The scent of perfume filled the study. Broken glass glittered across the floor. Between the shards lay several tiny sealed wraps of weed.
Alex stared at them. "I think I'm in love with you, Zarri."
Zarri laughed. "You discovered crime and that's what did it?"
Alex pointed at the shattered bottle. "You hid weed inside perfume. This is the sexiest thing anyone has ever shown me."
"Alex," Chaos said. "Focus."
"I am focused." Alex smiled. "I'm throbbing like crazy, and it's not my heart."
Kashi looked at them.
Zarri's network could give them another route around the problem. It did not remove the problem itself.
Kashi glanced at the shattered perfume bottle. "If Vross has already interfered with your business, Zarri can change what he expects to see next. She cannot change who he has already convinced to start looking."
Zarri rested one hip against the table. "Exactly."
Alex looked between them. "So what do we need?"
Kashi was quiet for a moment. "Legitimacy."
Chaos glanced at her. "X Holdings has enough legitimate infrastructure."
"It does." Kashi looked at him. "But this isn't about whether your companies legally exist. Vross has spent years positioning himself between your operations and the institutions that make those operations convenient."
Chaos's gaze sharpened. "And if we remove him?"
"You create a vacuum."
Alex clicked his tongue. "Xavier said the same thing."
Kashi stood and crossed towards the desk. "Vross has political relationships. Regulatory relationships. People who answer his calls because they owe him, fear him or benefit from keeping him happy." Her fingers tapped once against the polished wood. "You don't replace that with another shipment."
Zarri looked at her. "You replace it with someone bigger."
Kashi's mouth curved slightly.
Alex pointed between them. "This friendship is becoming concerning."
Neither woman acknowledged him.
Kashi continued. "If Zarri's structure gives you an alternative commercial channel, I can support the legitimate framework around it."
Alex tilted his head. "You said that very carefully."
"Because I enjoy not confessing to crimes in rooms with windows, Alexander." Kashi smiled warmly.
Zarri looked around. "This is my house."
Kashi raised a brow. "You're a weed-selling bitch descended from another weed-selling son of a Coke-sniffing-cunt."
Zarri considered that. "Fairs." She picked up the whisky bottle and poured herself a full glass.
Chaos looked at Kashi. "What would you need?"
There were very few doors Kashi Saints could not open.
Money opened some, her surname opened others and her grandfather had spent decades making sure the Saints family existed in places where ordinary wealth stopped being enough.
But this—
This was different.
Senator Vross was one man Kashi had gone out of her way to avoid. Galas. Parties. Every room the old cunt happened to occupy.
She had no interest in him whatsoever. Her grandfather disliked him even more and if James discovered she was interfering with something Vross had his hands in, it might attract exactly the kind of attention Kashi did not need right now.
Which left one option.
Kashi's jaw tightened. "Of all the men to run a deal with, you picked that old fart."
Alex exhaled. "Desperate times, babe. We've been using his help for years."
Kashi slowly looked at him. "I need to call an old friend."
A name she had not needed in a very long time sat somewhere at the back of her mind.
Old, familiar and complicated in ways she had absolutely no interest in unpacking today.
💜~~~~~~~
A black Bugatti waited near the private terminal.
Its engine hummed beneath the distant roar of aircraft, sleek and polished under the pale daylight.
Kashi leaned against the car with one ankle crossed over the other, sunglasses resting over her eyes, looking as though waiting for royalty was the most irritating thing she had done all week.
The jet door opened and a man in a white suit stepped out.
Ivar Giaever.
The moment he spotted her, his mouth curved. He descended the stairs with the effortless confidence of a man born into power and ruined beautifully by it.
When he reached the tarmac, he spread both arms wide.
"Saintssss."
Kashi frowned, still, she allowed him to pull her into a hug. "Ivar," she said flatly, "do you ever go quiet?"
Ivar pulled back, delighted. "Now where is the fun in that?"
Kashi turned towards the car. "Get in. I still don't know why I agreed to pick you up."
"Aww." Ivar placed a hand over his chest as he followed. "Is our princess pouting? How can you say that to your dear cousin?"
Kashi pointed the car key at him. "I am not your driver, Your Highness. You have an entire army of servants for that, you fucking prick."
Ivar waved her off and slid into the passenger seat. Kashi got in, started the engine and pulled away from the terminal, for a few seconds, only the quiet purr of the Bugatti filled the space between them.
Ivar settled back comfortably. "How is Zarri?"
"Terrified," Kashi answered without hesitation.
Ivar chuckled, a short silence followed, this time, when he looked at her, some of the mischief eased from his face. "I missed you, you crazy woman."
"I know." Kashi kept her eyes on the road. "Now shut your royal ass up." She glanced at him, a smirk pulling at her mouth. "James is waiting."
Ivar swallowed, for the first time since stepping off the jet, genuine terror crossed his face.
Kashi burst out laughing as the Bugatti sped away from the private terminal.