Knight Takes Queen (14 page)

‘In case you do join the business, baby, you might like to listen to this call. We’re putting together a new project near Thunder Bay.’

She looked up from selecting a truffle and stared at him. ‘Canada? That Thunder Bay?’

‘Yup. We’ve leased a six-mile strike of palladium. The mine should be operating in three, four years.’

‘You know how close that is to Nana.’

He kept punching buttons on a console. ‘I do.’

‘Was that a factor in your decision?’

He looked up and smiled. ‘It was
the
factor, baby. The other leases were in Russia. Three minutes and counting.
Now two of the investors are decent, no bullshit guys who know it takes time to make money with a project like this. One, the Hobbs Helen mentioned, is a righteous prick who I may or may not decide to toss. The last investor is an engineer with two other palladium mines.’

‘Why is he interested if he already has two?’

‘Same as me. It’s a good deal. And Anton and I get along. We’ve known each other for a while.’

‘He’s not in the righteous prick category then.’

‘No.’

There was something in his voice. ‘He’s a partner in your vices.’

‘Was. Don’t hold it against him. He’s smart and cool-headed. Both useful in some of the places we do business. Now, feel free to speak up if you wish. Would you like to be introduced?’

‘God no.’ She put up her hand. ‘I’ll just watch.’

Dominic was pleased she was interested. He thought she would be, but then Katherine could be unpredictable. ‘Just a word of warning. If Hobbs pisses me off, I’m going to cut him loose. I might be blunt so don’t be shocked.’

‘I’m pretty hard to shock.’

He smiled. ‘One of your many charming qualities.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Another minute. And I’d really like you to learn deal making, baby,’ he said, softly.

‘I know. I’ll pay attention.’

Christ, he felt as though Aladdin’s genie had granted him all his three wishes, then thrown in the lamp and the
cave filled with jewels as a bonus. ‘Thanks, Katherine,’ he said, holding her gaze. ‘I mean it.’ Then he hit a few buttons and four screens came on air. ‘Good afternoon, gentlemen.’ And Dominic morphed into the carefully calibrated, pleasantly official, cool, discerning CEO. ‘Is everyone ready to talk money?’

Kate watched, fascinated, as Dominic smoothly laid out the project, the short- and long-term goals, the difficulty of dealing with some countries, those categorized in terms of complexity.

The two older men clearly had worked with Dominic before. They trusted him, their investment, found the time frame for profitability realistic, gave their approval after their questions were answered. Anton spoke with a South African accent, was blond and broad shouldered, handsome in a rugged, weathered way; an experienced mining engineer, his only question had to do with whether he could stand the cold winters in Canada.

‘All I want is your money, Anton,’ Dominic said, mildly. ‘Otherwise keep your ass in Paris.’

‘Speaking of ass. I saw Danielle—’

‘My fiancée’s here,’ Dominic quickly warned.

‘Sorry, mate.’ Then Anton whistled. ‘Fuck! Did I hear that right? Fiancée?’

‘You heard it right,’ Dominic said in clipped accents. ‘Now about the licensing permits.’

‘Holy shit! I don’t believe it. You gotta be kidding!’

‘I’m rolling my eyes, here, Anton, in case you’re not
paying attention,’ Dominic said. ‘Do you have any questions about mining?’

Anton laughed. ‘Christ, don’t give me a line like that. It’s too fucking tempting.’

‘Must we have this continuous vulgarity?’ the pudgy-faced Mr Hobbs snapped.

‘It’s a couple of swear words, Hobbs. Get a life,’ Anton drawled.

‘I have a perfectly fine life,’ Hobbs retorted, peevish and glowering.

‘No you don’t. You have an incredibly dull life. When’s the last time you had a really fine piece of ass? Although,’ Anton said with cocky grin, ‘maybe you can’t get it up anymore. You know what they say about men who wear bow ties.’

Dominic sighed. ‘Jesus, Anton, how the hell drunk are you?’

‘Do I have to be drunk to know Hobbs might as well kill himself now because his life isn’t going to get any better?’

The two older men chuckled; Hobbs turned purple with rage.

‘I won’t invest a penny if
he’s
a partner,’ Hobbs emphatically asserted, bristling with fury.

‘Relax, Hobbs,’ Dominic said. ‘Anton’s been drinking. When it comes to mining he knows what he’s doing.’

‘There are other mining engineers. Sober ones. Ones who don’t feel the need to constantly use vulgarity.’

‘Everyone swears, Hobbs.’ Dominic spoke with quiet restraint. ‘Don’t make a big deal.’

‘I beg your pardon,’ Hobbs hotly protested. ‘Medard
insulted
me! It’s your decision, Knight. He goes or I go!’

‘I’m sorry you feel that way, Hobbs. Maybe next time.’ Dominic clicked off his screen. ‘Happy now, Anton? Can we get back to business?’

‘Goddamn right, mate. So when’s the wedding?’

‘Shut the fuck up. I want to go home. Let’s get this over with.’

The discussion turned to the purchase of mining equipment, the construction of the road and rail line into the wilderness area, the procurement process for licences. Once the licences were processed they agreed to meet onsite. After that, the next conference call was scheduled, then everyone signed off.

‘You have the majority share,’ Kate said into the quiet of the office as the TV screens went black. ‘Is that typical?’

‘Necessary.’ Dominic smiled. ‘No surprise – I need control. I only bring in partners on large projects like this. Setting up a mine takes years. Normally, I’m sole proprietor of any company I buy. That way I don’t have to deal with people like Hobbs.’

‘You were never going to keep him were you?’ Kate asked.

Dominic shrugged. ‘Probably not. I don’t like him. Max tolerates assholes better than I.’

‘He seemed like a—’

‘Asshole?’

‘I was going to say a prissy old lady.’

‘No, that’s his wife,’ Dominic countered, shutting down his computer.

‘You’re kidding. He has a wife?’

‘Baby, you still don’t get it. He has money. He could have several wives if he wanted.’

‘Really, several wives?’ she said, with dangerous emphasis.

‘Relax, baby. It was a general statement. You’re about all I can handle.’ He smiled. ‘Speaking of handling—’ he abruptly stopped, his gaze trained on the doorway. ‘Get out,’ Dominic said, his eyes slits, his voice cold as ice. ‘I have nothing to say to you.’

‘She’s a nice little handful,’ the well-dressed man in the doorway said, a familiar resonance to his voice as he stared at Kate. ‘Small. You don’t like them small, but I’m guessing that virginal beauty along with those big tits made you change your mind. She’s a live-in, I hear.’

Before the visitor had finished speaking, Dominic was on his feet and half-way to the door. ‘Ignore him, Katherine,’ he said, very softly as he passed the sofa. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’

As Dominic shoved the man out the door, Katherine heard the man say, ‘She must be a really good fuck. You’ve never done live-ins before.’

There was no question in her mind who had brought Dominic to his feet like a shot. Even though the resemblance was minimal: different colour hair, inches shorter, features only vaguely alike. While the older man’s slight air of neglect, the excess weight, the face coarsened by age and drink only broadened the disparity between father and son.

Gramp’s cousin Wally had been an alcoholic with that same wastrel look. But Gramps had always said, ‘Wally’s not a mean drunk.’ She suspected Dominic’s father was.

Dominic hustled his father through the anteroom and into the corridor, his grip on the elder Knight’s arm brutal. ‘You’re such a prick,’ Dominic muttered, so pissed at his comments about Katherine that he was seriously thinking of beating his father. ‘I thought you were in L.A.’

‘Keeping track of me?’ Charles Knight was too arrogant to know fear. Or perhaps he still considered his son the seven-year-old he’d left behind. Or maybe the liquor gave him courage.

‘I try.’
His father had to have flown in last night, the reason clear
.

As if on cue, half-breathless as Dominic forced the pace down the hallway, Charles panted, ‘I want in on the palladium deal.’

‘Too fucking bad,’ Dominic said through his teeth.

Whether he hadn’t heard Dominic or didn’t care, Charles spoke a little louder. ‘I have contacts in … the Canadian parliament. Good ones. Greedy men.’

‘Jesus, have you lost your fucking mind? You think I forgot what you tried to do to me with NASA?’

‘It wasn’t personal. It was just business.’

‘It was fucking personal to me. You tried to bankrupt me.’

‘That was years ago.’ Knight senior was breathing hard. ‘Get over it. I’m your father.’

‘No you’re not.’ They’d reached the top of the stairs. ‘I
should toss you over the railing. No one would give a shit,’ Dominic growled, taking the stairs two at a time, pulling Charles after him like a rag doll. ‘Including your latest wife.’

‘What the fuck – do you know – about marriage,’ his father gasped, trying to catch his breath. ‘You never had a real one.’

‘Listen up, motherfucker,’ Dominic said, curtly, reaching the bottom of the stairs, swiftly striding towards the outside doors, his fingers like vices on his father’s arm. ‘If you dare contact any of my investors I’ll tell your new wife about your little girlfriend you set up in that apartment in Malibu. Nikki might want that Mercedes Coupe you gave to what’s her name, Tanya. And if that’s not enough of a deterrent, I’ll have someone break your knees. Don’t think I fucking won’t.’ He shoved the door open and swept through it. Dragging his panting father down the outside stairs, Dominic shoved him towards his waiting car. ‘Don’t come back! And stay the fuck out of my business!’

Charles Knight stumbled onto the car door held open by his stone-faced driver.

‘Listen up, Franco, if you’re stupid enough to drive him anywhere near me again,’ Dominic said with deadly precision, each syllable crisp and clear so the driver didn’t miss a word as he hurried around the front of the car to get behind the wheel, ‘I’ll have your tyres shot out. Maybe they’ll miss the tyres and hit the windshield. Armour piercing rounds. Got it? I’m more dangerous than my father. He’s getting soft in—’

‘—his old age,’ Dominic said to himself as the driver slammed his door and punched the accelerator. As the car sped off into the street, Dominic tilted his head left, then right to loosen his tight neck muscles. Not that it did much good. He could feel the tension like full-body gridlock. He took a deep breath and turned. Now to apologize to Katherine.

But he stood and waited when he saw Max running down the stairs.

‘I was coming up from the garage when I saw you and your old man,’ Max rapped out as he skidded to a stop in front of Dominic. ‘How’re you doing?’

‘Good. He’s fucking gone.’ Dominic lifted his brows. ‘The bastard was looking for a seat at the table on the palladium deal. How’s that for clueless? He thought I should cut him in because he’s my father.’

‘Jesus,’ Max muttered. ‘The man’s without shame.’

‘No shit. And he was rude to Katherine. I damn near beat him to a pulp for that.’

‘Good thing you didn’t,’ Max said, bluntly. ‘That would have been a problem you didn’t need.’

‘Or Katherine. She was more of a deterrent. She probably wouldn’t have understood if I’d put my old man in the hospital.’ Dominic shrugged, then winced as his rigid shoulder muscles screamed their dissent. ‘The prick was drunk as usual.’ Dominic sighed. ‘Who the fuck let him in anyway?’

‘The new guy at the door. He’s only been here a week.’

‘He should know better. No one gets in without my
approval. Did he miss the lecture, for Christ’s sake? You’d better put a photo of my father in the security guards’ break room. I don’t want a repeat of this.’ Dominic nodded towards the entrance. ‘Is that the guy?’

Max turned to look. ‘Yeah.’

‘I’ll have a few words with him.’

Dominic crossed the drive, took the stairs at a run, stopped in front of the young man stationed at the door and met him eye to eye because Max had height and weight requirements for the security staff. ‘You saw that, so you know you fucked up, right?’ Dominic’s voice was hard as nails.

The young man looked down and the sun gleamed off his skull with his military haircut. ‘Yes, sir,’ he mumbled.

‘I should fire you, but Max says you’re new. Look at me. Here’s the deal. That was your one fuck-up. You won’t get another. It was my father I just shoved into that car. He won’t ever get into this building again. Clear?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘No excuses.’

‘He said he was your father, sir.’

Christ, the kid’s eyes were wet, his voice wobbly. Dominic sighed. ‘Relax. My old man’s a complete prick. But I suppose you haven’t read that memo yet. You probably have a normal family. Or at least what passes for normal.’

‘I think so.’ The security guard wondered if it was a trick question; then Dominic’s scowl disappeared and he said more firmly, ‘Yes, sir, I do. I have a wife and a baby too.’

‘Good for you. Make sure you take care of them,’ Dominic said, the tenor of his voice softening.

Figuring it was always safe to answer in the affirmative, the guard said, ‘I intend to, sir.’

‘Good. OK.’ Dominic rubbed the back of his neck in silence for a moment while the young man tried not to breathe too loudly. ‘If you have any questions – what’s your name?’

‘Forbes, sir.’

‘OK Forbes, if you have questions, always check with Max or Leo if Max is gone. Or whoever knows more than you which is pretty much everyone at this point,’ Dominic said with a small smile. ‘And don’t fuck up my day again. Letting my father in is at the very top of my bad day list. Max’ll be putting a photo of my father in the break room. Memorize it. Are we on the same page now?’

‘Yes, sir.’

Dominic blew out a breath, let his hand drop from his neck. ‘How old is your baby?’

‘Three months, sir.’

Dominic smiled. ‘Getting much sleep?’