He nodded like he understood how one would think that. “We’ve got the best lawyers as you know. And obviously some of the most influential people in the state are here. Everyone signed NDAs and contracts with us. We hold all the cards and none of the responsibility. We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The funny thing was, I knew this was how it worked. Deals were made by leaders of the world in back alleys and in the basements of the biggest buildings in town.
“Guess it’s a good thing I’m here to start making all the necessary connections,” I said, rolling my eyes. My mind was numb to it all, my body tired from the fight to become a leader. I needed a drink but couldn’t have one. I needed a bed but couldn’t rest in one. I needed a break, but leaders didn’t get one.
The strobe lights morphed to a red light pulsing to the beat of a hypnotic song. I didn’t see the sexual aspect of it. Just the red.
Red that spilled everywhere when I’d taken Vladimir’s life. So much blood since I walked away from the Armanellis. So much death. And still, they didn’t understand. This partnership was supposed to help everyone. We’d brought in more companies that wanted legal business partnerships than ever before. They would have more money in their pockets soon.
I’d keep striving. I’d keep pushing until everyone saw the benefit. “Who do I need to chum up to while I’m here?”
“Chum up to?” Rome’s brow crinkled in confusion.
“Yes. I doubt Ivan will show up. I know some of the bratva will attend later. Most of them probably will if Maksim has anything to do with it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I told him to get on board or be ready to sink. I expect him to share the message with others. I’ll confirm their alliances at some point, but who else is a necessity here? I see the chief of police walked in and there’s a few business owners. Anyone else?”
Rome stared at me for a minute, his gaze penetrating my soul and pulling me to him like a gravitational force. He didn’t say a word, but his hand came up and rubbed my cheekbone. “No one, Katalina. You don’t have to do anything for anyone.”
I turned around the club, took in everything. My eyes landed on the waterfall, at the stage the was at the very top. “I want to go up there.”
His jaw ticked before he turned away from me to head where I pointed. We were building to something I knew he wouldn’t like. It was the only way though.
Would he desert me here? Would he let me go through with it?
When I didn’t immediately follow him, he looked back at me and waved me forward. “Let’s go, woman. Time to give them all the show you want.”
“You know?” I asked as I walked toward him.
“I think I know that we’re going to crown you tonight. No one will question where you belong after that.” He said the words softly, like he’d resigned himself to them.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “The monster going to be okay with this?”
“We’ll have you any way we can, Cleo.” He tilted his head toward the stairs.
As we headed up the polished staircase, I gripped the railing a little harder than necessary. I felt the smooth material at my fingertips, the way the gloss filled in all the rough edges.
I swung my gaze to the top and saw that Maksim had arrived. Others within the bratva were behind him. They’d all met Cade, Bastian, and Dante. Rome left me behind, my ascent too slow for him, or maybe he wanted to give me a view of the bratva and the mafia standing there together.
All their eyes were on me.
I held their attention, grasped it in the palm of my hand, felt the power I possessed. Didn’t they all feel it too? How we’d woven ourselves together and made an omnipotent entity, assigning ourselves the responsibility to do good with it? For the city, for the people, and for us.
Rome motioned to someone and suddenly the whole club dimmed and the waterfall glowed red from the spotlight focused on it.
The men at the top of the staircase had the center stage, and I knew I would too as I walked toward them. Chairs lined the balcony, but there in the center, close to the waterfall, stood a throne. Completely made of crystal, it sparkled, the centerpiece of the scene. I realized as I took my last step that the railing post was topped with a small crown that was the exact replica of the one on the back of the throne’s frame. It glittered, beautiful and terrifying all at the same time.
Bastian stood behind it, just out of the water’s reach, and stared at me. “May I sit?” I asked him as I walked up.
He didn’t answer at first. Instead, his eyes dragged up and down my body. I held myself more languidly, sashayed toward him.
It’d been a long time since I’d seen that look of hunger in Bastian’s eyes. He’d leashed it and packed it away for other women. He’d moved on from me, I knew that. I wasn’t ever really sure he’d totally and completely lusted over me the way Rome thought he had. Yet the look was back, like he knew he’d have me if offered.
I smiled at him. This was my time now. I did what I wanted without anyone having control over me.
I’d come to make an impression, come to feed my rage. What that meant, I wasn’t sure, but these men would be a part of it.