Chapter Twenty-one
Will tried to play it cool when he entered the room.
“Victoria,” he just gave me a warm smile.
I wasn’t having it. My body collided with his in an octopus-like hug. Once he had me in his arms he clutched back at me desperately, matching my own fervor.
“I missed you, sis. I missed you so much,” he said into my hair, his voice strained as if he was trying to hold back tears.
“I missed you too. But it’s going to be alright now,” I babbled at the speed of sound. “Tristan, Theo, and Matthias paid your debts to the mafia and you can be free now.”
My brother’s body in my arms stiffened.
“Victoria... they didn’t pay off the debt. I did. After they bought more than half of my company.”
The whisper struck me like a knife. Somehow, I had imagined the vampires finding the way to nullify the debt or them throwing money at Will, no strings attached. But if they owned the majority of the company now...
It meant my brother exchanged one master for another.
And so did I.
I closed my eyes and pressed my face into my brother’s shoulder in despair. This wasn’t the fairytale ending from one of my grandmother’s stories where the monsters saved the princess like I had thought.
Still, it was better than what I had before, right? Even if the thought of using sex or feelings to manipulate the three vampires I came to care about made me nauseous. But I was going to do whatever it took to ensure my own survival and my brother’s prosperity.
There was a sound of a polite throat clearing behind us. We separated reluctantly and Tristan gestured to the table in the middle of the room.
“Take a seat. We have a lot to discuss.”
I tried to take a seat next to Will so that we would be a united front against the vampires but I was ushered to the other side, made to sit between Tristan and Theo while Matthias hovered at my back.
“There’s going to be an important change in your company. A new majority shareholder,” Tristan addressed Will who looked pale at the news. They... sold us out?
“Who?” Will asked tightly.
Tristan nodded in my direction and I automatically looked over my shoulder, expecting someone new to enter the room. There was no one there except for Matthias.
Then it hit me.
“Me?” I whispered at the same time as Will sprang to his feet.
“You’re giving your shares to Victoria?!”
Tristan pushed an elegant black folder towards me. My hands shook slightly as I opened it and flipped through the pages inside. It was a contract. A legitimate agreement to give me the shares they bought.
They cared. This wasn’t an illusion. A trap. A mistake.
I should have believed them.
With that thought in mind, I took a deep breath in and spoke.
“I will agree to this but only if the contract is amended,” I said firmly.
“Victoria!” Will hissed, his eyes wide at the thought of me antagonizing the three men who were about to decide our future.
“What’s your demand?” Tristan asked simply, his silver eyes focused on me and only me.
“Those papers say I would get the 60% of the company’s stocks which would make me the majority shareholder. I want my brother to have the majority of the stocks instead,” I said, tapping at the contract.
“Ha! I told you so!” Theo said smugly and pulled a second contract out of nowhere. “Your brother currently has only 30%, with various individuals sharing the leftover 10%, so here’s a contract that will give him a bonus 21% and leave 39% to you.”
“You... expected this?” Will asked weakly.
“We had a bet going,” Matthias said then huffed. “I still think you should give all of it to your brother, Vic. Who wants to deal with all the taxes, and shareholder meetings, and paperwork? Ugh.”
“It seems Theo won that bet, so I know what his guess was but what was yours?” I asked Tristan.
“Well, I thought you would keep the majority shares because it would give you more control and thus peace of mind. And it seemed backward to me that the company went only to your brother and not to you both after your father’s death,” Tristan explained.
“He just wanted you to be a total girlboss and step on him,” the vampire behind me commented.
“Matthias!” Tristan spluttered.
“I will happily leave the company to my brother,” I said. “After all, if I’m too busy girlbossing I won’t have enough time for the three of you...”
“Oh god, you four are really fucking,” Will blurted and then looked horrified at himself.
“You always told me to aim high in my romantic pursuits,” I said smugly. “I think I finally found someone, someones , deserving me.”
My right hand tangled in Tristan’s tie, while the left alighted on Theo’s arm. I tilted my head just a little, until Matthias took the hint and placed a kiss in my hair.
“Uh. You look pretty powerful and terrifying, sis. Keep that up,” Will said, finally understanding what I myself comprehended just a minute ago.
I was the most powerful person in the room because the three vampires would do anything for me.