Illustration Credit: In-progress by MariahMireles on DeviantArt

Chapter 7: The Morning After

Seto woke to panicked knocking and an arm draped over his torso. "Mr. Kaiba! Are you all right?" Roland's voice boomed through the bedroom door.

"I'm fine," Seto yelled back.

Joan rolled away from him and pressed a pillow over her exposed ear.

Seto glanced at the hotel's bedside clock. Shit. His alarm was on his phone, which he had left in the bedroom he'd intended to sleep in.

"Sir, your speech starts in five minutes."

Seto thought fast. "Have Mokuba stall."

"Yes, sir."

Seto stumbled into the adjoining bathroom. He urinated and ran a wet cloth over his face, then realized his comb and toothbrush were in another bathroom. On his way to the opposite end of the suite, he looked down at Joan's sleeping form and said softly, "What have you done to me, whore?"

Seto dressed and performed a facial hygiene routine. His and Joan's mingled sweat would have to stay, for now.

Roland remained silent on the elevator ride down, leaving Seto alone with his thoughts. Last night came back to him in bits and pieces. Exploding mere seconds after donning the first condom. Her insisting that she was worth more than that and getting him worked up again. Hearing Marc's voice on speakerphone had driven him to a new level of madness. It reminded him that, although he'd paid the woman in bed with him, she wasn't under his control. It was an endless series of re-matches, summoning the dragon between his legs and unleashing white lightning. Every release was accompanied by a caveat of denial. She'd had better. Three out of four virgins could last longer than he could, and when he asked about her sample size, she merely smirked as if it had been two thousand. He lasted considerably longer in subsequent bouts, but it was never enough for her.

Seto had begun to question whether the other prostitutes were merely stroking his ego when they told him how big he was, how good he tasted. She gave him none of that. He hadn't intended to fall asleep with her, had intended to remind her of her place, ditching her like the others. However, he'd been so exhausted by the end of it that he'd collapsed and shut his eyes, just for a moment, and then Roland was pounding on the door.

As Seto stepped into the Hyatt's Grand Banquet Hall, he instantly regretted volunteering to kick off the Silicon Valley Game Developers Summit with a keynote address. Fifteen hundred representatives of over seven hundred game companies from all over the world sat breakfasting as Mokuba expounded on the importance of having a vibrant and diverse office culture.

Mokuba saw Seto come in but continued to talk until the story he was weaving reached its natural conclusion. Seto leaned against the back wall, using every precious minute to collect his scattered thoughts. "And now I proudly present to you the man who started it all, the patriarch of Domino City, the master of dragons, the CEO of Kaiba Corporation and my older brother: Seto Kaiba!"

The room burst out clapping and Seto strutted up the center aisle, his white trench coat swishing with his stride. As he approached the stage, he exchanged nods with Mokuba. Once behind the podium, however, his planned speech no longer made sense to him. As he gazed upon the sea of faces, a new understanding coalesced in his mind.

"I'd like to . . . thank Mokuba for all his innovative ideas and invaluable insight in managing Super Kaiba Megacorp. He's been on the front lines since day one proving to me that taking risks pays off. Making connections with strange and eccentric people pays off. That's what we're here to do these next two weeks. Introduce yourself to people who intimidate you. Listen to people you think are beneath you. They might surprise you by flipping the script on you. Now, on behalf of the organizers of this event, I welcome you all to the Silicon Valley Game Developers Summit!"

Applause and cheering followed Seto off the stage. Mokuba ran to Seto and hugged him. Surprised but pleased, Seto wrapped his arms around his younger brother.

Mokuba wanted to thank Seto for the show of faith, for letting him not only run the show but for being supportive after the chips were on the table, but Mokuba wasn't supposed to be on that stage in the first place. Instead, he said, "Seto, what happened?"

"That whore happened."

"Oh yeah, that one . . . Seto?"

"Yes?"

"You um, kinda smell."