The Brothers Drakos ~ Book 1

11 - Taking Out a Theif

The meeting was supposed to start immediately at 8:00 a.m. in the high rise building on Allen Parkway in the center of the business district.  Walls of windows ornamented three sides of the conference room and afforded those with a fear of heights, something to panic about. Rayne had arrived nearly thirty minutes early and was the first one in the conference room. Some leggy blonde secretary of “look at my expensive shoes, I matter” showed Rayne in with a snide glance and not many pleasantries.

“Can I get you a water?” She said flatly.

“Actually do you have coffee and cream?” Rayne had forgotten to have any coffee that morning due to not wanting to be late.

“I can do water.” Was all the girl said.

“And why the f**k can’t you do coffee today Trina? Is there a problem with the machine?”

“No sir, no sir, I just don’t think it is ready yet. I was going to say, I can do water but will come back with coffee shortly.”

“See that you come back with coffee. She liked heavy cream and one Splenda I believe.” Dimitri said raking over Rayne’s body in the fitted Navy suit pants and jacket coupled with thin silver shirt.

Trina looked from Dimitri to Rayne and tried to not show her annoyance. “Right away Mr. Drakos.”

Rayne snickered under her breath while she set up the laptop just in case. His back was to her arranging some paperwork on a table.

“Do you have a Wi-Fi password I can use?” Rayne asked quietly.

“Weruletheworld is the password.”

Rayne shook her head and snickered some more knowing Dimitri likely picked that password.

“You find something funny blue-eyes?”

She just shook her head no and pursed her lips together trying not to smile further. Looking at him in the black suit and olive-green shirt caused her heart to take pause. He was gorgeous in every sense of the word and he was looking only at her, even with another stunning woman in the room. Trina had been very alluring to the eye and seemed exactly what Rayne would expect Dimitri to be with but his eyes had only raked over Rayne’s form and took no regard for the secretary.

“Nothing at all Dimitri. You look very handsome today though. I love that suit on you.”

He stopped writing on the white board and turned to look at her directly.

“Now is not the time to tease me in anyway. Keep it professional blue-eyes.”

“I will if you will. My name should likely be Rayne or Miss Mills for the next hour or so, just to keep it professional of course.”

Dimitri raised a brow and licked his lips slowly. She could tell what was on his mind with that look, she had seen it before. Rather than allowing himself to fall into her trap, Dimitri turned around clearing his throat and continued to write on the white board. Rayne’s eyes shifted to the conference room door opening and smiled seeing Darius enter. His suit was a deep green color with a solid white silk shirt underneath. She couldn’t help but rape his entire body with her mind and eyes. Recanting what had happened the night before, the lust and desire was strong between them. He had followed Rayne to her apartment and proceeded to kiss her entire body with his lips, clean her womanhood with his tongue multiple times causing three more orgasms then had her ride him until she was near exhaustion sitting in the living room rocker chair. Never had she dared say the phrase, “making love” with either of her previous s****l encounters but this, with Darius was definitely more than just s*x. Biting her bottom lip, Darius curved up both sides of his mouth in a deviously evil grin.

“Nice to see you again Miss Mills.” Darius walked over and kissed her hand gently. Then he mouthed the words, “I love the way you taste” to her before taking seat near her left.

Her face went flush and thoughts clouded completely. It was just the three of them in the room at that moment.  Dimitri turned and caught the reddened face of Rayne staring into oblivion.

“Don’t think for one moment about anything other than business Miss Mills. We have a lot to accomplish in a short time and I will not have that disrupted.”

Feeling devilishly awry, Rayne responded in her best professional voice. “Don’t think about riding your brother in a business meeting, Check.”

Dimitri’s face drew together in infuriation. Darius tried not to laugh and the rest of the guests walked in.  Rayne was set up with her laptop and wireless portable printer at the end of the table on the left. Darius was immediately to her left and a bit closer than professionally necessary. Joshua and Mr. Keeler, the investor sat on the other side of Darius and the board members four from PMMI sat on the other side of the table. Dimitri stood at the opposite end of the table with his paperwork laid out perfectly and some facts and figures listed on the white board behind him.

“Gentlemen, that you for joining us on such short notice. We are here to discuss how our over 30 million in contracts isn’t enough for your company and why swindling, to date,” He paused and looked at a paper on the table, “6 million dollars in extra charges were added secretly over the last year and a half to our invoices being disguised as various charges or fees.”

There as some whispering among the four PMMI board members.

“We are unsure exactly What you are referring to.” One of the men spoke up with attitude.

Picking up a stack of papers in front of him. “Pass one to each please. This will show you in a three-month span how nearly one and half million dollars was taking in fees relating to but not limited to, Rate increases, extra parts for shipping and many other things. I have done some research with other companies you work with and these fees or rates didn’t show on any of their invoices.”

The men took a look at the papers and again whispered between one another. Again the balding but uniquely handsome one spoke up again. “We have no charges or fees like this that the board is aware of. I am not sure where you got this information but…”

“We got this information from your home office and staff directly. If you will not at the bottom of the report it states which person in your financial department confirmed charges and payments. We also got the initial reports when I had an impromptu meeting with your U.S. General Manager Joshua Bengles. His extremely apt and intelligent office manager, Miss Mills was able to print the requested documents in less than ten minutes.”

The board members spoke within a small whispering circle once more and looked to Mr. Keeler and Joshua.

“Do either of you have an explanation as it seems you both are the authorizing representatives on all these fees and changes?”

Joshua looked like he was about to throw up. Although Rayne was unsure if it was from being called out or trying to be sober. Trina walked in with coffee just as Rayne requested and she looked smiling in thanks. Darius nodded and bid Trina to lean in whispering something in her ear. It caused her face to contort and seem pained before she left the room.

“Well sirs, I am sure there are reasons for each charge or fee. I will need ample time to review each one though to be sure in giving the right answer.” Mr.Keeler said flatly.

Darius stood and walked to where Dimitri was. The two of them standing side by side caused Rayne to shift uncomfortably in her chair. The realization of her desire for them both was hovering in the air heavily.

“Mr. Keeler can you confirm this is in fact your account?” He took another stack of papers and passed one to everyone, including Rayne.

What she saw on that paper was shocking. Millions into his personal swiss bank account. The scariest thing as millions came in from obviously the dirty dealings with PMMI, there were other deposits of hundreds of thousands from somewhere else. This man wasn’t an investor, he was a crook trying to hide his financial secrets by seeming legitimate.

Mr. Keeler stood huffing and puffing. “This is a violation of my…”

“No, this is a violation of our contract and proof you are a thief. We also have the bank account Mr. Keeler set up for Joshua and the money deposited within. Now without bringing any more information to light about these two, we will ask you to remove them from the company if you wish to keep our contracts.” Darius said calmly taking his seat next to Rayne once again.

Leaning in he asked her to print the initial report she custom made for Dimitri at her office, one more time. Rayne nodded and had it saved so it printed in just a few moments.

Darius slid the report over to the board members. “Here is the full report. I believe the total stolen is 6.23 Million dollars. Now, we are willing to overlook this with a few stipulations. Number one, they are fired and sent to jail. Number two, we will invest whatever you will lose when Mr. Keeler is removed. Lastly, we would like to negotiate a new contract for you to repair ALL our ships here at this port as needed.”

Mr. Keeler slammed his fist on the table pushed the chair hard into the table. “You can’t do this! Do you know who I work for? I can take you all down in the blink of an eye. Things will stay as I have them now and you will do as I say.”

Dimitri smiled; it was scary to see him smile. “You mean Carson Whittmore? That is the “who you work for” you are referring to? Well Carson and I have been friends nearly a decade now, since we were kids and our families vacationed together. I called him about all this and his comment was quite shocking actually. He said what you did, you did on your own and whatever consequence needed to be paid was solely on you. So if you would care to take seat or leave, it makes no difference to me but the law is coming for you so I would prepare Mr. Keeler.”

Darius’ hand reached under the table a grazed Rayne’s thigh causing her to jump slightly and Dimitri took notice. Glaring at his brother he looked the back to the board.

“We, as the board, here by fire you both and expect your personal effects to be cleaned out by Friday at 3 p.m.  We will be happy to discuss further business ventures with Drakos Shipping International and ask that we have a brief couple of week recess to get everything in order? We can meet here again if you wish. Would it be acceptable if we have our office manager here to handle the details?” he said pointing to Rayne.

“We find that acceptable. Miss Mills is very…. pleasant to deal with. Thank you, Gentlemen. “ Dimitri said extending his hand to shake theirs.

Darius stood showing them the exit, “I will walk you down to the entrance and see you out. Thank you, Gentlemen.”

Rayne sat in her chair and watched everyone but Dimitri leave. “Well that was interesting.”

Dimitri walked over to where she was sitting and looked down. She stood and looked up at him with a side grin.

“So, guess I am pretty okay at this business thing huh? Guessing you checked out my “story”? Figured out I was right?”

“Hmmm, we also ran a check on you.” Dimitri said still towering over Rayne.

She grimaced a little knowing what he found. She had been a burglar, not entirely because it was wanted but more because her father had forced that life once her mother left. Her father almost always was caught or nearly caught but in those rebellious teenage years, it became apparent Rayne was a damn good thief.  The bills, groceries, and all other expenses for nearly three years came from Rayne’s petty thievery and exceptional burglary skills. It was that one time she got caught that did it all in. She was nearly home and got a flat tire with thousands in a black bag in the backseat. For whatever reason, God, or the Cosmos, or something else was with her that night. She was let out of her own recognizance and Billee’s mom accepting responsibility for Rayne finishing her community service. So, after a little bit of community service, she was free to go.

There was a score of some rich types staying in the Four Seasons. Word was all the score entailed was breaking into the room, cracking the safe and taking the cash. That was one of the easiest jobs Rayne ever nicked and it was over four thousand dollars. She truly never knew how she got off so easy but was thankful none the less. One would have to run a full history on her record to even see it.

“So what? I told you I was the daughter of a thief. It was one time. Besides, it was the only way I had a roof over my head and food in my belly so I could finish high school.”

“I do believe I understand the circumstances to your downfall but what I don’t think you grasp is WHO you took that money from.”

Rayne had a questioning look on her face as she watched him sit down in front of her. She sat too just so her breasts weren’t at his mouth level anymore because they so desperately wanted him to touch them. He sat back with a smirk and looked at her knowingly.

“That was my money. The safe was imported and brought with us as it was supposed to be virtually indestructible. But what perplexed me about the whole incident and why we didn’t press charges as long as the money was returned because you didn’t take everything and you left that note.”

Rayne’s eyes were wide and full of disbelief. She had stolen from Dimitri and didn’t know it. And the note… She had felt bad for stealing but convinced herself no matter why this rich person had the money, they were over privileged and it wouldn’t hurt them much. Stupid and Naïve but still. The note that simply said, “I am so sorry.” She had forgotten all about that.

“You got ripped off.” Was all she said.

“Yes, quite clearly blue-eyes, by you.”

She laughed, “No I mean the safe. I cracked it in under 20 seconds and closed it back up just as it was left. Whoever sold that to you lied. And the note was because I didn’t want to do what I was doing but I needed to survive.”

Dimitri took her hand in his and nodded. “I actually know that. I watched you battle with yourself before packing it in the black bag. Writing the note and leaving on our hidden camera. But I do wonder why you didn’t take the watch or the gun. You could have gotten much more for the watch than the four thousand in cash?”

Rayne looked at her hands in his and back to his eyes. “Because I just needed to pay bills. I didn’t need lavish items or extras, just to eat and have electricity.”

Dimitri leaned in, “Well know that you will be properly punished for stealing from me but I promise to be lenient since you actually had remorse.”

She smiled knowing this wasn’t meant as a loving statement or profession of deep found tenderness but it was his way of being more affectionate.

“Did you enjoy an entire evening with my brother last night?” He asked leaning back and releasing her hand once again.

She hated the way he could just flip the switch and make her feel dirty and not in a good way.

“Yes. I didn’t know you knew.”

“Well I didn’t until you just told me but I suspected from your reddened face this morning when he arrived.” He stood and offered her a hand. “I will show you out, thank you for coming to the meeting.”

They walked to the elevator with her briefcase in hand, she was walking ahead of Dimitri with enough distance so he could watch her.

As the elevator doors closed Rayne caught whiff of his cologne and could feel his heart pulsing even from their few foot distance. She wanted him to kiss her, touch her, forgive her for being with Darius but accept it all at the same time. Dropping her briefcase she turned and looked at Dimitri standing now within inches.

“What is it blue eyes?”

“Kiss me.”

He looked at her perplexed for a moment.

“I said Kiss me. Right now.”

Without further warning he reached past her and hit the stop button on the elevator. Leaning down his lips were on Rayne’s in a fury. Wrapping her arms around his neck she slid her tongue over and over his. Lifting up her body by the hips, her legs went about his waist and they were making out madly for a few moments. Pulling back from the kiss and knowing she had accomplished in making his entire being want her badly, Rayne released her legs and straightened her jacket and fixed her hair. Hitting the resume button, the elevator hit the ground floor and the elevator doors opened. Darius was standing in front of her. She walked off the elevator as Darius walked on joining the very flustered and hungry looking Dimitri.

“Thank you both for the meeting. Let me know if either of you need anything further from me.” She headed out the doors and thought it was definitely another Margarita brunch kind of day.