Vampire Debt - Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,83
about the entertainment industries I had to learn in the next two years.
I’d call Ricky in the morning.
Though… why the fuck would I do that? He was my ex—and Kyros was right here. The Pikars were too rich to kill off—and plus, Sundulus operated within human laws. I extracted my phone and scrolled down to the contact named Live and Learn. I clicked it, listening to the phone ring.
Ricky never turned his phone off at night. Used to drive me nuts.
“I don’t understand why all the women have a white rose,” Lionel said, looking at his brother.
I may know something about that.
Kyros turned to me, clenching his jaw.
“Basi, baby?” Ricky’s sleepy voice echoed down the line.
Could I have orchestrated this any better?
Trying not to laugh, I replied, “Pikar. Long time.”
“Too long,” he said, more alert. I listened to the shuffling in the background. “You around tonight?”
He would assume this was a booty call. I eyed the wide-eyed exchange between Francesca and Gerome.
“You’re leasing a nightclub. I’m going to take it.”
“2274?” he asked.
“What kind of name is that?”
Those were the numbers on the password into my grandmother’s computers.
“Uh, well. It was back in the days we were together. I did it as a romantic thing, but you dumped my ass before I could tell you. Then the legal papers were finalized and I couldn’t be bothered changing it.”
“Cut to the chase.”
“It’s Basi in numbers.”
I covered the phone as Gerome burst into laughter, concealing my own shudder. That right there was why Ricky Pikar was saved in my phone as Live and Learn.
“No need to change the name then.” The name will change first thing. “I guess you knew that you’d lease the club to me for a reasonable price in the future.”
“Sure, we could meet and—”
Even to make Kyros jealous, I wasn’t doing that. “Time is money.”
“Yeah, I heard about your grandmother. She never liked me so I didn’t go to the funeral, but I’m really sorry, Basi. I know what she meant to you.”
Dammit.
This is what appealed to sixteen-year-old Basilia. Ricky wasn’t the smartest tool in the shed, but he was mostly genuine. That was hard to find in the estates.
I focused on the table. “Thanks, Pikar. I appreciate it. And you’re right, she hated your guts.”
We both laughed.
“Look, we have a history, so I’m willing to sell the lease to you for cheaper. Six hundred thousand.”
My lips twitched at Gerome’s outraged expression.
I lowered my voice, almost purring. “You can do better than that.”
Ricky spluttered. “I’ve got to cover my own investment.”
“Give it to me for a flat four seventy-five. I’ll take an extendable and renewable option with that.”
I didn’t want to lose the asset at a crucial time.
“That’s half what I asked from other interested parties!”
“Yes.”
“You know? Then I’ll need more incentive, I’m afraid. It’s in Black, Basi.”
“You’d be doing a Le Spyre a favour, Pikar. What other incentive do you need?”
I enjoyed the silence on the other end. Turned out I wasn’t above reminding new money about their social position. Oops.
“Look, I’d rather deal with someone I know. Owning a nightclub turned into more work than I thought.”
Work in general, he meant. “Deal.”
He blew out a breath. “You always did bust my balls.”
“I can’t recall you complaining,” I said sweetly.
The royal siblings quietened, each of them staring at Kyros.
Ricky snorted. “We never had an issue in that department. If you’re ever interested in—”
“My people will be in touch.” I disconnected, flipping my phone before sliding it in the pocket of my black woollen coat.
“Basilia,” Kyros said.
His menace filled me.
“Mmm?”
“Do you care to explain how the roses I sent you ended up in the hands of every female Vissimo in my tower?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “Sure. I didn’t appreciate the roses, so I asked a few of the men to hand the flowers out to the women after the seconds met.”
The vampire was facing away from me. “You didn’t appreciate them?”
“Nope.”
He rested his hands on the glass wall, back tense. “What the fuck do you appreciate?”
He was pissed. Big time.
Served the idiot right for trying to buy me.
“I appreciate my friends,” I answered, shaking my hair back.
The scream of shattering glass jolted through the room. I clapped my hands over my ears.
The interior glass wall was gone. Dissolved. Shards of glass littered the ground outside.
Kyros stood before it, shoulders heaving between ripping snarls.
The massive screen against the wall flickered to life.
King Julius surveyed the state of the room without a trace of emotion.