𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐖𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 | 𝟏𝟖+

4 | Protection

-Noah-
Manhattan, New York.

"Mr. Slade, does that sound good to you?" An old man asked me. I zoned out, not listening to whatever the presenter was saying in the meeting. "It's fine, thank you." I quickly got up, nodded to everyone in the room and walked out.

When I made it back to my office, I flopped onto my leather couch. Every room in this building felt suffocating. I undid my tie and the 2 top buttons on my shirt to let myself breathe.

A knock hit my office door. "Come in." I yelled. My assistant, Lauren came into my office. "Mr. Slade. I came to make sure you're ready for the signing about joining teams with the Castillo company." I didn't look at her, keeping my head leaning against the couch. "Yeah that's in a hour, right?" "Yes sir." I lifted my head to stare at Lauren.

"I have plenty of time then, you can go." I eyed Lauren for her choice of clothing. I knew what she was trying to do, or has been trying to do ever since I promoted her.
"You don't need help with anything sir?" "No I don't. Go." I said in a stern voice. I watched as she left my office, letting me be.

My eyes shut and I drifted to sleep for 20 minutes. For 20 fucking minutes, I felt at peace. But only for 20 minutes.

When I woke up, my eyes struggled to deal with the shine from the sun. I stood up and stretched to wake myself up more. I decided to go and get to the signing conference. Instead of fixing my suit, I threw my tie off and put on my leather jacket. It's not a formal meeting and I personally knew who I was signing with. I walked out of my office and went to the Castillo company.

I walked in towards the elevator to my old best friends office. 'Mr. Castillo' all grown up man. I knocked on his door. "Come in." I opened the door and peeked into his office. He lifted his head with wide eyes. "Shit, Noah Slade." He said proudly. I walked in and gave him a big hug. "It's good to see you again brother." "It's been too long." He added.

We sat down and talked about our lives over the past 8 years. He mentioned he has finally manned up and got a girlfriend and that he owns the whole company. I added that I took my fathers place in both his businesses and mafia. Santiago was my only real friend I trusted back in high school to know the darker side of my life at the time, but now everyone in New York knows.

"How's Maya?" I asked, surprisingly. "She's good. She's studying business and architecture at NYU so she can Co-Own the company with me." "Good for her." Just then, his phone started ringing. He pulled it out and showed me the contact, 'Maya <3'. "Speak of the devil." He said as he answered the phone.

"What's up?" His smile as he answered the phone quickly faded. "Slow down Maya you're gonna choke on your words." I could hear her yelling from the phone call. "Okay, I'm coming." He quickly hung up and stood from his chair. "What happened?" I asked. "I don't know. Maya was crying saying someone broke into her apartment and broke everything. We better go check on her."

We? It's been years since I've seen Maya and the last time I did, I didn't feel myself. I stood from my chair and fixed myself. "Of course man." We both walked out of the building to our cars.

We made it to a large apartment complex. Walking into I assume Mayas apartment, which looked like a tornado had just ran through it. "What the fuck?" I muttered under my voice. It looked as if before the attack, everything was perfect in her apartment. Her white couch's were now stained with drinks and food, her floor was covered in glass and cotton.