Chapter 21 - Kristopher
“He owns it?” I snap in disgust, trying to keep my voice down because I’m in my home office and I don’t want to disturb Georgie.
“Yes, sir. He owns it. He runs it. And Ali Koskos is investing in the whole thing so that the two of them can grow it into something bigger.”
“The fucking auction. The trade events. My father runs them?”
“Yes, sir.”
I can’t believe it. I barely tolerated those events taking place in my city, and many of my allies felt the same way. It’s a disgusting business. Dirty ways to make money or provide entertainment.
Trading humans as though they were possessions and taking a cut of each item auctioned.
To find out that my father is the one running them, and now plans to make them bigger, is a shock. I knew the man lacked morals, but this is the lowest low.
“Is that what they plan to use the warehouses for? In my old territories.”
“Yes, sir,” Leonard nods. He gestures towards my laptop, sitting in front of me on the desk. “Did you get the images?”
The spies inside my old warehouses took a ton of photographs, which they presented at the meeting last night. I haven’t had a chance to look at them and was waiting for the update from Leonard before I bothered.
“Not yet.”
“It’s all there. Images of them setting up the stage, the lighting, and the bar. Even photos of your father and Ali talking to that rat. The auctioneer. That guy gives me the creeps.” Leonard shudders.
“He is scum of the earth,” I mutter, rubbing my hand over my jaw. This news is shocking. And it surprises me that my father’s actions still have the ability to shock me. I should expect the worst of him by now.
One of my security guards knocks on the office door. “Mr. Ilyin, you have guests,” he informs me.
“Who?” I blurt out. I wasn’t expecting anyone. “I don’t want to be disturbed now.”
“Emmanuil, and three other men.”
“Emmanuil?” I stammer. “Why in the world is he here?”
“They are waiting downstairs in the living room.”
My stomach churns. Is my sister okay? Standing up, I hurry downstairs to see him, but my shock triples when I see him standing there with my allies.
Emmanuil, Nestor, Benedikt, and Ardalion turn to face me.
“Hi,” Emmanuil smiles. “So, what can we do to help?”
“Help? With what?” I stammer.
“This issue with your father. I don’t know why you didn’t call before, but we’re all here. Your full alliance. And we can settle this once and for all.”
I knit my brows, looking at each of them in confusion.
“How did you know?”
“I take it she didn’t tell you?” Emmanuil chuckles.
“Tell me what? Who?”
“Georgie…or Jess.” He cocks his head to the side.
“Tell me what?” I snap, losing my patience.
“Our wives have been talking and making plans on our behalf. Georgie called Jess and told her about everything that’s been going on with your father and the stress it’s put you under.
She asked Jess to speak to me, and…well…
here we are.” He shrugs, opening his arms and gesturing at the other guys. “Your alliance,” he smiles.
Nestor steps forward, also smiling. “You should have called, man. This is what we’re meant to do for each other. If you’re struggling with something, you have support.”
Ardalion and Benedikt nod in agreement.
“Georgie reached out?” I ask, still processing what’s going on, feeling warmth spread through my chest.
“She did. She was worried about you,” Benedikt says. “We immediately got on a plane to Phoenix.”
I chuckle. It’s filled with relief and the realization that all this time, when I thought I was alone, I was turning a blind eye to the very strong group of people around me.
Georgie, my sister, my alliance. No matter how I paint this picture, I was never carrying the burden of my father alone.
I was just being stubborn. I pushed everyone away, telling myself that I was protecting them, but all I was actually doing was making things more difficult than they needed to be. It prolonged this situation.
“So, what’s the plan?” Ardalion claps his hands together.
“How much do you know?” I ask, sitting on one of the sofas and inviting the others to do the same.
In no time at all, we have a solid plan pieced together.
And by early the next morning, all five of us are walking into Ali’s office in the city. We catch the elevator to the top floor, and his personal assistant stands, mumbling in panic, when we walk straight past her towards his door.
“Wait, you can’t go in there. He’s on a call,” she shouts, running after us.
We ignore her and shove his door open, walking inside as a solid force.
Ali’s eyes grow wide with shock when he sees us.
“I’ve got to go,” he mutters into the phone and hangs up, standing to face us. “What is this?” he demands.
“Sit down, Ali,” Benedikt snaps.
“You can’t just come into my office like this,” he says, but the confidence in his voice is wavering as he presses his hands against his desk.
“Actually, we can, and in all honestly, this was the polite way of doing things. The alternative was for us to take out a few of your businesses to grab your attention. We can still do it that way, if you prefer?”
Ali’s jaw drops open in shock. He might be a powerful man, but against the five of us, he’s nothing, and he knows it.
He sits down in his office chair and presses his lips together in anger, resigning himself to his predicament.
I take a seat opposite Ali at his desk. “Start talking, Koskos. What’s happening at the warehouse, with the auction, and with my father?” I demand, getting right to the point. I’ve wasted enough of my time on this man and his schemes with my father.
He mulls over his choices, but only briefly.
Leaning back in his chair, he closes his eyes for a moment.
“I was working with Faiz,” he sighs. “We’re in the process of growing the auction event into something larger, a thriving business.
It was the plan right from the start. We needed that property, and your father knew how we could get it from you.
He approached me with the idea, and together we started putting it together. ”
“The first step being to kidnap Georgie?” I snarl.
“Correct,” he sighs again. He tells us everything, from beginning to end, providing details of their process and what they’ve been up to in order to try and weaken my position in the city in time for the launch of the new auction event. I listen, letting him spill all of their secrets.
“You realize the position you’re in?” Benedikt asks, his eyes burning into Ali.
“I do,” Ali nods.
“Good. Because we aren’t taking this lightly. Any move against one member of this alliance is a move against all five of us. And I assure you, you don’t want to face the wrath of all of us put together, which is what you’re on the verge of doing.”
For a moment, anger flares over Ali’s face, but it’s gone in a flash. His ego might still want to fight against the inevitable, but he knows better.
“I understand,” he growls. “What do you want from me? Get to the point.”
Nestor walks over to his desk and slides a document towards him. He picks up a pen from a glass cup on Ali’s desk and sets it down on the document. “You’ll have to sign this.”
“What is it?” he huffs, glaring at the document.
“A treaty. An agreement that states you will cease all business with Faiz Ilyin and will not enter into any new business with the man. You will pull out of any and all dealings you have with him. Once that is done, you will be allied with us and our interests. It also states that should you make any moves, even a hint of it, against us, the alliance ends, and you will face the full consequences of that action,” Nestor states.
“I guess that’s clear enough,” Ali mutters bitterly, picking up the pen.
He stares at the document for a moment. His Adam’s apple shifts as he swallows hard. Then, with a twitch of his lip, curling up at the top, he scrawls his signature onto the document and pushes it away from himself.
“There. Done. Now get out of my office,” he snaps.
“Interesting way to speak to your new allies,” Ardalion taunts him.
I stand up, moving away from his desk. “You won’t come near Georgie again,” I warn him. “If you even glance in her direction….”
He looks up at me, a defeated man. “Don’t worry, Kristopher. You’ve made yourselves clear. If I breathe too loudly, there will be consequences. I understand everything. Now, will you please leave my office?” He snarls.
I cock my head to the side, letting my eyes burn one last warning into him. Then I gesture towards the door.
“We have what we came for,” I say to the other men.
Nestor nods, and with one last glance at Ali, he picks up the document and heads for the door, followed by the rest of us.
I can’t believe how easy that was.
All this time, all this stress, and my alliance didn’t even have to put themselves in danger to face it. We just had to make a stand together.
In the parking lot outside Ali’s building, we stand by our cars.
“We can deal with your father next,” Emmanuil says, tugging his car door open. “Ali will contact him to withdraw from the businesses soon, so he should be expecting us.”
“A rat like Ali might even pull out silently, not warning my father of anything.”
“True. Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” Emmanuil says.
“Thank you,” I say, holding my hand out towards him.
He shakes my hand, his grip firm. “It’s no problem, man, I wish you’d called sooner.”
“So do I.” I chuckle. “Let’s talk tomorrow. I hope you have a good evening.”
He nods, and we wave to the other guys as they climb into their own cars.
I drive home feeling as though someone has lifted an insurmountable weight off my shoulders.
I am light as air. I can’t believe the heavy responsibility I’ve been carrying alone for years.
And suddenly it’s gone. It’s weightless.
A simple solution was right there for me to use all this time, and I was just too stubborn to do so.
I park outside the mansion and climb out, eager to see Georgie, to thank her, to hold her.
Pushing the front door open, I’m already smiling. “Georgie?” I call into the house.
“I’m in here,” her voice carries from the living room.
I drop my phone and car keys onto the small table in the foyer and hurry towards her.
But when I see her, I stop in my tracks.
She’s standing next to the sofa, her hands knotting and unknotting in front of her. She’s shifting her weight from one foot to the other, and her face is pale with worry.
My stomach churns with anxiety.
“You look sick again,” I mutter, rushing to her side.
“I’m not.” She shakes her head, taking a nervous step away from me.
“Georgie, what is it?” I demand, my voice harsher than I intend it to be.
She bites at her lower lip. “We need to talk,” she mutters. “Will you sit with me?”
She takes a seat on the sofa, her hands resting in her lap and her back ramrod-straight. She’s tense. Anxious.
“Yes,” I reply, sitting next to her, but with a space between us, because she clearly needs it.
My body is heightened with tension. My jaw clenches, waiting to hear whatever she as to say.
Maybe she wants to leave, now that the situation is changing. Maybe she’s going to ask if she can go home.