AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fair, I guess,” he conceded. “But it’s not as if we’ve been avoiding you or any of this. Conner told you we’ve been checking in at your place every day, hoping to catch you. We’ve made the effort to clear the air, you have to admit that. If we’d pursued you out of some malicious intent, don’t you think we’d have just walked away when it was revealed to everyone? Don’t you think we’d be done with you now, not chasing after you?”
Sabrina didn’t have a rebuttal for that. The truth was, what he had said made sense.
“Fine, explain yourself,” she snapped back, far from ready to shed her attitude or anger.
“Everything your father said at the meeting was true. But we learned about it when you did. You have to believe me when I tell you that we had no idea what our father was up to. We thought his motivations were genuine and that we were helping to save the company. And in a way, we were. Itwasstruggling. The merger with Colloway Corp was the best thing that could have happened to it, and itsavedit. We just didn’t know that it was coming with a secret agenda.”
He sighed, hung his head on his shoulders, and considered his next words. Sabrina, for all her effort not to buy into his explanation, found herself being drawn in. There was just something about the way Oliver spoke and carried himself that rang true. She couldn’t outright dismiss him.
“My father is many things, but we never realized how cutthroat he could be. He raised us to be honest and hardworking, and we assumed that’s how he approached business and life as well. This isn’t something we could have foreseen and we certainly never would have supported it.” He lifted his head and looked her dead in the eyes. “What we had with you was genuine.Is genuine.There wasn’t a single moment that was fabricated, and we would never exploit you for personal gain.”
Did she dare to believe him? Did she dare to take the risk?
Sabrina was struggling within herself to decide. She had no idea what was right or smart or up or down or if the sky outside was actually blue. Her whole world was suspect in that moment, and she was standing on the edge, unsure of what direction to turn.
The only thing she knew for certain was that no decision was her safest bet. At least until she could get a second opinion.
“Thank you for taking the time to stop by. I’ll take your words into consideration.” Her dismissal was delivered with cold calculation, leaving no room for argument.
Oliver waited a heartbeat and then stepped back from the chair, straightened his suit jacket, and told her, “As you wish. And for what it’s worth, we love you. Not past tense, ‘Brina, but right now. Every minute that passes, we love you. Whatever you choose to believe, that won’t change, but I hope, after you take some time, you’re able to see that we’re telling the truth. You know how to get ahold of us when you’re ready.”
As if it was a foregone conclusion that she would forgive them? Sabrina huffed to herself, staring through the empty doorway he’d passed through. Such nerve. Such arrogance.
Or maybe she was just being unreasonable? Was she lacking the foresight, the confidence to see what was right in front of her face: the truth? Or was she being naïve even considering thinking about it at all?
The situation felt impossible, an insurmountable decision that had to be made, and it all hinged on her being able to untangle the details and get to the root of the problem. But how?
And then it came to her. The solution to her problem was obvious and had been in front of her all along. Bursting out of her seat, she slapped the laptop closed and grabbed the sensible clutch that contained her essentials and speed walked from the room, closing the door a mite too hard and loud and locking it up.
“Shawna, hold my calls and cancel my appointments for the day. I’m stepping out of the office.”
“Um…okay? When should I tell them you’ll be back?” she asked nervously after her, probably afraid that Sabrina was going to pull another week-long disappearing act.
“Tomorrow morning. Move everything out a day. Overbook if you have to.” She punched the down arrow on the elevator and spun to face her receptionist as she stepped into the ready car, aware a triumphant smile was spread across her face. “Have a great day.”
And it would be a great day, too, if she had anything to say about it.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mr. Hargreaves was in a restaurant, seated at a table near the window, having an extravagant lunch with none other than Mr. Harvey Thomas. It wasn’t luck that’d brought Sabrina here at high noon, a fitting hour considering the reason behind her appearance.
After making several phone calls, issuing thinly veiled threats and sugary sweet niceties, she finally secured his location and didn’t waste any time hunting him down.
Her blood burned in her veins as she watched the slimy man hobnob with her client—one of her very best, too. Her father’s big reveal came back to her with crystal clarity, which steamed her even more. How dare Charles invade her company on false pretenses and try to steal her clients out from under her.
Taking a page out of her father’s notebook, she marched into the restaurant, bypassing the hostess station with a dismissive, “I see my people over there,” and wove her way through tables until she reached his.
Standing over Charles Hargreaves was a surreal experience. For a brief moment, Sabrina felt small, as though she weren’t the executive now-owner of the company, but as if she were a little girl again, under her father’s watchful eye.
But the moment Charles looked up at her in question, that hard, cunning look in his eyes as if to say, “Yeah, what do you want, bitch?” she found her gumption and her voice.
“Mr. Hargreaves,” she said with a curt nod. Then she turned to her client and pasted on a brilliant smile. “Harvey, so good to see you.”
“What are you doing here?” Charles asked with a bitter edge.
Sabrina pulled up a chair from a neighboring table that was vacant. “I’m so sorry I’m late. I had to ask your assistant for directions,” she directed at Mr. Hargreaves without so much as a sidelong glance his way. “Harvey, I’m glad we could get together again. Please, fill me in and catch me up.”
Harvey’s face lit up, as did those signature milky-blue eyes, and he grew animated as he began talking about all the plans Charles had been spilling to him in her absence. It took everything for Sabrina to hold her tongue, continue smiling, and nod along as though she had been abreast of everything. In reality, she wanted nothing more than to turn and slap the face of the man who dared to cross her.
