Chapter 10
Niko
Christmas passed up there in those mountains, but it didn’t feel like Christmas to me.
No holiday cheer, or family, or pretending to be happy.
Just snow, heat and bending that pretty ass woman over every chance I got.
I hated the holidays. Always did. Too many memories I spent years trying to forget.
But somehow, wrapped up in her for that week, it was the first Christmas in a long time that didn’t hurt.
That should’ve been my first warning. By the time I got back to Dallas, it was damn near New Year’s.
I told myself I’d leave everything from Winter Haven right where it happened—Her laugh…
her slim thick body, the way she moaned when I was knee deep in her pussy, I lied to myself.
The minute I stepped off that plane, I threw myself straight into work.
I had shit to do anyway — media runs, private tastings, new menu launches for the Buckhead and Miami spots, staff meetings, franchise talk, investors blowing up my phone.
I stayed moving because staying still wasn’t an option.
It was the nights that fucked with me. The silence in my high-rise condo, when I’m sitting still and my brain finally stops moving is when she invades every thought I tried to ignore.
Elise. I knew that wasn’t what her mama named her.
She hesitated before she said it, but I let her keep the lie because I had one too.
One night I got drunk and even tried calling Winter Haven. I played it cool and asked the front desk lady if she could connect me with a guest who checked in under Elise Winters. I tried flirting with her mean ass, but she shut that shit down fast.
“We don’t release guest information, Mr. Frost. Privacy policy.”
I’d ran into a brick wall. I had no last name for her.
No real name and no clue to even figure out who she was or where to find her.
I decided to do what I did best… keep my head down, handle my business and pretend she wasn’t living rent free in the back of my head every day.
I was in the Plano kitchen going over the final touches on a tasting menu when my phone buzzed.
I almost ignored it until I saw the name.
My mother. I stepped away from the line and answered.
“Ma, what’s up?”
“Niko, baby… I need you to come by the house,” she said. Her voice was soft, but there was a shake underneath it I hadn’t heard in years. “Tonight, please.”
That alone told me something was wrong. “You alright?”
“I’m fine.” She paused. “It’s your father I’m worried about. And the company. We need to talk.”
“I’ll be there in an hour, ma.”
“Thank you, baby.”
I hung up, gave my sous-chef a few instructions, and headed out.
The Frost estate sat behind a gate that screamed money.
I had grown up there, but it had never felt like home.
Home was the kitchen I built with my own hands, and the restaurants that carried my name in the streets.
Still, when my mother called, I came. I already knew what the hell she wanted to talk about.
She’d called me while I was up at Winter Haven, and I ignored it on purpose because I wasn’t trying to hear another word about this proposal bullshit my father had cooked up, but Ma wasn’t the type to push unless something was really wrong.
And the sound of her voice on the phone earlier was something I couldn’t ignore.
She met me in the sitting room; hands wrapped around a mug I was sure held the black coffee she always drank when she was stressed.
Her hair was pinned back neat, like she was trying to keep herself together, but her eyes told a different story…
she was tired. This talk wasn’t about ego or tradition or my father’s obsession with legacy; something was actually wrong.
I leaned down and kissed her cheek. “You good?”
“I’m managing,” she said, which was Ma’s way of saying no, but I’ll tell you when I’m ready.
“Sit.”
I sat across from her, and one look at her told me the truth: something serious was coming.
“What’s going on?”
She glanced toward my father’s office door then back at me. I already knew where this was headed, and I hated that I was right.
“Your father won’t admit it,” she said quietly, “but Frost International is in trouble.”
My jaw clenched before I could stop it. Of course it was. Of course, the old man hid it until the walls were damn near crumbling.
“What kind of trouble?”
“The kind that doesn’t disappear with a press release,” she said quietly.
“The markets shifted faster than the board was prepared for. A few bad investments. A stalled project. Legal fees. It stacked up. The merger with Hargrove isn’t just about ego, Niko.
Without it, we don’t have enough leverage to keep everything afloat. ”
I stared at her, letting that sink in. “So, you telling me if this merger doesn’t happen, y’all lose the company?”
She nodded once. “If something doesn’t change soon, we’ll have to start selling properties, downsizing and cutting staff. Your father is trying to hold it together, but the numbers are what they are.”
The truth of what she wasn’t saying settled over me like a damns shadow.
“All these years he walked around here like nothing could touch him,” I said.
“Now the ship sinking and he still talking that legacy bullsh—" I caught myself before I let the disrespect slip in front of her.
Part of me wanted to let my father drown in the consequences.
The other part, the part Ma raised, knew I never would.
“He’s proud,” she said. “Too proud, but I need you to see past that and understand what’s at risk. This is our family’s livelihood, our retirement funds, and all the employees who have been with us since before you were born.”
“So, what you asking me to do?” I asked, because we both knew where this was headed.
She studied my face. “I’m asking you to talk to your father again. I’m asking you to consider the marriage, even if it’s on your terms. Not for him… for all of us.”
Silence settled between us as I thought about everything I had built alone.
Fire & Frost would stand whether Frost International crumbled or not.
My money was safe. My brand was safe, but my mother sat in front of me, asking for help.
Her voice carried years of sacrifice. Sleepless nights, support and she had never once tried to control me, even when my father did.
“Is it really that bad?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “There is no point in sugarcoating it. We will lose damn near everything without this merger.”
I rubbed my hands over my face and leaned back, staring at the ceiling for a second.
“I’ll talk to him,” I said finally. “But I’m not walking into this blind or on his leash.”
Her shoulders dropped in relief. “That’s all I ask. You deserve to set your terms, but don’t wait too long. Time is not on our side with this.”
I stood and kissed her forehead. “Go eat something, ma. You stressing too much. We gone figure this out one way or the other,” I assured her.
She exhaled softly. “I appreciate you, Niko. More than you know.”
Walking into my father’s office tonight felt different.
Last time I was here, I walked out ready to burn the bridge and the tower with it.
I told myself I was done with his bullshit…
done with the legacy talk, the pressure, and the manipulation.
But now I had my mother’s words replaying in my head…
her voice, her worries and the look in her eyes that she was trying to hide.
And if Ma was scared, then things would be worse than he ever admitted.
He looked up from his laptop when I opened the door. “Nikolai.”
I clenched my jaw. Always trying to pull rank.
“Cut it,” I said. “We’re not doing all that tonight.”
He studied me, trying to read what version of me he was getting, the son, the businessman, or the threat.
“What brings you here, son?” he asked.
“Ma talked to me,” I said, taking the chair across from him. “Told me the truth you didn’t.”
His jaw ticked. A tell he hated people noticing.
“I have it handled,” he said.
Liar. If he had handled it, Ma wouldn’t have been calling me from the edge, trying to make me see the mess he created.
“No, you don’t,” I said. “If everything was handled, she wouldn’t be talking downsizing and liquidation. So here we are.”
He stayed quiet, and that silence told me everything… he was scrambling, trying to figure out how much I knew and how much he could still control.
“I’m not here to argue about whether or not you fucked up,” I said. “What’s done is done. I’m here to talk about the merger.”
That got him. He sat up straighter, eyes narrowing just a bit.
“Go on.”
“I’ll do it,” I said. “I’ll marry Victoria.”
A flicker of surprise crossed his face. His tells were small, but I caught them. I always did. He thought I wouldn’t bend, and part of me hated that I was.
“You’re serious?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “But it’s not happening on your timeline. Or theirs.”
He folded his hands. “What do you want?”
“One year,” I said. “We announce an engagement. We do the public bullshit. You secure your deal. But the wedding doesn’t happen until a year from now.”
I leaned back, letting him hear the weight of my terms.
“In that time, I finish what I’m building with my new locations. I keep full control of Fire & Frost. No one touches my company papers, my recipes, my team.”
“That was never in question,” he said.
Everything is in question with you, I almost said, but kept it to myself.
“I’m saying it out loud anyway,” I replied. “And I’m not playing house with some stranger for your optics. If this marriage is happening, I need time to see if she’s someone I can tolerate without wanting to drink myself to sleep every night.”
He exhaled slowly. “The Hargroves will want—”