Nicholas's Pov:
When we returned to Grey Enterprise the ride up the elevator felt longer than usual. I barely made it to my office before Nathan strolled in with coffee in hand and a smirk already in place.
"You're back early," he says leaning in the doorway before making his way across the room and dropping himself onto the edge of my desk like he always did when he wanted to cause trouble. "I figured you'd stick around a couple of days since you know who is there"
"I'm not in the mood, Nate," I replied. He sipped his coffee while still watching me
"So you didn't take the deal"
"Nope."
"You didn't even consider it?" He asked
"Not long enough to matter," I say and he tilted his head
"So meeting Reed again didn't stir up any lingering emotions?" His voice had that teasing edge I used to find funny but now? Not so much.
"You're pushing it," I said and he dared to grin at me
"Come on, it's been eight years, you're really gonna act like him showing up outta nowhere didn't knock you sideways?"
"I'm fine," I said flatly and he blinked
"Huh, so you didn't punch him?"
"Figuratively." He chuckled and I leaned back in my chair exhaling slowly "He suddenly wants my help, as if he didn't choose the military over me" Nathan's grin faded a little
"Yeah, that's rough." He paused "You're sure you're not letting your personal shit cloud the bigger picture? I mean it sounded serious what Donovan was saying"
"It is serious but so is what's happening here. My girls are getting cornered after shifts, do you think I can just ignore that?"
"You think it's connected?"
"I don't know" I leaned forward bracing my forearms on the desk "Whoever it is they're testing me and they're gonna regret that" Nathan nodded his face grim
"So where does Reed fit into this?" I clenched my jaw
"He doesn't get to be part of this not after what he did."
"Sure," he said slowly, that irritating glint of smug amusement lighting up his eyes. "Whatever helps you sleep at night." I shot him a glare and he raised his hands in a mock surrender. "Alright, alright. Consider the topic buried but if you end up helping them and just happen to start making out with Reed? Just know Greg and I will never let you live it down."
"Get out of my office" He laughed as he hopped off the desk
"You love me," he said
"Don't remind me." He was halfway out the door when he paused, "Hey, seriously don't let old wounds screw with your judgment, okay? Not everything's about him."
Nathan's footsteps faded down the hallway but his words stuck like gum under a boot, annoying and hard to shake. I stared at the file in front of me, but the words blurred together. Numbers, names, shipments none of it hit. I shoved the files aside and started pacing which always helped when my head felt like it was about to split open from too many thoughts. What a fucking joke he leaves and ghosts me for eight years, eight freaking years and now I'm the one falling apart again because he had the nerve to look at me like I still meant something. What the absolute fuck.
I wanted to scream or break something, or maybe sit down and cry, not that I would. Instead, I stood there quietly unraveling, pretending I still had some kind of control but deep down I knew it was slipping.
"Sir, someone is here to see you" my assistant's voice cut through the silence.
"I'm not expecting anyone," I say curtly,
"He says it's urgent," she added, her voice hesitant but firm. I exhaled a deep breath fighting the irritation rising in my chest.
"Fine, send him in."
"Yes, sir," she replied as the door clicked shut. I tried to gather what little composure I had left but I barely had a second before the door opened again
"Hi." That voice, deep and fucking familiar, that's been etched deep in my brain, my soul even. I turned to see him, Reed standing in the doorway, and all I could do was stare at him like he hadn't just ripped my world apart for the second time today.
"You still like to brood in front of windows, huh? I didn't think you'd let me in," he says a bit quieter,
"Why are you here?" I asked flatly, he didn't answer directly, he just stared at the paintings on the wall like they held answers,
"You always had a way with art" he murmured more to himself than to me and I turned at the sound of fingers brushing over glass, he held the only thing personal in this office: a photo encased in crystal Nate, Greg and me smiling like idiots, I didn't think I'd smile like that again, not after him.
"You all looked happy here," his thumb glided over the surface like he belonged in the memory.
"You still haven't answered my question," I say, my voice laced with annoyance. He sighed dragging a hand through his hair like it could fix the tension hanging between us
"I know I don't deserve anything from you, but I didn't come here to grovel. I came because I need your help." My brow arched unimpressed
"I already said I'd help this morning at the base, did that conveniently slip your mind?" He shook his head
"I do remember. The thing is something is going down and it's worse than we thought the only person I trust to get us out is you" I scoffed, letting silence press into the room
"You've got a lot of balls showing up here like this you know that?"
"That's why you loved me, Nicholas, the arrogance and the recklessness, that's why you stayed." I let out an annoyed breath, biting down the urge to throw something.
"For someone begging for help, you really know how to run your damn mouth."
"I'm not begging," he said, setting the frame down a little too gently, like he knew he didn't belong touching it in the first place. "I'm telling you there's no one else who can handle this." I stepped forward, closing the space between us close enough to smell the lingering smoke on his skin.
"You think you can just walk back into my life into this?" I motioned vaguely at the glass walls, the empire pulsing beneath our feet, "and I'll play the good little soldier for you?"
"If I were begging," he said, his voice dipping low, almost feral, "I'd be on my knees, you know that you've seen it." His eyes didn't waver and mine narrowed. "I'd bark if you asked me to Nicholas but I'm not here to be your dog, I'm here because you're the only man who ever made me feel like I wasn't one" I stared at him
"You really think that'll work on me now?" I asked, and his jaw ticked
"No but I figured you'd want the truth for once"
"That you'd bark for me?" I scoffed, "You already did, Reed, and then you ran." He flinched just slightly, and satisfaction flickered inside me sharp and unkind
"I didn't run," he said quietly.
"No?" I asked, "Eight years of silence says otherwise." Before he could fire back, the soft click of the door made us both turn. Nathan stood there, arms crossed, clearly having heard more than he should've.
"That was intense," he said arching a brow and glancing between us. "Can all... that" he made a lazy circle with his fingers to indicate the crackling tension "wait?" Reed didn't move and I didn't answer.
"Cool, anyway, business?" He stepped fully inside, pulling a file from under his arm and tossing it onto the desk. "I've got a lead on the missing shipments from a few months back and I think I know who's been targeting the girls." That got my attention and I stepped away from Reed straightening
"Talk."
Nate flipped the file open, revealing photos, surveillance stills, and a few intercepted communications. "You remember that coke dealer you wouldn't shut up about? The one who stole from my stash?" Nate asked and I gave him a look
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, I found him, he led me straight to these guys." He tapped a photo of a burly, scarred man with a crooked smile. "Turns out your little thief has been playing house with this charming bastard, they're close, real close," he says, wiggling his eyebrows.
"I'm supposed to know who this is?" I asked
"Yes, dingus," Nate replied, "That's Dracoli, he runs with a street crew out in the Eastside. Low-level muscle is usually not worth a second glance and get this he's behind the missing shipments in Boston" I frowned
"A low-level crew hijacking high-value cargo? It doesn't add up."
"Exactly," Nate smirked, "So I dug deeper. Guess who Dracoli's been answering to?" I didn't answer already getting a bad feeling. "Carson" he responded to himself and I blinked
"Hold the fuck up. First, how the hell did you get all this?" I waved at the files like they were cursed. "Second, we've been tearing the city apart looking for Craig for a month, and you just casually find him? And third, what the hell does Carson have to do with any of this? The girls too? What's the connection there?" Nate dropped into the chair across from me kicking his boots up onto the table like he owned the damn place.
"Why do you always underestimate me brother dearest? I've got contacts, friends, and those friends who know people in the right and very wrong places. They pointed me in the right direction and I did the digging." I squinted at him
"And the cost?" I asked
He smirked wider. "This irresistible ass, it's a win-win. We get intel, I get laid," Reed snorted, and I rolled my eyes.
"You're a menace."
"Thank you," Nate winked "I found Craig because I stopped searching in all the obvious places, turns out he wasn't hiding, he was being protected."
"Protected?" I echoed "by Dracoli?" Nate tapped the photo again his finger resting on the scarred man's crooked smile.
"Yep Dracoli's a puppet he's just following orders" I frowned
"That still doesn't make sense. Why would Carson get involved with a low-level street gang? What's he after?" Nate gave me a look like the answer was obvious.
"You've been buying up businesses and stocks right under his nose, You don't think that might've gotten under his skin?"
"Not my fault he couldn't keep, up," I said with a shrug
"Maybe not," Nate said, "but it gives him a reason to retaliate. The missing shipment, the girls? That was part of his plan and now that little thief of yours suddenly turns up under Dracoli's protection? That's a little sus" I dragged my hand through my hair.
"I'm not saying it's impossible I'm saying it's fucking sloppy, Carson's not sloppy," Nate smirked flipping my pen through his fingers like it was his
"No but desperate men do desperate shit. You've been pissing in his sandbox long enough, this is his warning shot"
"I assure you," I said straightening "Carson and I are nothing alike"
"Oh yeah you're flawless" Nate deadpanned and Reed snorted "A fucking saint"
I glared at them both. "The man runs a human trafficking ring, I think I deserve a little moral high ground." Nate raised an eyebrow, unbothered.
"Please you're ten times worse, you're just better at hiding it. You tie your loose ends up so neatly the world thinks you're running a charity"
"Thanks for the unsolicited therapy, brother," I said dryly. "Now, can we get back to the actual problem before you start diagnosing me with childhood trauma?" As if on cue, the door swung open and Greg stepped inside, followed by a woman, Clarissa, I think. She's probably one of the ex-militaries whom Greg brought in recently.
"Hey, boss," Greg said as he stepped in, eyes flicking between Reed and me, curiosity practically radiating off him.
"I don't want to talk about it," I muttered before he could open his mouth
"Okay," he drawled, lips twitching like he had something smart to say but thought better of it. Nathan, of course, couldn't help himself, big mouth that he is, he started filling Greg in on everything he'd uncovered so far. I tuned them out, crossing the room to pour myself a glass of bourbon. The burn was a welcome distraction as I took a slow sip, letting it settle before I turned back toward Greg.
"You got anything for me?" I asked swirling the glass in my hand,
"Not yet. Still chasing those thieves" he said and I nodded then looked at Nathan
"What about Carson? You know where he is?" Nathan exhaled sharply
"That's what I'm working on he's damn good at hiding."
"If I'd screwed over someone with the means to track me down in minutes," Reed chimed in, "I'd stay hidden too." He wasn't wrong but I wasn't about to admit that.
"Sit there and look pretty, I'll let you know when your opinions are needed," I said and Reed sighed, Nathan grinned like a damn fool
"Yeah, I can see who's in charge in the bedroom," Nathan added, earning a chuckle from both Greg and Clarissa.
"Why not do something to draw Miller out?" Clarissa asked and I turned to her, "If what he says is true we need to be on the offensive,"
"She's got a point," Greg nodded "Ethan" I stared at him
"No"
"Come on, you know he's perfect for this" Greg insisted
"You mean Ethan?" Nathan asked, a wicked smile creeping onto his face, "If so, I'm in. A hundred percent"
"Who's Ethan?" Reed obviously asked out of the loop.
"He's a tech genius" Nathan explained "Hot, brilliant, and definitely crazier than Nick"
"And he's got a thing for him too," Greg added just to stir the pot. I could feel Reed's gaze burning into the back of my head
"I mean the guy's all tanned skin, and a spectacular ass" Nathan sighed dreamily. I knew exactly what they were doing, bringing up Ethan to mess with Reed; it was clearly working, he hadn't said a word.
"Can we get back to the actual problem?" I snapped
"I think we've already found the solution," Nathan muttered "Just bring Ethan in. Though I do wonder what he'll want this time." I glared at him
"That's not an option, we haven't spoken in over a year" I muttered annoyed
"Then call him," he said, gesturing dismissively. I ignored him and turned to Greg
"Set up an interview with Selene, This whole Carson thing is about to blow up and I want us ahead of it"
"On it," Greg said, already heading out to find Linda, who's stationed at her desk just outside. Clarissa and Nathan slipped into a quiet conversation, their voices low and muffled by distance, while Reed remained silent, still perched in my chair, staring straight at me.
"For the love of God would you two quit eye-fucking and just call Ethan?" Nathan's voice rang out deadpan. Clarissa snorted under her breath. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my phone and hit Ethan's contact; he answered on the second ring.
"Well well," he drawled, his voice deep and unbothered, "thought you forgot about me, pretty boy"