While I’d known my father was progressive in many ways, this stunned me. He’d given me blanket approval, trusting I’d choose what worked for me no matter what it looked like.
“Thank you, Daddy,” I whispered, meant only for him to hear.
Daddy took my hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “I want you to be able to love like I haven’t gotten to. Now go with Ryker. What he needs to go over is incredibly important and will enable you to have access to everything pertaining to the Caprioni business.”
Begrudgingly, I nodded and stood. “Should I come back here when we’re done?”
“Truthfully, I was expecting you to keep them until lunch. I scheduled all our joint meetings after that at one. Feel free to join us in the dining room or take lunch in your own room if you have things you wish to look over. Breakfast is mandatory as well as dinner unless there’s another urgent matter,” Father informed me. “If you wish to have lunch in your room, just let Gerald know or use any of the phones to dial pound zero-one. That will connect you to the kitchen, and the staff will answer.”
“Swanky,” I said with a grin and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “I’ll see you later then.”
Following Ryker to the security office, neither one of us tried to start a conversation. Instead, I spent most of it taking in the features of my home, trying to create landmarks to find my way back. When we came to the back of the house, I was confused as to where we were going until he stepped out onto the back patio. Off to the side was a small building the size of a two-car garage that held all the security for the house.
Ryker opened the door and ushered me in first, causing four men to snap to attention, leaping out of their chairs. I tried not to smirk at the terrified look on their faces as they gawked at me then realized that Ryker was there too.
“Mr. Ryker,” one of the men greeted, nodding his head to the man. “Is there something we can do for you both?”
Stepping forward, I reached out a hand. “Astin Caprioni, nice to meet you.”
“Kevin, madam,” he said as he tried to grasp my hand for all of a second.
I wasn’t going to let him give me a limp-fish handshake because he was scared to hurt me, so I caught his hand, refusing to let him pull it back. “Kevin, can I give you a piece of advice?” I asked, keeping a firm grip on his hand still.
“When you shake a person’s hand, you tell them a lot about yourself. This is why you need to think of it like your first impression. Now tell me, the handshake you gave me, what do you think it says about you?” I asked.
It was almost as if I could hear him gulp, trying to figure out how to answer my question. “Ah, I suppose it didn’t really put my best foot forward. It was timid, kind of clammy, and might make you think I was afraid to squeeze too hard.”
“That was a fabulous answer and tells me you’re an incredibly introspective man,” I praised with a smile. Then I shifted my grip so when I squeezed, it ground his hand bones together, making him cry out in pain and drop to his knees. “Now, Kevin, what would you say my handshake says about me?”
Kevin didn’t answer right away as sweat broke out on his forehead, and a groan of pain leaked out of his mouth.
“I’m sorry I missed that. Can you speak up?” I pressed and leaned in closer.
“You’re in charge and not at all fragile,” Kevin wheezed out through the pain.
Releasing his hand, I tossed it away from me and looked at the other men in the room. “Did you hear that, boys? When I walk into a room, I expect to be greetedbeforemy lieutenant. He might be your boss, but I’m his. We got that?” I demanded.
All the men nodded and mumbled a bunch of yes madams at me.
“For fuck’s sake, you’re all running security for the Caprioni Family, and yet you’re a bunch of mumbling idiots? Speak up, talk clearly, and for the love of God, stop calling me madam. You will call me Mistress or Lady Astin, take your pick, but nothing else unless I say otherwise,” I ordered. “Now let’s try this again. Do you understand the rules?”
“Yes, Mistress,” all four men said in unison.
“Delightful, now get back to work. Ryker or I will let you know if we need something,” I informed them and turned to my lieutenant. “After you.”
Ryker smirked and headed for a door where he punched in a code and used his handprint to open it. Behind the door was something I’d expect to find in the FBI or something. Screens were placed on one whole wall and flipped through various locations’ security cameras. There was a large desk I assumed Ryker used since he sat behind it and started to type away on the keyboard.
“You’re not going to say anything about what just happened?” I asked, hands on my hips.
Ryker glanced at me and shook his head. “No, Mistress, I believe you were in the right to do what you did. It’s going to take time for the men to figure out you’re not a person to fuck around with. Correcting their behavior is going to have them talking, and word will spread faster, making it so you don’t need to keep doing shit like that.”
I just cocked a brow but decided to let it go, taking a seat in one of the chairs across from him. “So what do you need from me?”
Rolling his chair to a set of shelves, he grabbed a scanner and set it on the desk, plugging it into his computer. “When this turns green, place your right hand on the surface as flat as you can make it. Keep it there until it blinks and turns red, then you can remove it.”
The longer he avoided talking to me about anything personal, the more irritated I was getting. I knew Ryker, and he wasn’t one to let sleeping dogs lie. When we were kids, if I was pissed at him for something, he wouldn’t leave me alone until I told him what was wrong. Now here he was with the perfect opportunity to trap me in this room and air out our issues. Instead, he was silently typing away as I let this scanner memorize my palm print.
“The screens, are they showing all the businesses or only certain ones?” I asked, unable to leave the room silent.