Page 3 of Some Kinda Romance

2

SERENITY

Raymond Ackermann the Sixth sat across from my desk, his spine as straight as if he had a broomstick up his butt as he chewed my ear off about a wedding I hadn’t even handled. Under any other circumstances and with most other clients, I’d have told him to shove it where the sun didn’t shine—provided he had space down there next to the broomstick.

It would’ve been a marvelous moment too. I imagined trumpets blaring and a parade being thrown in my honor because someone had finally stood up to this jackass, but these weren’t any other circumstances and he wasn’t any other client.

He was Raymond Ackermann—the Sixth, and he never let anyone forget it—and that meant that he was too important for me to piss him off so soon after taking over the company. His parents owned the largest chain of hardware stores in the country, and according to them, that meant that the whole damn thing had been built on the backs of the Ackermanns.

Absurd, I know, but such is the ego of his family.

“I was assured that my nuptials would be handled with highest degree of professionalism and care,” he ranted. “Instead, what I got was delays, excuses, poorly trained waitstaff, and a power outage in the middle of my first dance.”

Breathe, Serenity. Just breathe.

All of these things had happened before I’d taken over, but now that it was my company, it was my responsibility. “I’m deeply, truly sorry, Mr. Ackermann. You’re absolutely correct. That is unacceptable. I’ll launch a thorough investigation into what exactly happened that day and you’ll receive my feedback as soon as I have anything.”

“Did you really think you were up to this?” he sneered. “It was the highest profile wedding of the year and you people dropped the ball. Repeatedly.”

“With all due respect, if I had handled it, it would’ve gone better,” I said confidently.

He scowled at me. “That’s yet to be seen, and at this rate, it’s going to be an uphill battle. I’m going to smear this company p⁠—”

My stomach plummeted and my heart froze over. I’d seen this coming, but now that it was here, I was desperate to keep him from making good on his threats. There were already enough people who thought I was just some blonde bimbo who’d tripped and landed on a silver platter containing this company and so many other things.

None of them had any idea what I’d been through, how hard I’d fought, or how involved I’d always been behind the scenes. Well, my ex-husband had referred to it as behind the scenes. I thought of it more like him taking all the credit.

Mentally shaking myself back to the present, I inhaled deeply and fixed the asshole with my most calming smile. “That won’t be necessary, Mr. Ackermann.”

He scoffed. “Don’t you dare tell me what’s necessary, you⁠—”

“The way I see this,” I said, speaking over him because he’d had his turn—for the last hour. I leaned forward and folded my arms gracefully on the glass top of my desk. “You can either make a fuss publicly, which is fine, but it would be tantamount to admitting that your big day was an epic failure, or you could let me make it up to you by offering you a function on the house. We’ll call it a party to welcome you back after your honeymoon and it will go down without a hitch. It will smooth things over and it will be so amazing that no one will remember the hiccups at your wedding afterward.”

It was going to cost me at least half a million dollars—of my own money—but that was a drop in the ocean compared to what I would lose if he made a big stink about it. I might not have had anything to do with his wedding, but I was willing to bet everything that it wouldn’t be reported that way.

Ethan’s name probably wouldn’t even come up, and the story would be all about how I’d blundered my way through the highest profile wedding of the year because I’d had no business being in the industry in the first place. My dearest ex would be able to buy this place back for pennies on the dollar if that happened, and I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction—nor was I about to take the fall for something I hadn’t done.

Raymond stared back at me for a long moment before he finally nodded. “A welcome-home party?”

“Yep.” I smiled brightly. “It’ll be one for the books. You have my word. It will erase every bad memory you have of your wedding day and it’ll make you the talk of the town.”

“It better.” He shoved his chair back and narrowed his eyes, glaring at me down the length of his nose. “I’ll speak to my wife and get back to you about a date.”

“Excellent. In the meantime, I’ll have my assistant send over our available slots for the rest of the year. Feel free to choose any one of those that suits you.”

He glared for another beat, then spun on his heels and left. I had just long enough to let out a deep breath and pray that his wife would go along with this before my phone started ringing. I glanced at the screen, letting out a low groan when I saw that it was finance calling.

“This is Serenity,” I said as I picked up. “What can I do for you, Ms. Kay?”

Only silence came from the other end of the line.

I frowned. “Ms. Kay? Are you there?”

“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “I’m here, Ms. Halverson. I’m just surprised you remembered my name.”

My heart melted a little bit. “Things are changing around here. Now, how can I help you?”

I felt like I’d been putting out fires since the moment I’d walked in here that first day after I’d been awarded the company. I’d barely had time to talk to anyone, hitting the ground running and continuing at a sprint for the couple months it had been since.