The moment Sarima entered her room, she threw herself on her bed, a groan escaped her lips. It wasn't like she didn't know her life was fucked up but she wished it could have been less complicated and scattered. She was used to the after pain of the trauma her family constantly inflicted on her, what she wasn't used to was the initial process of going through the same trauma again and again. Her body sprawled on her bed and her heavy eyelids drooped, pulling her into the darkness completely.
Aetos had driven to his grandfather's mansion. The home of the man who built the business empire from ground up. His steps carried him through halls lined with antiques. His grandfather had a habit of collecting them and making them his obsession. He laid on the man's bed with his gaze fixed on the dark wooden ceiling, the ticking of antique clocks echoing in the quiet room while the scent of old books and cedar wafted through the room. The approaching taps of a walking stick broke his gaze as he looked at his grandfather.
"It seems my room entices you more than anywhere in this mansion." Alexander Chrysafi spoke to his grandson and a smile broke on his face. "I know my presence has an effect in your longevity" Aetos joked. "This old man here could live 20 years more without a delusional child" Alexander retorted and sat down. "Still in denial as always" Aetos smiled and continued "At this rate, this grandfather clock would become a great-grandfather clock" He teased the old man's age. "I wish... especially if it complements me having great-grandchildren" Alexander grinned.
Aetos looked at him pointedly and sighed. The old man was cunning. Somehow, he always found a way to twist conversations around until he became the victim instead.
"Look... it's in our genes to be handsome like gods. Why not utilize it and make beautiful children who would run around me? Honestly, I'm tired of seeing a grown man all the time. I want tiny little tots," Alexander huffed. "Grandpa, we can't keep having this argument every time I come here." Aetos sighed again before getting up to pour himself some scotch.
"I've set up a blind date for you this Saturday. You should go. The young lady is beautiful and attractive," Alexander remarked.
"Perhaps you're the one interested in her, Grandpa." Aetos rolled his eyes.
He knew the old man liked younger women and would always choose someone he personally found acceptable for him. He sipped the scotch and gauged his grandfather's expression that had turned into a grin.
"You're a sly old man, do you know that?" Aetos asked him. He had caught him in really uncomfortable situations especially with his personal nurse whom funny enough he hadn't spotted since he came. "I like good things." Alexander defended with a grin.
Aetos shook his head "At this rate, even if I have a girlfriend, I won't bring her here before you corrupt her thoughts" He replied smugly. "Well have the girlfriend first..." Alexander retorted.
He moved closer to Aetos. who was now seated. He dropped his voice and looked at Aetos carefully. "Is it true what the people say?" He asked his grandson. "What?" Aetos asked back. "That you're gay" Alexander whispered. Aetos couldn't help but burst into laughter. The old man was ridiculous he thought.
"You know you can always talk to your old man on these little..." Alexander wiggled his fingers around "personal matters" he concluded. "If I was, would you stop pestering me on getting married and having kids?" Aetos asked looking amused at how far the man had thought.
"Of course not! The medical world is so advanced that we can find a willing female donor to run an implantation then we pay her off" Alexander said confidently, his head raised as he felt proud of his knowledge. "Don't tell me you personally searched this out just in case I land you with one of these questions." Aetos asked him. His grandfather was the kind of man that felt it was necessary to be two steps forward which he totally learnt from him.
"You know your old man well." Alexander laughed heartily and walked to his work table in his bedroom. He pulled out some documents from the fourth drawer and walked back to Aetos with his custom made golden walking stick clicking against the dark brown hardwood. He handed the documents to Aetos which he took and began flipping through it.
Aetos looked up at him with a frown. "The government wants a 'facilitation fee' before approval," Alexander said.
Aetos exhaled slowly. "Bribery disguised as bureaucracy."
"It's the cost of expansion." Alexander retorted.
"It's the cost of collapse if we normalize it," Aetos corrected.
Alexander tapped his cane. "So we walk away from a billion-dollar deal?"
"Or we restructure the entry point," Aetos said. "We don't play in their corruption. We replace it with leverage." Aetos replied, scanning through the documents again.
Alexander studied him for a moment, the amusement in his eyes dimming into something more calculating.
"That's a dangerous way of thinking," he said slowly.
Aetos didn't look away from the documents. "It's the only way empires survive without rotting from the inside."
A silence settled between them, heavier than the ticking clocks in the room.
Alexander leaned on his cane. "You think morality and power can sit at the same table."
"They already do," Aetos replied. "We just pretend one doesn't bleed into the other."
A faint smile returned to Alexander's lips. "Good. Then you're finally thinking like someone who will inherit this empire."
Aetos glanced up. "That sounded like approval."
"It wasn't," Alexander said immediately. "It was observation."
Aetos scoffed lightly and flipped another page.
"So what's your plan?" Alexander asked.
Aetos closed the folder. "We don't pay the facilitation fee."
"And risk the deal collapsing?"
"We don't attack the system directly," Aetos said. "We find who benefits from the approval chain… and make it inconvenient for them to delay us."
Alexander's brows rose slightly. "Bribery with elegance."
Aetos corrected him calmly. "Influence with structure."
The old man gave a low chuckle. "You really are my grandson."
Aetos set the documents down. "Unfortunately for everyone involved... Anything else?" He asked.
"Forty million unaccounted for," Alexander said, voice calm but sharp.
"Trace the approval chain," Aetos replied.
"I already did. It leads to one of our senior directors."
Aetos paused. "Fire him."
"That's your solution? He's been with us for twenty years." Alexander countered.
"And he stole from us for one day too many," Aetos said. "Loyalty doesn't cancel theft."
Alexander studied him. "You're less forgiving than I was at your age."
"That's why this empire is still standing." Aetos smirked.
A brief silence settled between them. Alexander finally straightened, tapping his cane once against the floor.
"I'll have the managing director informed," he said. "And the investigation initiated."
Aetos nodded slightly. "Make sure it doesn't stay internal too long. If there's one leak, there are usually more."
Alexander's eyes narrowed with quiet approval. "You're already thinking like a man who expects betrayal."
"I expect reality," Aetos corrected. Since he had looked into Theodore, he was back to his normal quiet lifestyle making it harder for him to extract more information indirectly. He needed to trace the breach secretly as everyone had now become a suspect with Theodore leading the chart.
Aetos stood up, it was time to leave as he had something to do and the sun had begun to set. He looked outside the window and saw the househelps doing their various duties. The sky had dipped into orange which was a rare thing since this state was used to it's constant rainfall.
"Grandpa, I'd be leaving now, I have something important to do." Aetos said. He knew he had a great relationship with his grandfather. Unlike him and his dad, he felt free with the old man. "Why do you always leave at this time, is there something you're not telling me?" Alexander asked, his eyes narrowed considerably as he had noticed from time to time that Aetos would leave when it was heading to 5pm. "I can't tell you, you'd have a heart attack" Aetos smirked. "I have a strong heart if you don't know, I hope it's not another military duty" Alexander replied.
Aetos didn't reply. He just smiled at him, nodded and walked away. He wasn't lying when he said it could give him a heart attack and he was definitely not going to tell him what it was. He got into his car and zoomed off, the last thing he saw in the rearview mirror being his grandfather still watching him quietly.
The road fell quiet as the mansion disappeared behind him. He tapped on the dashboard screen and it lit up instantly.
The Vixen household appeared on the display, live. Aetos dragged the timeline backward, rewinding the feed to study what he had missed with quiet focus. The Vixens were not random.The Vixens had unknowingly crossed into one of his investigations, an investigation he had never closed.