Page 42 of Ruthless Ambition
This cemented my belief there was more to it, and I wanted to know what. Of course, I could ask her. But where was the fun in that? Picking up my phone, I called Cooper.
“Hey, what you need?” he asked, and I heard people in the background.
“Need you to dig for me.”
“Hmm, who, why and what for?” I heard him apologize to someone, and that alone made me pause.
“Where are you?”
“Airport.”
“Which one?”
“Does it matter?” I heard his amusement, and I smiled in return. Cooper played his cards close to his chest even more than I did.
“No, sending you a file that tells you the who and the what. I want to know everything there is on the other party.”
“Sure.”
Cooper was a private investigator, a good one, if not a little unorthodox in his methods. But if you could afford him, there was no one better to hire.
“Charlie called,” he told me. “Mayhem?”
“Hmm, I think it’s needed.”
“Needed? Understatement,” he said. “That’s my flight. I’ll have your shit soon.”
Leaning back in my chair, I took a moment to appreciate the comfort the new chair provided me with before I turned my attention back to my clients. I had more clients than the others in the agency simply because I was better. I’d hooked my firstclient when I was twenty-one. My friend Jer got drafted right out of college, and he asked me to be his agent. I was nowhere near completing my degree, and I still had law school to go to, never mind sitting the bar, but I had the connections through my family, and I knew who and what he required, and he was willing to put his future in my hands.
After a short discussion with my dad and my uncle, in which I presented them my business plan, Dad released some of my trust fund early, allowing me the opportunity to invest in my business. I had a sports agency set up before I completed my undergraduate degree. Uncle Kage accompanied me to meet with Neil. Neil was a financial advisor specializing in athletes and investments. My dad and uncle already had a firm that offered this service, but I wanted to bring it into an agency, accompanied by the possibility to represent the athlete and advise them on not only their contracts for playing or sponsorships, but also give well-rounded advice on what they should do with their money. A career as a sports player was, on average, short-term. They needed to make their money and make their money work for them in a limited time frame.
Jer was my first client. He was also the start of my success. The deal the team offered him was short of where it should be, and as he was a rookie, he thought — wrongly — that any deal was better than no deal. I talked him into no deal. Then I went and pitched him to a competitor team in the same division, and I got him a better deal, which, at my age and despite my connections, had been a tough sell, and I worked hard to get the recognition webothdeserved.
The original team knew Jer was good, so much so, they didn’t want to play their defense against him, so they upped their original offer, which was better than the opposing team’s deal, and as a result, my effort and Jer’s trust in me earned us both a reputation.
I capitalized on my newfound career, and he delivered by being a kick-ass player worth every penny he earned.
My friends were older than me. They were Devils and had been before I started college. Cardinal Saints College was my family business, and I was a legacy, so even though there was Mayhem when there were no Santos in the school, as a legacy, I automatically superseded all others. In my freshman year, the other three were all juniors, but we formed a bond, and I knew the first night, my form of mayhem crossed what others would say was a line, but the four of them had met my challenge with hungry eagerness.
Was what we did illegal? Yes. Did we care? No. Was everything we did for the good of others? Fuck no, I was no hero, and neither were my friends.
Jer played his sport. Cooper became a private investigator, a skill he developed and honed from his days as a Devil. He started off as a bounty hunter and developed from there. Owen was a sports reporter — he always was the flashiest among us — and Charlie, well, Charlie did for me now what he had always done. He used his morephysicalskills in enforcing our way of working. He would take care of the girl, and he would ensure she was handed over to her parents, and he would probably advise them to press charges against the scumbag. And then he would return to where he left the asshole and deliver Devils’ justice, and from the sound of it, he would have help.
A soft knock on the door, and as I looked up, I was surprised to see Angel.
Closing my laptop, I beckoned her in. “Knocking? That’s new,” I taunted her.
“Shut up.”
“Ah, that’s what I’m more used to.” Leaning back, I waited. “Well?”
“Is it true?”
“Is anything true?”
Angel opened her mouth to snap at me, but then caught herself, and I watched as her head bowed and she gave herself a moment to collect herself. I watched in amusement as she returned her attention to me.
“He has a complicated sponsorship with a dental sponsor,” she began. “Johnathan will . . .”
