East nodded and turned back to the monitor. “Okay, so assume we get the drive and the names. We’re going to need leverage. As much as possible. The Five should be above reproach, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t buried some secrets and skeletons somewhere. No one’s going to do something for nothing.”
I rolled my shoulders. “It’s entirely possible that no one else wants another twenty-year reign of the Van Linsteds. Let’s not forget Bram’s got a brother, Miles. He’s younger, but I imagine he’s around to take up a term right after his brother. Then we’ll never be free. And there are others who see the writing on the wall. We’re not entirely alone.”
East nodded. “No, but let’s not assume that the Van Linsteds don’t have something to offer. Because they do.”
He was right. At the core of it, most people were greedy and would do anything to have their names associated with the most powerful families in the world, including sell their souls. “All right, so we get the drive back and get the names. What next?”
East nodded. “We also need to assume we’re being watched. I checked surveillance. We’ve got Ilya Tosca outside the Soho Branch. Bridge, Drew, I’ve spotted Joseph Link and Terrence Randolph, both known fixers, outside your homes. Maybe the Elite is always watching. Maybe they are paying attention because of the anniversary of Toby’s death. They are in fact watching our every move, so we need to be aware of the moves we make and how they’ll be perceived. We don’t want to clue anyone in on what we’re doing.”
Bridge had started to pace as he tried to walk through the issue. “Downs is going to be a problem too. He’s notoriously reclusive. Only turns up for the major votes. If any of us take a trip to Oz to speak to him, they’ll know.”
East nodded. “Let me work on that. He’s an art lover. We might be able to lure him to us.”
“Okay, in the meantime, one of us needs to run interference with Bram now. If we can get any insight into what he’s doing next, that’ll help,” I said.
Bridge stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”
The pit fell out of my stomach. No way I could ask Bridge to do that. “You hate him. He knows you hate him.”
He shrugged. “Maybe, but we need to keep an eye on him.”
Drew agreed with him. “I hate to say it, but we do need someone watching him. I could, but any of my dealings with him jeopardizes my father, which I don’t think we want to do because it would upset the balance of the voting seats before we have time to establish who the Five are.”
I threw up my hands. “Bridge is my best mate. How is anyone going to believe we’ve fractured now?”
Everyone was silent for a moment. Then East shrugged. “Well, that’s not hard to do. We just make sure that footage of you two arguing outside of the nick is circulated. A few strategic placements where we lay some breadcrumbs of discontent and a fracturing of your relationship. We make them think that he is on their side.”
Bridge had clearly given this some thought. “If it gets us close enough to provide you some shield and cover, then I’ll do it. We need as much time as possible before the Van Linsteds figure out what the fuck we’re doing.” Bridge said.
I shook my head. “Bridge, mate, this isn’t you. You’re going to hate every moment of it.”
He met my gaze darkly. “I’ve hated every moment without Toby. For him, I can do this.”
“But you’re going to be in the viper’s nest. You’re going to have to pretend you want to be there.”
“Let me do it.” His silvery gray eyes were intense, focused. He wanted to do this. It was how he was going to make the Van Linsteds pay. I couldn’t begrudge him that, so I nodded. “Yeah, all right. But we’ll have to come up with a plan to make sure everyone believes that there’s a rift between us.”
East nodded. “Like I said, easy peasy. We’ll also have Bridge feed some strategic information to them about Ben’s movements, what he’s doing. We’ll set the narrative instead of them setting it.”
I glanced around at my friends. “So we’re for real doing this?”
East nodded. “Looks that way. We just have to make sure to get that drive back.”
“All right, as soon as we have it back, we’ll hit the ground running. Let’s start getting justice for Toby.”
Livy
“Kennedy Bright’s office, how may I assist you?”
I didn’t know what in the world had happened, but everyone was on a tear and had questions for Kennedy this morning. She was the Global Head of New Business and Corporate Affairs. It seemed that there were new client issues left and right.
When she called me into her office, I smiled and gave her a stack of messages, my notebook up and ready. “Hey, Kennedy, what do you need?”
“It’s wild today, isn’t it? It’s like they can sense when I’m off the phone then the next person calls.”
I puffed out a breath as I took a seat, tucking one of my wayward curls behind my ear, but all it did was spring free again. “I was just going to say it’s like Mercury in retrograde or something.”
She chuckled then got straight to business. I’d always admired her. When I’d started at London Lords six months ago, she was very clear with me that I was overqualified to be her executive assistant, but that if I stuck with her for a year, she’d help me get hired in Operations, which is what I’d been doing before.
“I got a call from one of our CEOs, Ben Covington.”
I groaned then pursed my lips. Unfortunately, my body also clenched, remembering the timbre of his voice. “I wondered when he’d reach out to you.”
She smiled. “He seems to think that you would make a fantastic operations director.”
What was I supposed to say? I wanted to move up, but I wanted it to be on my merit. “Would I now?”
“Oh, but I think you would. Why didn’t you tell me you applied for a position on his team? Jessa Ainsley is terrific. You’ll learn a lot from her.”
My mouth fell open as I tried to process her words. “What? I didn’t apply.”
She blinked in surprise. “Well, that’s the impression he gave.” She narrowed her eyes, her gaze more shrewdly assessing now. “Do you know him personally?”
I saw where she was going with this. “No, I do not.” Sniffing me and having his hand on my ass notwithstanding.
“Oh God, he’s good. He made it seem like you’d gone looking, knowing full well I’d be more inclined to give you up that way than if he just poached you.”
“I always keep the resume fresh like you suggested, and it is on the company server, but I did not go looking for another opportunity. I promised you a year.”
“Oh, you’re not in any trouble. I know how he works. He’ll get what he wants by any means necessary.”
“Determined, isn’t he?”
“That he is, but I think this is great. Honestly, in the last few months you’ve shown exemplary organizational skills. I gave you the same spiel I give everyone at the beginning. You know how it is… some twenty-year-old intern walks in here and thinks that she should be wearing her power suits and be in charge within a month. Meanwhile, she knows nothing about the business except ‘Oh my God. My socials.’” Somehow, despite being British, she pulled off a perfect Kardashians impression.