As I walked into the Old master's office I glanced at the old pictures hung by the wall. I Sighed then turned towards him.
He sat behind a desk that had been in our family since the reconstruction of the motor industry. He didn't look up as I approached. He was staring at a framed photograph of my father.
"You handled Spencer well," he said with a low rumble. "But a cornered rat is more dangerous than a hungry one. You didn't just defeat him today, Lucas. You humiliated him. He'll go to Emily now. And Emily has friends in places your spreadsheets can't reach."
"Let them try," I replied, standing at the window. From here, I could see the ZigLan Rigs. "I have enough leverage to bury Spencer ten times over."
"Leverage is only useful if you're alive to use it." My grandfather finally looked up, his eyes two piercing chips of flint. "How is the tremor?"
I tightened my hand behind my back. "Under control."
"Don't lie to me. I can smell the adrenaline on you. You're redlining, Lucas. You're pushing this company, and your body, to a breaking point. If you fail, the Elliott name dies with you. I won't leave this empire to a scavenger like Spencer or a puppet like Blaise."
He stood up, leaning heavily on his cane. He walked over to me, and for a moment, the mask of the "Old Master" slipped, revealing the tired grandfather underneath. He placed a hand on my shoulder. It was heavy, and it felt like a mountain was being transferred to my back.
"Find a way to steady yourself," he whispered. "Before the ice breaks."
I didn't have an answer for him. I left the office with a lot of thoughts running through my mind.
"Brandon, get the car," I muttered as I reached the elevator. "I need to clear my head."
"Actually, sir," Brandon said, checking his watch with a slight grimace. "Mr. Tyler is already downstairs. He said... and I quote... 'Tell the Ice King his throne is melting and he needs a drink before he turns into a puddle.'"
I closed my eyes for a second, a rare flicker of a headache blooming behind my temples. Tyler. The only person in Europe who dared to speak to me like that.
When I reached the lobby, the atmosphere changed instantly. He was leaning against a sleek, custom-painted Italian sports car that looked entirely out of place. He was dressed in a suit that cost more than most people's houses, but he wore it with a reckless, casual arrogance that I could never replicate.
"Look at you," Tyler grinned, pushing off the car as I approached. "You look like you just ate a lemon and found out it was a bomb. Lighten up, cousin. You just gutted Spencer in front of the board. That's calls for celebration, not a funeral."
"I have work, Tyler," I said, with a flat tone "The Nile Town expansion..."
"...can wait exactly one hour," Tyler interrupted, throwing an arm around my shoulder. I stiffened, but he didn't let go. He was the only one who ignored my 'no-touch' rule. "The 'Belarus Twins' haven't had a drink in three weeks. You're looking pale, Lucas. Even for a guy who lives in the North. You need to vent the steam before the boiler explodes."
He opened the passenger door of his car, the engine idling with a deep, predatory growl.
"I'm not in the mood for a club," I warned.
"Who said anything about a club? I booked the penthouse at the Grand Baltic. Private. Quiet. Just two titans of industry talking about how we're going to buy the rest of Germany by next Christmas." Tyler's grin widened. "And maybe, just maybe, I'll get you to tell me why you were staring out your office window at a girl in a red coat for three minutes straight."
My heart did a strange, jagged skip. "I wasn't staring."
"The security cameras say otherwise, Ice King. You looked like you'd seen a ghost. Or a goddess." Tyler hopped into the driver's seat. "Come on. One drink. Then you can go back to being a cold-blooded CEO."
I looked at the ZigLan building, then back at Tyler. The tremor in my hand was getting harder to hide. I needed to reset. I needed the world to stop spinning for just an hour.
I got in.
The car roared to life, it zoomed off. Tyler drove like he lived with no regard for the rules. As we sped toward the harbor, I watched the city lights begin to flicker on.
I didn't know that tonight was the night the walls I had built around my heart would finally start to crumble.