Page 49 of Playing for Keeps

“I own half the company, Lee. You didn’t think it was important to run this by me before you started making decisions?”

“Been trying,” he muttered. “You ain’t never around, Frankie.”

“We have monthly meetings—”

“Had,” he interrupted. “For the first six months. But with all Corey’s games, the two trials and your wedding and everything that went down with Vivian, you ain’t been around. Been ‘bout eight months since we last met.”

“That’s not—” Frankie stopped, glancing at the calendar on the far wall.

I could see it when it hit her. When she realized the last time they met was the day of her and Corey’s engagement party back in February. Her chin dropped slightly, eyes zipping back and forth along the floor, her mind calculating and searching, trying to find a fault in what we knew to be the truth.

She hadn’t been there.

She’d been traveling more than I had, yet faulted me with the fact we hadn’t seen each other in so long. When she looked up at me, there was a split second of regret before she shoved it down, narrowing her eyes and giving me a glare.

“You’re taking over my company?” she asked, more fight than resignation in her voice. “Instead of talking to me, you just decide to step in and assume control?”

“No,” I promised her. “Lee’s taking over his company.” I held up my hand, stopping Lee from stepping in. “Look at the paperwork, Frankie.”

Standing, I pushed stack after stack across the table. She grabbed them up, perusing them quickly at first, then slowing down, going back, starting over again.

Reading.

Paying attention.

Starting to understanding.

“You brought...”

“Six new clients,” I supplied as she flipped the page on her report. “A total of eight new staff, as well as a handful of independent contractors willing to step in and help out.”

“Why would you do this?” Suspicion painted her tone, the girl unable to put away the mistrust she held on to like a talisman.

“We were bleeding, Frankie,” Lee said, drawing her attention from me. “I couldn’t keep up. It was killing me, constantly being summoned by Daginger, being unable to be there for my men. And with Vivian...”

“So, you brought on more responsibility when you were unable to handle what you currently had?”

“We got rid of Daginger.”

Frankie’s head snapped so hard in my direction, I could almost hear the crack of her neck. “He was our biggest client!”

“He was your biggest pain in the ass,” I countered. “And at the rate you were going, he would have been your only one. When’s the last time you reached out to your other clients to make sure they were happy?”

There was a pause, but I wasn’t looking for an answer from her. I already knew she never had.

“Do you know how many times your staff had to leave their duties in order to bow down to Daginger’s whims? Do you know how many hours Lee clocked, not even on travel, just trying to keep Daginger happy? Without him in the way, this company can grow.”

“After a massive hit to the bank account.”

My grimace didn’t go unnoticed, but it wasn’t for the reason she thought. I pushed more printouts her way and she swooped them up, looking for the proof that wasn’t there. And something like glee flashed across her face as she thought she’d found it. When she saw the dip of the line on the graph depicting the funds in the bank account.

It was low.

Too low.

But that was before I stepped in.

When she saw it, that glee rushed out. Along with the blood remaining in her face. She was as white as the driven snow. Though she struggled against it, the slump of her body was as noticeable as the shake of her head.