by J. J. Bella
She recoiled at his closeness. He was not a good looking man. His hair was too scraggly, and he needed a good shave and a bath. He didn’t seem like a well-groomed businessman at all. Maybe that’s why he had to resort to these sorts of actions to get ahead.
“You’re going to stop doing business. You’re going to sign over complete control of your assets to me and your business partner, Tom. He’s been quite helpful in all this, giving me the information I need to come after you and stop the Jack Goods deal. Once I have control of RS Company, I’ll be able to use it with Archer Industries and Tate Enterprises to go after the really big companies.”
She felt her eyes prick with tears. She hadn’t wanted Dalton to be right about Tom, but he had been. Damn that Dalton Tate. Did he have to know everything?
“You got all that? And I’m guessing…” He turned to look up the stairs. “Dalton should be here any minute. He followed you, you know. Isn’t that sweet? My men took you, and my other crew followed Dalton when he came after you. He’ll break in here to save you, and I’ll have you both.”
11
As if on cue, someone kicked down the door at the top of the stairs. But it wasn’t just Dalton who stormed down the stairs with guns pointed at Doug. Clay was there, too, and a team of six armed men.
In seconds, they had Doug surrounded, and it was clear he had underestimated Dalton.
“I knew it,” Dalton said.
Doug put his hands up and backed away from Dalton.
“Please tell me,” Dalton continued, walking closer to Doug. “What exactly is it you want from us?”
Doug narrowed his eyes. “Sierra agreed to sign her company over to me.”
Dalton shook his head. “I really didn’t want to have to do this.” Dalton stepped back and gave a subtle nod to one of the armed men.
Clay moved into position behind Sierra and began cutting her hands free. The man Dalton had nodded at pulled his trigger and shot Doug.
Sierra screamed in shock as Doug fell to the floor. Blood poured from him. Another of the men stepped forward and shot him again, in the head. Doug’s body jumped with the shot, but didn’t move.
“That takes care of that,” Dalton said. He turned to Sierra, who now had her hands free.
She stared back at him, her eyes wide, unmoving. “You killed him.”
Dalton bent down to her and spoke softly. “I had no choice. Men like him don’t stop.”
“We could have just called the police.”
“Have they been able to do anything so far?”
Sierra felt her body start to shake and did her best to stop it. “No, but they’re working on it, and they would have gotten him. You didn’t have to kill him.”
“I told you that I’ve done bad things. When it comes to keeping you safe, I’ll do whatever it takes.”
She blinked at him. “You did this for me?”
“Of course. Why else would I bother?”
“To protect yourself. To protect your business.”
“Well…” He gave her a half smile. “I’m not going to lie. Protecting both of our businesses is a nice side effect. But I could have gotten him to stop that some other way. He came after you five times. Even after Jack Goods fell through. I wasn’t going to take any chances that he’d come back. I’ll have my people investigate and make sure we can buy Archer Industries quickly.”
“We?”
He stood and held out his hand to take hers. When she put her hand in his, he pulled her to him and held her close. He gently kissed her, then whispered into her ear. “After all this, can you really still not want to join with me?”
His expression pleaded with her. She pictured it for a moment. A company that the two of them ran together. She could have that big mansion if she wanted it, if she was with Dalton. They could live there together. They would be more powerful than any couple in the business world. They would have more money, too. They could travel anywhere they liked, do anything they wanted.
“Will it be 50/50?” she asked.
He pressed his lips together. “Would you take 51/49?”
Even if he would have the final controlling share, it was still a hell of a deal. Given all her business experience, and the current state of her company and ex-business partner, she’d be crazy not to take this deal. There was just one little hitch.
“What happens if we break up?” she asked. “If you decide to go back to the playboy lifestyle?”
“I don’t mix business and pleasure.” He winked, then added, “Usually.”
“I need a guarantee that I’m not going to lose everything when you get sick of me.”
“From this moment forward, consider us as having two relationships. There’s our business partnership, in which you will run Tate Enterprises by my side, with your expertise and the ruthlessness I’ve seen in the conference room. Then there’s our personal relationship, in which I will pleasure you until your heart’s content, as often as you’ll let me. The two are wholly separate and not contingent upon each other in any way.”
“And we’ll have a signed contract stating that?”
“Of course.”
“Then I’m all in. Partner.”
12
Sierra sat beside Dalton, smiling at the news reporter.
“Dalton Tate, you’ve been considered America’s most eligible bachelor for many years now. Tell us, what is it about Sierra Saunders that finally had you settle down?”
Dalton glanced sideways at Sierra. “It takes a tough business woman to make the best deals. She is one deal I couldn’t let get away.”
“So it was her business sense that attracted you to her?” the reporter asked.
“At first. Then it was her compassion, despite the shrewdness. It’s one thing to make money, but if you can do it and still retain your integrity, you have real success. I wanted to be better at that, and that’s what Sierra has helped me do. That’s what saving Global Tech was all about.”
The reporter nodded. “You’re being called the heroes of the tech world. What made you step in?”
Dalton nodded for Sierra to answer. “It was a smart business move,” she said. “They were failing financially, and some things needed to managed differently. Stepping in when we did, but retaining the business structure that made them successful to begin with let us keep the company running smoothly and not lose the incredible technology they had in the works.”
“But you didn’t have to save all those jobs. And you certainly didn’t have to step in when the hurricane hit to provide things like phones to people in need.”
“No, we didn’t,” Sierra said. “But it was the right thing. What’s better than helping a bunch of people and still making a ton of money doing it?”
Dalton laughed. “This is why I love you. In fact, this is why I want to marry you.”
Sierra gasped. Suddenly, the room full of people, the cameras, the reporter, all faded away, and all she saw was Dalton, this man she’d done business with and had loved for the last year.
He slid out of his chair and got down on one knee in front of her, holding open a ring box with a huge diamond ring inside. “I wanted to ask you on national television, live in front of millions of people. Will you marry me?”
Sierra nodded, tears running down her cheeks. “Yes!”
Dalton stood to kiss her and in the background, she heard the room exploding in cheers.
“You saw it happen here live,” the reporter said. “Dalton Tate and Sierra Saunders have just gotten engaged. Sorry ladies, this bachelor is taken forever.”
“I love you,” he said. “Getting you is the best deal I’ve ever made in my life.”
“And mine.” She kissed him back and ignored the cameras as she thought about their next big merger. Later that night she’d tell him that their business would be expanded sooner than they planned. About eight months from now, their little partnership would become a corporation of three.
Bella, Façade: A Billionaire Single Dad Romance