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Ah yes, the lectures never stopped. She’d always had the tidiest bedroom and house in the neighborhood growing up, and now she was expected to do the same at work. To be fair, she’d only relaxed on the practice after he’d left, but that was only in cases where she was too tired to bother at the end of the day. The janitor always took care of the general stuff, like changing out the garbage, but no one but her ever touched her desk and anything inside of it.
At that moment, she was thankful that she didn’t stow away any deep, dark secrets there because surely, her father would have found them and the lecture would have been about something entirely different.
Leaving the question hanging, she approached her desk and sat down in the luxurious leather chair on rollers and used the underside of the desktop to pull herself in.
“So, what’s on the agenda today? Are you hanging out a while?”Please say no.She already knew the answer, of course.
“Yes, I will be. There are several things I intend to address, with this office and the clients scheduled to come in later, namely your ten o’clock.”
Sabrina’s brows furrowed as she flipped through her mental itinerary. “Mr. Hargreaves?” Whatever did he need to speak to him for? Hargreaves had been a virtually silent partner thus far, choosing his sons to take his place and monitor progress while helping keep their name alive and relevant. As far as she knew, he was merely popping in for a rundown on the latest and then he’d be on his way. Golfing, if she recalled.
“Yes.” Her father’s tone was grave, and it sent a nervous chill skittering down her spine. What was it with his preoccupation with the man? Ever since his comment about them, she’d been on edge. Now, she was even more so.
“Care to elaborate?”
“If you want more details, then you’ll show up and learn along with everyone else.”
Sabrina’s hackles rose, as did she. Flattening her hands on the desk, she looked him square in the eyes. “Daddy, I know your name is the one on the front of the building, but I run this business now, and I don’t appreciate you coming in here and taking over whenever it suits you. It’s a slap in the face.”
“Excuse me?” His rounded shoulders pushed back, making him appear like a formidable wall. She almost shrank back, but at the last second held her ground.
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I feel disrespected. Have I not been doing a good job of running things since you’ve been gone?”
“Yes, you have.” There was a pause, in which she could sense the “but” coming, and she held her breath. “Then I heard some things, and now I’m not so sure.”
“Some things? Would these things happen to be what you called me about before?”
“They are.”
“And I told you they were baseless.”
“And then I showed up at your apartment today to find out you’ve been seeing someone and never said anything, and I’m sorry, pumpkin, but the timing is too convenient. Especially after I spoke with a few of my constituents,trustedconstituents at that, and got proof.”
“What are you talking about?” Her nerves ratcheted higher. There was no way in hell there was proof of anything. They’d been so careful.
“Pumpkin, I’m not mad at you. I want you to know that. I’m upset at the situation.”
Sabrina clamped her mouth shut and ground her molars. She didn’t have all of the details, and despite wanting to go on the defensive, she wasn’t about to say anything incriminating. Yet. She wanted this so-called proof.
Her father waved a dismissive hand. “Like I said, we’ll address this at the meeting. Until then, don’t run off half-cocked. And please trust me when I say that this is far more complicated than you can imagine.”
“I don’t like the cryptic crap, Daddy. I’d rather you just spill it here and now rather than let this…whatever this is, fester between us.” Meet the bull head-on, as he used to say. Her father had always been full of wisdom, but today, he was letting her down.
“I don’t mean to be that way, but like I said, trust me. There’s far more at play here than you know. I’ll see you in the boardroom at ten o’ clock. Until then, please be careful…and…” He paused, mulling over his words. “Do me a favor and stay the hell away from those Hargreaves boys.”
He turned and was gone before she could ask him what the hell he’d meant by that. Stay away from them? Why? She couldn’t fathom a solid reason that would make him distrust them in any way…except…
Well, that cinched it. Putting together everything he’d said, everything he’d alluded to, it was obvious that her father had put the pieces together and figured out that she’d lied. He knew all about their relationship, and he planned to confront them, today, as a group.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sabrina tried to head her guys off at the pass, sending texts and even trying to call, with no luck. Wherever Conner, William, and Oliver were, whatever they were doing, none of them were answering, and she couldn’t reason out why.
Were they ignoring her? Were they purposely avoiding her? Had they found out what was going to happen and had jumped ship, leaving her to sink or float on her own?
No, she reminded herself,they wouldn’t do that. They’d sworn that they would weather the storm if it came to their shores, and now it was here. So where were they?
With each minute that ticked by on the clock, Sabrina felt like she was losing another piece of her mind. At this rate, by the time they reached their meeting, she’d be a total head case.
