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“Let’s not be quite so dramatic,” I said, waving my hands. “It’s only a papercut, and her rudeness is nothing I haven’t dealt with before. She’s hardly the first woman to march into the office and demand Mr Black’s attention.”
Alastair mimicked the duke’s position. “I see security have chosen death.”
“Please control yourself, sir.” Cassidy set a tray down in front of us with four cups of tea and handed them out. “You cannot kill the security team for something so trivial.”
The duke looked at her. “Emily Grandstein gave our Chloe a papercut.”
Cassidy paused, setting his tea in front of him. “I’ll contact an assassin immediately.”
“Oh, not you, too.” I couldn’t help but laugh as I took my cup. “Thank you.”
“Cassidy, arrange for all my investments in Goldstein Corp to be withdrawn,” Alastair said. “And sell whatever shares we may hold in any business related to the Goldstein family. Not only do they insult us by suggesting their daughter is a suitable wife for my son, but they hurt someone dear to us and cause a ruckus in our office.”
She bowed her head. “Right away, sir. What shall I tell them if they ask why we’ve pulled investments?”
“Tell them I said to piss off,” the duke declared. “And tell Eddie to handle mine, too.”
If anyone outside of this room heard these words coming out of the mouth of the great Duke of Ruxleigh, they’d be absolutely horrified.
I, however, was more than used to it.
“Very well, Your Grace,” Cassidy said, not batting an eyelid. “If that’s all, I’ll leave you to your meeting.”
“Yes, can we get on with it?” Theodore asked, sitting back in the armchair. “I’m busy.”
“Not as busy as us, you little shrew,” the duke said. “Are you joining us in retrieving your money from those bastards or not?”
“I’ve already done it. I told Emily her father’s business is no concern of mine unless he’s selling it, so I thought I’d show her I wasn’t messing around.”
“You’re a ruthless little shit, aren’t you?”
Alastair cleared his throat. “Pa, we’re in the office. Please keep your insults to one every five minutes, rather than one every sentence.”
Theodore slid his gaze towards his father. “Surely you should be telling him not to insult me at all. I’m your son.”
“Who am I to tell him what to do? He’s still head of the House of Ruxleigh. He doesn’t listen to me.”
“There are only two people I listen to,” the duke said.
Yes.
Thankfully, one of them was in this room.
Me.
“Perhaps we should get on with it, Your Grace,” I said, resting my hands in my lap. “Let’s save the familial squabble for after we’ve discussed business.”
“I agree,” Theodore said. “There’s a lot to prepare for this, so we shouldn’t waste time.”
“Yes, yes.” The duke shuffled until he was sitting up straight. “Chloe, you’re familiar with the Adair Travel acquisition, aren’t you?”
I peered over at him. “Of course. Isn’t the announcement scheduled for next week?”
“It is. The reason we were able to acquire the company so easily is because some of their holiday rental properties were leaseholds on land that our family has managed for years,” he explained. “It was easier for them to sell to us rather than have to worry about transferring the leases to a third party, and it was beneficial to us to take over what was once a successful business. I’m sure you’re familiar with why their business struggled.”
“Yes, of course. After the death of the CEO ten years ago, his son took over and didn’t manage the funds properly. A lot of the properties are in disrepair, and the new ones he bought at auction for renovation are sitting there untouched because he lacks capital. He was hoping to have the lease fees on the older properties reduced in the hope he could sell them, but you purchased the whole business instead.”
“Indeed. It was the new properties that made it so attractive—they’re cottages surrounding a large lake, and each one has privacy as well as their own dock. However, like you said, they’re run down, and he ran into issues with the previous landowner,” Alastair explained. “He wasn’t able to purchase the patch of land either, but that wasn’t an issue for us. We closed on it last week, and the fifty acres of land the lake and cottages sit on now belong to us. We can begin renovating as soon as the acquisition is complete next week.”
