Bryan Pallister was staring around and around in wild circles as he seemed to be trying to pull himself together. Finally Diana realized that this could actually be her golden opportunity. “I can fix this situation, sir,” Diana told Mr. Pallister. “I have a friend. He’s a very fluent Italian speaker and he’s also a consummate businessman. I think with his help I can get this deal closed. But I’ll need to at least hire him on a one-job contract.”
“Of course!” Pallister moaned. He glared at Gwen. “I know just where the funds for this will come from too.”
“Excuse me?” Gwen looked outraged.
Her grandfather wagged his finger at her. “Don’t you say a word! Not. One. Word! You don’t get an opinion. You lost that right the moment you made a decision that left us standing here holding the bag on this huge deal. Do you truly have no notion of what you’ve done?” Pallister nodded to Diana. “Just get it done. All right?”
“Of course, sir. I will contact my friend right away.” Of course, that meant trying to reopen the lines of communication with Edward King. But maybe he owed her right now. Yes. He totally owed her.
Gwen stumbled after her grandfather as though she honestly believed that she could somehow fix a situation that was unfixable. She had completely lost her chance as far as Bryan Pallister was concerned. Even Diana could tell that. It was rather satisfying, but Diana was too tired to even begin to enjoy it. She just wanted them both to leave so that she could take a nap.
Except the second that Gwen and Mr. Pallister had exited the office, there was another knock on Diana’s office door. She looked up expecting to see another coworker, but was surprised to see the Orvilles pushing their way into the office with twin expressions of worry and horror on their faces.
“Mr. and Mrs. Orville?” Diana stood up. She held onto the edge of her desk to prevent herself from collapsing right back into her chair. “What can I help you with? I wasn’t expecting you this morning. Was I?”
“Oh no,” Mr. Orville assured her. “We didn’t have an appointment. We were actually hoping… well, we need your assistance to sell the stores. Now.”
“Now?” It wasn’t like the loss of the merchandise stolen by Aliana Ariosa constituted a big enough loss to put the stores in danger of failing. So it was a bit of a surprise to hear that the timetable needed to be moved up.
“The woman is absolutely uncontrollable,” Francesca Orville said flatly. “We can’t take it anymore. She threatened our son last night. Somehow. Somehow she found out that we had come here to speak with you and decided that it was time to put pressure on our son to somehow take us to court to put a stop to any possible financial decisions.”
Diana’s brain was utterly spinning. She was tired. Too tired. The events of the previous evening had become nothing more than a huge swirling mass of confusion. She remembered working on this client file for several hours yesterday afternoon because the puzzle was a rather unusual one. After that she had gone to meet Edward King for the disastrous never-happening dinner date. Then to the cemetery. And then the attack by Orion King. Had she sent a message to Edward about this case? Had she told him about the potential play on Alaina Ariosa’s part to take over the King fortune too? Diana could not recall.
“You have to believe us that this is a genuine threat!” Mr. Orville sounded almost panicky. “The police did not believe us.”
“I can imagine,” Diana murmured. “The police department isn’t exactly equipped to handle extortion that hasn’t happened just yet.”
“We need to sell,” Francesca insisted.
Her husband held up his hands to stop her from saying anything else. “But we can’t afford to just give it away!”
“I understand.” Diana was biting her lip. She had to call Edward for sure now. She had to find out what she had told him and who he had told. That bastard! If he had told his mother, then it was possible that Tisha had sold the information to Alaina or something equally underhanded. There was no telling with these selfish types. “Let me set you up with a broker. He’s good. He probably already knows a dozen or more investors with the ready cash flow and a desire to buy you out.”
“Thank goodness!” Francesca collapsed into a seat in front of Diana’s desk. She was fanning herself and looking almost ill. “You don’t know what it’s like to have your only child threatened. That woman was bragging that she would have access to even more money in just a few months. She said over and over again that she was going to take our company from us and from our son and use it to finance her own retirement. I don’t understand how one person could be so selfish!”
“I don’t either,” Diana murmured.
But Diana could certainly think of several people who were just as bad. And most of them shared the last name King. Was it their supernatural status that made them feel like they were above the law? Was last night’s attack by Orion because of this Orville connection? It was entirely possible that the whole thing was connected in some sick way.
And then because Diana’s day was turning into the strangest one she’d had in a good number of years, there was yet another knock on her office door. She sucked in a breath and held it because she did not want to know the answer to who was out there.
“Do you want me to answer that?” Mr. Orville was looking at her rather strangely.
Diana cleared her throat awkwardly. “Um. No. I’ll uh. I’ll answer it.”
It was almost like rising from her desk into a fog. Her mind was tired and her limbs felt heavy. She trudged to her office door and reached for the handle. It was a bit like waiting for a horror movie moment when you weren’t exactly certain who was behind the door, but you knew it was probably someone with an axe bent on murder.
Diana pulled the door open and found herself staring right into Edward King’s grim face. Her eyebrows shot up and for just a moment she was almost certain that she was dreaming. Except that her dream Edward probably would have taken her in his arms and kissed her soundly. Not that this was a particularly good idea, but in her dreams Edward King was still entirely human, entirely handsome, and completely perfect for Diana in every way.
It was only in reality that Edward was a part-time wolf and a totally unacceptable match for Diana because apparently his brother was bent on attempting to murder her in a freaking cemetery the night before Halloween. Those facts did not stop him from smelling and looking absolutely edible.
“Can I come in?” Edward finally asked.
Oh yes. Reality. And Diana had to make excuses or something or—damn, this whole thing was a mess! She struggled to find middle ground somewhere. “Can you go back out to the waiting room for a minute? I don’t know who sent you back here, but I have clients right now.”
“Right.” Edward looked doubtful. In fact, he looked downright belligerent.
Diana was struggling to keep the door closed to hide the identity of her clients. This was probably not the time for these three to come face to face considering the circumstances. “Edward, please?”
“Please what? Because if you’re telling me please believe the bullshit line that says I have clients at seven in the morning when they aren’t on my schedule—because I asked about your schedule at the front desk—you might as well try to tell me another tale.” Then Edward took his superior strength and pushed Diana’s office door wide open.
It was like a moment that seemed to freeze and just hold for what seemed like an eternity. All three of them stared at each other. Mr. and Mrs. Orville and Edward King were glaring at each other as though they were all equally shocked to see the others.
Finally Edward managed to recover his wits first. “Mr. and Mrs. Orville, I’m sorry to barge in like this. I didn’t realize that Ms. Appleton had clients in her office. I suppose I thought that she was putting me off.”
“Yes,” Mr. Orville made a face. His body language was aggressive as though he were about to launch himself at Edward like he intended to knock him back out into the hallway. “You Kings are just as pushy as those Ariosas when it
comes to believing what people tell you.”
Edward pursed his lips. “I disagree with that statement, but I can honestly see why you would think that. I’m sorry again for the intrusion.”
“Wait!” Francesca grabbed her husband’s arm as though she were afraid he was going to get violent and ruin her chance to speak with Edward King. “I want to ask you something! I want to get your opinion on something. Or rather—I think I need to find out if something is true or not.”
Edward did not look as though he expected this to be a good thing. “Okay? What can I help you with?”
“Is it true that you’re marrying Eleni Ariosa?” Francesca Orville’s eager face and hopeful tone of voice were enough to make Diana feel as though her world had just come crashing in.
Chapter Sixteen
Edward already felt like the bad guy in the room. He now officially felt like the biggest ass in Dallas. The expression on Diana’s face was horrible to see. She was struggling to hold it together, Edward could tell.
The sunlight spilling through the blinds in Diana’s office left an odd pattern of slats of light and shadow on the floor. There was a comfortable set of chairs in front of her huge desk. The desk was so neat that it was almost painful to look at. No clutter of pens or bits of paper or sticky notes. It was absolutely organized with a place for everything and everything in its place. There was no doubt in Edward’s mind that Diana had an image in her head of what her desk was supposed to look like at every second of the day.
The computer was on, the screen saver showcasing black and white photos of Europe that Diana had taken on her various trips. The woman had always had an interest in photography. It was obvious that in this job she got to indulge it.
“I know that it’s very rude of me to ask.” Mrs. Orville—did Edward know her first name? He felt like he should since he had attended multiple dinner parties at his mother’s home in University Park where Mr. and Mrs. Orville had been present. Mrs. Orville was biting her lip and clutching her husband’s arm as though this was enormously important. “But I really need to know if you’re going to be marrying Eleni soon. It would change everything for my husband and I.”
Diana’s face went utterly blank, but her tone could have cut glass. “Well, Edward? Should we be hearing wedding bells for you soon?”
Could he answer that? Edward and Eleni had an agreement. How far did it go? Was he supposed to be somehow deceiving her sister’s family? Edward knew a very bare minimum about the Orville’s case and most of that was from the previous night when Diana had let a few things slip. They were in financial distress because of Alaina Ariosa.
Edward suddenly felt as though he were straddling the fence. “Eleni and I have no agreement,” Edward finally told the group.
Diana blinked several times in quick succession. She looked as though she were struggling to understand what that meant. “So basically you’re saying that it hasn’t been decided?”
“Eleni has told me several times that her mother is bound and determined to marry her off to a King. I don’t know if that will be me or another brother.” Edward looked at the Orvilles. He was surprised to see their glum expressions. It was almost as though they were disappointed to hear this.
Then Mrs. Orville—he remembered that Francesca was her name. Mrs. Orville looked up at him with a once more hopeful expression. “Wait. So you’re saying that Alaina has set her mind to marry Eleni to one of you boys. We knew that this was the supposed plan. It’s been her plan all along. She brags of it incessantly. But Embry shared with us the other day that her sister told her there was an understanding between yourself and Eleni.”
“Oh.” Edward cleared his throat.
If Diana could have scorched him to ash with her gaze, she would have. He could feel her anger and the betrayal and for a moment he was tempted to divulge the whole thing. But there was a part of him that felt a bit of anger towards the Orvilles. How hard was it to say no to Alaina Ariosa? It seemed absolutely inconceivable that she could just waltz into one of their stores and steal whatever she wanted without paying. Ban her from the stores. Cut off her credit. She was a human like anyone else. She would want to avoid humiliation, which meant she would stop coming in at some point.
Edward began backing toward the doorway once again, but this time it was Diana who quickly cut off his exit. She’d never sat back down after he’d pushed his way into her office. Now she shoved her door closed and stood in front of it with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Are you telling me?” she began, her voice rising with each syllable. “That this whole time you have been planning some kind of alliance with Eleni Ariosa?”
“It’s not like that…”
“Then what is it like?” Diana’s fervent tone made even the Orville’s draw back in shock.
Mr. Orville frowned hard at Edward. “Sir, have you been playing games with multiple women at the same time? I knew your father to do that sort of thing in his time, but I’d never though it of any of you boys.”
Wait. What? Edward shook his head. “What did you just say about my father? You knew him to what? Play the field? He never stepped away from my mother once they were married!”
Joseph Orville snorted. “Sure, kid. If that’s what Daddy told you.”
Edward’s head was spinning from that bit of information, but Mrs. Orville was not done giving him the hypothetical piece of her mind. “Do you have any idea how horrible it is for you to do something like this to a wonderful young woman like Diana?” Mrs. Orville actually got up from her seat and patted “poor Diana” on the shoulder. “Sweetie, he’s not worth it.”
“I’m beginning to see that,” Diana said stiffly.
Joseph Orville—senior—apparently decided that he needed to make sure Edward came completely clean. At least in his mind. “For the last few weeks we have been forced by circumstance to attend a series of ridiculous dinner parties given by Tisha Olivares-King. There have been multiple sons there at various times, but Alaina and Tisha have been bound and determined to marry one of Tisha’s sons to Alaina’s older daughter.”
“Well, isn’t that nice.” Diana’s withering tone of voice was backed up by her folded arms and belligerent expression. If she had reached for the paperweight on the corner of her desk Edward would not have been surprised. “So when shall we wish you joy?”
Edward gazed at Diana and willed her to pull her head out of her ass and start thinking. This was not the Diana that he knew. It was not the woman he so admired and considered a possible mate for his life. This was a woman hurt by something she was so very sure that he had done in a deliberate attempt to be secretive.
“Eleni doesn’t want to be part of her mother’s schemes,” Edward tried to explain.
For some reason this seemed to make the whole situation worse. For reasons that Edward could not explain, Diana put her hands over her mouth and gaped first at him and then at the older couple. “Oh my God! Edward doesn’t have any money!”
“Excuse me?” Edward was mildly offended by that statement. He might not be as financially well off as the rest of the King family, with the notable exception of Jason,, but Edward did quite well for himself. “I’m doing just fine, thank you.”
“Yes, but you’re not inheriting the business or the land!” Diana reminded him. As if he needed reminding.
Joseph Orville suddenly stood up. His face was stormy and his body language was straight-up aggressive. What was going on? “You must be joking! How is that possible?”
It was almost as though Edward was no longer in the room. That was how much importance he had right now to this conversation even though the topic was apparently him and his family.
Diana spread her hands wide and her words tumbled out one on top of the other. “The way that Orion King is trying to arrange the inheritance, Edward and his brother Jason won’t get a penny. They’re set to be employees of the company, but not shareholders or inheritors. They get nothing. Even the land is in question. Not that a chu
nk of land with nothing but trees and grass on it could possibly be enough to keep Alaina satisfied for more than a week!”
“So Eleni is trying to get out!” Francesca clasped her hands together. “Oh, that’s so awful! I feel as though I should be happy for the girl, but I can’t allow that to happen. My son will suddenly become responsible for everything! He will have to pay for Alaina’s life until she dies! That’s just wrong. So wrong!”
“Okay, can we all stop talking about me as though I’m just a commodity to be bought and sold?” Edward snarled roughly. He was getting tired of this crap. The office was getting overly warm and stuffy too. He just wanted out of here.
“You shut up,” Diana ordered him. She did not seem to have any interest or concern for him at all.
Edward wasn’t about to just roll over and play dead. “No, I’m not going to shut up! You can’t blame Eleni for wanting out. She wants a life where her mother isn’t trying to sponge off her every other second. That’s perfectly fair. And just because these people”—Edward gestured to the Orvilles—“have some kind of boundary issues with saying no to Alaina does not make her my problem or my family’s problem.”
“Aha!” Joseph crowed. “Your bitch of a mother knows! Tisha and Alaina are always bragging about how they are best friends and have known each other most of their lives. I bet your mother knows! I bet that it why she was so eager to marry off Eleni to you or Jason. That scheming twit Tisha knows that her best friend is looking for a meal ticket and she’s doing her level best to prevent it!”
“Oh no!” Francesca moaned. “Then we will be stuck with Alaina’s bills for the rest of our lives!”
“Why is that happening?” Edward burst out suddenly. His words echoed so loudly off the warm sand-colored walls of Diana’s office that for a moment they were all staring at him as though he were some kind of monster. Like he was the monster in this scenario. “Why is Aliana sending you her bills? Tell your son to grow some balls. Alaina has no bite. What is she going to do? Trash your store? Send her to jail? Spread lies and rumors? Nobody believes her or my mother anyway. Nobody! Everyone in Dallas knows that those two are the worst social climbers out there. They are greedy, lazy, and worthless. At some point they have to be held accountable for their own lives. So grow a set of balls and do it!”
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 36