Chapter 25 Theo
Theo
Iwas in a piss poor mood. Everything that could go wrong today, had.
There were issues with the land sale for our club, and we had to scramble to ensure the deal was secured.
Then we found evidence that one of our acquired companies had an executive that was trying to embezzle from us and we had to fix that.
And then I answered my fucking phone.
It was after five and I was anticipating my normal call from Quinn asking what time I would be home. I loved those calls and even though I was going to have to tell her I needed to stay at the office late, I wanted to talk to her. The sound of her voice calmed me and I needed that today.
But I should have looked at the damn caller ID.
“Theodore,” my father said through the phone as I answered. I clenched my jaw and sat back in my chair.
Was it too late to hang up?
“Warren,” I replied in the same cold tone.
I couldn’t remember the last time I called him by anything other than his name. He’d lost the right to be called anything other than an inconvenience when he dropped me and my mom like we were nothing, when he didn’t show up for either of us as she died.
“I’m in town.” My eyes narrowed. He’d never once come here before. Not in all the years I lived here as a child and not since moving back. I knew his company had interests here but he certainly didn’t.
“Hope you enjoy. Now if there is nothing else, I’m busy.”
His laugh had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. “Come to the Fairmont Suites, I’m staying there.” I hated the entitled demand in his voice. “I have things we need to discuss.”
“I have to decline.”
“That’s too bad, I wanted to discuss your redheaded girlfriend,” I froze at his words, “but if you don’t have time, you don’t have time.”
“I’ll be there in ten,” I ground out as I stood up, swiping my keys off my desk and heading out the door.
He made a mistake mentioning anything about Quinn, because now I was ready for a fight.
A couple of calls on the way to the hotel got me the information I needed.
He’d checked in this morning and was set to check out tomorrow with his name on a flight manifest leaving first thing in the morning. I confirmed that he had no meetings here on the books so whatever this was, it was about me.
I wasn’t sure Warren realized how closely I kept tabs on him. You had to know your enemy, understand their weaknesses in case you ever needed to take them down. Most of the time, I didn’t waste my energy on him, but I stayed ready, just in case.
Walking into the hotel bar, I found him easily tucked in a booth at the back on his own. He had a drink in his hand and a file on the table in front of him.
I slid into the booth and leaned back, one hand resting on the back of the bench the other on the table in front of me.
“Good to see you, Theodore,” he said as I stared at him, not replying. “As communicative as always.”
“What do you want? I have other places to be.” I kept my voice bored as I tried to ignore the file on the table.
Warren sat forward. “I heard you’re thinking of opening an office in New York.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him, waiting for more. His information wasn’t wrong, we were thinking about it as our next expansion location. Noah had made inquiries in a few places but we hadn’t decided anything yet.
Part of the reason for that was that Warren lived and worked in New York. Although I didn’t care about him, I knew he cared about me. He despised that I’d become more successful than him, without his name or his help.
“I don’t want you in my city.”
I barely held back my eye roll. “It’s a big city, Warren.” He ran an investment company, which was only one small part of mine, we wouldn’t even be in competition for business. Although he wouldn’t see that, he thought we played in the same league.
He was wrong.
“I assumed you would say that, so I decided to find some incentive.” He tapped the file on the table. “Your little girlfriend is pretty, although rather boring.”
“Watch yourself,” I growled out. I had no idea how he found out about Quinn, but it’s not like I was hiding her. We had pictures posted of us at the charity event in London. I was damn proud to have her on my arm.
“You should be thanking me really.” I narrowed my eyes at his smug tone. “When I couldn’t find anything on her, I started looking around her. You really should be more careful who you let into your circle.” He pushed the envelope toward me.
I didn’t want to read it. I had a suspicion of who in Quinn’s life would do something to put that dangerous gleam in his eyes. But I had to know. So I grabbed the thing off the table and ripped it open, flipping through the stack of papers.
My eyes scanned the pages quickly as my teeth ground together, each page was making me more and more angry. His name was all over it, account numbers, pictures, emails. Every new detail made my blood boil.
But I had to keep my cool.
Even though I had a feeling this was going to change everything.
“The authorities won’t care, they’ll investigate and move on.
” I bluffed as I put the folder back down and looked up at Warren’s smug smile.
I understood the look now, every single thing in there could hurt Quinn.
There was no way she knew about this but not everyone would believe her or even bother to ask.
“Do you know who Leonardo Moretti is?”
My fist tightened on the table at the name. “I’ve heard of him.”
“The rumored mafia boss isn’t going to be happy to hear about this.” He reached out, tapped the papers and tsked. “If I tell him what’s been going on, he’ll deal with her without asking questions or investigating well before the cops can get to the bottom of it.”
“What do you want?” I ground out, eyes narrowed on him.
“Shut down your plans to open a New York office, break off your relationship with Miss West, and I’ll keep this between us.” He sat back, smug and confident. Quinn had nothing to do with my business, but Warren seemed to be grasping at anything to put me in my place.
He’d found my weakness. He threatened the one person I would give up anything for, risk anything for.
Including my own happiness.
After leaving the Fairmont with the files, I’d gone back to the office. I texted Quinn that I had a few things to deal with and wouldn’t be home until late. I told her not to wait up, then left my phone in my drawer while I tried to find a way out of this.
It was just after two in the morning when I slipped into my room. Quinn was asleep on the bed, her hand tucked under her cheek, her e-reader was beside her on the bed like she’d fallen asleep reading. She looked so peaceful.
My chest hurt, but over the last few hours I’d created a believable story and a plan in my head. I’d even convinced myself that maybe this was for the best, that maybe this would be better for her.
Warren Kane wasn’t going to let this go so if hurting her kept her safe, then I would have to do it.
“Theo?” Quinn muttered as she stirred in bed, blinking over at me with a sleepy smile on her face. I closed the distance between us and looked down at her as she rubbed her eyes. “What happened?” Her voice was more alert now as she looked me up and down.
Instead of replying, I started unbuttoning my shirt. She opened her mouth, but I dropped my lips to hers, cutting her off.
She moaned into me as I pulled back only long enough to strip off her shirt. I fucking loved getting to see her tits, but I didn’t want to stop kissing her. Her hands ran into my hair, as I reached for my pants and freed my hard cock. I reached between us to find her already bare and wet.
I didn’t say a word as I slipped inside of her wet heat, driving into her over and over again. The only sounds in the room were our bodies meeting and our grunts. It didn’t take her long to find her release and after a few more pumps, I emptied myself into her.
Reveling in the feel of her spasming around me, savoring every moment I could.
I pulled out, grabbing a cloth to clean her up before settling myself back beside her. Her head went to my chest and she pressed a soft sleepy kiss against me.
Once her breath evened out again, I looked at the time.
I was giving myself one hour. One more hour with her beside me.
Because I needed to be gone before she woke up.