Chapter Rowan
Rowan
When Ella announced that Eric Wardle was on the floor requesting to see me, I dropped a message into the group chat to give them a heads-up. Ever since Nick established Hustle, the man had become a persistent nuisance—clingy, entitled, and far too comfortable pushing boundaries.
Nick: After Sophie and now this dickhead, we should consider turning Hustle into a bookies with extras.
Alec: That’s not a bad idea, but it comes with more paperwork and regulations.
Me: And less profit.
I glanced at Ella, who stood waiting for my response, posture straight, expression neutral.
“Tell them to send him up,” I said, “but only escorted by security.”
She nodded and relayed the message, but remained where she was, hands folded loosely in front of her.
“Do you want me to leave?”
She didn’t know who Eric was, but Ella was perceptive enough to sense the shift in tone.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “But be warned—the man is utter scum.”
A flicker of discomfort crossed her face before she sat back down at her desk, composed once more.
I tugged on the wooden drawer, opening it just enough to see the grip of my gun.
Ever since I’d refused his offer to supply drugs to my clientele, he’d behaved like a sulking child.
He couldn’t come close to Dominion’s success, so instead he’d gone after Hustle—opening bookies in the surrounding areas, snapping at our heels.
The knock at the door made my jaw clench. I didn’t like having Ella exposed.
The security guard opened the door, and Eric waltzed in wearing an outdated pinstriped suit. His hair had thinned, more grey threading through it than the last time I’d seen him.
The guard lingered by the door until I nodded him away. Nick and Alec would be on their way shortly.
“Eric,” I drawled, gesturing lazily toward the chair opposite my desk, “what brings you to Dominion?”
“The usual,” he said, his gaze sliding to Ella. “Get me a drink, love.”
“We have a self-serve policy in my office,” I replied, my smile tight and humourless.
“That’s not what I heard,” he said, already moving toward the drinks cabinet.
I leaned back in my chair.
“Ah, Eric. When will I stop living in your head rent-free?”
He didn’t look at me, but I caught the sly curl of his mouth as he poured.
“How’s Sophie these days?”
“No idea. Employees come and go,” I said, glancing past him to where Ella was reaching for her water bottle.
“Pity,” he replied lightly. “It was amazing what she’d do for a few lines of coke.”
He turned then, glass in hand.
It didn’t surprise me. Alec had dosed her vaginally before—clinical, effective. Results-driven. The night had been wild.
“Is your new one any better?” Eric continued. “James said she was always skilled. Even as a child.”
My jaw tightened.
“And what’s that to you?” I asked, already cursing her father.
Ella went deathly still.
Then she gagged.
He took a seat, smiling as he deliberately ignored Ella.
“I thought you should have all the pertinent information about your latest… employee,” he said with a shrug.
“Why, thank you for your concern, Wardle,” I replied dryly. “What do you want?”
He tapped his fingers against the rim of his glass, studying me over it.
“What I’ve always wanted. A partnership.”
The door opened before I could answer.
Alec sauntered in first, Nick right behind him—helmet tucked under his arm. Alec’s gaze went straight to Eric. Nick’s didn’t. His locked onto Ella’s face, pale and unmoving.
“I think my current partners would want their say in our business,” I drawled.
Envy bled through Eric’s eyes as they crossed the room. Nick dropped into the chair beside him, casual, invasive. Alec leaned against the corner of the desk, solid and unyielding.
“You’re putting some beef on, Eric,” Alec remarked mildly. “Loosen your shirt collar and let it all hang.”
Nick slapped Alec’s leg, chortling.
“What happened to respecting your elders?” Nick mocked.
“Now, now,” I said, lifting a hand as Nick pulled out his cigarettes. “Let the man speak. He may have a viable business proposition.”
Nick lit up and blew smoke deliberately in Eric’s direction.
“You let Graves in,” Eric said, lips pursing in disapproval.
“And that burns you,” Nick drawled.
Eric turned towards Ella.
“Now you’re keeping a two-bit council-scheme slag between you.”
Alec slowly cracked his neck from side to side.
“There are plenty of other establishments, Eric,” I said lightly. “Why are you so eager to get into ours?”
His smile thinned.
“You bend the rules.”
His attitude wasn’t new. People often presumed my family came from old money—but we didn’t. And yet here he was, seething that I’d allowed the average man and woman into my circle, as if proximity alone offended him.
I took in the room.
The hostility toward Eric was unanimous.
Ella sat rigid at her desk, eyes bright with unshed tears. Our gazes met for the briefest moment before she dropped hers to her laptop, fingers hovering uselessly over the keys. She didn’t need to look at him to feel the weight of his words.
Nick was too busy annihilating Eric in his head to notice anything else—jaw tight, shoulders set, violence simmering just beneath the surface.
But Alec noticed.
He always did.
His attention flicked to Ella, caught the shine in her eyes, the way her breathing had gone shallow. Something dark and calculating shifted behind his expression.
Eric, oblivious or arrogant enough not to care, sat smiling—utterly unaware that he’d just stepped into a room full of men who already knew exactly how they’d like to dismantle him.
He’d gotten to Sophie—and protecting Ella was now our prerogative.
This was the world we’d dragged her into.
“I think he has an obsession with us, boys. It seems he supplied Sophie,” I said, drawing Alec’s attention.
Nick leaned over my desk, and I slid the ashtray toward him. To anyone else, it would’ve looked like a casual movement—but I saw the tension in his body. The stiffness in his shoulders. The tight line of his mouth. The rage burning behind his eyes.
“Do you honestly think you’re man enough?” Alec chuckled.
“Rumour has it Eric here has to pay for it,” Nick said, taking another drag of his cigarette.
“I do not,” Eric snapped indignantly.
“Payment in drugs is still a form of payment,” I said, growing weary of the arsehole.
He didn’t dispute it. Just lifted his glass and took another sip.
“My turnover is substantial—”
“A vote,” I cut in abruptly. “Anyone want this dickhead working with us?”
The word no echoed through my office, overlapping and absolute—but his humiliation wasn’t complete.
“Ella?” I said softly.
Her head jerked up. She looked at us—then at him.
“Your vote.”
The words were meant for her, but my eyes strayed to Eric, watching him simmer.
“No.”
“The final vote,” I said calmly. “Now fuck off.”
I didn’t bother hiding my smile as Nick grabbed him by the back of the neck. The dull thud of the glass hitting the rug was followed by Eric’s angry rant as Nick frog-marched him out of the office, Alec close on their heels.
I made a call and had security bar Eric Wardle from the premises. Whatever we did to him, it wouldn’t be done in Dominion.
Ella kept glancing at me while we waited for Nick and Alec to return.
“Why don’t we go home?” I said when they did.
Eric’s presence had left a nasty taste in my mouth, and I wanted to erase the unpleasantness from Ella’s mind.