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One
“Strangle me? Isn’t that a little harsh?” Anna Langford gaped at her friend and coworker, Holly Louis.
The pair stood in the luxe lobby of The Miami Palm Hotel, just outside the bar. Anna was preparing to see her bold business plan to fruition. If only Holly could find it in her heart to say something encouraging.
“I’ve only been in a few meetings with your brother, but he’s going to hit the roof when he finds out you want to cut a deal with Jacob Lin.”
Anna glanced back over her shoulder. The bar was humming with people, all fellow attendees of the two-day Execu-Tech conference. As Senior Director of Technology Acquisitions for LangTel, the telecom her father had started before she was born, Anna had the job of scouting out the next big thing. Her brother Adam, current LangTel CEO, had been crystal clear—he expected to be dazzled.
The company had been floundering in the months since their father’s death, and Anna had a bead on a game-changing cellphone technology, only Adam didn’t know it. She was fairly sure that LangTel’s competitors hadn’t figured it out either. Unfortunately, getting to the next big thing meant going through Jacob Lin, and he absolutely hated her brother. Adam, without a doubt, despised him right back.
“That’s him, isn’t it?” Holly asked in a whisper, nodding in Jacob’s direction. “Damn. I’ve never seen him in person before. He’s fifty times hotter than in pictures.”
Tell me about it. Anna was well acquainted with Jacob Lin and his hotness. She’d been rebuffed by him and his hotness. Six years later and it still stung.
“Does he always have that aura?” Holly swirled her hand in the air. “The one that says he’s genetically superior to every man within a fifty-mile radius?”
Anna didn’t even need to look. “Yes, and he comes by it honestly. It’s not an act.”
“Wow.” Holly patted Anna’s shoulder. “Well, good luck. I’d say you’ll need it.”
“What?” Any confidence Anna had mustered was evaporating. “Do you really think it’s going to be that bad?”
“You’re a Langford. He hates your family. So, yes. I do think it’s going to be that bad.”
“Technically, I could order you to come with me. You’re a member of my team.”
Holly shook her head so fast it made her curly hair frizz. “My job description does not include suicide missions.”
Another wave of doubt hit Anna, but she did her best to brush it off. She had to do this. If she was ever going to convince her brother that it was okay to step aside and allow her to take over as CEO, just as he’d promised her before their father died, she had to make tough decisions and dangerous moves.
Holly wasn’t wrong, though. There was no telling how Jacob would react given his history with the Langford family. “I’m telling you right now, it’s going to be great.” Anna feigned conviction. “Jacob is a money guy and I can offer him a big pile of money. And once Adam sees how huge this could be for LangTel, he’ll get past the personal stuff, too. It’s business. Nothing else.”
“So what’s your plan to approach Mr. Hottie?”
“I’m going to ask the bartender to give him a note.”
Holly squinted one eye as if she had a migraine. “Oh, because that won’t seem weird?”
“I can’t call him,” Anna pled. “I don’t have his cell number.” The only number she had for Jacob was six years old, acquired during the week he spent with her family at Christmas, the year she fell for him, the year she’d kissed him. The year he’d told her “no.” That old cell number was no longer his. She’d tried it, and no dice.
“You can’t exactly go up to him and start talking either. You won’t just get the rumor mill going, you’ll set it on fire.”
“No. I can’t just walk up to him.” However ridiculous it sounded, if ever there was an understatement, that was it. Everyone in the tech world was aware of the feud between Adam Langford and Jacob Lin. The backstabbing had been ruthless and very public.
“If anyone can make the impossible happen, it’s you,” Holly said. “Text me later and let me know what happened. Good luck.”
“Thanks,” Anna muttered. She straightened her blouse and strode into the room with her head held high, then sidled up to the only available seat at the bar. She discreetly took a piece of paper and pen from her purse. It was time to conjure her steeliest tendencies. No looking back now.
