"Mr. Storm? Nico Wells is here for his ten a.m. meeting," Athena informs me, not waiting for a response before she leaves my office again. She knows that the moment I'm open to receive a visitor, I'll let her know by using a button on my desk that'll light up a small light bulb on hers.

Or as Sierra would say; I spent too much money on unnecessary fancy shit.

I'm not quite sure I'm ever ready to speak to my no-longer-brother, but I do have a few things to say to him. And apparently, we have some business to talk about, too.

I allow myself a moment to breathe, staring at my digital clock, waiting until the clock strikes ten. I won't let this guy in even just one minute earlier, even if I do have the time.

I put off having to see him for months. Months in which my anger towards him only ever expanded. And truth be told, now being a father only gets my blood boiling a million times more.

The thought of my daughter having to go through something like my wife did—Nah, if Nico decides to say one wrong thing, he truly won't be living much longer.

I press the button on my desk, my hand balling into fists as I wait until Nico opens my office door and walks inside like he's never done something wrong.

The nasty grin on his face only makes me want to punch him even harder. More often. He even walks like he's a God—which he's far from.

Nico takes a seat across from me, throwing a rather small folder on my desk like he owns this office. "I want to buy back the rights you've got from my company."

I snort a laugh. "The fuck you get from me." I don't need his company. It's more of a pain in the ass than any good for me. But if he truly believes he'd get the rights back...

It's great money. Not much to be living like me, not in the slightest. Nico himself has like 0.0001% of a billion. That'd be 10000. If I check my bank account (which sure as hell is still over one billion) he'd have even less percentage of what I just said.

He couldn't afford to get the rights back, even if I were to sell them to him. I pushed his company up to what he makes monthly. And these ten thousand is as far as I could get it. Like I said, more of a pain in my ass than anything else.

"I want the other half back, Atlas—"

"I don't think you serve the right to call me by my first name anymore, do you? Especially not when this is supposed to be work related, Wells." So glad we no longer share a last name. Hate it for Ava, though.

He grunts, adjusting himself in his seat. Trying it again, "I want the other half of my company back, Storm."

"Tough. I think I'm going to keep it." Or probably sell it to someone else. The thing is, I could easily buy his rights off far more easily. Shove a bunch of millions down his throat and he'd be satisfied. But I'd be pretty stupid to do that. His company isn't worth that much, especially not when I no longer invest in it.

"Atlas, don't make this unnecessarily difficult." I don't speak, don't think there's much to say. I will make this difficult. I won't, under no circumstances, give this guy anything. "You do love your wife though, don't you?"

"What the hell has Sierra to do with this?"

Another one of his nasty grins appears. "It's adorable, you know. How protective you are of her." Still don't get why he's bringing Sierra up. "Give me back my rights and I'll stay away from her."

Oh, he shouldn't have said that.

I lean back in my chair, looking Nico up and down. He looks...cheap. He looks run-down, like he's had a rough couple of days.

"You'll stay away from her no matter what. I doubt you even dare going anywhere near her." I lean in a bit closer, my elbows resting on my desk. "Cause if you do, Wells, I can promise you, you'll be dead by tomorrow morning."

I can see him gulp, sweat starting to appear on his forehead. The anxiety he gets from my words is obvious, even though he tries not to let it show.

Over the past couple of years, I've gotten much better at reading people; knowing when they're scared, when they're happy, sad. Any emotion really. It's quite easy learning it, it's mostly displayed in their eyes. Eyes are the biggest traitor there is.

"Aren't you a father now? I doubt you want to get your hands dirty," Nico says, no longer sounding all too confident. "Congratulations on your girl, by the way." He pauses to take a breath. "She doing all right? Wouldn't want anything happening to her, huh?"

"Seriously, Nico? I didn't think you could fall any lower. Indicating to do anything to a three-month-old now? How sick is that?" Seriously, I didn't think he could sink any deeper down. Clearly, he can. "You don't have any other strategies, do you? Threatening to hurt my family is all you got." Fucking stupid if you asked me.

"Atlas, I just want the other half of my company. I've done really stupid shit, okay? Can't turn back time. But I can remove myself from your and Sierra's—"

"Say her name one more time and you'll feel my fist in your goddamn face." I'm not usually aggressive, physical even. I sure as hell am an asshole if I have to be. I rarely sympathise with people. But what I've noticed a while ago; if it comes to Sierra, and now Allie too, I'm ready to murder. Even if the dead one would be my own brother.

"Just fucking listen, would you?" No, thank you. "I'm ready to leave the country. You'll never have to see me again. But I need money for it. I need your half of my company so I can sell it and fucking leave."

Such a petty liar. His eyes twitch as he speaks, looking up into the right corner. He blinks more often than he usually does.

"Your ten thousand is more than enough to leave on your own."

"You think I'd leave Ava and the kids behind?"

I nod. "You should. It's better for all of them. I even bet the two only exist because you'd raped her, too, right?"

He stays awfully quiet, not even trying to deny it. And something about that really irks me. I've had my assumptions for a while, but getting his confirmation only makes it so much worse.

My phone starts to ring, and usually I wouldn't even check it, but I know this can only be Sierra. Not even Nico could keep me from picking up the phone.

And when I do pick up, hearing Sierra's voice alone brings my nerves down like Nico isn't even sitting right opposite of me.

"Are you busy?" she asks after greeting me. "Cause I can call at a later time."

"Mhm, but it's alright. What's up?"

I can hear Sierra chuckle on the other side of the phone call, making me feel the sweetness of her voice right in my heart in form of warmth. "I sense someone annoying the CEO. I sure hope that's me."

God, I wish. I wish she was annoying me. But even if she tried, it wouldn't be possible. "How's Allie?"

Sierra gasps. "Oh, the cheeseball is being...difficult. I just put her to sleep, but I swear, she's been crying for years. Not that she's that old yet. Anyway, she's pulling an Atlas. Being all moody and stubborn."

"Stubborn?" I ask, wanting to chuckle but as my eyes meet Nico's, I no longer feel like it. This is really unprofessional, I know.

"Yes. She wanted to eat, so I give her my goddamn boob as I do so very often. Anyway, my nipple falls out of her mouth, and Allie's clearly hungry, but she won't eat anymore because how dare my boob be a boob and attached to my body. Like, it should really be attached to her mouth instead. So much more logical."

This time, I can't stop the chuckle from slipping out. "Did she end up eating?"

I may not be able to see Sierra nod, but I know she is nodding. "Took good an hour but we got there in the end. What are you doing for lunch? Can you take an hour or two off?"

"I'll be home in an hour, sweetheart." I look at Nico, as I say, "I'm done here. I won't waste any more time on my current meeting."

"Yeah, I really don't wish to be the person sitting across from you right now, Mr. Storm." She laughs, but if she knew it was Nico in the same room as me, she wouldn't even consider laughing.

"Sweetheart, I'll call you back in a few minutes okay?"

Sierra sighs, deeply and to the point it almost sounds painful. "Okayyy. Don't torture the person too much, alright? I miss you! See you in a bit!"

Aw man, the little jump my heart does...She might as well have said she loved me.

She hangs up the phone, not giving me a chance to say goodbye. Though, to be honest, she probably didn't think there was one coming. I never really say goodbye on the phone. Or ever.

"She's your weakness, Atlas," Nico says the second I lay my phone down. "I never thought you could have one."

Apparently she's always been my weakness. Didn't slow me down almost fifteen years ago though, and she won't slow me down now either.

"Give me my company and you'll never hear of me again."

"You can't pay me off. No money in this world will get you the other half. Not from me."

He groans. "You don't even need it!" he yells, hitting his hands on my desk. "You're just tryna get back at me!"

"Nico, this has nothing to do with revenge. You raped women. One of them being your wife. You have children, goddammit. You should be rotting behind bars, not be walking around, continuing doing awful things." I pause, giving him a second to let my words settle in before worse ones follow. "You have a daughter. Would you seriously tell her it's nothing bad if she were to get raped at some point in her life? Would you seriously let it slide and tell her to suck it up?"

He shakes his head, though he keeps quiet and doesn't say a word at all.

"Well, congratulations, you're not fond on having one of the worst things ever happening to your daughter. Meanwhile you did this to my wife, to your wife, Nico, and other women, too. Your children deserve better than you, and you fucking know that. You won't get your half back, not until you do the right thing. And I'm pretty sure you know what that is."

With that said, I get up gather my stuff and stalk out of my office. As I pass Athena, I tell her to call security and let them know to get Nico the hell out of here. She nods and does as I say.

I only wait for security to arrive before I can leave the office building without fearing Nico doing something stupid. And then, all that's left is getting home to my two favourite girls.