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Competition

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Chapter 6: Competition (Kai's POV)

Seeing Rose at Nova last night caught me by surprise. She would have proved to be a fatal distraction if I let her. 

Regardless of how eager I was to get out of the date my mother had plunged me into, if I so much as misbehaved in the slightest with Clarissa, word would spread like wildfire in our circle. Kai Warner would no longer be the gentleman everyone believed him to be. 

So, I played my role and indulged her as best as I could, but by the end of the night, I had left no doubt in her mind; I had no intention of seeing her again, let alone marrying her, and all I did was make sure she knew it. 

I lifted my gaze from the screen of my phone as the lobby elevator dinged before me in the FBI office building, only when I did, I was greeted with a somewhat unexpected sight. I took a small breath as I pocketed my phone, my eyes drifting from Anastasia's disheveled form to Dante, who looked the same, if not worse. 

"Classy," I said sarcastically, "fucking in an elevator." 

Anastasia ran a hand through her hair before taming it down. "That's not what we were doing," she argued meekly. 

I stared at the two of them, my eyebrow raised. 

"Hello, Kai," she sighed as she stepped out and around me. "Goodbye, Kai," she muttered under her breath before rushing for the exit, leaving Dante behind. 

"Classy," he replied mockingly, "being late for work. Marshall called you over an hour ago." 

"I was busy." 

"Doing what?" 

"Not fucking in elevators, I can tell you that," I smirked, stepping into the elevator as he stepped out. 

He scoffed lightly at me. "I'm surprised that smart mouth of yours doesn't get you in trouble around here." 

"Oh, it does. I've just learned to talk my way out of it," I answered, "your girlfriend's waiting." I glanced at the exit pointedly, where Anastasia stood impatiently just before the doors slid shut. 

As I ascended to the top floor, I found my thoughts doing what they do best—somehow, in whatever roundabout way, finding their way to the dreadful yet devious Rose Chen. 

It was rare for her to find time out of her busy schedule to see her friends. Work took up the majority of her time and if not that, then her family was always there to devour the rest of it. I knew from first-hand experience. 

There was a certain pressure, a sense of duty that came with being a Warner or a Chen. Our families were the first two families of a different race and ethnicity to climb their way up the ladder and into New York's elitist and corrupted circle. 

Every generation in our families grew up with this impending sense of doom, fearing that one day, they wouldn't be as high and mighty in the eyes of their so-called friends as they used to be. 

Everything was a competition, an opportunity for us to prove we were better than everybody else. It was the one and only insecurity I always read in my mother's eyes, no matter how well she concealed it. She was afraid of no longer being accepted, no longer being relevant. 

Rose's father was the same. He wasn't exactly a man of many words, not to mention his distaste for me, so we never exchanged anything beyond niceties. 

I stepped out onto the top floor as the doors slid open and made my way to Marshall's office, knocking twice before letting myself in. 

He was on the phone with someone and briefly signaled to me to wait as he wrapped up the call. "He'll be there tonight to help you. You have my word, it's someone more than competent enough. Don't insult me by doubting my judgment." 

I settled in the chair across from him, reaching for the letter opener sitting in front of me. Gripping it between my fingers, I twirled it as the sharp edge prodded at the tip of my finger. The slightest bit of pressure and... 

A single drop of blood threatened to trickle down the side of my finger before I stopped it, sucking on the tip of my finger as I set the opener back down while Marshall watched me almost in disbelief. 

"Trust me," he said to whoever was on the line, "you'll need him tonight." Without another warning, he hung up the phone and turned to me. "What does that do for you?" he asked, glancing at my hand. 

"I was bored waiting for you to wrap things up," I answered blankly, leaning back in the chair. 

"And blood is the cure for boredom, Kai?" 

"Sometimes it is, Marshall. You called me here for a reason, I'm sure this isn't it. What can I do for you?" I sighed. 

"I need you to go to The Dove for me tonight as backup. I have an agent tailing a rather dangerous suspect tonight, and I won't allow them to do it all alone." 

"Who's the agent?" 

"What does it matter?" he asked, grabbing a file and dropping it before me. "All you need to know is that it's someone perfectly capable of handling whatever is thrown at them. I believe you are too. I like to have my best agents working together in important cases." 

Fair enough. 

"Who's the suspect?" I asked, reaching for the file. 

"Evan Atkinson," he answered. 

My eyes cut to his. "Evan Atkinson," I repeated. 

"We have enough evidence to be suspicious that he's involved in a drug racket that's gone too far. We want to bring him in for questioning. Your job tonight is just to observe him and the people he interacts with. Can you do that?" 

I snapped the file shut, setting it back down. "Of course I can." 

"Very well. Get to The Dove by eight. You'll know your partner for the night when you see them." 

With instructions that were more than cryptic enough, I took hold of the file and left. The hours I had building up to tonight, I spent juggling between work I had pending for Warner & Co. and preparing for tonight. 

Evan Atkinson was no stranger to me or to the FBI, for that matter. I lost track of how much research I had done on the man a long time ago. So, when I walked into The Dove that night, searching the crowds for him and a fellow FBI agent, I felt confident in my abilities to do as Marshall had asked tonight. 

That was until my eyes landed on her, and that happened the minute I walked through the doors. 

You've got to be fucking kidding me. 

Surely, Marshall wasn't fucking stupid enough to do this to me, to risk his entire case by putting us together. I let out a breath as I scanned the room where people stumbled and danced, swaying from one place to another, barely in their senses. 

"Fuck me," I mumbled as I scratched my temple with my thumb while dragging my feet over to the bar where she was. I took my time erasing the distance between us, my eyes raking over her figure once or twice. 

She wore a matching silver set with diamonds sparkling across every inch of her as the long skirt flowed from her hips to her ankles. A matching halter top came to a sharp point just above her navel. She wore her hair as she often did, straight and sleek, not a single strand out of place. 

I couldn't have missed it if I tried. Her body felt me before she laid eyes on me, stiffening as I pulled the stool beside hers. 

"You would think Marshall learned his lesson the first time he paired us up, Ms. Chen," I said, resting my arms on the table once I hitched the sleeves of my black button-up to my elbows. "I guess not." 

Removing her martini glass from her lips, she turned to face me. "You're right, Mr. Warner. So right, in fact, that I refuse to believe you are the agent he sent for backup." She set her glass down firmly. "You can tell Marshall I'd rather work alone." Pushing off the stool, she shifted onto her feet. 

"I'm afraid that's not an option, sweetheart," I exhaled, standing in her path as I smoothly backed her up against the bar, bracing my hands on the counter and caging her in. "Those were not my orders. I was strictly instructed to help you tonight." 

"Help me?" she scoffed, folding her arms across her chest. "Who's to say I need your help?" 

I cleared my throat as I leaned forward, bringing my lips to her ear as the music only grew louder to a deafening volume. "It would be awfully stupid of you to refuse my offer when the man you're dealing with tonight is Evan Atkinson," I said before drawing back to look at her. "He'll kill you the moment he catches you." 

"Then you must be forgetting something, let me remind you, Mr. Warner. In all these years, I have never been caught by a suspect I was tailing. You, however, cannot say the same." 

The corner of my mouth twitched as I watched her in amusement. "Always so vicious, aren't you?" I teased.

"You should listen while I ask nicely," she said, plastering on a bitter smile, "get out of here. You'll ruin everything and only take me down with you." Shoving my arm out of her way, she side-stepped me and moved to leave. 

My hand latched onto hers before she slipped out of my reach, and I tugged her back in place. "Because that's my specialty, isn't it?" I asked, blocking her body with mine as she groaned in annoyance and tried to escape me again. "I'm the one who ruins everything," I said sarcastically. 

"At least you acknowledge it," she mocked. "I'd rather history not repeat itself, so if you'll excuse me." 

I tilted my head to the side, blocking her vision as she avoided my gaze until she finally caught my eye. "I'm afraid I can't, Ms. Chen. It seems to me that tonight, I'm incapable of leaving you alone." 

She paused for a second before scoffing lightly as she shook her head slowly. "I've been tailing him for weeks," she said, "I won't get caught. I can handle it myself, thank you very much." 

"It's not your choice. Marshall assigned both of us to this case, and—" I shifted my stance, keeping her locked in place as she tried pushing me away. "I refuse to let you cost me a paycheck," I continued with a harsh exhale as my body was now flush with hers. 

Chest to chest, thigh to thigh, hip to hip. 

Her eyes cut sharply to mine as her back arched off the counter. My jaw ticked as she leaned further into me, my hold on the bar tightening until my fingertips ran cold. "I promise you," she began, "you'll get your paycheck. I'll tell Marshall you worked with me and cooperated oh-so-well. So get the fuck out of here," she said slowly, enunciating each word like I would understand it any better. 

Her breath hitched slightly as I drove my hips into hers, pinning her down before firmly telling her, "No." 

That should have been my first cue. Tonight wasn't going to get any easier. In fact, knowing her, she would do everything in her power to make it way worse. 

It was a competition like everything was between us. Like always, I refused to let her win. No matter how insane she drove me.

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Chapter 6

It has been WAYYYY too long since my last update wtf

I have my first big chunk of college essay submissions and whatnot due, so please bear with me for a while <3

I'm going to try to update once more before the weekend ends

Please leave a lot of comments to keep me motivated, so I come back to this story ya'll

next ch: ruse

PS - Their outfits are the first comment

💋