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CHAPTER ONE

“You no longer fit my aesthetics, Axel.” Gio lounged in his overstuffed chair that sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of their luxury apartment. He liked to look out over the city and pretend he was some kind of king of finance. He rolled his eyes when Axel walked over and stared down at him.

“What are you saying?” He barked when Gio stood as Axel stepped back. They'd just gotten home thirty minutes ago. Axel, acting as his driver, had picked Gio up from one of the exclusive restaurants that Gio insisted upon for his so-called business dinners. He never brought Axel, but he brought others. Axel knew about the others; he knew about all Gio's whores.

He hated this relationship, and he hated Gio, but he held on, hoping to regain some of what he'd poured into this business, but all he'd managed to claw back was a few thousand. He'd given Gio over a hundred thousand to help him launch Ardant Group, with the promise he was buying into it, and he would share in the profits. Gio shared nothing except his contempt and his anger.

"The business needs ambition, presence, curated looks, and behavior. You're home-spun, Axel, and your business intelligence is weak and tasteless. You lack vision, Axel." Gio moved toward him. "I've been thinking about this for a while now, and it would be best if we broke up." He smiled hatefully.

"I own half this business, Gio. You are not throwing me out with nothing." Axel tried to stand his ground, but Gio was about four inches taller than him and about twenty pounds heavier, and the intimidation he was pressing on him was having the desired effect.

"Everything is in my name, Axel. Your investment is gone.” He paused for effect. “Your trust in me allowed me to take everything." He started to laugh, and Axel took a swing at him.

“You bastard.”

“I can’t believe you actually thought I wanted to build a life with you. Didn’t the two-year engagement give you any clues?" He laughed again, and this time Axel's knuckles connected with his face. It knocked him back a step. Gio smiled and wiped the blood from his lip.

"That was a mistake, baby." He said, and then backhanded him, knocking Axel to the floor. He moved quickly, kicking him in the torso as Axel tried to shield his head and face. He bent down, grabbed Axel by the hair, pulled him up into a half-seated position, and spat in his face. Gio continued to land blow after blow until he grew bored and then dragged him to the door and threw him out into the hallway.

"The penthouse is in my name; you have no claim. You are simply my guest, and I can toss you out when I please." His eyes traveled Axel's face, seemingly pleased with the damage he'd caused. It wasn't the first time Gio had hit him, but it was the worst of the attacks.

“I’ll have your things packed and delivered to whatever address you leave with my housekeeper. Go bleed somewhere else.” He said, and slammed the door.

“I helped build this company.” He whispered to no one as devastation began to overtake every other expression on his face.

***

“Kieran has been running acquisitions at the New York location for over twenty years, and his lack of aging is going to become an issue soon," Josef stated during a morning meeting handling the business side of the Hadden Coven. “I’m having him return here and work with real estate and development. I believe it is time we seriously look at giving the lowlands a facelift."

"Kieran is one of our best and a ruthless negotiator; he's the perfect choice for rehabilitating the lowlands." Master Hadden agreed. "He also has the magics and combat training which might come necessary with our dealings in the lowlands.”

"Others have tried, but the lowlands present problems unlike most underdeveloped properties. I am confident that Kieran's drive and character will see this project finally completed.” Josef assured.

“He’s driven entirely by objectives; he views the world through the lens of efficiency, leverage, and success. He is an absolute pragmatist, and his detachment is legendary. If the lowlands can be tamed, Kieran is the one to do it." Master Hadden laughed. "Although I'm going to miss his predatory approach to business in our New York offices."

“And he views people as either assets, liabilities, or obstacles," Josef interjected with a laugh. “He makes Killian look friendly and approachable.”

“They’re friends, did you know that?” Master Hadden spoke up.

"Friends might be an overstatement. People like Killian and Kieran don't do emotional attachments like friends; it's more like they understand one another and speak the same language.”

"He'll be great for the Lowland; he'll cut through the bullshit, and we'll finally start to see some improvements down there." Master Hadden joked about it, but he desperately wanted that area to shake off the aura of evil and join the rest of the city in establishing positive growth.

“He arrives tomorrow.”

***

Axel checked into the Roselyn Hotel and spent a week recovering from the beating that Gio had given him when he felt up to it; he began making calls. Luckily, he’d never joined his personal account with Gio; they had separate accounts, but now that he was out of the company, Axel would have to be very careful with the money that he had. He was a saver, and that had worked in his favor.

He contacted a lawyer, and as he already knew, if there was no proof of his work or contributions, there was no way to go after anything in terms of the Ardent Group. He wasn't giving up, but it was going to be a long road, and he needed something right now so that he didn’t blow through his entire savings. Pittsburgh was an expensive city, so if he wanted a decent apartment, he would need to find a job soon. They don’t rent to people without a steady income.

The Roselyn wasn’t cheap but not too expensive either, and it gave him an address for now. If he failed to find something in the next two weeks, he would have to move to one of the more economical extended-stay motels, but those were not a good look when trying to find employment.

He attempted to contact a few coworkers he had considered friends, but no one would take his calls. Gio was closing him off. He thought of family, but Gio had cut him off from the few he had that still lived in Pittsburgh. He didn’t want to air his dirty laundry to family anyway. Then he recalled a business acquaintance, someone he'd met at several conferences over the years. He was brilliant and a nice man besides. He knew his first name was Cole but couldn't remember his last.

Axel lay back on the bed and searched his brain, trying to remember. "His husband's name was Michael King; he's an executive at Hadden Corp." He was talking himself through it. "Cole works in research and development, and his name is probably Cole King. Cole was the sweet sort of man who would have taken his husband’s name.”

He figured Cole could give him a heads up on anything available at Hadden Corp, and he probably knew of other openings Axel could investigate. Anything that Gio could affect, he would have no doubt about that, but he did not have good relations with Hadden Corp; they had never taken a meeting with him. They never said anything disparaging, but their posturing was clear. Axel had met with one of their people on several occasions and had even landed support on a couple of personal projects. There was hope there. He took a deep breath, took a chance, and called Cole.