Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 102942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 8
RAIDEN
Music pulses through the speakers as I make my way around the party of the year, my drink untouched in my hand. It’s been one hell of a business trip, and honestly, I still can’t believe I’m here.
After working my connections in the industry, I nailed down a last-minute meeting with Javier Rodríguez and his associates, something my firm has been working on for who the fuck knows how long, and after showing up and waiting for almost forty minutes, I received a call to say he’d canceled.
I’ve never been so fucking pissed in my life. I didn’t come all the way to Barcelona to be stood up by a bunch of rich fuckers in three-piece suits, and I was just about to let them know exactly how I felt about that, when Javier offered a personal invitation to tonight’s black-tie party at his home to apologize, promising we could talk business once he had a beer in his hand and bikini-clad girls in his pool.
I couldn’t fault him. I like the way the man thinks. If only he weren’t a complete piece of shit.
This contract for IV Global could mean big things for the company, and I can’t afford to lose it. I’m the best rep in the firm, have been since the day it was founded, and nobody has ever gotten close to challenging that. I’ve more than earned my position. It’ll be a cold day in hell when I set foot on a flight back to LA without getting this job done. No matter if it takes me days or weeks, I won’t be leaving until I get exactly what I want.
Making my way around Javier’s mansion, I take it all in.
This place is ridiculous. He’s a public figure, working closely with the government and councils, but looking at this home, one can’t help but wonder how the fuck he affords this place. And I’m sure I’m not the only one left wondering. From what I could tell, he comes from generational wealth, but this estate right here? This is fuck-you money.
Just looking around, it’s clear he’s got cash to blow.
There are thousand-dollar bottles of spirits floating around like a blunt at a college party, at least fifty extravagant ice sculptures strategically placed throughout the mega-mansion, despite it being the middle of summer. Dancers on silks suspended from the ceiling. Diamond-encrusted silverware, Michelin-rated chefs, and, of course, the wait staff are all fully decked out in designer suits.
There’s a famous DJ with a killer setup, six separate bars, security lining every fucking wall, and a ten-million-dollar yacht sitting out in the ocean just so the guests have something to look at when gazing out at the horizon. Not to mention the NDA everybody had to sign the moment they walked through the door.
Like I said, Javier Rodríguez has money to blow, and I don’t mind being here when he wants to do it.
There must be somewhere between five and eight hundred people here. It’s impossible to tell, and yet even with so many guests, there’s still space for more.
There are women everywhere. Half of them look as though they just stepped straight off the beach and wandered in aimlessly, while the other half are dressed to the nines in designer gowns. There’s no in between. As for the men, not a single one of them would have dared disrespect Javier Rodríguez by walking through this door without wearing his best suit.
Recognizing a few of Javier’s business connections, I stop and introduce myself, getting to know each one of them. I have to listen to one of the men, Louis Mendez, brag about a woman he met at some restaurant today who he plans to devour later in the night. And honestly, I couldn’t give a fuck about what he wants to do with this woman.
I’m not interested. In fact, I haven’t been interested in any of the women here, and not because they aren’t absolutely breathtaking. They are. Hell, I haven’t been able to keep my eyes off the women in the pool, but when I’m working, that’s all that matters to me. Plus, I have enough trouble dealing with just one woman back home, and I’m not even fucking her. Though I’m hoping a few days away might help calm whatever raging animal lives inside her. Some kind of demon, perhaps? There’s no way in hell that woman isn’t possessed. It’s the only thing I can come up with that explains why she is the way she is, but I won’t lie, that feistiness in her . . . I can’t get it off my mind.
Slowly making my way indoors, I look over the impressive architecture and spend time admiring the artwork and sculptures situated throughout the estate. Eventually, my self-guided tour leads me to the second-floor balcony overlooking the insane party below.