Chapter 2 Theo
Theo
“How was your flight?” Noah asked as I answered the phone. Settling into the backseat, I watched as the private airstrip grew further away.
“Fine.” Silence greeted me on the other end, which meant that he was waiting for more information. “The deal is done. Paperwork is in your inbox.”
“I already saw it,” he replied. It may be ten at night, but Noah was one of six owners of Knight Enterprises. We didn’t know the meaning of normal working hours. “Did you get everything at the London office sorted?”
When we decided to relocate from London to Calgary and open a new office, we all knew there would be regular trips back. Especially when there was an issue that needed to be dealt with in person.
HR had called, letting us know one of our managers needed to be let go. They were trying to force people to work longer hours without billing it, taking credit for their work and belittling people in meetings. It had been my turn to fly over there.
“Yeah, shortlist was created for the replacement. HR will set up invites with the top two candidates.”
“Great. You know Mum was pissed to hear you were in town and didn’t stop by.”
“I was busy.”
Noah let out a heavy sigh. I wasn’t a talker, people tended to think I erred on the side of grumpy, but I think people talked too much.
Noah was still trying to push me to change, even though I’d been living with him since I was thirteen.
“Well, you’re going to have to call and explain that to her yourself. ”
I hadn’t talked to her in a while and I felt guilty about it, but I was okay living with it. “Did you need something else?” I asked, running a hand over my head, pushing my dark hair off my forehead.
“You’re just a joy this evening.” I waited him out; he was one of the friendliest members of our board and sometimes not feeding into it was better. “I’ll see you in the office tomorrow.”
“See you then.”
“At least you say some sort of goodbye, unlike Asher,” Noah mumbled. “See you tomorrow.”
I ignored the thirty-five unread emails that had come in since I shut off my laptop all of twenty minutes ago and closed my eyes.
The car came to a stop before I knew it.
“We’re here, Knight,” Arthur spoke softly from the front of the car as I reached for my briefcase.
“You didn’t have to pick me up,” I said, sending him a glare. But since he’d been driving me around for five years now, he was unaffected by my general disposition.
“You know Shelly likes to watch reruns of that Downtown show at night, I’m thankful for a reason to get out.” Arthur brushed me off with a wave of his hand.
I paid him well as my driver and Shelly, his wife, was my assistant.
When we relocated here, they said they wanted to come.
I tried to double their pay which they both refused to my annoyance.
They said you didn’t have to pay family and while I never had grandparents since my mother’s parents died before I was born, I felt like I had some now.
Even though it was begrudgingly from my side, especially at first.
“Thanks for the ride, Arthur. Get home safe.” I got out of the car and waved as he drove off.
I headed up to one of two penthouses on the twentieth floor. We owned this building along with several others in the downtown core. Asher took up residence across the hall from me. Letting myself in to my apartment, I dropped my bag in the foyer and headed to the bar cart in the living room.
We had bought the building before we moved here and had done upgrades.
The floor to ceiling windows that ran along the back of the room allowed me to see the city lights and the mountains in the daytime.
The whole place was done in a style called Industrial Modern, or so I was told, it didn’t matter to me. I mostly just slept here.
I grabbed a whisky and stood looking out at the city.
It was dark out this early in the spring but come the summer we would have light until after ten.
It was one of the things my mum had loved about Calgary.
The winters may be harsh and cold but the amount of sun you got all year round was preferable over wet, gloomy London.
Not bothering to turn on a light, I sunk into one of the chairs in my living room, enjoying the smokiness of my drink.
My mum had loved it here, but we’d moved away when I was eleven. My time with her after that was too brief and my memories were clouded with the weight of her disease; I’d lost her in less than two years.
I’d been lost in building my empire in the last fifteen years, focused on the next acquisition, on the next investment, on making sure that me and my brothers were set up.
Now we were a well-oiled machine, and our businesses were pulling in billions per year.
Moving back here had always been my plan.
I had no problems with how my life was, even sitting alone in my empty apartment didn’t bother me. I preferred my solitude actually. I spent my days dealing with people and that was the most I could do.
I had my brothers and my businesses. I didn’t have time or a desire for anything else in my life.
After finishing my whisky, I pulled out my phone to answer a few emails before heading off to bed.
Today had been a total clusterfuck and it was only nine in the morning.
I’d been woken up by some idiot setting off the fire alarm in the building at three in the morning, a whole hour and a half before I was supposed to be awake. By the time the fire department came and cleared the building, it was too late to go back to sleep so I had started my day with a run.
Then I’d gotten a call from Arthur to inform me that Shelly wasn’t feeling well but she was trying to come in, so then I had to call her and convince her to stay home. She tried to tell me it was just a headache but after enough back and forth, and her coughing up a lung, I won the argument.
Now I was running late since I’d made Arthur stay home too. Although it was an easy walk from my penthouse he usually insisted, and since it made him feel useful, I allowed it. Not this morning, though.
I had my head down, answering one of the many emails I had waiting for me, when someone bumped into me. The streets were busy with early morning commuters and when I turned to see who I’d run into, I didn’t notice anyone really looking at me.
Another email came in, pulling my attention away from the incident as I headed into the office.
Without an assistant to answer my phone and manage my shit, the first hour of my day was already a mess and I was screwed for the rest of the day. I rang Jaxson on our internal system.
“Does your assistant have some time to help me out today? Shelly’s home sick,” I said as soon as he answered.
“Morning to you too,” Jaxson muttered. I could tell he was distracted, likely with his head in some code.
As the head of our security division, he was always getting lost in something.
British Intelligence had even tried to recruit him in college, but he claimed he wasn’t cut out to follow government rules.
“It sounds like the Renley property is going to shit and I’m waiting on a call I can’t miss. People won’t stop knocking on my door and I need someone to rebook my meeting with that tech company that wants us to invest because Oli found something he wants more time to investigate.”
“I know, I’m working on the MarTech file right now.”
“So can Dustin help me or not?” I clenched and unclenched my fists.
“Yeah, no problem. I’m mostly at my desk today. I’ll call him, might take him a few to get everything routed.”
I hung up with a grunted thanks before focusing back on one of the many emails marked urgent. They usually weren’t. But everyone liked to add that stupid button.
My cell rang and I reached for it without looking.
Either Noah was running late and was going to just meet me at our next meeting, or Dustin hadn’t forwarded my calls from my office line to him yet since those routed to my cell during the day.
But the man was an efficient assistant, so it was likely Noah.
“Are you late?” I asked as I moved over the stack of papers on my desk.
“Is that really how you answer the phone,” Warren Kane sneered on the other end.
I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed the bridge of my nose. The bastard didn’t have my personal number which meant that Dustin hadn’t forwarded my calls yet. “Hello, Warren.” My tone cold.
“That’s no way to greet your father.” I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.
I spoke to the man once a year, longer if I was lucky. He liked to claim the title when it benefited him, particularly in business situations since Knight Enterprises had overtaken his own companies profit margins years ago. He was known in New York, but I was known internationally.
“What do you want? I’ve got a meeting.” In an hour but he wouldn’t know that.
“You’ve been in Calgary for over a month now and you haven’t visited any of my business investments.”
I hated the sound of his voice. It grated on me. Particularly because he only ever spoke to my mother in the same condescending tone and it made me want to strangle him, even then. But I also didn’t like that he kept such a close eye on my movements.
I had no reason to visit any of his businesses, because I didn’t care. But doing it now would buy me time before he popped his head up again, and I had other shit to do instead of waste breath fighting him on it. “Who would you like me to visit?”
Warren let out a deep sigh. “Theodore, it’s frankly disrespectful to make me even ask, you should have done it already. I’ve arranged for you to get a tour around one of them today for lunch.”
Fuck. I didn’t think this day could get any worse.