Bram Van Linsted was in the middle of the crowd as the man of the hour. He was smiling and shaking hands. I needed to get this done now.
With dark hair and blue eyes, he was a charming git. Even in the middle of the crowd, it was easy to spot him. He was surrounded by people. After all, they wanted to curry favor. Van Linsted was filthy fucking rich with excellent political prospects. His family had served in politics for years until leaving for the private sector. Rumor was he’d be making his own political bid soon enough.
I knew what most of these people didn’t know, though. Van Linsted wielded more power outside of politics than in it. And if there were to be any kind of elections, they wouldn’t be by the people. They would be only by the people he looked upon as peers.
People like me, like my friends, were the kind of people he wanted to strip power from.
But now I had money. Not my father’s money, my own. Between Bridge, East, and myself, we had enough power to dismantle the Elite. If we were smart.
Everything had to go right or the dominoes wouldn’t fall the way we needed.
I bumped into a waiter as I marched toward my target, deliberately causing a minor crash. The guy had only two glasses on his tray, so the spill wasn’t too bad. “Mate, I’m sorry.”
I made a show of attempting to help him and having to be saved by him instead. It would be better if everyone thought I was pissed. They’d make assumptions that I was useless. Insignificant.
When I was back on my feet, I pulled my jacket back into place and leered at Van Linsted’s date, Cassandra something or other. She was a model. There was something so familiar about her in the jawline. Had I shagged her? It was hard to remember that kind of thing. As much as I was doing this for show, playing the luxury-stricken playboy, there was some truth to the carefully constructed exterior. After all, I’d been playing the part for a very long time.
When Van Linsted caught sight of me, he frowned as if he’d tasted something bad. “Covington, I see nothing has changed.”
I forced my gaze to meet his. “Arsehole,” I said with equal parts of disdain and irreverence. “Still a prick, I see.”
Cassandra raised her champagne glass to her mouth, but I could see the corners of her lips twitching as she bit back a laugh. It wasn’t like I was lying. Everyone knew he was a dick. Just because his family owned a diamond empire, he thought his shit didn’t stink. Well, that was going to change.
He rolled his eyes then drained his glass of champagne. “You really are predictable, Covington.”
I whisper-shouted loudly enough for the nearby groups to overhear. “Ladies, you know that him being a dick does not equate to him having a big dick, right? I know that’s confusing.”
In my ear, East cursed. “Can you get closer, mate? You’re too far away.”
One of the redheads in the group gave me an appraising look from top to bottom. Her gaze slid over me as if calculating exactly how much I was worth by what I was wearing. Tom Ford shoes, the slick Armani tuxedo, the classic Tag Heuer, even the Hermes tie all rang up the cash machine in her head. When her gaze met mine, I winked at her. “Care to jump ship, love?”
I inched closer to Van Linsted as I sidled up to her. I thought I might still be too far away, but East’s voice reassured me. “That’s it, right there. Don’t move. Closer if you can, it’s a little slow to download.”
I leaned in to whisper, “I’m Ben. You can call me Big Ben if you prefer.” She chuckled at that, and I nudged even closer to her.
Van Linsted scowled. “What do you want, Covington?”
“I wanted to say hello. It’s been a while. Obviously, things are moving in the right direction for you.”
From my peripheral vision, I saw security inching their way through the crowd, trying to be discreet as they sliced through the people like a Damascus steel knife. I was running out of time.
I was going to have to agitate him. East’s frustration was clear as he growled, “Mate, closer. Something is wrong.”
Bugger.
I needed Van Linsted to initiate prolonged contact. And there was only one way I could think of to do that. “How is it hiding under Mummy’s skirts, Bram? Your family did always bail you out of problems. Rumor has it she’s going to skip you for inheritance. Is that true?” I turned my attention to the crowd. “Ladies, did you know that Bram here doesn’t control his purse strings? Mummy does. Those diamonds you see draped around her neck are solely controlled by her. You’re better off trying your luck with Miles, his younger brother. Bram here has no say in Van Linsted holdings.” It was true.
Marcus Van Linsted, Bram’s father, might have been the head of the mines on paper, but marrying April had been the infusion of cash, all told in the billions, that the business needed.
All eyes were on me. I spread my arms. “I, on the other hand, am a self-made billionaire with a B.” I mock-stumbled forward. “So that should help in your decision making.”
In my ear, East chuckled and egged me on. “That’s it. It’s working. Also, you’re a right git. Thank God you’re not on the side of evil.”
I was going to have to physically climb the fucker if the download didn’t go any faster.
The other women in the group didn’t even bother casting Van Linsted a goodbye glance as they stalked over to me. The tallest one with the dark auburn hair grinned. “My name is Fiona.”
“Ah, like the princess. I’m Ben. You can call me Big Ben, though. I don’t falsely advertise. Bram here, well, he’s known for having a little prick. And, you know, generally being a prick. Just his Mummy’s errand boy.”
I knew Van Linsted. He didn’t get his hands dirty. He didn’t know how to fight. Not like I did. I could afford to take a few calculated risks. But security was close.
In my ear, Bridge growled. “You’re going to have to get right up next to him. We still have at least a minute and a half left.”
I needed to push him. I stepped closer still. If I could get him to attempt to run at me, that might help.
“How does it feel, Bram? When everybody in your life chooses someone other than you, including your mother?”
The muscle in his jaw ticked.
Come on, you fuck. Get in my face. I needed it to be showy. I needed him to think he had the upper hand.
He did step to me then, a sneer twisting his lips, turning him into a Disney villain in stark contrast to his perfectly ordinary features. His voice was pitched low when he said, “How is your friend, Toby?”
And we had lift-off. In my ear, East said, “Yup, almost there. Thirty seconds.”
The good news was my reaction wasn’t forced. Everything I felt was real. Every emotion, the anger, the hatred... I just had to play it up, let it loose. Unleash it.
“I will fucking kill you,” I ground out.
“Sure you will.” And then he started to move away. Fuck. I still needed another few seconds. Running out of options, I charged ahead and rushed him. Security was dangerously close, but I landed a satisfying straight jab to his nose.
Blood splattered everywhere, and then I grabbed him by his very expensive Armani jacket. “You always thought you were too good for us. You think being a Van Linsted makes you any better than Toby? He was the best of us, and you’re envious because you will never be as good as he was.”