by Nicole Casey
Love to Hate
Only Him Series Book 3
Nicole Casey
Love to Hate
by Nicole Casey
Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronically, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the proper written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.
CONTENTS
Love To Hate
1. Jamie
2. Ashton
3. Jamie
4. Ashton
5. Jamie
6. Ashton
7. Jamie
8. Ashton
9. Jamie
10. Ashton
11. Jamie
12. Ashton
13. Jamie
14. Ashton
15. Jamie
16. Ashton
17. Jamie
18. Ashton
19. Jamie
20. Epilogue-Ashton
Author’s Note
Read an Excerpt from The Wedding Date
1. Bryant
2. Max
3. Bryant
Read an Excerpt from Lost Love
1. Gio
2. Derek
3. Gio
Bonus Story: Hot Flash
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Jamie
“What sort of sensitive information?” I asked my favorite employee, Gio, as distress coursed through my veins. “What do you mean?”
He turned to face me with wide, shocked eyes, and horror written all across his face. I didn’t need to hear him speak to know that this was bad, really bad, and that it’d take a whole lot of fixing.
“Client information,” he eventually whispered. “And not just that, all the design work for the ATOM campaign is gone.” His grave tone fully reflected the magnitude of the situation. This was possibly the worst thing that had ever happened to us, and I wasn’t totally sure that it could be fixed.
My heart fell out my shoes as the reality of that hit me hard. ATOM was the biggest client we’d ever had. It was such an amazing thing that we’d managed to score them. We were about to take an already very successful marketing company to a whole new level helping me to achieve my ever-increasing goal again. When I inherited Spark Enterprises from my father, it was already doing very well, but I was hungry. I wanted more. I felt utterly determined to take over the world with it. I really felt like I could do it.
Maybe I wasn’t quite there yet, but it was happening slowly.
“So...” I gulped, unsure if I wanted to know any more. “What now?”
Gio tapped his chin thoughtfully as he chose the next plan of action for me. Usually, I was so practical and forward thinking that I didn’t need anyone to do the planning for me, but sheer terror was buzzing so noisily in my brain that there was nothing I could do.
“Well, I think you might have to call in an IT expert, to see what they can retrace with all the design work. We don’t want to lose that completely if we’re going to stay on schedule, and you know as well as I do that letting down ATOM won’t reflect well.”
“Fuck. Yeah, okay. And what about the sensitive information?”
“Well I hate to tell you this, because I know you won’t like it, but you’re going to have to contact all the companies potentially affected, let them know what’s happened and reassure them that we’re working on it to prevent a security breach from happening again. Then you’ll need to do a press conference.”
Press conference... those dreaded words.
I hated dealing with the press. They were like vultures, picking apart the carcasses of any horrible situation. I knew how this would go down. They were going to love this. It’d be all over the business section of the news by morning, probably even online today, slowly tearing down the building blocks of what I’d worked so hard to create.
This business was my baby. I really didn’t want it killed. But what other choice did I have? Unfortunately as I knew all too well, you couldn’t ever keep something a secret forever and it was probably better to come from me, rather than them grabbing the information from an unreliable source... maybe even the person who somehow messed about with the company computers, breaking past every damn bit of security we had.
“Who would do this?” I demanded, probably focusing on the wrong thing as I rubbed the top of my shaved head. “Why would someone do this to me?”
“Have you made any new enemies recently?” Gio asked cautiously. “Anyone who might want to take you down? Spurred lovers? Business rivals? Old friends?”
I racked my brain as hard as I could, but no one immediately came to mind.
“I mean, there’s Carnn,” I shrugged my shoulders, not really considering this a possibility. “But he’s been my rival for years and nothing has ever happened before. Plus, we’ve been leaving him in the dust for the last eighteen months. I hardly think he’ll be focusing on me. Do you?”
“I don’t know, but someone has done this,” Gio really didn’t look impressed, which only served to amp my own rage up further.
I didn’t do anything to harm anyone else. I ignored my rivals and focused on my own success, so it made no real sense that this would’ve happened to me. “And now we need to set about fixing it.”
***
“I would like to thank you all for your time,” I announced, desperately trying to shut down the questions from the press now. Hands still flew up, but I was done. I felt exhausted, emotionally and physically. I’d done the statement drawn up for me by my publicist. I’d answered people for over an hour in the most diplomatic way possible. I was growing woozy. I needed a rest. “But now I need to return to getting this problem solved.”
Words flew at me from every angle, some filled with venom, others with glee. I was used to the anger by now. I’d had it flung at me all day long, so it was the joy that I really felt. I couldn’t understand why some people got so much pleasure out of the misery of others, out of someone losing their whole livelihood.
It just wasn’t right. It had to be a sickness. I never felt that way about someone else failing. I blinked at the blinding camera flashes sprung out from everywhere, which I just knew would add a terrible photograph to the story, really completing my shitty day. Then finally, I managed to get my escape.
I dived into my office quickly, grateful to slam the door behind me, but once inside I found I wasn’t alone. Gio was sitting in my chair with the same pale, green sickly face he’d been wearing all day long, one I was sure I matched.
“This wasn’t a remote attack,” he told me in a whisper, as if he feared he might be overheard. “Someone did this inside the building.”
“What?” Anger burned in my chest as my voice hissed out a reply. “Someone in here did this? Are you telling me it was someone who worked here?”
My brain quickly raced through the Rolodex of my employees, trying to figure out who would hate me enough to do such a thing, but I couldn’t think of anyone. Even the people I’d had disagreements wi
th in the past wouldn’t... surely. We always made up. I was a people person, wasn’t I?
“No, I’m telling you someone broke in.” Gio said.
That was almost even more unbelievable. We had an incredible security system, but I clamped my lips tightly together to stop myself from interrupting again.
“After the IT guy checked everything over and made that assumption, I got onto the security guy. He checked through all the CCTV footage but a section of it was missing, from the front door camera and the one in the office. He’s questioned all his staff now because someone must have got a key from somewhere to get inside.”
“So it was someone who works here...”
“I don’t think so,” Gio replied cryptically. “You know Bill, the new guy? He made an interesting new friend at a bar the other night after work. Someone with blond floppy hair and really dark brown eyes. Noticeable cheek bones... am I ringing any bells here?”
He certainly was, and it was the one person I’d already carelessly dismissed.
“Carnn,” I whispered, hating every inch of him. “But why? Why now? What the fuck is going on?”
Ashton
Anxiety coursed through my veins as I thought about what I’d done. My hands wrung around and around, sweat trickled down my face, but it was far too late to make it stop.
The reason I’d gotten the ball rolling, the reason I felt compelled to act out in such a way was noble, at least it felt that way to me, but the way I’d achieved that wasn’t the best. Still, it was much too late for regrets now.
“Are you okay, boss?” my PA, Tara, asked me curiously, while looking me up and down. “You look a bit... ill. I don’t mean that in a bad way, you just seem green. Is there anything I can do?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I brushed her off as quickly as I could manage. “Just stressed, you know how it is. No, I don’t need you to do anything. I will be okay.”
She touched my arm gently and stared deeply into my eyes. “I know this is a bad time, we’ve been losing contracts and our share prices have fallen, but we all have faith in you, boss. We know for a fact that if anyone can save us, it’s you. None of us have any doubt in you at all.”
And that right there was the problem.
I loved my staff. They were like another family to me. I didn’t want them to lose their jobs over my bad decisions, over my terrible investment decisions. They relied on me. They had families to support, mouths to feed. I would do whatever it took to ensure they didn’t end up in the unemployment line. Even something as crazy as taking down my business rival.
Jamie Spark and his company had always been ahead of mine. They set up earlier than me. I felt pretty sure that he inherited the business, and that had given them the kick-start they needed. They won contracts over us all the time. They commanded more money. They had the world clawing to work with them...
It wasn’t fair; we didn’t stand a chance. I had some of the best designers around, some of the greatest creative minds, but because we didn’t have the big name behind us, we couldn’t win out.
It was that which led me to risk everything on investments that never should’ve been made, and it was that which led me to such desperation that I actually committed a crime. In a moment of madness, of sheer desperation, I concocted a plan to take Jamie down. Just a few leaks of information, a small design loss, and they’d be devastated for a while. It wouldn’t kill them; it would just give us a chance to get that much-needed step ahead.
Only now that it was done, I wasn’t sure that I’d done the best job possible. I couldn’t help but panic that I’d left a trail, that at some point in the day, Jamie would crash through that door to murder me for what I’d done. I tried my best not to leave any scrap of evidence, but there was no guarantee.
“Yeah, well I’ll do what I can,” I tried my best to reassure Tara, knowing that she was the hub of information in this small office, and that she’d pass the information on to everyone else. “You know me, always working towards making this place better.”
“It was a shame about ATOM.” Ice-cold guilt flooded my veins as I recalled the moment I got rid of those awesome designs without a trace of them left behind. “But we’ll get the next one. I have a good feeling about the future now.”
“Yeah well, you know how it is. Straight onto the next.”
“Oh my God, Ashton!” As I heard a very excitable voice coming from the other room, where the main office lay, a harsh breath fell out my mouth. That had to be Simon, my top designer, and I had the horrible sense that this was about to be my unraveling.
I couldn’t take any more emotions today.
I was an utter mess.
I needed this day to be over.
I wouldn’t be able to relax until I was home by myself... and maybe not even then.
“Have you heard? I just flicked the radio on and it’s all over the news. Switch the television on quick.” Simon said.
I wandered in to see what everyone else was going on about, my heart hammering noisily in my chest the entire time. As soon as the TV flickered to life, my worst fears were confirmed. Jamie Spark’s face came to life, and morose words fell past his lips, making me feel even worse. As I watched him, examining the dark hair cropped close to his head, the green eyes that didn’t have their twinkle for once, the splattering of freckles across his nose, my mind was transferred back to another time.
A time when I thought that I was in love with him.
I met Jamie as I was networking, when my business was only a start up with me and Tara helping me out. He was so kind to me then, really sweet. Even when I opened up to him about my past mistakes as an entrepreneur, the same mistakes that had alienated me from my family, he told me not to worry about all of that, to start this afresh, to just keep going.
I admired him so much that I mistook it for passion. I assumed I liked him, and I got a little sense that he liked me too. For a long time, there was fission deep inside of me, an electrical excitement that something might just happen between us.
But then the competitive element came in, and all of that simply fell away. We were business rivals, nothing more. We were doomed to try and attain the same jobs because of the area we operated in.
“Did you hear that?” Simon nudged me happily. “Technical failures, sensitive information leaked… this is amazing for us! Spark’s will fall now, paving the way for us. Our bad times are over.”
Cheers erupted around the room, and I tried my best to get swept up in the happy atmosphere too. After all, this was what I wanted, but it didn’t feel right. I hated that the only way I could get what I wanted was to destroy the reputation of others, but I needed something quick. At the time this seemed like the best solution.
Ring, ring... Ring, ring...
My heart sunk as my phone blasted out in my pocket. There was only one person that would call at this time of day, and it certainly wasn’t someone I wanted to talk to. It was the constant, daily reminder that I was still in trouble.
Still, I had to hold out hope that this would be the start of everything turning around. I hadn’t done it all to fail again.
“Back to work everyone,” I barked out, my fear twinging on my tone. “Come on, we need to make the best of this now, okay?” Everyone shuffled to their desks, taking my word as golden.
“Thank you, and erm... well I better take this.” I flashed my cell phone at them, letting them hear a call without revealing the number making it, before I shimmied back into my office and slammed the door behind me, giving me some much-needed privacy.
As much as I wanted to ignore the call, to bury my head in the sand, there was no point. It wouldn’t go away, not ever.
Jamie
I paced the office, not yet ready to go home despite the fact that the day was long done. What I really needed was some time alone to stew over everything, but it seemed Gio wasn’t yet ready to leave me by myself. He was looking increasingly frustrated as each minute ticked by, but that was just a mere millimet
er on how I felt deep inside.
“Why don’t you call the cops?” he asked, for what felt like the millionth time, exasperation lacing my tone. “Surely they will be able to help you.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think that’s the right choice.” I tapped my chin hard, thoughts spinning through my mind. “There isn’t any proof. I mean, what would they even do? There definitely isn’t enough evidence to have him locked up where the asshole belongs.”
“Well, then maybe you should go home and sleep on it...”
I couldn’t listen to reason. I jumped in with another random thought as it flooded my mind.
“I mean, me and Ashton used to be friends, for a while. When I first met him, I actually stupidly thought that he was a nice guy.”
Actually, what I really thought was that he was hot, and awesome fun too, but I couldn’t admit that now considering what had happened.
“I knew we’d be in the same industry, but I never thought he’d sink so low to destroy me.”
“Has something happened?” Gio gasped wearily. “There must be something to spark this now. It just seems really random otherwise.”
“Nothing new.” I slumped into the nearest chair and flopped my head onto the desk. “It’s always been the same way between us. We go for mostly the same contracts, and I win them more times than I don’t. But then we’re a bigger outfit, so that makes more sense.”
“Okay, so maybe it’s a jealousy thing. Maybe he just got sick of always being second.”
That made sense, I guess. I didn’t like it. It felt incredibly unfair to be punished for my success. I sighed deeply, internally accepting defeat, but my brain continued to race. If it was a jealousy thing, and the sort of thing that could never legally be proved, then what could I do about it? There wasn’t a chance in hell that I intended to just let this pass by.
“Right, okay, so how do I get the fucker back?” I growled angrily. “What do I do to make him feel the same way? How do I take his livelihood away like he’s tried to do to me?”