For a brief moment, grief knocked me so hard that I almost sobbed. It just came out of nowhere, and it hit me until I couldn’t breathe. There were still moments that I wished I’d died in the crash with them.

Save ever feeling this pain.

Beck shifted beside me, and like he could feel the grief pouring off me in waves, he reached out and took my hand. Dylan took my other hand. Neither of them said a word, they just held onto me. And somehow, between the two of them, they stopped me from splintering into a million pieces and drifting away in the breeze.

A single tear escaped and trailed down my cheek, and I let it fall, until I could taste the saltiness on my lips.

Until I could taste my pain.

Thankfully we were distracted by the surge of traffic around us, and I managed to get all of that sadness back into its box. Locked down.

Jasper maneuvered the huge car surprisingly easy through the city. It was clearly not their first time driving here, and despite the slow movement of cars around us, we managed to make it to the Delta offices in good time. “Which tower is Delta’s?” I asked, looking at the four huge towers, each shiny and intimidating. I couldn’t see names on any of them, but I assumed one was the Delta headquarters.

Jasper pulled into an underground parking lot, and we waited for the gates to open.

“All of them,” Beck said.

I paused. “All four?”

“Eight,” Evan corrected me. “We own the full block here.”

I sank back into my chair, slamming my mouth shut. Well, fuck. I mean, I was aware that Delta was rich and powerful. I knew they basically controlled half the world. But the real estate alone here, in the center of New York City, arguably one of the most powerful and expensive cities in the world, would be worth a billion dollars.

The underground lot was massive, and the cars in there made me drool a little as we passed them. Jasper pulled into a spot right by the elevators, and we all filed out.

The guys were changing again, adopting their “Delta personalities” as I liked to call them. Game faces on. When we got into the elevator, it powered us up to the first floor, where we had to get out and cross by the huge front desk. There were four ladies there, greeting people, assigning security badges, and basically running the show.

There were people everywhere. The noise was insane, and everyone was dressed in what I was dubbing business chic. Of course, I looked like the teenager I was, dressed in jeans and converse.

“Should we be in suits?” I asked the guys as they surrounded me when we stepped further into the chaos.

Beck snorted. “Well, our parents would like that, but we live to piss them off in whatever way we can. They might be able to dictate a lot, but for now, we still dress ourselves.”

All four of them were dressed in their version of rich playboy. Designer clothes, but still jeans and Henleys, boots and white high-tops. Nothing that suggested they were businessmen. Not today, anyway.

“Excuse me,” one of the desk chicks called out when we strolled past, heading for the second bank of elevators behind them. “Everyone needs to sign in.”

Jasper and Evan laughed, both of them shaking their heads as they continued forward.

“You need to sign in!” she shouted again before she turned and hollered for security. Two huge buff dudes hurried over but got no more than ten steps in our direction when Beck lifted his hand and gave them both a two fingered salute. “Hey, Paul. John,” he said.

Both dudes relaxed then, shaking their heads before strolling back to their posts by the metal detectors at the doors.

“Name is Sebastian Beckett,” Beck said to the chick who had her mouth hanging open. “Best you learn who the fuck we are.”

We strolled away then, and I shot her one last glance, not surprised to see her face was a splotchy red, despite the layered on makeup she was sporting. Poor girl was probably new or something and now she would be panicking about being fired.

“She was just doing her job,” I said as I hurried to catch up. We waited for the next elevator to arrive, and filed inside.

“Everyone has the heirs’ photos,” Dylan told me, no sympathy in his voice. “She clearly didn’t read her welcome package. No excuse for being bad at your job.”

I shrugged then, not caring enough to argue any further.

When we were inside the elevator, Beck keyed in a code, and then he was able to hit the button for the top floor.

Everyone was silent for the ride, until the doors finally dinged open onto the top floor. We stepped out into a plush, expensive looking reception area where the middle aged, perfectly styled woman at the desk clearly knew who we all were. Or the guys, at least.

“Gentlemen,” she cooed, standing in a smooth motion and running her hands down the front of her designer suit dress. “You’re almost on time today. The board will be pleased.” She stepped out from behind the desk and made a gesture for us to follow her as she sashayed on spiked heels down a corridor.

“Gentlemen?” I grumbled under my breath, “What am I, invisible?”

Normally I wouldn’t have given a shit, but it was just plain wrong for a woman to belittle other women. What happened to female empowerment and girl power and all that shit? Clearly didn’t exist in Delta’s world. Even Catherine had to act like she had her own swinging dick to get any sort of say.

“Ignore her,” Dylan murmured, walking so close to me that his arm brushed mine with every step. “She’s totally brainwashed by our idiotic fathers.”

Jasper was leading the way, allowing the woman who was old enough to be his mother to fawn all over him. As we paused in front of a set of impressive double doors, she was pawing at his chest and chortling like he’d just said the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Judging by the uncomfortable, slightly grossed-out look on Jasper’s face, this was one pussy he wasn’t down for.

“Thank you, Candace,” Beck said in a cool, emotionless voice. “That will be all.”

The woman cleared her throat and patted her hair self-consciously before nodding politely at Beck and swinging her ass back down the hall to her desk.

“Let’s get this over with,” Evan muttered, pushing open the double doors with a dramatic shove.

The heads of our five families—five of the richest, most powerful, dangerously corrupt bastards in the world—sat along the far side of a long conference table, and their conversation cut off abruptly when we entered.