Victoria Sterling entered my office without warning, her Louboutins tapping against the marble floor like gunshots. She was wearing a white Chanel suit, the price tag of which could probably cover a person's year's rent, and her blonde hair was pulled back tightly in a ponytail that highlighted her sharp cheekbones.
She looked like money, power, and barely controlled rage.
"We need to talk." She didn't wait for an invitation, taking a chair across from where I sat at the desk. "About your little banker."
I placed the file I'd been analyzing aside - Marcus Davidson records, which were turning up some fascinating information. "Katherine isn't your concern."
"She became an issue for me when your father made me sit in your family's living room for three hours like some pathetic woman waiting for a man who would rather f**k his secretary.' Her voice dripped ice mixed with the smooth texture of silk. 'You don't know how embarrassing that was.'
'I never asked you to wait.' I leaned back, taking her measure. Victoria Sterling was many things: beautiful, intelligent, ruthless in her own right - but she wasn't dumb. And this wasn't purely about hurt pride.
"No, you didn't," she said evenly, crossing her legs as if to reinforce her composed demeanor, although her eyes blazed with anger. "Your father got in touch with mine this morning. He apologized for your 'temporary distraction.' He assured him you'd soon come to your senses."
"Did he?"
He did. And my father, being the businessman he is, gave Thomas an ultimatum." Victoria pulled out her phone and showed me an email. "Either you end things with your little project and move forward with our arrangement, or Sterling Development pulls out of every joint venture we have with Marvin Industries. That's fifty million in current contracts and twice that in future development."
The information was correct. The Sterlings had substantial real estate development interests in Manhattan, and their partnership with us had been mutually lucrative. While they might be an annoyance to lose, losing them would not be catastrophic.
"Oh, so you're threatening me into marriage then?" I kept the tone light, neutral, and unreadable.
"I'm here to offer you a solution."
She put the phone away in her purse. 'I don't want to marry you any more than you want to marry me, Tony. This entire thing has always been an opportunity for our fathers, never for us. But I'm realistic. I know the ways of the world."
"Get to the point, Victoria."
"A fake engagement." She suggested it as if it were a corporate takeover, which, I realized, it was to her. "We'll announce it to the public, placate both of our families, and it will give you time to sort out this situation with your banker. Six months, maybe a year, and then we simply go our separate ways."
I had to admit, it was elegant. Strategic. Exactly the right kind of move for a person raised in this world to make. For an instant, I even considered it.
Get my father off my back. Protect the Sterling alliance. Give me some breathing room to address the issue of the traitor in my organization and the threats against Katherine, without the added pressure from family politics.
But it would also mean deceiving Katherine. Asking her to believe me while I was claiming another woman as mine? And after the pain I'd already caused her, could I really betray her this far?
"No."
Victoria's well-shaped eyebrows rose in surprise. "No? Just like that?"
"Just like that." I stood up, walking over to the window. "I appreciate the offer, Victoria. I do. But I'm not interested in having more manipulation and lies in my life. If your father wants to pull his contracts, then that's his decision."
"You're risking losing fifty million dollars for some woman you've only known for less than a month?" She was really confused. "You, Tony, are the only one who ever really impressed me compared to your father, but I never thought you could be this stupid,"
"Careful, Victoria."
"Or what? You'll threaten me too?" She stood up, smoothing her suit jacket. "You're letting your emotions guide you, Tony. People like us don't operate that way. Your father knows it; so does mine, and so do the rest of the members in our community, except for you, apparently."
"Perhaps I'm simply tired of surviving." I turned to her. "Maybe I'm ready for something more than alliances and 'business' ventures masquerading as love."
"How romantic," she said, her smile sharp as a knife's blade. "Oh, and how incredibly naive. You believe love conquers everything? You believe your little banker girlfriend will be worth the cost of the empire you're destroying for her?"
"That's not your concern."
"Fine." Victoria walked towards the door, then stopped. "But let me tell you what my concern is. My father doesn't handle rejection well. So, if he pulls out of our contracts, he won't do it quietly. He'll announce it to the entire city in New York so the Torrinos, the other families, and everyone who's been waiting to see if Thomas Marvin's son is weak know about it."
"Let them watch."
"They'll do more than watch, Tony. They'll strike." She turned to face me directly. "Now, you are facing one danger. Maybe two, if you are right about the mole. But when the Sterling group gets out, the fact that you have decided to let personal feelings outweigh family business, every enemy you have will know it's an opportunity for them to hit you from ten fronts rather than two."
The plan was good. I might be an idiot for not recognizing it, but I'd be a bigger idiot for believing I could create something meaningful from Katherine while playing games like these.
"Then I'll fight on ten fronts."
Victoria looked at me for a long time, and a glimmer of something like respect flickered through her features. "You really do care about her. This isn't about rebellion or proving a point to your father."
"No. It's not"
"Then God help you both." She opened the door, then glanced back at him one last time. "Your father won't stop, you know. He believes Katherine is going to get you both killed. Which, for the most part, he'll be right about. Thomas Marvin won't tolerate the slightest whiff of weakness, and certainly won't tolerate the slightest threat to his heir."
"Katherine isn't a threat."
"Maybe not to you. But to your father? She's the worst kind of threat - the one that makes you question everything he's built, everything he's taught you, everything he is." Victoria's expression eased a little. "I actually feel sorry for her. She doesn't have a clue what she's gotten herself into."
"I'm handling it."
"Are you?" Victoria tilted her head. "Because from where I'm standing, you're in love with a woman who's being hunted by your enemies, betrayed by someone in your organization, and rejected by your family. That's not handling it, Tony. That's drowning."
"Goodbye Victoria"
She smiled, although there was no warmth in her words. "I do hope she survives what's coming, Tony. Not many women in your world do."
The door closed softly behind her, and I stood there digesting the conversation. Victoria was right about one thing - I was confronting numerous threats at the same time. The Torrinos, the mole within my organization, the opposition from my father, and now the Sterlings' alliance falling apart around me.
Any one of these would be challenging. All of them combined could be catastrophic.
My phone vibrated with a text from Vincent: Davidson's cousin is an employee of the Torrino family construction company. On a steady payroll, although recent transactions indicate secondary income sources.
I pulled up the file Vincent had given me. Marco Torrino's construction company. Junior accountant position. And three deposits of $10,000 each over the past month from shell corporations.
Someone was bribing Davidson's cousin. The only questions were who and for what information.
Again, the door to my office swung open, and I expected Victoria's return with yet other warnings. However, Marco walked into the room, looking perturbed.
"Let's talk about the situation at Sterling."
"Already handled."
"That's what I'm afraid of," he said, and closed the door behind him. "Tony, if Sterling pulls out because of your relationship with that woman-"
"Her name is Katherine."
"-It's going to cause problems. Big problems. The kind that'll make other families think we're vulnerable."
"Then let them think it." I went back to my desk, having had enough of this conversation.
"You're not listening." Marco drew closer, his voice lowering. "Your father is talking about a move. A permanent move. To remove the problem before it gets rid of you."
My blood turned cold. "What sort of move?"
"The kind of transformation where Katherine Blaire disappears." Marco's gaze held mine. "And he'd go through you if you try to stop him." The danger was palpable between us, and I realized with absolute clarity that everything was about to come to a head.
My father, the Torrinos, the traitor, Sterling - it was all coming together at the same point.
Katherine.
And I had nothing at all, zero time to spend on figuring out how to protect her from them all.