by Jackie Braun
“Doing what? What are you accusing me of, Brody?”
“Lying. Being your father’s spy. Inserting yourself into my life so you’d know my plans for the company. Take your pick.” He crossed his arms over his chest, over his aching heart. “Did Jonathon suggest you sleep with me or was that your idea?”
She stumbled back a step, looking shocked and shaken. Looking broken. He wished she would have slapped him instead. That would have stoked his outrage. It started to falter when she said in a hushed tone, “I thought you trusted me. I thought we trusted each other. I even thought…” She shook her head, motioning to the papers. “I didn’t lie to you, but you’ve been lying to me.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“No, you just held back important information.”
He pointed to the papers. “And you haven’t been?”
“My father hired the investigator, Brody. Not me.”
He snorted. “Like that makes a difference.”
“It should.” She swallowed, and her eyes turned bright when she continued. “But I can see that it doesn’t. Just like I’m sure it won’t mean anything when I tell you I didn’t know what was in the report until just now. My father gave me the envelope the other day. He insisted I take it, read it. I threw it in the trash without looking inside. I did that because I decided to trust you. Because I believed you when you told me you had no hidden agenda. Because I figured anything in your past that I should know about, well, you’d tell me yourself.”
Her words had guilt rising up inside him. He tamped it down. She was lying. She had to be. “Don’t twist this around, Kate.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. It’s twisted enough already. You hired me. Acted as if you thought I could be an asset to the company. Slept with me.” A tear slipped down her cheek just before she accused, “I’m just part of…of some sick plot for revenge.”
That wasn’t true. What’s more, he was the injured party here. Wasn’t he? “Kate—”
Brody wasn’t sure what he planned to say, but it didn’t matter. In a whisper far more deafening and final than any shout would have been, she said, “Get the hell out of my house.”
…
“Hello, Flynn.”
Jonathon Douglass was the last person Brody wanted to find on his doorstep when his bell rang that evening, although maybe he should have expected his visit. Kate probably had given her old man an earful. When Brody had arrived at work after going home and showering, she had been in her office, according to Angela, and the door had been closed. He’d spent the day in meetings, his concentration shot all to hell. By the time he’d walked out to his SUV, her parking spot had been empty. It was just as well, he’d thought, despite the ache in his chest. What more was there to say?
“I’m a little busy,” he lied to Jonathon now.
“I only need a few minutes of your time. Please.”
In the two months since his ouster, the older man had changed considerably. Not aged necessarily, since his dark hair was store-bought along with his tan. But he wasn’t the business titan he’d been, and it showed. The air of self-importance was gone, as was the dismissive gaze. He looked on Brody not as the enemy now, but as an equal. Even so, it took him a minute to decide whether or not to invite him in.
Brody did. But he kept his uninvited guest standing in the foyer and made no offer to take the trench coat Jonathon started to unbutton. The older man’s fingers stilled, and he grunted, as if he’d just realized the insult.
“The clock must already be ticking on those few minutes,” he muttered.
“It is. What do you want?” Brody summoned up a cocky grin. “Besides the obvious, which we both know isn’t going to happen no matter how many rumors you start. For every move you make, I have a countermove.” It was a bit of a stretch, but Brody had always been good at bluffing.
“I didn’t spread those rumors, Flynn.”
“That’s right. You had Collin do it.”
“You probably won’t believe me, but I had no part in that. And neither did Katherine.” Before Brody could reply, Jonathon said, “But business isn’t why I’m here. She is.”
“Kate?”
Jonathon shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking uncomfortable. Not all that long ago Brody would have been happy to watch him squirm, but he got no satisfaction from it now, especially since it concerned the woman who had tied him in knots. “My daughter thinks very highly of you.”
It had been mutual. But he recalled the way she’d looked at him just before throwing him out of her house that morning. He swallowed. “You must not have spoken with her recently.”
“Actually, I did this afternoon, which is why I’m here now. I wasn’t able to talk her out of tendering her resignation.”
That grabbed Brody’s attention. Kate was quitting? “What are you talking about?”
“She’s going to resign. First thing Monday morning, I believe. She was going to do it today, but I managed to get her to take the weekend to think about it. Knowing my daughter, though, it won’t make much difference.” His expression turned oddly fond. “She’s stubborn to a fault. When her mind is made up, it’s made up.”
“But she’s no quitter. Why would she just throw in the towel?”
“I think you know the answer to that.”
“She thinks I hired her as a way to get even with you. But I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, thanks to that report.”
“And it’s not true?”
He pointed a finger in front of the man’s face. “Look, I hired Kate because she’s smart. You know, if you’d implemented some of her ideas, Douglass might not have been as vulnerable to a takeover as it was. Making you uncomfortable was a side benefit.”
Suddenly Jonathon was the businessman of old—eyes flashing in challenge, shoulders squared and ready for a fight. “And becoming involved with her outside work? What was that, Flynn?”
“A mistake,” Brody said flatly. “One I now regret.”
Kate’s father was silent. Probably trying to decide if he should slug me, Brody thought. And he wasn’t sure he didn’t deserve a good jab to the jaw.
Finally, the older man said, “You know, I’ve done things both in my personal and professional lives that I regret, too. Things I can’t change or take back. For a long time I thought it was enough to move on. That if I could put the past behind me it would stay there.”
“The past has a way of influencing the future.” Brody replied.
“Yes, it does.” Jonathon scrubbed a hand over his face before continuing. “I hired the private investigator a few weeks ago without Kate’s knowledge. I gave her the report Tuesday. She didn’t want it. Wouldn’t even open it. When I insisted she read it, she insisted she didn’t need to. She said you were a good man.”
Brody swallowed. “She said that?”
“You’re surprised?”
He shouldn’t have been, he realized as the first wave of shame crashed over him. Kate had been honest with him from the beginning, even telling him of her ultimate goal of buying back the company. Brody was the one with secrets.
Her father was saying, “As you mentioned a moment ago, Katherine’s a smart woman. I’d hate to think she got this all wrong. That she was part of…part of your plan to get back at me for what happened to your family.”
Finally, the event that had started all the wheels in motion was out in the open. “Do you remember them?” Brody asked as his heart rate spiked and blood began to pound in his ears. “Do you remember my parents?”
Jonathon’s expression turned remorseful, and his shoulders slumped. “No. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but the truth is, I barely remember the particulars of the case. At the time it went to trial Katherine’s mother had just…” He stopped, shook his head. “There’s no excuse. The bottom line is as Douglass’s CEO, I made poor decisions, enacted bad policies, and your family paid the ultimate price. For that I’m sorry. Truly sorry.”
Brody had waited what
seemed like a lifetime for a heartfelt apology. He’d dreamed of this moment. Dreamed of flinging it back in Jonathon Douglass’s face. Of crushing the man under his heel with the force of his righteous indignation. Instead he stood there, dumbfounded. Adrift without the rudder of revenge to guide him. Getting even no longer topped his priority list. Something else did. Someone else. And it was becoming clearer by the minute that he’d screwed up royally where she was concerned.
“Kate didn’t know about the accident.”
Her father shook his head. “I didn’t tell her. I tried, but she refused to listen. As I said, she thinks very highly of you.”
Brody grimaced mentally. Kate had thought so highly of him that she’d tossed the report in the garbage. She’d been able to leave the past in the past. To start fresh. Move forward, and with him, of all people. The man who had swooped into her life and taken control of her family’s legacy. And what had Brody done? He’d dug that damning report out of the trash and flung unfounded accusations in her face.
Jonathon was still speaking. “I want my company back. I won’t pretend otherwise. But I want my daughter’s happiness more. So that’s why I’m here. I have a…request, I guess you could call it.”
Brody gave a jerky nod, not trusting his voice.
“Be good to her.”
“What?” He’d expected Jonathon to tell him to stay the hell away from her.
But her father repeated, “Be good to my daughter. She’s smart and far stronger than I ever gave her credit for being. Still, that doesn’t mean her heart can’t be broken. Or that as her father I plan to stand by and watch it happen. So I’m asking—no, make that I’m telling you,” he corrected, looking and sounding a lot more like the belligerent executive Brody had faced off against in the boardroom, “don’t hurt her.”
“I already have,” he admitted ruefully.
Jonathon pinned him with a stare. “Then you’d better figure out a way to make things right,” the older man said before turning to leave.
Easier said than done, Brody thought as he lay awake in bed that night. But one thing was clear. He could see out his revenge or he could have Kate. He knew which one he wanted more. Hell, it was no contest. These past few months with her had changed his life. They had changed him. He’d been falling in love with her slowly but surely. At first he’d tried to deny it. Then he’d sought to minimize it. Now, he accepted it, reveled in it. And he hoped to God she could forgive him.
Chapter Fourteen
“I wasn’t sure you’d come.”
Kate eyed the handsome blond-haired man before admitting, “I wasn’t sure myself. But you said it was life or death.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been told I tend to exaggerate.” Seth chuckled as he returned to his chair behind the desk in his office.
She should have known.
“Did Brody put you up to this?” Although why he would, what he could possibly hope to gain, she couldn’t imagine. He had everything already: her company, her ideas for improvements…his revenge.
And she had nothing, except a heart shattered into pieces she might never be able to put back together.
“He hasn’t got a clue.” The genial smile disappeared then. “In fact, he’d probably kick my ass if he knew I’d called you. Or try to, anyway,” he amended wryly. “Have a seat. Can I get you anything? Coffee? A soda?”
She remained standing just inside the doorway. “What do you want?”
“I want to figure out if you’re worth it.”
“Worth what?”
“The effort.” His gaze was a laser fixed on her. The man had come across as charming and harmless the first time they’d met, but the heart of a warrior beat in his chest. Perhaps she should have known that based on his close friendship with someone as callous as Brody.
She returned his stare without blinking. “What are you talking about?”
“You, heiress.”
Temper trumped her curiosity. “Go to hell,” she snapped before turning on her heel and heading to the door. She had better things to do on a Sunday morning than listen to insults from the friend of the man she’d had the misfortune to fall in love with.
“I hear you’re throwing in the towel at Douglass.”
That had her spinning back around. It was hardly public knowledge. In fact, she’d only told her father.
“Where did you hear that?”
Seth merely lifted his shoulders in answer. “Sure you don’t want something to drink?”
“Believe me, if I had something in my hand right now, you’d be wearing it.”
The threat had him chuckling. He didn’t appear offended. “I believe you mean that. I can see why Brody fell for you.”
She sucked in a breath. He’d found the chink in her armor, scored a direct hit on her battered heart. “Brody didn’t fall for me. He used me.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” he continued in a conversational tone. “I told him to use you. I even suggested he seduce you as a way to get back at your old man. But Brody”—Seth whistled through his teeth—“he has way more scruples than I do. He did want to keep an eye on you. At first he suspected you might be feeding your dad information or maybe even looking for a way to sabotage the business.” He leaned forward, planted his elbows on the desktop. “That was my two cents again.”
“Gee, thanks,” she drawled.
“I won’t apologize. He’s my best friend, so I have his back. I watched him go through hell after his parents died.”
She swallowed, recalling the contents of the investigator’s report, which she’d read in full after Brody had left her house Friday morning. “I knew his parents had died. I didn’t know how until yesterday. I honestly had no clue of the company’s involvement.”
“Your father’s involvement,” Seth inserted.
If he expected an argument, he wouldn’t get one. As the head of Douglass, the responsibility ultimately had rested with her father. He’d admitted as much when they’d talked Friday afternoon, surprising her with just how deeply he regretted the profit-at-all-costs philosophy he’d employed at one point.
“I’m not sure what you want from me,” she said.
“I just want you to listen.” He indicated the chair again. This time, she took it. When she was seated, Seth continued. “Brody was a mess after the funeral, but he didn’t have time to fall apart. He had his kid sisters to raise. Hell, he was just a kid himself.” Seth snorted. “He went from being a college student and hanging out with his buddies on weekends to being a full-time parent to two grieving little girls.”
It was impossible not to ache for the young man he’d been. “He overcame so much to become the success he is,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, but here’s the thing. Revenge is a hollow victory. I think Brody figured that out the day he took over your dad’s company. He wanted to feel better, but he didn’t. He didn’t start to feel anything…until he began falling for you.”
Something suspiciously like hope fluttered in her chest, but she shook her head in denial. “You’re wrong. He doesn’t trust me.”
And what was a relationship without trust? She put a hand to her heart, rubbed the persistent ache throbbing there.
“Come on, Kate. Cut my man a little slack. Things between the two of you started on rocky ground. As a developer, I can tell you it’s pretty hard to build anything sturdy without pouring the proper foundation. And to do that you have to clear away the debris first. I think the debris has been cleared. At the very least, it’s all out in the open. A couple of go-getters such as you shouldn’t have too much trouble hauling it away. If you have a mind to, that is.” His brows rose in semi-challenge.
“I can’t figure you out,” she said bluntly. “What are you after?”
Seth’s response was equally blunt. “A happy ending for my best friend. He deserves one.”
“And you think I’m it?”
He shrugged. “That’s for the two of you to decide. I’m just asking you to think
about what I’ve said.”
Think about it she did, spending the rest of the day curled up on her couch with Lazzy tucked against her side. The cat’s purrs seemed to echo through the emptiness inside her. She was hurt and confused. Lost in a way she hadn’t been since her mother’s death. But most of all, she was miserable without Brody.
…
Brody had endured the worst weekend of his life. He’d reached for his phone half a dozen times to call Kate but ultimately hadn’t dialed. It wasn’t just that he didn’t know what to say. He was afraid she wouldn’t take his call. He’d see her Monday, though. She’d be at the office, and based on what her father had told him, she’d be handing him her resignation. He’d hurt her so badly she was willing to throw away what she’d considered her birthright in order to be rid of him. There was only one thing he could do.
Sunday evening, he booted up his computer. A few keystrokes later he was on the internet, typing an email. He copied it to all the interested parties and hit send. By the time he went to bed late that night, he’d received the responses—including Kate’s, thank God. The meeting he’d set up was a go. In less than four hours, he would face his fate.
Chicago General’s administration offices were down the hall, as was the conference room where the others were waiting. But Brody paced outside the elevator. He wanted to greet Kate in private when she arrived. Even so, when the doors slid open, his nerves jangled as if he were about to attempt a high-wire act without the benefit of a net. In a way, he was. In a very real sense, his life was on the line.
“Thanks for coming,” he said. It took all his willpower not to reach for her, pull her into his arms. She looked so beautiful, but fragile, too. And it nearly killed him to know he’d done that to her.
She nodded. Then, “Why did you ask me to meet you here?”
“Hold off on your questions and just trust me, okay?”
“You’re asking a lot.”
“I know. But of the two of us, you’ve already proven you’re better at going on faith.”