Chapter 19 Tashi
Tashi
The knock on my door made me flinch.
I’d been sitting in the same spot on the sofa for what felt like hours, staring at my phone’s black screen, too afraid to turn it back on. Last I checked, the view count was seven million.
Leo was in the kitchen making tea I hadn’t asked for and probably wouldn’t drink. Orion stood at the window, his posture rigid, reviewing something on his tablet.
Another knock, sharper this time, and angry.
“I’ll get it,” Orion said, already moving toward the door.
He opened it, and Henri Saltz stormed in like a hurricane, flashing credentials that should have been useless by now.
His face was flushed deep red, veins standing out on his temples. His expensive suit was rumpled, his tie askew. He looked like a man on the edge of losing control.
“We need to talk,” he said, his voice shaking with barely contained rage. “Now.”
“Henri—” Orion started.
“Don’t.” Henri’s eyes swept the room and landed on me. The hatred in his gaze made me shrink back into the sofa. “This is about her. About your completely reckless, irresponsible behavior with that woman.”
“Watch your tone,” Leo said quietly, moving to stand between Henri and me.
“Watch my tone?” Henri’s laugh was sharp and ugly. “You three have put this entire casino at risk because you couldn’t keep your hands off an employee, and you want me to watch my tone?”
“That’s enough,” Orion said, his CEO voice sliding into place—cold and authoritative.
“It’s not nearly enough!” Henri snarled. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? That video is everywhere. The Gaming Commission has moved up the hearing. Our investors are panicking. And you—” He jabbed a finger at Orion. “You need to cut her loose. Now. Today.”
“No,” Orion said with deadly calm.
“No?” Henri’s voice went up an octave. “That’s your response?”
“Firing Tashi makes us look guilty of wrongdoing,” Orion explained, his tone maddeningly calm. “It suggests we believe the allegations have merit. We’re not doing that.”
“You are guilty!” Henri’s control finally snapped. “You violated every professional boundary, put the company’s gaming license at risk, and created a public relations nightmare that could destroy everything we’ve built!”
“Henri,” Leo said, moving toward the bar. “Have a drink and calm down.”
“I will not calm down!” Henri’s hands were shaking now, balled into fists at his sides. “There’s a Gaming Commission hearing in three days. Three days! And if they rule against us, we lose everything. The license, the hotel, our reputations—everything!”
“Not if we stick together,” Orion said. “We present a united front, we show that no policies were violated, and we demonstrate that what happened between consenting adults is not the Commission’s business.”
“You’re delusional.” Henri’s voice dropped to something cold and dangerous. “Completely delusional if you think that strategy will work. You’re unreasonable. All three of you.”
“Henri—”
“No. I’m done trying to reason with you.
” He straightened his tie with jerky movements, trying to regain some composure.
“If you refuse to let her go, if you refuse to take this seriously, then I have no choice but to call for an emergency meeting of the board of directors—one I still sit on—and have you all terminated… for failing to follow applicable gaming laws, regulations, and licensing requirements. For conflict of interest. For gross negligence in your fiduciary duties.”
The room went silent.
I could hear my heartbeat, loud and erratic. Leo had gone still. Orion’s expression hadn’t changed, but something shifted behind his eyes—a calculation, a reassessment.
“You’d do that to us, Henri?” Orion asked quietly. “Your business partners of all these years?”
“I’ll do what I have to do to protect this business,” Henri said. His voice was steady now. Certain.
“Your investment.” Orion’s tone was measured, but I could hear the steel underneath. “You’ve gotten your investment back many times over, Henri. Plus, you’ve spent more time on the links than attending to your job. I’ve had to pick up the slack while you schmooze with Vegas VIPs.”
Henri’s face went even redder. “That’s not—”
“Think twice about your threats,” Orion continued, his voice cutting. “Because if it wasn’t for our affection for you, you’d have been out on your ass a long time ago.”
“That’s how you see it?” Henri’s voice shook with what could be hurt beneath the rage. “After all the sacrifices I’ve made for this company? After seventeen years?”
“You provided seed money, and we appreciate that. But you’ve been collecting a paycheck while my brothers and I did the actual work. Yes. That’s how I see it.”
Henri stared at Orion for a long moment, his chest heaving. Then his expression hardened into something I couldn’t read—something that looked almost like satisfaction beneath the anger.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll see you at the board meeting.”
He turned and stalked toward the door, his movements sharp and controlled. At the threshold, he paused, looking back at me one last time.
His expression made my blood run cold. It wasn’t just anger. Not just a look of disgust. It was something deeper. Something personal.
Then he was gone, the door slamming behind him hard enough to rattle the artwork on the walls.
The silence that followed suffocated me.
“Well,” Leo said finally, his voice carefully light. “That was educational.”
Nobody laughed.
Orion was already on his phone, fingers flying across the screen. “I need to call our lawyers. If Henri’s serious about calling a board meeting—”
“He’s serious,” Leo said quietly. “Did you see his face? He’s not just angry, he’s determined. Like he’s been planning this.”
“Planning what?” I asked. “To destroy you out of spite?”
“Or to take control.” Orion’s expression was grim. “If he can convince the board to remove us for misconduct, he could position himself as interim CEO. Clean up the ‘mess’ we made. Be the hero who saved Olympus Royale.”
“He’d need votes,” Leo pointed out. “We control the majority.”
“We control the majority of equity,” Orion corrected. “But the board vote is different. Articles of incorporation give each board member equal voting rights regardless of ownership percentage. It was meant to protect minority investors from being steamrolled.”
“So, Henri plus three other board members could outvote you,” I said. The implications sank in. The brothers could lose this casino.
“Exactly.” Orion’s jaw tightened. “And if he’s been working on this for a while, if he’s already secured commitments from other board members—”
“Then we’re fucked,” Leo finished.
My phone rang, the sound jarring in the tense silence. Marta.
“Hey,” I answered.
“Hey, girl. I’m in the lobby, but no one will tell me where you are.”
“Who is that?” Orion asked.
“Marta, my best friend from New York. She just showed up here, though I told her not to—”
“No,” said Leo. “This is perfect. You can use a friend’s support.”
“I agree,” said Orion. “I’ll go get her.”
“Marta, I’m on the executive floor. You need a key card to come up here, but Orion will come down and escort you here.”
“One of the Kolykos brothers? Honey, you know how to welcome a friend.”
“Behave. He’s the serious one.”
Orion shot me a tight smile. “I’ll be right back.”
Within ten minutes, Orion returned, bringing a starstruck Marta with him.
“Hey, girl!” That voice I’d know anywhere cut through the suite like sunshine through storm clouds.
She pushed past Leo like he was a piece of particularly attractive furniture and beelined straight for me, dropping two suitcases in her wake.
“Marta, what are you doing here?” I stood up, for what felt like the first time in hours.
“What do you think I’m doing here?” She pulled me into a hug so tight I could barely breathe. “My best friend’s face is all over the internet, and you think I’m staying in New York?”
“I told you not to come—”
“And I ignored you. Like always.” She pulled back, holding me at arm’s length to study my face. “You look terrible.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean it. Have you slept? Eaten? Showered?” Her nose wrinkled. “Definitely haven’t showered.”
“Marta—” I gestured weakly at Leo, who was watching this interaction with barely concealed amusement. “Leo, this is my best friend, Marta, from New York.”
Marta finally turned to give Leo her full attention, and I watched her eyes go wide.
“Um.” She looked him up and down with zero subtlety. “Aren’t you yummy?”
“Marta!” I protested, heat flooding my face.
“What? I’m just saying what we’re both thinking.”
“How do you know Tashi?” asked Leo.
“Oh, our mothers were friends, so naturally we were too. It wasn’t until I turned seven that I understood that Tashi wasn’t my biological sister.
But she is my heart anyway.” She turned back to me, lowering her voice to what she probably thought was a whisper.
“Triplets.” Marta fanned herself. “Lord have mercy.”
“Marta, I swear to God—”
“Tashi,” Leo interrupted gently, his eyes meeting mine with that understanding that made my chest ache. “I’ll leave you with your friend. If you need anything—anything at all—call one of us.”
“Same,” said Orion.
They left before I could respond, closing the door quietly behind them.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Marta waited exactly three seconds before rounding on me. “Okay. Spill. Everything. And I mean everything, because what I saw online was—” She stopped, her expression softening. “Tashi. Honey. Are you okay?”
And just like that, the dam broke.
I sank back onto the sofa, and Marta sat beside me, pulling my head onto her shoulder like she’d done a thousand times before. When we were broke college students. When my mom died. When Daniel cheated. When life felt too big, too hard, and too much.
“I’m so tired, Marta,” I whispered. “I’m so tired of being strong and making the right choices and trying to do everything perfectly. And now everyone thinks I’m a slut who slept her way into a job.”