Page 11 of Titus

“Does she know anything about this?” I questioned.

“Spence told her after that old bat Mrs. Kingsley saw you leaving with Presley,” he said, turning back to me with a smile. “From what I know, they need to be worried, not her.”

“That’s the answer I’d hoped to hear,” I grinned. “Now, before I go downstairs and fire the entire financial department that oversees my events, Spencer said you have come to a decision on Hawk Crown Reserve?”

He sighed. “Luxury villas spanning six locations, each on private islands,” he said as if he hadn’t heard about this shit a hundred times over.

“One million dollars to join the exclusive club and a hundred thousand a year for dues.”

“Exclusive invites only?”

I chuckled. “How else would we get the filthy rich to buy in?”

“You know how I feel about catering to the ultra-wealthy,” he answered.

“It’s why I’m standing in your office, waiting to see if Mitchell and Associates will stamp their name on this elite project.”

“You should be on your knees,” Jim chuckled.

“God in heaven,” a woman proclaimed from behind. “You should lock the doors if you two want to start in on this type of kink.”

“Mrs. Monroe,” I said, watching Natalia walk in as if she owned my entire Hawk Crown Reserve.

She eyed me and said, “Aside from giving out blow jobs in order to secure a business venture with Jim,” she arched an eyebrow at me, “what the hell else have you been up to while attending galas with men who have no business on the West Coast?”

“I was referring to him begging me to join in on Hawk Crown,” Jim interrupted. “Trust me.”

“Oh, Jim, bless your innocent and always serious heart,” Nat chuckled and walked over to Jim’s office bar. “Don’t worry, we all know it’s Jake and Collin who do that kinky shit.”

I watched as the woman poured a shot of whiskey, downed it, and then turned to Jim and me.

“Jesus, Nat,” Jim said with a laugh, “it’s only nine in the morning.”

“On a day of treachery,” she said as she eyed both of us. “And when I’m finished cleaning up the streets with the remnants of the ten men that Jameston has tasked with underselling my real estate, the last thing anyone will worry about is me taking a shot.”

“Jesus Christ,” I said, a note of genuine awe slipping through at her boldness. “They told me not to fuck with you, but now I’m thinking I should fire my brother Wyatt at Hawk Enterprise and put you in his place.”

“Jim already tried replacing my husband’s VP role with me,” she smirked. “So that doesn’t surprise me.” Then she moved, taking the chair beside mine as if she belonged there. “Now, Hawk,” she said, settling in, “fill me in on everything you know about the Jamestons. Word is you took that little tart Presley back to your penthouse, and I’m assuming it wasn’t just for sex?”

I chuckled. “Shit, how does your husband handle you?”

She let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. “Handle me, darling? Please. He’s smart enough to know the only handling I need is manhandling in the bedroom, and believe me when I tell you, he handles that extremely well,” she challenged with an arch of her eyebrow. “Now, enough of how amazing my husband is in bed. If I talk about it too much longer, I’m going to have to track him down and take care of a little bit of business, if you know what I mean.” She sat up straight and leaned closer to me. “Now, I want everything you know about these fuckers who think they can waltz into my world and dominate my business.”

I proceeded to fill Nat in on everything I’d learned. I hadn’t planned on being in Jim’s office for more than thirty minutes, but clearly, shit was going down. These men trying to play dirty in her world needed to understand exactly who they were dealing with—and why crossing Nat was a mistake. Hell, that was the whole reason I’d been at that fucking event to begin with.

But that wasn’t the only issue sitting on my plate. The bigger problem for me personally was having to sort out why my financial department had hired Cat Veléz to handle Monaco for a five-hundred-thousand-dollar fee.

I appreciated how seamlessly the woman pulled things together, but planner or not, nothing about that job justified an emergency fee like that. I had no idea what had gone down behind my back to make that call—and of course, I didn’t find out until she was standing on my yacht, face-to-face with me.

As Jim and Nat continued talking strategy based on what I’d told them, I excused myself to deal with my team on the lower floors of the building.

That’s when my mind drifted back to that woman—the one with the same fire and sass Natalia Monroe carried, even if she was just an event coordinator.

Dear God. She must’ve had my team by the balls the same way Nat was about to take down the Jameston Brokerage because they’d clearly caved.

Fuck it. Just another reason to fire them before we moved out of here and into my new building in Newport Beach.

No one working for me went behind my back, and no one in my company should’ve allowed someone to pressure them into handing over an exorbitant amount of money like they were the only ones capable of pulling off the gig.