Damion’s father worked for his Uncle Rock his whole life. He did the dirty grunt work that no one else wanted to do. If Rock had something messy to do and he didn’t want to get his hands dirty, he sent in Dominick Pride. His uncle used to say, “Get Dom—he’ll clean up just about anything for me.” Rock was right, his father would have bent over backward if it meant he could prove his loyalty to his brother-in-law and make a name for himself in the syndicate, but that was easier said than done. The Deadly Sins Syndicate wasn’t an organization that one could just climb their way to the top. No, they had to be born into the syndicate and having the last name, Pride wasn’t enough to ensure one’s place.
If Damion would have gone to work for his uncle, he would have ended up just like his old man—a grunt, doing the dirty work that no one else wanted to do. He was better than that, whether Rock accepted that fact or not, he didn’t give a fuck. Damion was determined to make something of himself and prove to the rest of the syndicate that he was worthy of the Pride name. He’d live up to his last name and prove them all wrong, especially his uncle Rock.
“You’re coming in awful late this morning. You have a rough night, man?” Finn asked. His best friend looked him over and Damion laughed. Finn was checking to see if he was hungover. There was no possibility of that since the last time Damion had gone out and had any fun was almost a month ago. Their latest project was huge for them and fucking it up by going out and partying wasn’t a luxury that either of them could afford.
“I know you’re trying to tell if I’m hungover, Finn,” he assessed.
“Well, are you?” his friend asked.
Damion barked out his laugh, “God, I wish,” he said. “I could use a night out and a good bottle of vodka. I was up half the night working on the acquisition. This is going to be huge for us and I’d never blow it. I can drink and blow off steam once this project is over.”
“You don’t have to remind me how important this project is, man. It’s our one chance at building something legit with this company,” Finn reminded. They had started out trying to follow in the syndicate’s footsteps but those proved to be big shoes to fill. Instead, Finn wanted to take their company in a new direction. He wanted to do business the old fashioned way—on the up and up. They specialized in lending people money, much like his uncle Rock did, but they didn’t go around breaking guy’s kneecaps if they didn’t pay up on time. They weren’t loan sharks and that seemed to work for them. They had people tracking them down, begging to do business with them, even with their steep interest fees and shorter than normal payback terms. Not everyone could walk into a bank and get a loan and that was where their company came into play. They lent money to people who needed it—people who wanted to make something with their lives, just like he and Finn had. It felt good to be helping people and now, if this merger went through, they are doing it on a much larger scale, helping corporations make a fresh start.
“Your two o’clock meeting is waiting for you in the boardroom,” Finn said. “And she’s a looker, too.”
“She?” Damion asked. “My meeting is with a Mr. Nixon Ryker.”
“Well, Ms. Nixon Ryker is waiting for you in the conference room and as I said, she’s hot,” Finn teased. His best friend was constantly trying to fix him up with a woman. Damion was sure that his need to do so stemmed from not having a love life of his own but things were a little more complicated for Finn. He was bisexual and finding one “right” person was hard enough, but Damion had a feeling that Finn was looking for two. Finn liked to get mixed up in relationships with couples looking for a third. Damion knew his friend was taking the coward’s way out, not getting emotionally involved in a relationship. The couples usually just wanted to play and explore and that seemed to be fine with his friend. But Damion was looking for something more. He wanted a woman to share his life with but most couldn’t look past his mafia family’s last name and involvement with the syndicate that controlled most of the city of Chicago.
“Lucky me,” Damion grumbled, as if spending the better part of an afternoon with a sexy woman, locked away in a boardroom, was a problem for him.
“Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll pop in,” Finn offered his smirk firmly in place.
“I think I can handle Ms. Ryker,” he defended.
“Suit yourself,” Finn said. He walked back into his office and shut his door.
Damion took a deep breath and let it back out. “Well, here goes nothing,” he said. He pulled the door open to the conference room and stepped in, finding a striking blond sitting at the far corner of the table, that took up most of the space.
“Ms. Ryker?” he asked, already knowing who she was. Finn was right—she was hot. Hell, she was his walking wet dream.
“Yes,” she said, standing and crossing the room. She held out her hand to him and he took it into his own. “But please call me Nix.”
“Ah—” he breathed. “Short for Nixon?” he asked.
“Yes, my father was heavily involved in politics and well, he had a wicked sense of humor. Everyone thinks I’m a man when they just see my name and well, in this business, that works for me. Gets me in the door, at least.” He smiled but didn’t give away that he had believed her to be a man up until about four minutes ago. Looking at her now, he’d feel like a fool for believing that.
He realized that he was still holding her hand in his own and released it. “Please call me Damion. How about we have a seat and get down to business?” Damion asked.
“Sure,” she agreed. He pulled out her chair for her and she took her seat. He rounded the table and sat on the opposite side of her, putting some much-needed space between the two of them.
“What can I do for you, Ms. Ry—” she held up her hand, effectively stopping him mid-sentence.
“Nix, please,” she corrected.
“Right, Nix,” he amended.
“It’s not what you can do for me. It’s what I’m about to do for you. I’m here to warn you about your meeting with Tapping Industries this Friday,” she said. No one knew about the deal that he and Finn had cooking with Tapping Industries. That was their big project—the merger that could launch their company into the next level.
“How the hell did you find out about our deal with Tapping?” he questioned.
“Your Uncle Rock told me,” she breathed. Shit—if Rock knew about their deal, he’d try to stop them any way he could. Sending in a sexy blond was a new low for his uncle, but he wouldn’t put it past him to do much worse.
“Our meeting is over, Ms. Ryker,” he spat. Damion stood and left the conference room, leaving the sexy blond sitting at the table still, her smile firmly in place. Yeah—she was there to stir some shit up. Mission accomplished.
Nixon
Nix wasn’t sure what her next move should be but Rock Greed wasn’t a very pleasant man to work for when he didn’t get what he wanted. And he wanted the deal between Pride Enterprises and Tapping Industries to fall through. Nix’s job wasn’t to question her boss, it was to get the results he wanted. That was why he sent her to talk to Damion Pride. Well, that and Rock said she was, “Just his type.” He told her to use her feminine whiles to get his nephew to agree to listen to her proposal and that pissed her off. She was more than just a pretty face and great body. She worked hard to get where she was in the business. Her father was Jackson Lust and that meant something in the Deadly Sins Syndicate. It gave her a leg up, even if she didn’t use her father’s last name.