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“Um.” He lifted a finger. “I’m not a toy.”
I ignored that, not finished making my point. “But if she knew the very bane of her existence—yes, that would be me—had kissed you, it would be complete and utter mass destruction.”
“See, now…” He let out an uneasy laugh and pressed a hand against his chest. “Up until twenty seconds ago, I would’ve said I was the bane of her existence. So this is hard for me to follow. Exactly who are you to her?”
Letting out a heavy sigh, I backed into the opposite side of the elevator as him and sank to the floor until I was sitting with my knees up by my chin. “Are you sure you’re ready to hear that answer? It’s going to change everything.”
His blue eyes squinted. “Just tell me.”
With my eyes full of apology, I sent him a single, sad wave. Probably a farewell wave. “Hi, my name is Kaitlynn Marcella Judge. It’s nice to meet you.”
Ezra’s eyes went wide. Then he blew out a lungful of air before he sank down to the floor and sat directly across from me. “You’re Arthur and Marcella’s daug
hter. The one I didn’t think existed.”
I nodded.
“And therefore Lana’s… Stepdaughter?”
A wince. Then I nodded again.
“Christ.” He looked about as sick by that prospect as he did about learning Lana had the hots for him. Burying his face in his hands, he wiped his palms over his face before sinking his fingers into his hair.
“It gets worse,” I confessed, sinking lower.
Ezra glanced up, his gaze turbulent. “I don’t see how.”
“I want my company back,” I stated boldly. Shock coated his features and his eyebrows lifted, but he said nothing, so I kept talking. “I was raised to believe JFI would be mine someday. My inheritance. This place is my family’s legacy; I’ve never wanted to be anywhere else. But when my dad died, his will stipulated all of it would be left in the hands of Lana. And of course, she wouldn’t even consider hiring me back on after I graduated from college. So six months ago, I finally talked her into letting me work for her as an unpaid intern until—”
“Wait, wait, wait.” He waved his hands, halting me. “Are you saying you’ve worked here—Arthur Judge’s daughter—for how long, and I haven’t been aware of it?”
“I was just an intern. And unpaid,” I repeated. “There’s no record of me working here. I never filled out a W2, received insurance, gotten any benefits—”
“Is that even legal?” he asked, sounding incredulous.
I shrugged. “I have no idea. I was just so determined to get my foot in the door any way I could, I was willing to do whatever I had to do in order to work my way to the top. Except, Lana fired me last week. But then Brick hired me back on as his assistant, so at least I’m a paid employee now. He also thought it’d be safer for me to work under your branch of the company, anyway, where she couldn’t touch me. But now—”
“So wait. You’re seeking my protection as you attempt to work your way to the top and take my company away from me?”
I gnashed my teeth. “You make it sound worse than it is. I’m fully prepared to buy you out when I can. I mean, isn’t that what you Nashes do? Buy companies and sell them for a profit? You can’t possibly want to stay here forever.”
“Buying and selling is my dad’s thing. I have no plans of leaving JFI.”
“Oh. Well…” I cleared my throat, feeling my face flush with anxiety. This wasn’t going at all how I’d planned. Not that I’d planned any of it. But it felt like it was going south so quickly. “Maybe you’ll play a different tune someday when I make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
His jaw hardened and eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you just buy Lana out when she sold half the company to my family a year ago?”
I bowed my head, humiliated. “I didn’t have the money.”
He sniffed. “Arthur Judge’s daughter? And you didn’t have the money?”
Scowling at him, I muttered, “It’s not like he left me stupid rich or anything.”
“Didn’t he? I never met the guy, but I knew how generous of a philanthropist he was. I still get charities contacting me for handouts because of how much he had his company donate to them every year. You can’t sit there and tell me he gave away that much money to complete strangers, yet left you—his only true child—destitute.”
The obstinate stare I sent him told him to go to hell, but he merely narrowed his eyes, waiting for an answer. My jaw hardened before I glanced away and bit out, “He left me a college fund, which I used for college, and then another trust fund I can’t touch until I’m thirty. Right now, it pays out a small dividend monthly.”
Ezra arched an eyebrow. “And that’s it?”
