Fortress (Forde Family Series Book 2)

by nikki blaire

  And his first task as CEO was going to have to be distancing himself from his father's old way of doing business. He needed to appeal to new markets.

  He needed to be more relatable, especially if he planned to attract more athletes and entertainers as clients.

  “I just need to convince him to lead the firm in a new direction.” She said to herself, just as her phone rang.

  She looked down and saw her apartment’s name on the screen. Someone was calling up to be let into her building.

  “Who in the hell?” She asked herself, as she picked up.

  She regretted it as soon as she heard Brandon’s familiar voice.

  “Are you home?” He asked through the callbox.

  “Brandon, what are you doing here?”

  She couldn't believe that he had shown up at her house.

  “I was just checking on you. I hadn’t heard back from you.”

  “You just text me this morning. Today’s been busy.” She couldn’t believe that she arguing through a loudspeaker.

  “Alright. Just let me come up to see that you’re good and I’ll go.”

  “Or you can just go.” She hadn’t intended to be so short with him, but he had crossed the line.

  “C’mon, Lisse. Please, just let me see you.” He sounded pitiful.

  “Fine. Come up.” She let him in then went to the door to unlock it.

  A few moments later, Brandon was standing in her doorway. “Okay, you see me. Satisfied?”

  “So, this is really how you're acting with me?” He exasperated. “Is this about Vanessa? Are you upset about her or something?”

  He leaned in the doorway.

  There were a lot of things that bothered her about Vanessa, but she wasn’t Charlisse's issue. Brandon’s not respecting her or his marriage was the problem.

  “No, Brandon.”

  It was hard being so unfeeling with a friend, but she had to put her foot down. She had done it with Marcus and now it was Brandon’s turn.

  “Then what’s up, Lisse? What’s the deal? Ever since the wedding you’ve been acting differently. I mean, look at you. You’ve got a nigga standing out here in the hallway like I’ve never been in your house before.”

  She wanted to scream, but held it in. It was like talking to a brick wall. She just could not get through to him.

  “Yes, I’m acting differently. I’m acting like you’re married. That doesn’t mean anything to you?”

  “Ay, alright. Let’s just talk about it. You owe me that at least. Can I get that from you, Lisse?

  She wanted to say no. She had a lot of work to do and entertaining Brandon was definitely a distraction. But this needed to end, so she would make sure it did today.

  “Under one condition,” She let him inside. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore after today.”

  “Sure.” He casually strode past her to the living room then sat down on the couch. “And my condition is that we be completely honest.”

  “Always.” She sat down across from him.

  “Good.” He stared at her for a second. “What changed about us? That’s all I wanna know.”

  She started to speak, but he held up his hand to stop her.

  “And don’t come at me with that shit about my getting married. We were friends even while I was dating and engaged to Vanessa.”

  “But that’s not the same, Brandon, and you know it. You exchanged vows. I was at the wedding.”

  “And you looked amazing.” He interjected.

  “See, that’s it. That stuff has to stop. That’s why I’m keeping my distance.”

  Brandon frowned. “What? I can’t compliment you anymore?”

  “Don’t play dumb, Brandon. It’s unbecoming.”

  “Alright.” He chuckled. “I get it. We should be more formal now. I can respect that, but when did we start keeping things from each other?”

  “What are you talking about?” She crossed her arms.

  Charlisse knew this was about Marcus, but she wasn't going to play into Brandon's immature games. It wasn't Brandon's place to know about her clients.

  “Fine, I’ll cut the shit. Vanessa told me that you’re working for the Fordes on this recent...situation. I just asked you about it, Lisse. You told me that you didn’t know anything.”

  “As a former client,”

  “Former?” He cut a glance in her direction.

  “Ongoing client, you should appreciate my client confidentiality.”

  Brandon continued to chuckle. “But since when does that apply to me? The rules have never applied to me.” He lowered his voice and reached for her hand.

  Charlisse bit her bottom lip. Brandon was intentionally pushing her buttons.

  “You just don’t think they apply to you, Brandon. They always have, especially the one about not having sexual relationships with clients.”

  “C’mon, Lisse. This isn’t even about sex or anything like that. What we have is so much more and you know it. You were the closest person to me at one point. I’m just supposed to forget that because I have a wife?”

  “Yes.” She wanted to laugh. “She should be the closest person to you. Clearly, you already believe everything that she says.”

  Charlisse shouldn’t have taken a dig at Vanessa because this wasn’t about her, but it had happened. She couldn’t take it back.

  “So, that's what this is about.” He rested his hands on his legs. “Are you worried about Vanessa taking your place?"

  Charlisse wanted to scream. This man was incredulous.

  "That could never happen." Brandon continued. "She’ll never be my partner in that way. That’s always going to be you.”

  “She is your wife. She's the very definition of what it means to be your partner. You married her."

  “Because you wouldn’t.” He gave his usual response.

  “There we go with that again." She retorted.

  "You keep saying that like it’s romantic or something. You married Vanessa for political reasons. She’s wealthy, she’s well-known. She’s a perfect mayor’s wife.”

  He fell silent. Charlisse had kept that part of her thoughts to herself since Vanessa and Brandon began seeing each other. She wasn’t insecure, but she didn’t like how he always put their never becoming anything solely on her. Brandon was an ambitious man, which meant that he made every decision based on his career. Charlisse wasn’t a mayor’s wife, especially not in Washington, D.C.

  “Does that bother you? I always thought you understood that.” He finally spoke again.

  “I do and it doesn’t bother me because we would never be anything. Even if I had chosen to pursue something with you over my career...we’d still be here. You married to Vanessa, and me…”

  “With Marc.”

  Charlisse swallowed hard. “I’m not seeing him.”

  “Vanessa seems to think differently.” He was convinced.

  “She thought you and I were sleeping together. So I wouldn’t put too much faith in her opinions.”

  “Oh, c'mon. She sees the way I look at you. She sees how much I value your opinion. She knows that there’s something there. She must see the same thing with you and Marc.”

  “She saw me in his office. I was working, Brandon. She’s jumping to conclusions, like always.”

  “Something tells me that she’s right about this one. Someone told her that he took you home after the wedding.”

  He stood up to pace then rested his hand on his chin. “Please don’t take offense when I ask you this. Why him and not me?”

  Charlisse felt cornered. “We’ve discussed this.”

  “No, we haven’t.”

  She could sense that his ego was bruised. “Just explain that to me and I’ll let it go.”

  She tried to be delicate with her delivery, but there was only one honest answer.

  “I don’t know.” She stuttered. “I wish I did, Brandon. But I don’t know.”

  He stood dispassionately for a moment then made his way towa
rds the door.

  “Brandon, I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.” She stopped him from leaving.

  “It’s fine.” He turned back to her. “Really. I asked that we be honest. So, I can accept that. I have to, right?”

  He gave a weak laugh.

  “You don’t have to be with Vanessa. You deserve someone who loves you. Before you got married, she was,”

  “Still with Marc, I know.” He reached up to run a few fingers through Charlisse’s hair. “I know everything, but I made my decision.”

  He let him hand linger for another moment before putting it in his pocket.

  “You really are beautiful, Lisse. I can’t ever tell you enough. But I’ll chill. Good luck with everything.”

  He opened her door and then rushed out.

  “Dammit.” She let it slam behind him.

  Brandon was obviously hurt and that was not how she wanted him to feel. She trudged back to her desk to get back to work when she saw Marcus Forde, Sr.’s name flash across her phone screen as it rang.

  “Really? I can't take anymore today.” She wondered what he could possibly be calling her for, but knew that it wasn't good.

  “Mr. Forde, hello.” She picked up trying to be as nice as she could.

  “Yes, Ms. Lageaux, I just wanted to make you aware of some recent changes at Forde Financials.”

  As far as Charlisse knew, Marcus hadn’t touched base with him.

  “Oh.” She sat down, caught off guard by what she was hearing. “Okay.”

  “I am resigning, effective immediately.” He barked.

  “Mr. Forde, that’s,”

  “And you are relieved of your duties as the firm's crisis manager. Your contract has been terminated.”

  He hung up before Charlisse could even respond.

  *****

  Marcus’ alarm system alerted him to someone pulling into his driveway. He didn’t even bother to move, while he smoked his cigar and drank a stiff drink. He knew that it was likely his siblings, or even worse his mother. He hadn’t responded to anyone’s messages all day then went home as soon as he could after the work.

  His exchange with his father had rattled him. Marcus knew that he would have the face the music, but right now, he was searching for solace.

  A soft knock sounded on his door. Begrudgingly, he stood up to answer, finding Ayda and Dwele on the other side of it.

  “You must’ve thought I was dead or something for both of you to show up here.” He blinked at his brother and sister.

  “Given the circumstances, anything is possible.” His sister rushed into the house first with his brother following close behind her.

  “We were just worried about you, man. That press conference was hard to watch.” Dwele reached out to pat his shoulders, while they walked back to the living room where Marcus had been sitting.

  “Yeah.” Marcus flopped back down on his couch. “It was.”

  “Are you okay?” Ayda started to fuss over him. “Have you eaten? Please don’t say you’ve been locked up in here all day just smoking and drinking.”

  “I haven’t eaten since I’ve been home.” He shrugged. “And no, I went to the office.”

  He lifted the cigar to his lips. “Right after going to see Dad.”

  He let the smoke billow around him, while his sister gasped.

  “How did that go?” Dwele sat down next to him.

  “He jumped on me.” Marcus responded nonchalantly, but his brother’s face screwed up in shock.

  “I told him to resign and he flipped out.”

  “He’s a trifling piece of shit.” Ayda shook her head. “I’m going to find something in your kitchen to cook. Do you have any groceries? At all?”

  She stood over both of them with her hands on her hips.

  “Ayda, let’s just order something. There’s no need to do all of that. Marc just wants to chill. Can’t you tell that?” Dwele protested, but Ayda just stood with her eyebrows arched in their direction.

  “Clearly, it’s been a long day for him. The last thing he needs is some Chinese or pizza.” She smacked her teeth.

  “What would our mother do right now?”

  Both Marcus and Dwele chuckled. Ayda was right about that. Their mother always tried to bring the family together over a good meal.

  “Exactly, now excuse me while I scavenge for something to cook in this eternal bachelor’s pad.”

  Marcus smiled, watching her walk away. He knew that he gave Ayda a hard time, but she was also the most caring person that he had ever met. That was why he was so protective of her. Ayda would give until there was nothing left when she cared about a person.

  “Speaking of our mother, did you or Ayda talk to her today?” Marcus leaned over to grab his brother a cigar from the box that Tremaine had given him.

  Despite the cause for coming together, he loved having his siblings close. He wished that they could always be so agreeable.

  “Yea, we just came from there. She said that she tried calling you too, but didn’t want to show up over here just in case you were...busy.”

  “Busy doing what?” He sipped from his glass.

  “You know...relieving your stress.” Dwele snickered.

  “Wow, that’s what my own mother thinks of me.” Marcus shook his head.

  “That’s what she knows of you. Don’t forget that we’ve all known you for your entire life.” Dwele playfully hit his brother’s shoulder.

  “Like father, like son, huh?” He wasn’t necessarily trying to sour his own mood, but now, any semblance that he had to his father upset him.

  “Nobody even said that, Marc. Don’t even go there.” Dwele started, but was interrupted by Ayda yelling from the kitchen.

  “I found something! Dinner in thirty!”

  Both of them laughed out loud at her extraness. There was really no other way to describe Ayda. Soon after, she was calling them both to the kitchen. Delicious smells wafted to Marcus’ nose, reminding him of his hunger.

  “Thank you.” He appreciated the plates that Ayda sat in front of him and Dwele on his kitchen island.

  “No thanks needed.” She sat down with them. “Stir fry is easy. Now, tell us this story from the beginning. Every time I believe that our dad has reached a new low, he surprises me.”

  “There’s really no story to tell.” Marcus forked his food. “I told him that he needed to resign. I don’t even know why I went to see him. I was just so angry.”

  “As you should’ve been.” Ayda chimed in. “I was watching with our mother. Needless to say, she was a wreck. She tried to hold it together, but eventually she just broke down.”

  “I should’ve been there.” Marcus shook his head.

  Hearing about his mother broke his heart.

  “Don’t change the subject.” Dwele cut in. “If Dad resigns-”

  “That’s a big fuckin “if.” Ayda interjected.

  “I’ll make him.” Marcus was serious.

  He didn’t make idle threats. “I told him as much. So, it’s up to him. He should just make it easy on himself. I want it to be over and done with.”

  “I feel you.” Dwele got up to get a glass for each of them. “Well, I say let’s toast to a new beginning.”

  “There’s nothing to toast to yet, Dwele.”

  “But you finally stood up to Dad, Marc. That deserves a toast in itself.”

  “I never thought I’d see the day.” Ayda reached for her glass. “I’m proud of you. You deserve to be the CEO.”

  “Well, shit, I must’ve done something right if you’re agreeing with me.” Marcus picked up his glass then lifted it to tap each of theirs.

  “Don’t get used to it.” She smirked.

  “Trust me, I won’t. Lightening very rarely strikes twice.” They all laughed.

  “So, what’d Charlisse have to say about your visiting Dad? What’s her response to this?” Dwele poured himself another glass of liquor then sat back down.

  “I haven’t told her that I went to s
ee him yet.” Marcus shrugged. “I’m still kind of processing it myself, but I’d planned to call her tonight.”

  "I know she’s working on something now for a response. I’m sure she’ll come with something good. She always does.”

  A vision of Charlisse filled his conscience. He wondered what she would think of his threat to his father. He hoped she would be just as proud. Her opinion had come to mean a lot to him.

  “Well, she’s going to really have to bring it to get us out of this one. I’ve been in this business for a long while and I’ve seen smaller scandals ruin entire organizations.” Ayda shook her head.

  “That’s one thing I’m not worried about. She’s really the best.” He thought back to how she helped him keep it together earlier this morning.

  Her staying calm had helped him find the confidence to approach his father in the first place. She had reminded him of who he was and what he was capable of.

  “Charlisse is the best thing that ever happened to me.” The words slipped out of his mouth before he could catch them.

  “To the firm.” Dwele stared at him, holding in a chuckle.

  “That’s what I said.” He tried to cover it up, but he knew that he had been caught.

  “No, you said she’s the best thing that ever happened to you.” Ayda blinked.

  “Oh, well. That too. She’s been very helpful in dealing with all of this.”

  “Yeah…” Ayda kept glaring at him. “Are you interested in her?”

  “What kind of question is that?” He grew defensive.

  “Wow, you are.” Ayda exhaled. “Really, Marc? Is anyone off limits to you? I mean, you even flirt with my damn assistant for goodness sakes.”

  “The woman is attractive. What’s wrong with being attracted to her?” Dwele retorted, while giving Marcus a not so subtle nudge.

  Marcus cut his eyes at him, but didn’t say anything. His brother was just trying to help.

  “They work together, that’s what’s wrong with it.” Ayda snapped her finger in his face.

  “Can we get back to the point of the conversation, please?” Marcus tried to reel them back in. “If I’m really going to do this CEO thing, I’ve got some issues that I need to work through that Charlisse can’t handle for me.”