How did she do it?
He didn’t know. All that mattered was he was well and truly caught.
Caitlyn is mine.
And he’d do anything for her.
Even if that meant putting her first, above all else.
“Pull the article,” he said, his voice stone. “Or else forfeit your income from Reid Enterprises.”
His mother exhaled sharply. “You wouldn’t.”
“Father left you no shares. You have no control here. Maybe you shouldn’t have spent every summer of my childhood with your lover in France.”
“Don’t you dare criticize my life.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Mother, so long as you give me the same courtesy.”
“A Brooks…”
“Is what I want. For a single second, can’t you pretend to be a real mother and think about your child instead of your company?”
Irene’s gaze turned livid. “I always put you first.”
“Never,” he amended calmly.
“My family is what matters.”
“Again, not once in my memory.”
“You are my legacy.”
He inclined his head. “Now that I believe.”
“Reid Enterprises is all we have left. We need to protect it.”
“I don’t disagree.”
“But you won’t make it your top priority?”
“No,” he said. “My father did that, and what did he have to show for it? A wife who stayed a world away from him when she could. A child who hid when he came home. The only positive thing about Jonathan was the company he built.”
“Which you are destroying.”
He laughed. “We’re up five points in the market as of this morning, Mother. This move would eliminate a competitor, yes, but that’s it. Let’s not be dramatic.”
“She’s smart and driven,” Irene said. “I’ve heard about Caitlyn Brooks. What makes you think this wasn’t a long con to manipulate you? They’ve been working with this lab for months. You could be her insurance plan in case any of this came out.”
He remembered the date on the file he’d mistakenly read and smiled.
“I’m not,” he said with utterly conviction. “And I won’t profit from a mistake any one of us could have made. Professional courtesy, Mother. That’s all stopping the article is. If we don’t blow this up for them, it will be handled as it should be, and the right meds will get to the people who need them. Isn’t that what matters?”
Irene laughed. “You are so weak.”
“No,” he said. “For the first time, I’m corralling the limited power you have. Pull the article, Mother, or you will find yourself without an income and without any power in this company.”
“You’d choose her over me.”
A real smile curved his lips. “In a heartbeat.”
Irene stalked back to his desk and grabbed the purse she’d dropped on its surface. “You will regret this.”
“I doubt it,” he replied. “You’ll call the journalist?”
“I will,” she hissed.
“Good. Then your monthly deposit will continue as normal.”
“Aren’t you generous.”
“I’m my father’s son,” he said with a straight face.
With a last look of fury, his mother stalked from the room.
He crossed the room and collapsed back into his desk chair as he tried to process what had happened. He’d made some irreversible decisions.
And since they all centered on Caitlyn, it was only fair he let her in on them.
Chapter Twenty
She was sitting in the kitchen drowning her sorrows when the front door opened.
Damien.
Making use of the new key she’d given him last night.
She rolled her shoulder back. He couldn’t know what was happening. It’d been their rule. Neither of their companies could be impacted by their affair.
Standing, she brushed off her dress as he strode down the hall.
“Hey,” he greeted, coming into the room carrying a bag of groceries. “How are you doing?”
Any other day she’d say something glib, but today, all she needed was his arms around her. Without any hesitation, she walked directly into his embrace.
“Whoa,” he said, dropping the groceries without a thought. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she lied, taking comfort in his warmth. “Just keep holding me.”
His arms tightened around her. “However long you need,” he promised.
Taking him up on it, she leaned into him and closed her eyes. For the first time since she’d walked into the office this morning, everything made sense.
I’m not a girl to have her whole world reordered because of a man.
No, but she was woman enough to acknowledge the strength her partner lent her.
Mine.
The word was archaic, but it burned through her with a truth she couldn’t deny. On her worst day, her enemy gave her comfort.
Which meant he wasn’t much of an enemy at all.
He’s all I want. For the rest of my life.
Who knew if they’d ever be able to have years. But for now, she was grateful to have him today.
“How about I cook dinner tonight?”
“Aren’t you perfect.” Reluctantly, she stepped out of his arms. “How was your day?”
“Intense.”
“Ha. Tell me about it.”
He paused, the fridge half open as he put the groceries away. “I want to.”
She looked back. “Don’t. This only works as long as our company lines are clear. I can’t be someone you use for professional advice.”
He closed the fridge. “What if we weren’t on opposite sides?”
“But we are,” she said.
“But if we weren’t?”
Rolling her eyes, she grabbed the grocery bag he’d left and started putting away the contents.
“We were very clear that we could only be together so long as our companies didn’t get involved,” she said.
“If we stay together, that might not be the dividing line I once thought.”
She paused. “What?”
“I’m just saying, we’re more than our companies.”
She pulled a bottle of wine from the grocery bag and set it on the counter.
“What are you talking about?”
Abandoning his bags, he crossed the kitchen to her side and pulled her up against him.
“I’m saying, these limitations don’t work for me anymore.”
Pain sliced through her heart.
What?
“Yesterday we were talking about really being together and today you want out?” She shook her head. “One step forward, two steps back, eh?”
He laughed. “That’s not what I meant at all.”
She blinked. “Then what?”
“I’m just saying, we don’t work on opposite sides. The day might come when we have to do something about that.”
“What could we do?” she asked. “I won’t sell Brooks Corp to you and become your employee. That would never work. It would be the kiss of death for us.”
“I know,” he said, smoothing the hair back from her face. “I wouldn’t ask you to do that.”
“Then what are we talking about?”
He smiled. “I was just thinking aloud. Give me some time to consider all this. There might be a solution we haven’t considered.”
“If you find a magic wand at work, let me know. Otherwise, there’s not much we can do.”
Especially with work imploding around her.
What if he found out about our mistake? Nice words aside, what would he really do?
If he caught a hint of the quagmire she was in, would they be over? As much as she wanted to ignore the answer, she was probably naive to think he’d ever give her the benefit of the doubt before dropping the ax down on her head.
She was dating a man who had toppled empires far larger than hers.
He wouldn’
t do that to me.
The belief was so strong in her heart, but her head had other ideas. Logic dictated he’d crush her if he had the chance.
Let’s make sure he doesn’t learn there’s an opportunity.
That meant she had to lie.
“Our companies come first.”
There was an almost gentle smile on his face when he replied, “So we’ve said.”
She frowned, feeling like she was missing half the conversation. Shaking it off, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’d love to wake up tomorrow with all our problems solved, but I don’t think life works that way.”
“We could change that.”
A little laugh escaped her. “Sure. I’m in.”
“That easy?” he purred.
“Yep,” she said against his lips. “Don’t you know I’m all in when it comes to you?”
She felt him shake beneath her hands even though his expression never changed.
“Everything will work out,” he told her. “I promise.”
She smiled and rose up to her tiptoes to kiss him. “I know something we can do that isn’t about our companies.”
“Oh?” His hands slid down her sides to wrap around her waist. “I’m listening.”
“Let’s put a pin in dinner for a while.”
“You’ve read my mind.”
She pulled him down for a kiss, pleasure flooding her as she did.
I can touch him like this. Any time I want.
The knowledge still shook her.
She just prayed she’d be able to keep him.
…
Damien had been staring at a desk full of financial records for so long his eyes were crossing.
Leaning back in his chair, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. There had to be a way out of being on opposite sides from Caitlyn, but no matter how many times he went over the company position and finances, only one option seemed possible.
I’ll never convince her.
But what would happen if he didn’t?
His desk phone rang, distracting him.
“Yes,” he answered.
“There is a man here to see you, sir. He doesn’t have an appointment.”
“I’m busy,” he said, his response automatic. “Tell him to reschedule for next week.”
“He, ah, said you’d say that,” his secretary replied. “He said to tell you his name is Clive Brooks.”
He shot to his feet. “Send him in,” he said.
He’d barely hung up the phone when the door opened to admit Caitlyn’s father.
“Clive,” he said, walking around the desk to meet him. “Everything all right?”
“Yes, yes,” the older man said, accepting his hand to shake. “I’m not here in any official capacity.”
“I see.” He gestured to the couches in his office instead of the desk. Caitlyn’s father wasn’t an employee to stare down.
Clive followed his lead, crossing to the more casual setting and taking a seat.
“Can I get you anything?” Damien asked as he joined him.
“No, thanks. I won’t take much of your time.”
“All right. If this isn’t about the company, I assume you’re here about Caitlyn.”
Clive inclined his head. “Exactly.”
“Let me guess, this is where you tell me to stay away from your little girl.”
The other man laughed. “Caitlyn would skin me alive if I ever dared.”
He thought about the Brooks temper he’d been on the receiving end more often than not and acknowledged Clive had a point.
“Then what is this about?”
“I’ve been listening to Teresa rage about your relationship. How has your mother taken the news?”
“Not well.”
Clive nodded. “I’m not surprised.”
“And you?” he asked. “Are you enraged as well?”
His guest let out a slow sigh. “I might have been,” he said. “You know about my condition?”
He swallowed. “I do. I’m very sorry there’s nothing that can be done.”
“It took me a long time to come to terms with the inevitable. You know what they say about the five stages of grief. I never believed in it until I found myself moving through the stages after my diagnosis.” He leaned back against the sofa. “I was angry for a long time. Too long, really. Shaking my fist at the universe and demanding to know why I’d been struck down with an incurable death sentence when I’d made it my life’s work to bring hope to others in similar situations.”
“Cancer is a riddle,” he said.
“It is. And it wasn’t until I stopped working that I started moving past my anger.”
“What did you do then?”
“I focused on what really mattered. The people I cared about.”
“Caitlyn.”
“Exactly. I didn’t—don’t—want to leave her and her mother alone. But no man can outrun death.”
“You want me to stop seeing her.”
Clive met his gaze with a forthrightness that reminded him of Caitlyn. “Not exactly.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I want you to answer a question for me.”
He nodded. “If I can, I will.”
“Do you love my daughter?”
Damien blinked, not expecting the bald question.
Clive waited and watched, giving nothing away.
Is there any harm in answering honestly?
He’d practically shouted his feelings at his own mother.
But this was very different. More permanent, more real.
He templed his fingers, watching the man that might someday be his father-in-law and answered with one word. “Yes.”
“Does she know?”
“No.”
Clive shook his head. “Take it from someone who knows, Reid. No one has endless time.”
“I’m waiting for the right moment.”
The other man laughed. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as a romantic.”
“Me either.”
“Women have a way of complicating the best-laid plans.”
“There’s one thing we can agree on wholeheartedly.”
Clive leaned back, no hint of expression on his face.
“Was that the answer you were hoping for?” Damien asked.
“Yes and no. It doesn’t make the road ahead of you easy, and I want my daughter’s life to be the best she can make it.”
“So do I.”
“I never hated you, you know. Your father was a frustrating man, but I didn’t hold him against you when you took over. I’m sorry you lost him.”
“You’re probably the only one who is.”
“Jonathan had some rigid opinions. I could tell he was proud of you, though.”
“I’m surprised that doesn’t damn me even more in your eyes.”
“Your father would never have eaten a burger with Teresa and me. He never would have cracked open that black heart wide enough to even consider falling in love. If you can do both, you are not your father’s creature.”
He blinked. So much of his life had been spent trying to become exactly what Clive was saying he wasn’t. But it seemed his failure to be his father’s son was what made him worthy of Caitlyn in a way he’d never imagined.
A weight in his chest lightened at the realization.
“I’m not sure your wife feels the same,” he said, clearing his throat.
“It will take time. Neither of us want Brooks Corp put in jeopardy.”
“For what it’s worth, I don’t, either.”
Clive nodded. “I believe you. I’ve never seen Caitlyn look at anyone the way she looked at you that night. That alone is worth giving you a chance.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I should be letting you get back to work. I know firsthand how hectic the days can get.”
Damien stood when Clive did, shaking the offered hand.
“Does this mean you support our relationship?”
“I want my daughter to be happy. I don’t want her living her life alone, with only the company for comfort. If you can give her that, then yes. Her happiness is more important than my dream.”
“What would you have done if I’d said I didn’t love her?”
A sly smile touched Clive’s lips, reminding him of the man he’d once been when he ran his company with an iron fist. “I would have spent my last months on earth trying to destroy you.”
He arched a brow. “At least you’re honest.”
“And you know where you stand.”
“I won’t disappoint you. Or her.”
“See that you don’t.” He walked toward the door. “Teresa’s making pasta next Saturday evening. We’ll see the two of you at six.”
He’d been planning a date night for them but nodded instead. “We’ll be there.”
With a last wave, Clive left the office and shut the door behind him.
Did I just pass his inspection?
Alone, he realized he wanted to. Caitlyn loved her family, which meant he needed to care about them as well.
If Clive could put the past behind him, he could, too. Glancing at the financial records on his desk, a plan formed in his mind. Perhaps it was time for the Reids and the Brookses to embark on a new chapter for both their families.
Together.
Chapter Twenty-One
Caitlyn had spent her week buried in paperwork, but at least the sky hadn’t fallen. She’d had some uncomfortable conversations with the FDA, and her pride had certainty taken a beating, but nothing worse had come for them.
At least, it hadn’t before her VP slammed into her office.
“Have you seen this?” he asked, tossing the paper down on her desk.
“What is it?” But she knew even as she picked up the opened page what she’d see.
Brooks Corp Set to Hand Out Poison.
“That’s dramatic,” she said, the headline all she could see.
“The article is even worse. It’s utterly damning, with very little of our side presented. They left out anything that would have given this a positive spin.”
“Can we go after the paper for libel?”
“Already made the call and learned some interesting information when I did.”
“Tell me.” She tossed the paper onto her desk.
“The tipoff came from a very specific source.”
Ice spread through her. “Who?”
“Reid Enterprises.”
Catching the CEO (Billionaire's Second Chance) Page 16