The Screwup: A Billionaire Fake Fiancée Romance (The Holbrook Cousins Saga Book 2)

by Alina Jacobs

  Allie smiled up at him. "You’re the best mistake I've ever made."

  Keep reading for a sneak peek of

  The Scion

  Book 3 of the Holbrook Cousins Saga!

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  Afterword

  Thank you for purchasing this ebook. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review on Amazon! Reviews are really beneficial for Indie authors and help us deliver more of the stories and characters you love!

  Keep reading for a sneak peek of

  The Scion

  Book 3 of the Holbrook Cousins Saga!

  The Scion Synopsis

  He built a billion dollar company from scratch—and she just took it from him. Now Wes Holbrook wants revenge. But if Wes isn't careful, Liz Davenport could steal his heart like she stole his company.

  1

  Liz

  In the meeting with Walsh Systech, Liz Davenport sat across from Wes Walsh, and studied him. He angled his head and it let the light from the large windows accentuate his jaw. He glanced over at her.

  He knows I'm looking at him, she thought. He had shaken her hand when they arrived. It was a good handshake. Strong, professional, not sweaty. Her mind briefly wandered to what it would feel like if he ran that hand down her body and…

  "What do you think, Liz?" her boss, Grant Holbrook asked.

  Liz froze. Wes looked straight at her. His brilliant blue eyes narrowed and his mouth settled into a smirk.

  "Do they really let a pretty girl like yourself make such big decisions?" Wes drawled.

  Liz pursed her lips, trying to keep the annoyance off of her face.

  "Liz has an MBA from Stanford," said Walter Holbrook, the CEO of Holbrook Enterprises and Grant's father. "Furthermore, do not ever speak to one of my employees like that."

  Wes leaned back in his chair and starred at the two Holbrook men.

  "Considering you want to buy my company, since it’s the fastest way for Holbrook to corner the market on weapons and robotics technology, you should let me speak to her any damn way I please. If you were really serious about purchasing Walsh Systech, you would let me take her back to my corner office and fuck her."

  Liz turned beet red at the comment. She was no stranger to off color remarks—she worked in the corporate world after all—but never had any man ever said something so blatantly sexual to her face.

  At least Grant and Walter were offended on her behalf. Walter had to grab Grant to keep him from throwing himself across the large conference table at Wes.

  Liz knew Grant could probably kill Wes, and Holbrook Enterprises didn't need that particular streak of bad publicity, especially after what had happened last year with Grant's cousin Carter and his girlfriend Allie.

  Wes surveyed the whole scene in mild amusement. Robert, the COO, sat next to him and looked at Grant in concern.

  "Let me make one thing clear," Wes said as Walter held Grant down in his seat. "I don't care who you parade in here, you aren't stealing my company."

  "Holbrook is a multibillion dollar global corporation," Liz said. "We have the assets and global network to put Walsh Systech on the map. We didn't come here to take over your company, only to offer assistance and to help you all grow and expand."

  Wes barked out a laugh. "There's that MBA. Leave it to Stanford to teach you to speak corporate bullshit."

  Liz was annoyed. She had worked hard for that MBA!

  "I think we're done here. This meeting has stopped being productive," Walter said, pushing back his chair and closing his notebook.

  As they all stood up, Liz thought to herself that Grant and Wes are both looked quite similar. Same height, broad shoulders, dark hair, ice blue eyes…something must be in the water in New England.

  Wes noticed her looking at him.

  "Was this supposed to be your big corporate deal?" Wes said to Liz in a mocking tone. "Sorry it didn't go how you planned. Oh wait, no I'm not."

  Liz scowled at him.

  "We didn't come here with hostile intentions," she said to Wes as she came around the conference table, "but don't act like you're such a big dog in the ring. Holbrook moves a thousand times the amount of money as Walsh Systech. We can still crush you."

  Wes moved closer to Liz. She felt trapped by his gaze.

  "You should put that mouth to better use," Wes said softly to her, putting a hand on her hip and sliding it up along the seam of her grey suit jacket. "You're too pretty to be making threats."

  "That is sexual assault," Grant snarled.

  Wes laughed and released Liz. "Get out of my office. Robert will escort you off the premises. Walsh Systech IPOs in a week, and I will never sell my company to Holbrook Enterprises."

  He turned and stalked out of the conference room. After waiting a beat, Robert motioned them out.

  "Wes is a real character isn't he?" Robert said, making strained chitchat as they waiting for the elevator to arrive.

  "Walsh Systech bought the company my dad and I built together a few years ago. Pops was old and wanted to retire. I didn't want him to sell, but Wes made an offer Pops couldn't refuse. So here we are. It hasn't been so bad." Robert mused, as he signed Liz and the Holbrooks out at the front desk.

  "Still, having Holbrook come and buy us would rock the boat too much. We'll just continue to be competitors," Robert stated and held out a hand for them to shake.

  The car ride back to New York City was tense. It was several hours from upstate Connecticut in afternoon traffic, and Liz tried to settle down in her seat.

  "Are you alright?" Grant asked her softly while Walter tapped away on his phone.

  "I'm fine," Liz replied, with more confidence than she's felt. She didn't want to admit to Grant that Wes's comments had burrowed under her skin.

  When they returned to the office late that evening, Liz's embarrassment and discomfort from Wes's actions had turned into rage.

  "How dare he speak to me like that?" she fumed to Allie. Liz used to work with Allie in a special quality control department that Grant had created just for Allie to run. Her boyfriend, Carter Holbrook, worked in that department too. Liz was friends with Allie, but she had begun to find it weird to be working with the couple. She always felt like a third wheel, though she would never tell that to her friend.

  Grant had been happy to move Liz into mergers and acquisitions, however, and Liz was happy in her new department, though it meant she saw less of her friend.

  "Wes sounds like a real piece of work," Allie stated. "I bet his father didn't love him. All the guys who act like that have daddy issues. Don't take it personally."

  "I already told Eric what happened and he's furious," Carter said coming into the office.

  Liz groaned. "I wish you hadn't riled up my brother. The last thing we need is for him to go after Wes."

  "This would be a moot point if Grant would have just shot him," Carter stated.

  "I can't just go around shooting people," Grant said mildly as he sauntered into the room.

  "So you're just going to let him talk to her like that?" Carter demanded. Grant smirked.

  He and Wes really did look similar, Liz thought.

  "No," Grant stated. "Wes has to pay. Liz, put that MBA to good use and win me that company."

  2

  Wes

  After Liz and the Holbrooks left, Wes paced around his office berating himself.

  "What were you thinking? What possessed you to talk to her like that?"

  He paused in front of the floor to ceiling wall of windows that looked out over the landscaped entry to the building. The three were waiting on their car; he saw it driving up in the distance from the parking lot, and he let his gaze settle on Liz.

  She stood in three-quarter profile and the late summer sun caught on her blonde hair in its professional bun.

  He had meant what he said when he said he wanted to fuck her in his offic
e. It had been too long since he'd had any woman in his bed, let alone someone that wasn't trying to grab a piece of the Walsh Systech fortune for herself.

  "But that is not a thought you should say out loud," he growled to himself. He watched as Liz and the two Holbrooks climbed into the car.

  Robert knocked on the door to his office and let himself in.

  "I should have gone down and apologized," he said to Robert.

  "I’m sure she's used to those comments, she does work in the corporate world after all," Robert reassured him. "She didn't seem like she was going to cry, at least."

  "Still," Wes said, "My sister would cut off my balls if she heard me say those things."

  "It's the stress of the IPO," Robert told him. "I know you haven't had much sleep judging from the amount of emails that show up in my inbox at three in the morning."

  Wes frowned. It was true. The IPO had made the last few months nerve-wracking.

  "Let's go have a drink," Robert said, handing Wes his suit jacket.

  "I can't—"

  "Of course you can!" Robert said. "The paperwork has already been submitted, the SEC signed off on everything. All that's left is to ring the bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange next week."

  Wes smiled at Robert and pulled on his jacket.

  Robert gave a wolf whistle and Wes rolled his eyes. "I wish I looked like you," Robert remarked as they left the office.

  At a nearby hotel bar—there weren't too many choices out in the middle of nowhere where Walsh Systech had their offices—Wes sank back into the large leather seat and sipped his drink. He wasn't a big drinker, but this was a special occasion.

  "I wouldn't worry too much about your curvy blonde crush," Robert told him. "Maybe after the IPO you can ask her out. You'll be a billionaire then, if your numbers are correct."

  "And they are," Wes retorted.

  Robert smirked. "She won't be able to resist you. All will be forgiven. Or you could date my sister Rhonda. I think you two would be great together."

  "You're the one who needs to find a girlfriend," Wes told Robert. "You'll be rich, too."

  "I don't care about money, I want to do cool stuff and be my own boss. I was so angry when my father sold the company. I wanted to run it and make it a global name." Wes sipped his drink. He knew the sale of his father's company was still a sore point for Robert, though he had tried to make it as smooth as possible.

  Robert gave a sad smile and swirled his drink around. "You know, I was apprehensive about selling you my company, but maybe hasn't turned out so bad. I was still able to have some control. I'm COO."

  Wes clinked his glass against Robert's. "Here's to dominating the market."

  The next week, Wes showed up at the NASDAQ stock exchange in the darkness of the early morning for interviews with various business-oriented TV shows.

  The interviewers asked him all similar questions about the company, his projections for the industry as a whole, and how they would be able to compete with Holbrook Enterprises.

  "There is room enough in the market for both entities," he said tersely to one interviewer.

  She smiled at him. "Now that the hard questions are out of the way, let's move on to some fun ones."

  Wes hated fun questions.

  "With this IPO, you're going to be a billionaire. How does it feel?"

  "Surreal."

  The interviewer gave him a bland smile. He knew she wanted him to elaborate. He stayed silent.

  "Any lucky women in your life to share the happy day?"

  "Nope."

  "Hear that ladies?" the interviewer said, turning to the camera. "Wes Walsh is single and on the market."

  Wes briefly thought about Liz and decided that maybe he would call her after the IPO was over. But he couldn't think about the curvy blonde right now. He had a company to IPO.

  At 9:25, Wes, Robert, and the CEO of the NASDAQ stock exchange stepped up to the podium. The cameras clicked and at 9:30 sharp Wes rang the bell.

  "Congratulations!" the CEO told him, shaking his hand.

  Robert and Wes gave more interviews, then they went to a nearby hotel and watched the stock ticker.

  "Why's the price dropping?" Robert said with a frown.

  "Don't worry," Wes reassured him, "that means I did my job right. I wanted to set the valuation of the company as high as possible so we could have a quick cash infusion. Over the next few weeks the stock price will start to climb back up as the major firms do their forecasts. I talked to Brayden with Svensson Investment and he said that their projections for our growth are very bullish."

  "I'm holding you to it," Robert said. "And so are the shareholders."

  Wes was happy with the stock price at the closing that afternoon. On the way back to upstate Connecticut, he listened to the news coverage on his company's IPO.

  "I’m a legit CEO!" he crowed to Kal, his American Akita, when he returned back to his narrow brick townhouse.

  The large, fluffy dog jumped up, barking. He rested his large paws on Wes's shoulders and Wes swung the dog around the living room.

  "Come on, boy," he said as he changed into his exercise clothes. "I'm taking you to the park to celebrate."

  As we and Kal jogged along the waterfront park, Wes let his thoughts wander to Liz. Now that the stress of the IPO was behind him, he really wanted to go out with her.

  Fuck her, you mean, his brain supplied.

  "No, I'm just going to apologize for my behavior," he said. "And rub the IPO in her face a little bit. But then I'll take her out for dinner." A woman jogging past him gave him an odd look. He gave her a strained smile.

  "This is why you haven't been laid in years," he muttered to himself. He spent too much time in the lab tinkering with his robots, or dealing with whatever corporate crisis happened to spring up and suck up all his time.

  Maybe being with Liz would be nice. They could go on exotic vacations and she would give him advice about the business. The horrible display in the conference room could just be a funny story they would tell at their wedding reception.

  Wes grinned and increased his pace. Kal barked and ran ahead of him.

  Yeah, he was definitely going to call Liz.

  3

  Liz

  In the week leading up to the Walsh Systech IPO, Liz worked with Grant to try and screw over Wes.

  "We'll see who's too pretty to make an impact," she muttered to herself as she typed at her computer.

  "Making progress?" Grant asked her when he walked into the office. His wife and executive assistant, Kate, followed behind him with a bag of takeout from a Thai place a few blocks away.

  Liz had set up shop in the empty secretary's office next to Grant's office. What they were planning had to be super-secret. Only she and Grant knew what was in the works.

  "I've brought dinner, Liz. Grant's working you too hard," Kate said.

  "It's all for a good cause," Grant said as he flipped through Liz's notes.

  "Don't mess those us she warned."

  "It's all so cryptic," Grant said.

  "How did you have time to set this all up?" Kate asked, peering over Liz's shoulder. Liz looked around. Her plan hinged on no one knowing what she was up to. Satisfied that the door was firmly closed, she lowered her voice.

  "I already had shell companies set up just in case we needed them," Liz said as Grant sat down next to his wife. "All I had to do was deploy them."

  "I can't believe you already had this ready to go," Grant marveled, opening up one of the containers of food.

  Glancing over takeout they had brought, Liz explained, "In my MBA program I remember reading about hostile takeovers. Usually it was by big hedge funds. People knew they were trying to buy but companies didn't have the cash on hand to prevent it. I knew with all the recent changes in the corporate tax code that companies were hoarding cash both to keep this type of hostile takeover from happening as well as buying back their own stock. It took me the better part of last year to set everything up."

>   "You're so smart," Kate said.

  "Just trying to be proactive," Liz replied and reached for a spring roll.

  Liz didn't want to admit that the only reason she set up all those shell companied was to look busy so that she wouldn't be sent back to Allie and Carter's department. She was just so jealous! Especially since she had dreamed that she would marry Carter Holbrook. Structuring the hundred or so companies had given her something to take her mind off of Carter. She hadn't even had the desire to scrapbook, which was normally her go to activity to forget about her problems.

  "You probably don't need as many shell companies as I have, but this way there's no way it's going to draw attention," Liz said.

  "What about a poison pill to make it so the company would lose value if anyone tried a hostile takeover?" Kate asked

  Liz nodded. "I've been pouring over the SEC filings, and whoever set up Walsh Systech's stock structure didn't do that watertight of a job, so we will be guaranteed to have a board vote. They probably were planning on amending it later on, so that’s why we're moving fast."

  "Good," Grant said. "I can't wait to see the look on Wes's face when he realizes we took over his company."

  "Seems like you're making this personal," Liz said as she swiped the spring roll into the sweet dipping sauce. She was supposed to be eating healthy, but she was having a stressful week.

  "He really rubs me the wrong way. I don't like the way he talked to you."

  Kate squeezed her husband's bicep and smiled up at him. "You're such a gentleman."

  "You should have heard him!" Grant complained. Liz tried to tune them out as she poured over her spreadsheets of the shell companies she'd set up and their stock purchases.