“Blackthorn, please. I’d never bullshit you on my life.” He laughs bitterly, like the very thought is preposterous.
Like he didn’t stuff that insane clause in the resort contract deliberately for me to stumble over.
“I never resigned from Blackthorn Holdings,” I tell him. “You know that. And insisting that I’m the sole executive officer you’ll ever deal with, that’s bizarre and unreasonable. Anyone would agree.”
“Bizarre? Is it now?” He raises both eyebrows.
“Obviously. No business deal should blow up over a personality contest. I thought this was a partnership? Daley Ventures and Blackthorn Holdings?”
“And I partnered with a man I thought would share Leonidas’ drive and vision by virtue of being his grandson. Hardly an unreasonable assumption, even if it’s a smidge unorthodox. No stand-in replaces talent. Just ask any great musician, actor, artist.”
My glare sharpens. “Do I look like goddamned Picasso to you?”
He barks laughter.
Obnoxious as hell.
Deep fucking breath. Again.
I grit my teeth.
I can’t lose it and toss my espresso in his face, however satisfying it might be.
“I thought you’d be straight with me,” I say as calmly as I can.
“I am, Blackthorn.”
“Then why are you clinging to this petty stipulation? You knew it wasn’t reasonable from day one. Almost like you expected something to happen.”
The corner of Daley’s mouth turns in like he’s trying not to smile.
“Listen,” he says, leaning forward like he’s about to let me in on some great secret. “The reason—the only reason—I wanted you heading up the company is because you’re Leonidas’ grandson. This is a fickle business, as you know. Blackthorn Holdings in anyone else’s hands won’t beBlackthornHoldings, if you catch my drift. Who else can I trust for a project this big? And what good is the name without an actual Blackthorn?” He stops and sighs. “Regrettably, you disappeared and—well, we had to explore other options. Just as we agreed on paper.”
“Other options.” I snort. “You mean you had to see how fast you could pounce on my grandfather’s property for damn near nothing. Also, for the last time, I haven’t resigned.”
“Officially.However, you’ve taken an unexplained absence. It’s been weeks, Blackthorn. You failed to answer inquiries, even from your own team,” Cooper says, sounding like he’s regurgitating a statement from his lawyer. “That’s effectively a resignation in any reasonable terms.”
“Wrong. If I’m the CEO and I’m telling you face-to-face I haven’t quit, then who are you to say otherwise?”
He shakes his head slowly.
“I was so hopeful we could turn this around and make good, but that was under the assumption you had inherited some of Leonidas’ blood, and a lot of his work ethic. I see I was mistaken.”
Fucker.
I clench my jaw, inhaling flames.
Hearing him invoke the high bar Gramps set makes me want to break something. I have to remind myself we’re in public.
Assault charges won’t do me a bit of good, especially over a waste of oxygen like Cooper goddamned Daley.
“Seeing how you went behind his back with your previous acquisitions, I guess that’s why you wanted me to be more like him,” I say.
“I respected him.”
I don’t.
But I also respect him a hell of a lot more than this liar.
