“Of course.”

  He pushes the button to end the call and his low rumble of a chuckle fills the room. If I didn’t know him any better than I do, the sound would be a warning alarm to steer clear.

  He stares at the pen in his hand for way too long before lifting his eyes to meet mine. “Believe me now?”

  We stand feet apart, staring at each other as my heart decelerates, and my head acknowledges what is the right next step to take.

  “What is it you want from me?” I ask.

  A purely male expression fleets over his face and in his eyes. “That’s a very open-ended question. Care to narrow it down for me because I can answer that in a myriad of ways.”

  I swallow and draw in a deep breath, hating that his comment causes nerves to rattle around inside of me. He’s laid the offer to work with him out there for me, he’s teased me with it, and he just protected my staff … there is more to his offer to team up with him than meets the eye, and I’m walking on broken glass trying to figure out what it is.

  Time to just go for it, right?

  “Obviously you’re a smart businessman—”

  “Watch it. In case you didn’t realize it, you just complimented me.” A crooked grin lights up the darkness his call to Audrey caused.

  “I’m asking what it is you want, Holden. Why do you want me to work with you?”

  His nod is slow and measured, the calculating expression of Holden Knight reappearing. “Because while I don’t think you’re ready to run this place, I think you want to learn how. And because…”

  “And because you want to stick it to my brother. Right? You want to put value in the one thing that he hasn’t. Me.”

  “The face of the company. And I’m beginning to think the underused brains too.” His voice is quiet, reserved, when I would expect it to be more triumphant.

  “You want to use me to get under his skin. That’s part of this, right?” I ask, everything tumbling together to make sense all of a sudden.

  “Correct.”

  I release the breath I was holding, my assumption confirmed. “You don’t like him and yet you’re still buying the company and letting him be CEO.”

  “I believe I said that management were the only ones in jeopardy. That means everyone. You. Chad. Rhett. The others. So Rhett’s status remains to be seen.”

  “Okay.” I move to the window to look out to the warehouses across the street. To my family’s legacy. To the dream I still hold. I make the next statement not 100 percent sure what I’m agreeing to, but knowing I trust the man standing in front of me way more than the man a few offices down who I share a last name with. Both options are harrowing, but he’s the only one of the two here who it seems hasn’t tried to sabotage me. “Fine. Yes. I’ll work with you.”

  Guilt hits me instantly. I’m aligning myself with the enemy—going against my family. But I shove down the feelings to process at another time.

  Everyone in my family seems to be looking out for themselves. Isn’t it time I do the same?

  Then again, maybe this is why I haven’t before—I have a conscience, when clearly they don’t.

  If I expected Holden to gloat, I’m more than happy that he doesn’t. He’s silent and when I turn to look at him, his eyes lock on mine and he gives a stoic nod, almost as if he respects how difficult this decision was for me.

  “This has nothing to do with … what happened between us.” With what’s happening between us. The words and thoughts are hard to get out. I don’t like blurred lines. I like clear-cut ones. Ones with definition and set consequences.

  “I never assumed it did, Rowan.”

  “Your marketing campaign. The new idea? That’s something I’ve been trying to get Rhett to agree to for the past year. It’s a good idea. A necessary shift.”

  “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

  “I’ll start on that, and I’ll bring you the suppliers you want,” I say, almost feeling like I have to prove to him that I am ready to run this place. That I’m so much more than the marketing department. “Three for each product. We’ll diversify so that we have a leg to stand on when it comes to bargaining.”

  He lifts his eyebrows and murmurs, “Okay.”

  “It’s the best business decision, and if no one else is going to step up to the plate to do it, I will. I don’t have ties that I’ll sever by looking outside the country club members,” I ramble, suddenly nervous.

  “Why?”

  “To prove to you I can.”

  “I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t think you could. But why now? Because of what Rhett did? Because…?”

  “Because of you.” The words aren’t easy for me to say, but they’re true. His actions with my employees, his suggestions as far as our suppliers, the way he sees through Rhett’s bullshit, dare I say, I’ve come to trust him? “I’ve put my faith in my family for so long and I net nothing in return. It’s time for me to change the dress.”

  He gives the subtlest of nods. His lack of reaction is frustrating at best, but then again, what is he supposed to say?

  “This—me agreeing to work with you instead of against you—”

  His tsk cuts me off. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Sunshine. You may be working with me, but I know you’re going to fight this right up until the ink dries.”

  “So?” I raise my eyebrows in challenge.

  “I’d expect nothing less.”

  “Good. Now let’s talk about what I get in return.”

  A slow smile crawls across his lips. “You act like you’re in a position to negotiate.”

  “I am.”

  “Oh really?” He leans his ass against the back credenza of his desk, crosses his arms over his chest, and studies me with an intensity that has both my adrenaline and pulse racing.

  “There’s always room for negotiations.”

  “And what is it that we’re negotiating, because I have plenty of ideas that come to mind.” His eyes scrape over the curves of my body before coming back to mine.

  “A board seat.”

  “What about it?”

  “You asked me to work with you. I’ve accepted that offer because we both know I’m a valuable asset for you. Both in my knowledge of the company and the trust that the employees have in me.”

  “A seat isn’t going to give you what you want. Your one vote won’t allow you to overpower your brother’s, dad’s, and Chad’s votes all pooled together.”

  “Correct, but I’ll have a voice there for the first time, and it’s more than I’ve ever had.”

  “It still doesn’t change the amount of power you have.”

  “I’m well aware of that. I have my reasons.” The seat he gives me and the seat my gran is giving me mean two votes. My persuasion skills are on point. If I were to convince Holden and Chad to vote with me—and maybe sway a few others with the dirt Gran left me to use—I could manage to get the things for the company it needs.

  It’s a long shot but it’s the best shot I’ve ever had, and that is everything.

  “I want it written in the parameters of your purchase. A seat that is irrevocable.”

  “The terms of the purchase are set already.”

  “Then un-set them,” I counter.

  “A seat is enough of a dig for you? That seems so very un-Rothschild of you.”

  “I’ll take a percentage of ownership too.”

  He coughs out a laugh. “Give a girl an inch—”

  “Bet your ass I’m going to take a mile,” I say. “So?”

  “You’re asking me to give up some of my ownership?” He tilts his head to the side and studies me, his finger rubbing back and forth over his lips.

  “I am.” He’ll never give it to me. Never.

  “One percent.”

  “One percent?” I ask, startled that he’s even contemplating it.

  “Yes. It’s all I can part with or majority numbers get tricky, and I like mine clear fucking cut.”

  “I’ll pay for the percentage. For the ownership.”

  He waves a hand dismissively. “Think of it as an investment in this company.”

  “Also known as an extra twist of the knife in my brother’s back.”

  He toggles his head from side to side as if he’s contemplating it. “You can look at it that way, yes.”

  My heart races and my head spins. I own a minute percentage of the family company. Rhett owns the majority, our shareholders hold a bit, and the family trust owns the rest. The trust that I get disbursements from, but that Rhett otherwise manages. I get my paycheck, I get my trust checks, but Rhett holds so much more in his hands.

  Until now.

  Until Holden.

  I’ll have my small existing portion, another 1 percent from Holden, and then Gran’s percentage of ownership.

  Holy shit.

  I’ll now have so much more than a leg to stand on.

  Get your head on straight. Think about this without emotion attached. What are the next steps? How do you protect this deal?

  “I prefer to pay for my ownership. I’ll figure out how,” I say, thinking of Gran’s inheritance, “but I’ll pay for what is mine.”

  He nods. “We’ll talk about it when we get there.”

  I swallow nervously. “You’ll have to rewrite the parameters of the deal to include this.”

  “I think I know what to do, Rowan.” He winks and it eases everything a bit. “But I suggest we present these changes at the last minute. Rhett’ll be eager to seal the deal then and might not bat an eye at the new parameters. It’ll be easier for me to trade it out with something else to soften the blow.”

  “I want to see the new paperwork when it’s drawn up.”

  “Of course you would.”

  “That’s not a problem, I presume?”

  “Not a problem at all.”

  I walk toward him and hold out my hand. “I’m trusting you at your word, Holden Knight. That’s not the easiest thing for me.”

  He takes my hand, and my body reacts viscerally to his touch. The flare of his nostrils says his does too. “Trust isn’t easy, is it? I don’t take it lightly that you’re putting yours in me.”

  A knock on Holden’s office door startles us both and has us jerking our hands back as if Audrey can’t already see us through the glass wall of his office.

  He motions for her to come in.

  “Sorry for the interruption,” she says, “but Rowan, your four o’clock is here. They were shown to conference room A and told you’ll be with them momentarily.”

  “Thank you,” I say.

  She offers me a courteous smile and then looks to Holden. “The phone calls have been made and Rhett’s on standby to talk to you.”

  “Thanks.” He checks his watch. “I’ll wait a bit yet. He deserves to sweat it out some.”

  THIRTY-FIVE

  Holden

  “I figured if she has so much free time she can look at property for you like she’s your personal assistant, then clearly her workload is light enough that she could offload some salaries.”

  “And that was your decision to make?” I ask nonchalantly as I stare at the fucking prick. Ever since I walked into his office—or rather his new office—he’s sat there with a smarmy look on his face and a fuck-you lift to his chin.

  “As the CEO of the company, yes, it was.”

  “Keep making moves like that and you won’t be one for much longer.”

  Rhett chuckles, clearly not taking me seriously. “Technically you don’t own shit yet, Holden, so I’m pretty sure I can do as I please.”

  “Technically you’re wrong, considering our letter of intent is a binding agreement, but we’ll let that slide.” I shove my hands in my pockets and walk to the other side of the room, staring out at the facility below where our employees are coming and going. “Being drunk on power can be a dangerous thing.”

  “Whatever. You live in that zone so who are you to fucking lecture me?”

  Clank. Click. Clank.

  The sound jolts me to the past. To fifteen years ago and the last place I saw that goddamn lighter.

  I clench my jaw and turn to face him as he flips open the lighter again, clicks the flame, and then snaps his wrist so the lid closes and extinguishes the light.

  Forcing myself to look at anything but that fucking reminder, I meet his eyes. “I can lecture whoever the fuck I want.”

  “The question is, what are your plans for this place, because nowhere in our discussion did you talk about buying property and moving the company.”

  “Never said I was going to.”

  That property thing really got to you, didn’t it? Don’t want your sister to start researching the LLCs and find your name sitting as the president of one? You don’t want her questioning how exactly you got the money to do that, do you? Questions are a dangerous thing when you have something to hide.

  “Is this about building our own distribution center, then? I know that was part of the discussions.”

  It was? I don’t quite remember that but go ahead, Rhett, shift the gears so I chase another lead instead.

  “What about it?” The less I say, the better. Let Rhett talk himself into whatever corner he’s going to talk himself into.

  “I already have things figured for that.”

  “You do?” He’s going to fucking try to sell me the WillowBend land, isn’t he?

  “Yep.” He nods emphatically, as if he sees the light here. “We were scouting places. Properties. If we build a distribution center—our own—we can cut costs and produce a quicker finished product.”

  “So why have you waited to do this till now?”

  “Red tape. A shit ton of red tape. That’s why I’m running for city council. To help cut through it and get shit pushed through.” He smirks. “We have the perfect place picked out to buy too.”

  “You do?” I say, face in mock surprise. “Planned and prepared. Where is this property? Maybe I should take a look at it. Pull the trigger and get it purchased.” God, this is fun.

  “That’s a great idea. Chad and I have it all figured out. We pay some guys to cause some problems—maybe even spread some rumors about the property. Devalue it—but it’s not like it can get much lower. Once I’m on the council, I’ll pull some strings and get the permits approved to raze the whole fucking place to the ground so we can build new. The place is a fucking eyesore. The town will be so goddamn grateful to us for taking out the trash for them.”

  Build new? Raze what to the ground? I purse my lips and narrow my eyes, trying to figure out how he’s going to do that to barren land. “It’s a solid plan,” I say, confused but curious. He’s not talking about WillowBend, is he? “Where is this you’re talking about?”

  “The dregs of the earth. It’s a place across the river. You might not know it yet. Lucky you.”

  Dread tickles at the base of my spine.

  “Try me.”

  “Fairmont,” Rhett says, smug smile in place, oblivious to the fury that just ignited in me.

  But I hold it in.

  I yank it back.

  My Adam’s apple bobs, and I have to force my fingers to relax out of my fists, one by one.

  “Huh.” I play it off. Or try to.

  “You can’t miss it. It’s over the Roosevelt Bridge. It’s where losers go to lose. Trust me. Everyone I’ve ever known from there is just … trash.”

  Steady, Knight.

  “So buy the land, push shit through the council with some favors in return, raze it to the ground, and build a distribution center there?” I ask and he nods. “What about the people who will be displaced?”

  “Why would we fucking care? The place is a shithole. I’d be doing them all a favor by demolishing their shanties.” Clank. Click. Clank. “Besides, we can drown out their moaning by saying we’re delivering jobs to the community like we’re their saviors.”

  “They can’t work a job if they can no longer live there,” I say.

  “Not our fucking problem, is it? Besides, we’re the ones cleaning shit up for the rest of us, right?” His chuckle burns a hole in my gut and fires every goddamn vein in my body.

  Over my dead body.

  “You’re speechless,” Rhett teases. “See? I have good ideas.”

  Hell the fuck no.

  “Hmm. There are possibilities there,” I murmur, each word like acid on my tongue.

  “We should brainstorm it all out—”

  “What’s going on here?” Chad walks in without asking. Of course the fucking prick does.

  It’s going to take everything I fucking have to rein in my anger. To control my disgust. To not show my fucking cards when all I want to do is grab their throats and pin them to the fucking wall with my hands until they know what it feels like to be gasping for their last breath of air.

  You’ve practiced for this moment, Holden.

  Keep your shit together. You can rage later.

  I meet Chad’s inquisitive eyes and then look over at Rhett.

  Breathe.

  Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

  Smile.

  Pretend.

  “What’s going on here? Is that what you asked? Saw me in here and had to run in to play the protector?” I ask.

  Chad’s eyes narrow. “Why would I have to play protector?”

  “Because I was just telling Rhett that I’ve hired back the people he erroneously fired today. And that the signing bonuses I’ve offered them and increase in salaries we’ll be giving them to compensate for their distress—and so they don’t sue our asses for wrongful termination—will be coming out of your two salaries.”

  “What?” Rhett barks out as I rise from my seat.

  “Only seems fair to me.” I shrug and have so much joy in pissing them off.

  “You can’t do that,” Chad says. “That’s absolute bullshit.”

  I whip around and show them a fucking tenth of the rage I have inside of me. “Fucking watch me.”

  THIRTY-SIX

  Holden

  I stew over the conversation for the next few hours. Over Rhett’s arrogance. Over the fact that every time I think of Rowan’s employees, I see my mom struggling to make ends meet and remember the cruelty some of her employers showed her. Over his plan to fuck over the invisible members of society—the kind of person I used to be—just so he can turn a quicker buck.