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They both turned to her.
“That’s hardly constructive,” said her dad.
“At least that’s better than being destructive.” She glared at them both. “I won’t let you destroy what I’m building.”
“That’s not what I’m trying to do, Chelsea.”
Grant held his hands up gesturing for them both to calm down. That surprised her. He was either brave or stupid; no one shushed her father. “If we can talk about this calmly. I think the two of you need to decide what you want for Zosca. Right now, you have two very different visions. They are both workable, and I can help you achieve either vision, but I don’t think I’m going to be very effective at helping the two of you resolve your differences.”
Chelsea stared at him. He’d figured out the same thing she had—she wasn’t running the business poorly, she just wasn’t running it the way her dad wanted her to.
Her dad sighed. She knew that was a good sign. “So, what are you suggesting?”
“That the two of you take the rest of this morning to thrash out what we’re aiming for here. There’s no point me getting to work until we’re all on the same sheet about what we’re working toward.”
Chelsea stared at him. How dare he be so reasonable? She wanted to hate him; this wasn’t helping. He even seemed to have caught her dad off guard. He nodded slowly.
“Shall we meet back here this afternoon? Say two o’clock?”
Grant nodded. “That sounds good to me.”
They both turned to look at her. What? They wanted her to spend the morning in here with her dad figuring out the particular way Grant should pull her company apart? She pursed her lips.
“You’re getting a chance to guide how this goes, Chelsea,” said her dad.
She nodded. She couldn’t argue with that. “Okay.”
Chapter Six
Grant left the boardroom and made his way back to the reception area. He needed a minute to recover. He realized he wasn’t going to get it when he saw Mary Ellen striding toward him.
“You?!” she spoke in an outraged whisper.
“What? I was just as shocked as you and Chelsea were!”
She narrowed her eyes. “Were you? Were you really?”
“Of course. How could I have known? It was just one of those coincidences …” Even as he said it, he knew how ridiculous that sounded.
“Do coincidences like this happen to you a lot? Or is it the kind of coincidence that you set up?”
“What do you mean? How could I set it up? And more to the point,whywould I?” He was starting to wonder if Mary Ellen was one of those crazy women.
She blew out a frustrated sigh. “I have no idea how or why you would, but it’s just a little too much to believe.”
“I agree. It’s a huge coincidence, but come on. I’m not the bad guy here.”
She laughed out loud at that. “You don’t think so?”
“Why would I?”
“Oh, come on! You’re the hatchet man Chelsea’s father has brought in. You’re the one who’s supposed to destroy everything she’s working toward. You’re going to sacrifice all her ideals in the name of profit. You’d better start seeing yourself as the bad guy—you can bet your ass Chelsea does.”
Grant blew out a sigh. “I’m not the one. It’s her father.”
Mary Ellen made a face but didn’t say anything before the door opened behind her. “Mary El, can you …Oh, hi, Grant. I thought you were in with Chelsea and my father.”
“I was.” He shot a meaningful look at Mary Ellen. “But I thought it best that they should thrash out exactly what it is they want me to achieve before I get down to work.”
