AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I choke on a laugh. “We’re not family.”
Leo rolls his eyes. “You’re as much family as Hughes. And even if you weren’t, I’d say the same thing. Go talk to him directly. I can do it, if you want.”
“No.” I’m too quick with the answer, and probably too blunt. I’m in this guy’s house. He made an offer he didn’t have to make. “I’m the CEO. Nobody should step in before I do.”
If Leo’s angry about this, he doesn’t give any sign. I wonder how much of his reputation, exactly, is manufactured bullshit meant to keep people on their toes. “Winthrop and Hope probably don’t realize who they’re dealing with.”
I let out a laugh that sounds more drunk than I meant it to. “I’m some asshole who made a billion dollars. That’s nothing compared to Hughes Financial Services, let alone Hughes Industries.”
“You have your connections,” he says.
It’s supposed to be a positive, but my stomach does a weird flip. I get that connections are good for business. That doesn’t mean I have to like them. It’s bad enough that I’m sitting here with Emerson and Sinclair, staying too late at a birthday party with days and weeks andyearsof pent-up anger bubbling under my skin. Having connections and using them means trusting other people, andthatis a recipe for getting fucked over.
Evidence—the entire Summit deal.
But I don’t have the warehouse to clear my head. I don’t have anyone to fuck. Bristol is in her apartment complex across the city, far away from me. I’m drunk. And if I can’t have her, which I very muchcannot, then I’ll settle for talking it out.
I catch Sin’s eye. “What do you think?”
He thinks I shouldn’t have gone forward with the merger in the first place, and he told me so. But Sin looks down at his cards in a surprisingly non-smug way. “Since you’ve already moved your operations, you should go for the fastest resolution. The less time you spend butting heads with Winthrop and Hope, the better.”
“What about you?”
Emerson glances up at me. He’s never given his opinion on the merger, and I’ve never asked him for it. Part of me doesn’t want to know, because I’m sure he thinks it was a waste. Not just letting Hughes acquire my company, but everything that happened before. If he’d known I’d turn out to be a violent prick just like our father, he wouldn’t have wasted his time standing in front of me back then. And part of me just wants him to be on my side, though I’ve annoyed the living hell out of him so often that I can’t imagine why he would be.
“Don’t let them ruin your business,” he said. “You’ve worked too hard for that.”
5
BRISTOL
The addressof the new job is in Midtown, which is a farther train ride than the old job. I have to get the twins out the door for school ten minutes earlier. A small price to pay. Areallysmall price. I don’t want to screw up their schedules too badly, but the idea of never seeing Mr. Malcolm again feels like winning a free, all-expenses-paid beach vacation.
I don’t bring the palm tree with me in my purse. For the time being, it stays on my bedside table. Looking at it reminds me of Will and how much he wanted to know about my beach obsession. It’s fine to dwell on that for a few minutes while I fall asleep, but not at work. I need to nail this job.
I’mgoingto nail this job. The palm tree might be at home, but I brought a little dish and a bag of tropical-flavored Jolly Ranchers in my purse. That’s how I’ll stake out my place at the new company.
Right after I find out which company I’m working for.
The email from the temp agency only included the address and start time, not the company profile. That’s a little weird, but so is getting the job while I’m in the middle of another contract. Googling the building felt like tempting fate, and I didn’t want to be disappointed in front of Sean. Not on the weekend, anyway. If the new job’s terrible, which it won’t be, I’ll tell him about it after work.
Everything about this week seems fresh and new. The fall days are getting shorter, so I climb out of the subway into the light like dawn. It almost makes the city feel clean. This same light would be gorgeous on a white sand beach.
It also looks good shining on the tower I’ve been sent to. My heart lifts at the miles of glass rising into the air. I don’t fall in love with buildings, but if I did, it would be this one. Fancy. Unapologetic. It’s a million stories tall. This is the kind of place that houses companies with serious money. My hourly rate is five dollars more than the last job, so that’s more proof.
My reflection in the tall glass doors looks confident and ready to face the future. She’s not secretly broken-hearted and missing a man who doesn’t miss her. She’s not questioning every move she makes because her con-artist father went missing.
Iamconfident. Iamready to face the future.
Whether my dad shows up again or not, I need to do the same things—help Mia and Ben through school, put away money, and figure out what I want to do with my life. Sean’s right about one thing. This is the only life I have. If I’m ever going to have a career, I have to go after it. I can’t keep treading water.
Chin up. Smile on. Let’s go.
The lobby of the building has high ceilings and a shining marble floor and a huge directory next to the reception desk.
Hughes Industries,it reads, in big gold letters across the top.
Oh, shit.
