by Lea Nolan
Her pretty brow crinkled. “You don’t think I’d planned that? How stupid do you think I am? But one size doesn’t fit all. The programming and marketing need to be tailored for each population and age group. That takes time to roll out.”
“I’m doing it all at once.”
Crossing her arms, Raven chuffed out a small, bitter laugh. “After cutting a quarter of the workforce? Good luck. Their morale is going to be super high now that their benefits have been slashed, and their friends are out of work.”
“You were bloated,” Jack accused, knowing it wasn’t true.
“Bullshit. We were doing great. I’d reduced staff by attrition, cut our liabilities substantially, and increased profits.”
She was right about each and every one of those things. Paulson Diagnostics was on fine footing when he’d found it. That was why he’d bought it. But he said, “If your shareholders were happy with the company’s direction, they wouldn’t have sold.”
Raven’s gaze narrowed. “Tiffany Paulson and her neanderthal brothers are idiots. They have no idea what that company is worth, or how much they gave away.”
“Yeah, they gave it away. I didn’t steal it. I did what made my investors happy.” A fact that frankly left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“I’m sure they are. I’d have thought you’d be more pleased with yourself about that.”
“You’re the one who said my face betrayed how I feel about my job.”
Her brow raised. “So, you hate it?” Her tone was sarcastic like she didn’t buy it for a second.
“Parts of it, yeah, I do. I’d much rather be working with financial services.”
“So move. Or quit.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “It’s not that easy.”
“Yeah, it is.”
Jack groaned. “You don’t understand. My stepfather—”
“Who cares about your stepfather?”
“He’s Beckett Winthrop.”
Recognition registered in Raven’s eyes. “So you’re the son in Son Co.” Stunned, she sank into a chair at the table.
“It’s just a name for the shell company. It’ll be subsumed under WFG’s umbrella when we’re ready to publicize the purchase.”
Her head tilted. “Because you’re expanding in the diabetic monitoring market, and you want to keep that from your competitors,” Raven guessed.
Damn, she was smart. “I can’t confirm or deny privileged information,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “Are you Beckett’s heir? Because it seems he’s trained you well.”
Jack nodded. “He’s promised to hand over the reins when he retires. That was supposed to be three years ago, but he keeps putting it off. When I run WFG, things will be different. I’ve got big plans. It’s why I can’t walk away now. I’ll lose everything I’ve worked for, and nothing will change.”
“So, in the meantime, you’re his lapdog,” she lashed him.
He snapped back like a whip. “I’m the Partner who runs Mergers and Acquisitions.” There was a long moment of silence before he spoke again, this time more softly. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t know you worked at Paulson Diagnostics.”
Her head tilted in disbelief. “How is that possible? I was the highest-ranking employee let go.”
He shut his eyes, embarrassed to admit his shame. “When we take over a firm, I don’t deal with human resource issues. I give my deputy a staff budget, and she makes cuts to meet it.”
“Why did I have to go?”
“It was a term of the deal. Tiffany insisted that one of the executives be fired. I didn’t ask for details.”
“You didn’t stop to wonder why an idiot like Tiffany would want to dump the executive who’d driven the company’s growth?”
“Look, I hate the acquisition process. I do what it takes to close the deal and get the company online as fast as possible. Then I get the hell out of there for a long weekend to clear my head and reset.”
“My heart aches for you.” Then Raven sat up straight. “Wait. Lark scheduled your stay.”
Oh shit.
“Yeah, because we’re friends, and she told me she had a great vacation house.”
“Did she know why you needed a vacation?”
“No.”
Raven eyed him warily. “Yet you ended up here, on the same night I did. That’s quite a coincidence.”
He nodded. “It is. But your trip wasn’t planned.”
“It wasn’t. I came because I needed a reset, too. Since I’d been fired and escorted from the Paulson headquarters building, where you were holed up on the second floor. That’s another coincidence.”
“It would seem so.” Shit, she was putting this together. He was so fucked.
“Does it? Two coincidences. That’s almost . . . .too coincidental.”
“I couldn’t say.” He fought betraying even the slightest hint of guilt.
Raven laced her fingers and placed them on the table. “Jack, how did you learn about Paulson Diagnostics?”
Oh hell, he didn’t want to be the one to break this news. This was family-ending level shit.
“I’d heard about it through the grapevine. You’d be surprised how many private equity deals are discovered through word-of-mouth.”
She leaned forward. “From whose mouth did you hear it?”
Raven was not playing games.
He swallowed hard. “Uh, Lark might have mentioned a company that had tremendous inefficiencies and great growth potential.”
Raven’s vision turned red. Her sister. Her very own sister had betrayed her, setting in motion events that cost her job and ended the livelihoods of a quarter of her company’s workforce.
Her hands fisted. “Lark told you about Paulson Diagnostics?”
“She didn’t mean to. It’s my fault,” Jack said.
Bullshit. Lark wasn’t stupid. She had to have had an inkling of what she was doing. Everyone made excuses for Lark and her unconventional ways. Not this time. Now, her idiosyncrasies had upended Raven’s life.
Raven’s chair scraped against the floor, and she rose to her feet. “I can’t look at you.” She headed out of the kitchen.
“Don’t be angry with Lark,” he said.
She spun on her heels. “Don’t tell me what to do or think.”
“But you don’t understand—”
“I understand that you’ve wrecked nearly everything I cared about. My job. My employees’ lives. And now my relationship with my sister. I hope the money’s worth it.”
She strode down the hall toward the front door.
“Where are you going?”
“Out of this house and away from you.” She yanked open the door and found Hunter standing on the porch, his fist raised, poised to knock. In his other hand, he held a box with a single slice of pie.
“Hey, Raven. Everything okay?” His wary expression made it clear he’d heard raised voices.
She forced a smile. “I’m just anxious to get off this island. Any idea when the ferry’s coming?”
Hunter shot her a skeptical glance but went along anyway. “Maybe the day after tomorrow. We’re not sure. The mayor’s negotiating with a private ferry down in Florida. If so, we’ll have some high priority transports that need to leave first.”
“Everything okay?” Jack asked, his voice fake-bright as he stood a respectful distance behind Raven.
Hunter’s eyes bounced between them. He definitely sensed a disturbance in the force. “That’s why I’m here. I’ve got a problem I was hoping Raven might solve.”
Garvey, Mack, Trent, and Sam were in the driveway, examining the tree that had crushed her car.
Garvey waved. “Hey Raven, how you doing?”
She bent her lips into another too-happy smile. “Just fine, Garvey.”
“This is going to be a big job. There’s no way we can get it out of here before dark,” Mack said.
“We’ll start on it in the morning,” Garvey agreed.
Wh
y not? Everything else was going so well. “Sure. No problem.”
“I’ll catch up with you all then,” Jack called out to the guys.
Raven invited Hunter into the kitchen, where they sat at the table, while Jack leaned against the counter on the opposite side of the room. Maintaining physical distance was smart; otherwise, she might wring Jack’s neck.
Hunter handed Jack the box. “Here’s your pie. Mrs. Baxter sent it straight from the hospital cafeteria’s oven.”
“What’s that for?” Raven asked.
“Nothing,” Jack said, as he set it on the counter near the pile of candy.
“His portion of a bet I won. Kind of an inside joke. Sorry, I should have brought you some,” Hunter said.
“It’s okay. I don’t eat sweets,” Raven said.
Hunter’s eyes lingered on the stockpile treats. “Oh-kay.”
“Your problem?” Jack prompted.
Hunter nodded. “Right. I know this is a long shot, but the mayor and I don’t know where else to turn. One of the nursing home’s two generators is barely working. We’re talking last legs. We could transport the healthier residents on private boats to the mainland, but there’s no availability in those facilities. So we need to keep our seniors safe here.”
“How can I help?” Raven asked.
“There are no industrial-sized generators available locally, and it’ll take weeks to get one delivered here. We don’t have weeks. I know you’ve worked for all kinds of companies. I was hoping you might have connections with someone who can help us get a generator fast.”
Raven searched her mental memory bank for all the people she’d come in contact with over the last decade. If Hunter had needed an MRI machine, video games, heavy farm equipment, or any of the other products she’d worked with, she’d be his girl. But she couldn’t think of a single person who was in the generator business.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know anyone.”
“Give me a couple of minutes.” Jack took his phone from his back pocket and slipped out the mud room door.
Raven stared at the side entranceway. What the hell was he up to now?
“Everything okay between you two? I sense a little, uh, tension,” Hunter asked.
“Everything’s fine.” Raven smiled. It was an obvious lie, but also none of his business.
Hunter drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “So . . . have you heard from Lark since you’ve been here?”
Her sister was the absolute last person she wanted to discuss.
“Briefly.”
“Did you mention that I asked about her?” Hunter’s attempt to sound casual was failing miserably.
“No.”
“Oh.” Hunter’s face fell.
“Should I have?”
“No. I guess not.” He drummed his fingers a few more times. “She never comes to the island with you.”
Raven shook her head. “No, she doesn’t.” And right now, Raven couldn’t have been happier about. If Lark were within arm’s reach, Raven would probably strangle her.
He leaned toward Raven. “Do you know why that is?”
It’d been so long, Raven and Wren had stopped asking. The three sisters saw enough of each other over FaceTime and during visits to each other’s homes that it didn’t matter.
Raven shrugged. “She says she’s too busy with her art shows and workshops.”
Hunter nodded. “Do you think she’ll come now that Wren lives here?”
Clearly, this wasn’t idle chatter. “I doubt it. She didn’t come for Thanksgiving.” Propping her elbow on the table, Raven leaned toward him. “Is there something I’m missing about you and Lark?”
Hunter sank against his chair. “There’s nothing between Lark and me.” And that appeared to break his heart.
“Was there ever something between you and Lark?” Raven asked.
Jack walked through the mudroom door and pulled the phone away from his mouth. “Hey Hunt, how many square feet is the nursing home building?”
Hunter rubbed his chin. “I can’t say for sure. It’s a two-story building with about thirty resident rooms, fifteen or so on each floor. Plus common areas.”
“Got it.” Jack turned back to his phone. “We’re going to need the larger size. Communicate with the transporters and confirm logistics with me.” Jack hung up and slid the phone into his back pocket. “The new generator will be here by nine p.m. tonight.”
Hunter’s eyes nearly leaped from their sockets. “What? How?”
Jack leaned his back against the counter and stretched his long legs out in front of him. He looked gorgeous, which only pissed her off more. “I’ve got a generator connection.”
“Holy shit, man. That’s amazing. We’ll have to arrange a boat to get it from the mainland,” Hunter said.
“No need. A helicopter is delivering it directly to the site. Just have an electrician ready to hook it up and fuel to run it. I’ll text you the specs,” Jack said.
“I’ll talk to the mayor about drawing up a purchase agreement,” Hunter said.
Jack put up his hand. “Let’s worry about getting it up and running and the island on a path to recovery first. Then we’ll deal with the paperwork.”
Hunter was on his feet. “I don’t know how you did it, but thanks.”
As soon as Hunter left the house, Raven leveled her gaze at Jack. “You have a generator connection?”
He nodded. “I do.” It was a simple declaration, free of boast, brag, or pride.
She crossed her arms. “Let me guess. You own a generator company.”
“A stake in one.”
She chuffed out a dry laugh. “Of course. And now you’re riding in like the big hero to save the day.”
“I’m in a position to help, so I will. What else is money good for if not to use it?”
She shook her head. “You’re unbelievable.”
“What?”
“You have money to help these people because you’ve hurt others.”
He set his jaw. “Not all my business ventures hurt people.”
She shook her head. “I can’t get off this island, and away from you, fast enough.”
His eyes tightened. “This is not how I expected tonight to go.”
She huffed out a laugh. “Me neither. And yet, here we are.”
“Are you really all right with just walking away, after all that’s happened between us?”
Unbidden tears sprang to her eyes, but she bit them back. She was not a crier. And she wouldn’t give into stupid emotion over a relationship she’d never even had. “What I want doesn’t matter if you aren’t who I thought you were.”
His jaw clenched. “I understand. The helicopter will take you back to Philadelphia.”
Had he lost his damn mind? “Who the hell do you think you are? This is my house!”
“I’ll take care of it. And the tree, your insurance adjuster, I’ll close down the house.”
He was actually serious. “You can take care of anything, can’t you? Why don’t you take care of getting yourself on that helicopter and back to your fabulous life?”
He grimaced. She’d landed a blow. Good. His eyelids slid closed, and he drew a slow inhale. “Please let me do something to try to make this better. I’d hire you back if I thought you’d take the job.”
She couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Right, with Tiffany Paulson as one of my new bosses, twenty-five percent less staff, and an accelerated product rollout that I explicitly ruled out when I was in charge. I don’t think so.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” He looked down at his feet. “I don’t suppose you’d consider a different position at WFG?”
His outrageousness knew no bounds. “Working for you? No.”
“I had to ask.”
“Why? To make yourself feel better? I don’t need your charity, Jack.”
He looked at her with pleading eyes. “At least take the helicopter. Please. Let the last thing I do for you be something that helps. I’m n
ot leaving here until that tree is off your car.”
She took him in. A half hour ago, she’d thought he was someone else entirely. Her heart was full of hope for the future. Now, after learning the truth about who he was and what he did, she couldn’t see them together, and she sure as hell couldn’t spend untold days of together-but-separate, either. He was offering her a lifeline. She could fly home, enjoy electricity, hot water, and central heating, and leave him behind to play the hero and clean up this natural disaster. She’d be stupid not to take it.
Raven Donovan was a lot of things. Stupid wasn’t one of them.
“What time does that helicopter leave?”
Chapter 20
Raven stormed to her bedroom to pack her things. Brilla was rolled in a cozy ball, dozing under the covers. Ironic, the dog that snapped at her when they first met had sought refuge from the tension downstairs in Raven’s personal space.
Sighing, she scratched Brilla’s furry head. “I’m leaving tonight, pupper. I might even miss you.” Who was she kidding? She’d definitely miss this furry little beast who’d somehow wiggled her way into Raven’s heart.
Brilla opened one lazy eye and thumped her tail in response.
Shoving back the welling emotion, Raven packed her bags, then caught sight of her cell on the bedside table.
She should wait until she was home to call. And not angry.
Screw it. Raven picked up the phone and dialed Lark’s number.
Her sister answered on the first ring. “Hey, Rae, how’s it going? Is the tree cleaned up yet?”
“You told him about Paulson Diagnostics.”
“I what? Who?”
“Jack. You told him about my company.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You did. You told him it had a lot of inefficiencies and great growth potential. That’s what I told you and Wren when I took the job.”
“I . . . oh. Okay, so I might have mentioned it, but that was a long time ago. What does it matter?”
Raven sank onto her bed. “He’s not just a numbers and money guy. He’s a private equity guy.”
“And?” Lark asked.
Oh, to be as blissfully unaware as Lark. Except Raven couldn’t be. She understood the consequences all too well.