Page 26 of One Bossy Disaster


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So I fold my arms and watch the comings and goings of busy people rather than look at her. Everyone looks like they’re already five minutes late, but there’s lots of idle chatter in the air.

Hannah waits calmly, just as she always does.

I drop my arms and she nods in acknowledgment.

“Your shareholders are already feeling jumpy,” she reminds me.

“What else is new? They’re human fleas.”

She pauses, choosing her words carefully. “Well, after other events in Seattle and certain CEOs going off the rails with erratic behavior, they’re rather keen to avoid any disasters with Home Shepherd.”

I sigh.

“Even if Ididengage in a relationship with Miss Dumas—which you know I didn’t—it was fake. Hardly in the same realm as buying a billion-dollar company for three times its value and then crashing it with no survivors,” I snap.

“Of course it’s different, sir. I’m just saying, it would be a shame if your stocks were to fall any more thanks to this, and people start making noise about your ouster. What’s Home Shepherd without Shepherd Foster? You just need to reassure them that you’re still thinking. You’re not going feral.”

“People are too goddamned focused on billionaires’ lives,” I mutter, scrubbing a hand through my hair. “Except when their goofy antics end in a happily ever after, of course. Just look at Brock Winthrope or Miles Cromwell. Shit, if I’d tossed out my brain and married Vanessa damned Dumas, no one would care what I did after that. They’d have our photos posted to a few wedding blogs and call it a day.”

“...the trouble is that you and marriage don’t mix, so it’s a nonstarter. Never mind how Miss Dumas would make an objectively terrible partner.”

Right.

That still doesn’t mean my private life is up for grabs—although no one in the media ever gets the memo.

They’re always on the hunt for new juicy scandals, and Vanessa has thrown them a hunk of red meat.

But without the public fascination with billionaires and what we do with our dicks, this crap would’ve died on the vine already.

As it stands, they’restilltalking about it online.

Still poking at my darker past in an effort to exaggerate rumors of the present.

If Legal hadn’t assured me the fake relationship would come to light in any litigation—making me look even worse—I’d have shut Dumas up with crushing damages in a heartbeat.

“I agree it’s unfair,” Hannah says. “But this is the reality of the situation, and it’s very much worth doing damage control. Since we have a perfectly good cause lined up... why don’t you learn to crack a smile and play along?”

Play along?

Play the fuck along?

Isn’t that what caused this problem with Dumas in the first place?

Hannah smiles unevenly as I pin her with a look.

If it were anyone but Destiny Lancaster, this wouldn’t be so impossible.

If we didn’t already have a sour history, maybe I’d give this more than a second thought.

Never mind the fact that Miss Lancaster isdisturbinglyattractive. The kind of face that could be splashed on billboards all across the US, beautiful and classy and unfussy.

It’s a real fucking problem.

Frankly, I don’t trust attractive women.

After Vanessa—who doesn’t have a dime on this girl—and every other woman who’s fucked me over in the past, I’ve made it a policy not to trust their motives blind.

Plus, Destiny is an influencer on top of it.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com