The Almighty Dominance (by Sunshine) novel Chapter 693

Alex bought his clothes off a street rack because they let him move, and he had never once cared what this city's money thought of that. He cared even less this morning, walking toward the Regent building with his hands in his pockets.

He didn't make it past the parking lot.

"Well. Look who's slumming it at a real company." Leon Rydell pitched it to carry, and it did — across the lot, off the glass, into every ear within fifty feet. He stood by the entrance with Julian Thorne on one side and Wilhelmina on the other, three people dressed like they'd rehearsed belonging somewhere they didn't.

"Leon." Alex kept walking. One word was already more than the man had earned.

"Careful." Julian's smile never touched anything below his mouth. "Last time we saw this one, he had opinions about who gets to speak in rooms he wasn't invited to." He tipped his head toward Wilhelmina. "This is the fiancé. The unemployed one."

"I remember," Wilhelmina said, the way you'd recall a stain on a carpet.

Heat crawled up the back of Alex's neck. Not for himself — he'd been called worse by better. For Febyella, whose money kept all three of them fed while they sneered at the man she'd chosen.

"I have a job," he said. "Funny thing, though. The way I remember it, you three are the unemployed ones. Living off my fiancée's money to keep your sorry lives running."

The words landed like a slap. Three faces, one shared flinch.

"Dock work isn't work." Wilhelmina recovered first. "It's animal work. We work here."

"Really." Alex raised an eyebrow and waited.

"We're here on job call" Leon lifted his chin like the sentence cost him something to produce. "Real job. Julian's got a man inside personnel — Wallace Crane. Guaranteed management placement, no résumé required, if you know how to grease the right hand." Pride crept into his voice, small and ugly. "My father already paid. Both our seats are as good as signed."

"Be kind to us, and maybe we'll help you get a job here too." Wilhelmina smiled. "Something like your old one. Animal work. Muscle."

Alex looked at her exactly as long as the sentence deserved.

"Good luck with that," he said — and meant it more than any of them would understand for the next twenty minutes.

Then he walked past them, past the front hall where guests were made to wait, and straight through the inner gate. The one reserved for employees and the kind of people who never need a badge.

The sensors didn't so much as blink.

Wilhelmina's laugh died in her throat. She marched after him — and the barrier caught her like a bouncer's arm. She stumbled back in front of a lobby full of watching eyes, heat flooding her face. "Is the scanner broken? How did he get in?"

"Relax." Leon smoothed his jacket. "He probably lifts boxes here. Or mops. First thing we do once we're hired — we get him fired."

"Good idea." Wilhelmina laughed again, steadier this time.

Twenty minutes. Nineteen, now.

Top floor of Regent Tower, Beatrix's office smelled like fresh toner and old money. She didn't offer Alex a chair. He took one anyway.

"Terms, since we're making it official." He sat. "I don't come to this building again unless something's actually broken. You run it. Every decision that matters is yours, and it looks like yours — because it is. My name goes on the shareholder filing and nowhere else. Not the letterhead. Not the press release. Not a birthday card."

"Understood." Beatrix didn't blink. "Announcements?"

"Two, when you are ready. First — ownership change. New chairman, name withheld by request. You step down to vice chairman. CEO stays yours." He paused half a second, the only pause he allowed himself all morning. "Second — Regent expands the tile grid across the entire city and state. Every district and state, not just the profitable ones. Two hundred million in advertising contracts, open to any firm in United State of Magic willing to bid. I'll provide the money. Don't worry about that part."

Her eyebrow rose a fraction of an inch, which for Beatrix was a full sentence. "That's not a small thing to bury under the first announcement."

"It's not supposed to stay buried." He didn't explain. Not yet.

"One more thing. Your compensation doubles, effective today. Not a gift — a correction. You ran this company alone for two years while your own family tried to sell it out from under you, and you never once let it show in a boardroom."

For the first time since he'd walked into her office four days ago, something in Beatrix's face actually moved. She reached for her pen before it could move any further. "I'll have the statements out in a few days."

"Is production giving the team any trouble?"

"None. Your formula sits right on top of our old product line — a few lines of the magic and everything runs. You could take the academy's most prestigious award if you ever published it."

"I love money more," Alex said. "One last thing. Does Regent hire on skill — or on relationships and cash up front? Because I met some people this morning who seem very sure it's the second one."

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