temple to the family—”
“They’ve been hanging that over your head for years. Having us achieve more and more to become true children of theirs. We weren’t even sealed in the temple during our marriage because deep down they didn’t want us. They don’t want us to be bound to them for eternity nor us to one another. They will use you for everything that you can do for them but they won’t ever love you. It’s legitimately modern day slavery. I hate you, but I know you’re the way you are because of them. At least listen to what I’m saying from an objective point of view, even if you don’t want to believe it.”
“You have turned against the ways of the prophet. Against God. Against how you were raised—”
Vanya’s features turned thunderous as she walked closer to her past fearlessly. “Damn right. I was raised to think that my freckles—which God gave me — were somehow a sign that I was a sinner. I had done nothing but be born.”
“Who knows how you were conceived? Your mother was probably a degenerate based on how you are acting! How you acted in our marriage. You were supposed to be a dutiful wife but you turned into a headstrong, overly confident woman who had the nerve to want to have a voice that overruled her husband. You think a man like him is going to tolerate that back talk? Do you know what they do to the women where he’s from? Haven’t you heard of honor killings? You think he would want a woman who has already had one husband she couldn’t make happy? You couldn’t even get pregnant!” He was disrespectful with the way he was pointing at me and shouting at her so I reached out and snapped the finger he seemed so proud of waving around.
“Zhen why do you want her back so badly?” While he writhed in pain I had to get the answers out of him I could.
“Excuse me?”
“If she didn’t make you happy, why not leave her alone? Count her absence as a zhe favor and move on.”
He squeezed his eyes together as though he could block out the pain, took a deep breath and finally spoke up. “Because I—”
“Because you are nothing without Vanya. I can tell by zhe way she runs her agency she’s used to doing the work of multiple people. T’at means she did it before, vhen she vorked for your father. When she was working with you. Probably doing all the work zhat got you zhe realtor of zhe year awards zhat you won when y’all were married. Crazy zhat you haven’t been able to replicate zhat success since your divorce.”
He bristled at my comment and I knew I struck a nerve but there wasn’t shit he could do about facts. He could deny whatever he wanted, but I knew an unbalanced relationship when I put eyes on it. Vanya was a woman who was far out of his league and he was trying to get her back not out of love but because he wanted her labor. He appreciated being able to claim her work as his and according to my love’s information they were losing money fast.
“You know nothing about me.” His jaw was clenched, but he knew better than to put that bass in his voice.
“I know everything I need to know. It grows tiresome to continue to see you and this is the first and the last time I invite you into my space. Ensure zhat you avoid me like the plague.”
“This is my city—”
I jerked him back toward me, loving the fear I saw in his eyes. “I couldn’t give two fucks if it was your house. If I say to stay away, you do as I command or suffer for the disobedience. Forgive my language, Vanya.”
She waved me off elegantly, like this was an everyday occurrence. “You’re fine.”
“Zhe warning has been given. Heed it or not, it is no matter to me. You will suffer zhe consequences of whatever you decided. You can go now.”
I pushed him away from me, waiting to see the move he would make. Instead of saying a word he kept his injured hand close to his body and walked out of the room. Normally I would’ve felt bad about how I handled another Black man, but his ass would probably be offended that I called him Black.
I turned to Vanya watching her finish her drink and turn back to me. I knew already that she was going to leave and I couldn’t stop her.
“I appreciate your apologizing, but I need a minute.” She’d stop to speak to me, something she didn’t have to do. It showed that we had a mutual respect for one another. It was a place to start, but I hated I had set us back with this meeting.
“I understand completely. I’m sure zhat you have lost some respect for me and I apologize again. I did not mean to be another man who stepped on your toes zhe way I’m sure ozers have before.”
Her smile was tense, the light blue of her dress complimenting her hair and freckles. “It’s alright—”
“No. It’s not. And again, I’m sorry. I know you’re going to leave, but can Quentin escort you to your car?”
“I live right across the street.” I was well aware of the location of her home but I didn’t want to scare her off with my knowledge.
“If you didn’t drive, zhen allow him to drop you off at home.”
She hesitated but then glanced at Quentin before she gave a small smile. “That’s fine.”
“Zhank you.” I nodded at Quentin who moved into step with Vanya and I could only watch helplessly, angry with myself, as someone else escorted her home.
“Zhat did not go quite the vay you zhought it vould.” Shoaib came to step closer to me and I could hear the sympathy in his tone.
I sighed and couldn’t even be mad because I’d brought it on myself. “Does it ever?”
“I will say zhat Vanya is resourceful even with the little that she’s been given esince she got away from her ex. She’s made friends vith people loyal enough to be honest vith her. Zhat’s rare.” He was attempting to make me feel better, but it wasn’t going to work.
“She’s rare. But you’re right. I got highhanded wanting to play zhe hero. When I got zhe information I did, I should’ve gone to her to discuss it. Instead, my overzealous nature might have caused her to be even more distrustful of me.”
“You have to be out of town for a few days, you zhinking of inviting her along?”
I turned to look at Shoaib who didn’t bother to keep a straight face. He was grinning, his features lighter than the normal deadly scowl he wore.
“You must want to hasten her walking away from me. I take her to DC and zhen all hell breaks loose when she hears what I need to speak with Ori about.”
“It vould be an excellent test. You know zhat somezing vill be coming and zhen vhat vill you do if she doesn’t know how to handle zhe pressure?” Sho again was speaking facts I didn’t want to focus on right now. There would be tests for Vanya, from both sides of my family. One of loyalty and strength, the other of survival. She’d already proved she would fight for others, but the time would come where she would need to fight for herself. That is where I was unsure about her. She had done it against the Kennedys, but only to free herself. In our life, you had to get rid of your enemies, not ignore them.
“You’re right. Zhe observation can start while I’m gone. Is she in place?”
Shoaib nodded as we walked back to the table I’d been sitting in when all of this started. I pulled out my money clip and put enough down to more than cover the meal and a tip. I was happy someone would be watching her while I was away. I would have to text her later on tonight after she cooled off. There was nothing else I could do for the moment but give her space, but hopefully she’d be open to still working with me. Despite my romantic desires, there was no one else I would trust like her to handle business.
“Quentin back?”
“Pulling up now.”
I sighed and looked back at the room I didn’t get to use, wishing tonight had been different. “Good. Let’s get home.”