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Hunter took a deep breath that should have made him feel a lot calmer than he did. Before he'd left New York City he'd instructed Simon to buy controlling stock in Renault Industries once the stock dipped to a certain price point. Although his assistant had seemingly done the very thing he'd wanted, he couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach now that the deed was done. Simon's message unnerved him. I'm about to pull the trigger. The very words made him feel guilty, as if he'd just committed a heinous crime. Regret filled up his insides, flowing through him like a rushing river. The more he tried to shake off his feelings of regret, the more intense those feelings became.
What had he done?
Maybe…just maybe, it wasn’t too late. God, please help me fix this. If it isn’t too late, I want to change course.
Hunter impatiently dialed Simon's private line, relief coursing through him when his assistant answered after the second ring. Simon's clipped British accent radiated over the phone line.
“Is it too late?” he barked into the phone.
“Too late for what?” Simon asked, confusion evident in his tone.
“Simon, did you act on the acquisition?” He tried to tamp down his impatience, but there was too much riding on Simon's answer to play it cool.
“Yes, I followed your instructions. You're now the majority stock holder of Renault Industries.”
“No!” He growled in a savage tone, fighting against the rising temptation to hurl the cell phone out of the moving vehicle.
Joshua turned toward him from the driver’s seat. His brow was furrowed in confusion as he mouthed the words, “Everything okay?” Hunter gave Joshua a thumbs up sign, feigning an air of indifference despite the wild pulsing of his heart and the ripple of dread flowing through him.
“Boss, did I make a mistake?” He could hear the fear creeping into Simon's voice and he felt ashamed of himself for making him feel insecure about something he'd instructed him to do. Simon was an excellent employee. He wasn’t the one who’d done something wrong. That knowledge burned inside his gut.
“No, Simon,” he said in a more controlled voice. “I did.” Abruptly, he disconnected the call, knowing in his heart that there was no point in prolonging the conversation. What's done is done. His mother must've uttered that phrase a hundred times or more to him and his siblings when he was growing up. A broken vase. A spilled carton of milk. Staying out late well after curfew. There was no way he could compare what he'd done to those trivial things.
This was epic.
Raiding corporations was his specialty, something he'd done so often and so well that seminars were conducted about his specific skill in that area. It had made him a very wealthy man. It was second nature to him to view the weaknesses of a company, then glide in and acquire it. It was always just business. But he'd never felt this feeling in the pit of his stomach - this churning, gnawing sensation that made him feel unsettled and awful and terribly wrong.
When they arrived at the tuxedo shop, a short, olive skinned man was standing at the door awaiting their arrival. The man quickly opened the door and waved them in with a flourish.
“I am Giorgio Pietro. Welcome to Tuxes by Giorgio,” he said in a practiced tone. “It is a pleasure to serve you, Mr. Rawlings.”
Giorgio led them into his shop where his staff was lined up with eager smiles lighting up their faces. Braxon snorted and rolled his eyes while Joshua shook his head in disbelief.
“Is he for real?” Joshua asked in a loud whisper.
“Sadly yes,” Braxon said. “It's called rolling out the red carpet.”
Giorgio was heralding Hunter's arrival as if he were a combination of a famous movie star and a rock star. It made him cringe. He was used to people rolling out the red carpet for him, and truth be told, he found it useful at times. But, he wasn't used to being celebrated in his own hometown, and his natural instinct was to deflect the interest in him and let it roll off him. The truth was he was treated like this in his everyday life, twenty-four seven. Coming back home had been refreshing because no one fawned over him or made him feel like a VIP.
It was ironic. He'd always dreamt of coming home to a hero's welcome, to have all the citizens of Savannah rise up to greet him as a conquering hero. But the reality was he didn't want all that. It went way deeper. He wanted to belong. He yearned to be embraced by the town, not for all his wealth and accomplishments, but because he was one of their own. A hometown boy.
By the time he'd outfitted himself in his winter white tux, his brothers were already eyeballing themselves in the dressing room’s full-length mirror.
“You look pretty good all cleaned up,” Braxon said as he eyed Joshua in his tuxedo. “Not as handsome as Hunter and I, but you always were the ugly duckling of the family.”
“You don't look half bad yourself,” Joshua said. “Just remember not to drag those knuckles down the aisle.”
Braxton pretended to sucker punch Joshua, who grabbed him by the waist and hauled him to his shoulder before he managed to break loose from his grip. The sales assistant huffed noisily and stalked out of the dressing room. As his brothers rough housed with each other and traded insults, Hunter's mind was consumed with thoughts of Olivia. How in the world was he going to tell her that he now owned her father's company?
“If you love somebody, you have to do whatever is in your power to be with them. No matter what, don’t give up. Fight the good fight.” Jax Holden
Chapter Eleven
Savannah Country Club, established in 1897. Hunter shook his head, stifling the feeling of disbelief that kept rising up within him as he walked around the interior of the club. 1897? Had this hallowed institution really been around that long? He would bet his last dollar that until recently the Country Club had restricted membership to only those who were members of Savannah’s old money crowd. As a kid he'd caddied for a few of the members on the golf course in order to have some extra spending money in his pocket. Who would ever have imagined that all these years later he would be a guest at the rehearsal dinner for his friends?
As he walked into the grand ballroom his eyes automatically swept the room searching for Olivia. His heart starting thumping wildly in his chest as he spotted her clear across the room chatting with a well-dressed group of people and playing the bridesmaid role to perfection. Her beauty was radiant, he realized with a pang. She was the most beautiful woman he
'd ever known. Tonight she'd outdone herself. She was wearing a champagne colored dress with a form-fitting bodice that clung to her figure like a second skin. The color perfectly complimented her cafe au lait complexion. She was wearing a bright red pair of high heeled shoes that added a burst of color to her monochromatic look. Her hair was swept up in an elegant chignon style, accentuated by glittering hair jewels at the crown.
