I knew I was extraordinary. Most people who met me were instantly intimidated. My body said twenty but my brain had the intelligence and knowledge of a man the age of my father, had he still lived.
I got to work immediately, racing from factories to offices all over the world in countless company jets, trying to save this enormous empire my great grandfather had created.
I wasn’t shocked to meet chauvinistic men who believed I had no business running such a huge company, but I’d gotten used to it and it didn’t bother me as long as we concluded our business.
My responsibilities were countless but I was a gladiator, always ready to go to war. I was sharp and had unbelievable problem-solving skills. Being a Winston demanded it from me.
Winston Enterprises was a giant snake with countless heads and I was riding that snake like a wild mustang, kicking ass and being awesome in every aspect of the word.
I was severally featured in Time and Forbes magazine as one of the most successful women in the world. They said I was a ruthless business tycoon, a fashion icon, a role model for young women all over the world and every other thing they could come up with but during all this, I was busy traveling from North to South America, Asia to Europe to Africa.
I was untouchable, until I met her.
Isabel Price.
Chapter Eighteen
She was absolutely brilliant, unbelievably stunning and extremely wealthy. At twenty-five, she was an heiress to a powerful oil dynasty.
My mother was hosting a party for some influential business associates. She’d always been very good at that sort of thing. I never attended the events because I never saw the need but on that particular one, she insisted on my presence.
I hated the parties because they bordered more on socialization rather than business. But I did what I always did, I put on a mask. During these kinds of parties, there were always hyenas gathering around trying unsuccessfully to attract my attention in attempts to court me, which was also why I never attended the parties.
On my mother’s insistence, I showed up. I conducted myself the way I always did, flawlessly. Halfway through, I noticed an odd thing about my mother. She kept introducing me to young eligible bachelors.
I wasn’t sure what her intention was, but I didn’t like it. Our relationship was very clear-cut, which was why we got along and also why I did everything she asked. What I wasn’t going to stand for was her trying to find me a suitor.
Out of courtesy and respect, I played along several times, but I was getting frustrated and my patience was running out. I’d never liked anyone trying to force something on me and while in the past I could never really have a say with my mother, times had changed and so had I.
I left halfway through the party and didn’t bother to inform her. I knew she’d be upset, but to be honest, I didn’t care. In the elevator on my way down, I heard someone clear their throat and turned around.
That was when I saw her.
Through the years, I’d met a lot of people but nothing and no one quite as strikingly beautiful as the woman standing behind me.
“Why are you running away?” she asked.
Her question startled me. How did she know I was running?
She came to stand beside me and stared at me with her catlike eyes which had the darkest shade I’d ever seen. She had long, black as ebony hair that flowed effortlessly down her shoulders to her back, a small and perfectly symmetrical nose and a pair of full pink lips.
She was my height with the body of a goddess and everything about her was working together to create something that shook me for the very first time in my life.
“What, you don’t speak to strangers?” she teased.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
“I don’t know how to answer your question,” I said.
“Your mother is a very charming woman. She’s got all the men up there eating out of the palm of her hand, even my father.”
“She’s very uh…, gifted,” I said, for lack of a better word.
“Very gifted indeed, I wonder if you share that quality,” she said.
I looked at her, unsure of what she meant then she smiled, exposing a perfect set of white teeth.
“I’m Isabel, Isabel Price.” She stretched out her hand in greeting.
“Amelia, Amelia Winston.” I closed my hand in hers.
“Why are you leaving your own party, Amelia Winston?” she asked.
I looked at her hand, where she was still holding onto mine and cleared my throat, a little uncomfortable from the physical contact. “It’s not my party.”
“With all those bachelors your mother invited to meet you in search of a suitable partner for you?”
I pulled my hand away. I wanted to get away from her. She was a bit nosy and I didn’t like people who liked to pry.
“Have I made you uncomfortable?” she asked.
She had an amused look across her face.
“No, not at all,” I said, forcing myself to smile.
When she didn’t speak, I wondered what she’d been doing at the party and why she was leaving. “Why were you there? Was your father looking for a suitor for you?” I asked.
“My reasons are purely work-related, though I have to say, it was entertaining watching you turn down all those poor saps.”
“You were watching me,” I said.
“Everyone was. You must be used to that kind of attention,” she said.
“No, not at all.”
“I have a business proposal for you,” she said.
Her statement managed to get my attention.
“I know your American company is uh… struggling.”
She looked at me as though she was waiting for me to deny it. When I failed to respond, she went on.
“I’m stuck in the family business and I want out.”
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
“I’d like to hire you.”
“Hire me?” I almost laughed.
“Yes, I’d like to hire you for consultation services.”
“What would I be consulting on?”
“Business, of course.”
The elevator finally stopped and we stepped out.
“I’ll be very generous. You can use the money to help your struggling company.”
I didn’t have a response for her. Did she seriously think I needed her help saving my company? I was a billionaire. I didn’t need pocket change.
“Here is my card, you can take some time to think about it,” she said.
“I don’t need to. I have an answer for you right now.”
We stopped outside the building as the valet went to get our cars.
“No,” I said.
She smiled at me and I couldn’t understand why she was so amused. I was running a company that demanded all my time and attention, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t take on a side job that wouldn’t be beneficial to me.
“Why don’t you take a little more time to think about it? Our parents are very close. I’m sure they’d be very supportive.”
I didn’t know anything about my mother being close to her father and frankly, I didn’t care. Using my mother as bait to get me to work for her was working completely against her.
Before I could respond, a silver Porsche that wasn’t even on the market yet stopped right in front of us and she winked at me as she went, got in and quickly drove away.
I had a driver because my mother had insisted I use a limousine so my exit didn’t match hers.
On my way back to the penthouse, my mother called to ask where I’d disappeared to and I made up some excuse. I could tell she was upset as I’d suspected she would be and it gave me some joy to make her life slightly uncomfortable.
The next few weeks progressed quickly. I avoided seeing my mother and traveled purposely because I didn’t want a repeat of what had happened at the party.
After my encounter with Isabel, I didn’t think much about her after we parted ways. She left a la
sting impression, but being who I was, I barely had time to dwell on her or her proposal.
Unfortunately, the case wasn’t so for her. She insisted on having a meeting with me, but I managed to avoid both her and her calls. I wasn’t quite so lucky because she used my mother to get to me.
I went to dinner with my mother and she happened to be there. The second time I saw her, the effect was similar to our first encounter. I wasn’t even sure I had words to describe it.
I tightly smiled at her, trying to conceal my disdain and sat between her and my mother. My mother as usual, was her charming self. Halfway through our meals, Isabel brought up the business proposal.
Since she got along so well with my mother, she was more descriptive with her ideas and didn’t fail to mention that she needed my help. Funny enough, she didn’t use my struggling company as a tool of persuasion.
I watched her, thinking about how exploitive and conceited she was but didn’t say anything, which I knew annoyed her because I was certain she wanted to hear my thoughts.
She wrote down a number of the amount of money she was willing to pay for a couple of weeks for the services rendered and handed it to my mother, whose love for money always betrayed her.
They tried to engage me in conversation, but I didn’t say much, which to my amusement, frustrated both women. When dinner was over, I made up some excuse and left.
The following day, my mother came to my office and talked me into accepting the job. She claimed it wouldn’t take much of my time and that consultation was easy, but I knew she was only interested in the money.
“Its twenty million dollars for just expressing your thoughts on the matter,” she said.
I didn’t want to argue with her and I knew she’d still somehow manage to talk me into accepting the proposal so I said, “I’ll think about it.”
The following day at eight in the morning, I was in Isabel’s office.
I resented how beautiful she was. I resented how she always seemed amused whenever we were in the same room but mostly, I resented that she had forced my hand at doing something I wasn’t interested in.
“That was a low blow,” I said.
“You gave me no choice,” she said.
“There are countless people out there who are more than qualified to do this for far much less pay.”
“I wanted you.”
Her statement failed to deliver the intended effect.
“What do you really want from me?” I asked.
“Your consultation services,” she said, batting her eyebrows.
“You get two weeks and I never hear from you again,” I said.
She walked over to me and stopped so close it was like she didn’t care for personal space. “Welcome to Price Industries,” she said, stretching out her arm to shake mine.
“Send me everything you have on the project before tomorrow,” I said and walked out of her office.
She infuriated me, which was odd because I never let such trivial afflictions affect me. I spent the day clearing some time from my busy schedule so that I could work on her project and in the afternoon when I was on the phone talking to some contacts in Japan, Eric made his way into my office.
“I’m sorry Ms. Winston, I tried to stop him,” my secretary said, walking in after him.
“Go on, tell her who I am,” he said.
I dismissed my secretary and replaced the receiver.
“How can I help you?” I asked.
He slowly walked around my office, taking in the expensive interior décor and then approached my vintage mahogany desk and ran his index finger over the perfect outline of the edge.
“I heard you were back, so I came to see for myself. After all, we’re family.”
He was a junior executive and it’d take him years to get where I was in my career. The fact that he wasn’t a Winston guaranteed that he’d never run the company and I knew that knowledge caused him a lot of rage.
“Unfortunately,” I said dryly.
I’d never tried to conceal my contempt and he knew exactly how I felt about him.
“So why did Kathy bring you back here? I thought she was done with you when she dumped you in Europe,” he said, referring to my mother. When he was around her, she was his beloved Aunt Kathy but around me she was plain old Kathy.
Nothing he could say had ever gotten to me. Not in the past and certainly not now. He wasn’t worth my time or effort so I let him rumble on until he was satisfied.
“The only reason you’ve come this far is because your daddy made it happen. We both know I deserve this more than you,” he said.
I didn’t understand his logic. He wanted to believe we were equals and therefore deserved equal treatment and opportunity but the simple fact was, I was a Winston and I was exceptionally brilliant and he was neither.
“I’ve seen what they say about you, what they think. They call you a heartless cold bitch and you know what, they’re right.”
He was trying to provoke me, and the fact that it wasn’t working was making him agitated and frustrated. He came to stand in front of my desk and tried to match my cold stare.
“Are you done? Can I get back to my call now?” I asked.
He slightly flinched and retreated, then laughed audibly as he made his way out of my office. He was a maniacal sociopath who believed the world owed him for picking me over him.
Undeterred, I got back to my call. When I was done, my mother requested to see me in her office.
I wasn’t surprised she wanted to talk about the Price project. She seemed almost pleased I’d met up with Isabel and accepted the job.
“The family is extremely wealthy and I think we could benefit from this greatly,” she said.
I didn’t know what this we talk was about. As far as I was concerned, I was the one doing the project and it was a side job that had absolutely nothing to do with Winston Enterprises.
“Our ties to the family will come very much in handy in the future.”
Isabel had said she felt stuck in the family business and wanted to venture out. I doubted her father would be pleased with the idea and I doubted my mother would’ve been so supportive had she known she might have been crossing Mr. Price by asking me to help his daughter.
I considered telling her, but decided to keep the knowledge to myself.
“Keep me updated?” she said.
I nodded and left her office.
Before the end of the day, I received the information I’d requested from Isabel. She wanted to venture into healthcare. I had expected other business ideas but all she sent me were scraps of information on one particular business venture.
I had my secretary get in touch with her and a few minutes later, she was on the phone.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“What don’t you understand?” she asked.
I tightened my hold on the phone, trying hard to avoid thinking about how attractive she was and that annoying look of amusement on her face. “If you want to venture into healthcare, what exactly do you need me for?”
“Two weeks for twenty million dollars was quite costly, so I decided it’d be more beneficial to me if you knew where my interests lie and we can proceed from there.”
“How much do you know about healthcare as a business venture?”
“I wouldn’t get into it if I didn’t know anything about it, now would I? Anyway, I just need you to find out if it’s a good business to get into.”
“Are you sure about this?” I asked.
There were plenty of other types of businesses she could have gotten into, why was she interested in healthcare?
“Do it,” she said.
Long after the conversation ended, I found myself admiring her. I wondered if I’d ever try to venture out of my family business. Every part of me had grown up learning the ins and outs of the entire operation. Would I ever risk trying out something new, something so different from what I’d been brought up in?
Isabel was an hei
ress. She had a legacy to uphold. If her father was anything like mine had been, this business venture of hers was going to be shut down before she could do anything about it.
Something about it made me want to help her, if only just to see how it’d all unfold. If she was paying me twenty million dollars, then she must’ve had more than enough financial backing.
Chapter Nineteen
After several days of doing intense research and consulting experts in the field, I compiled a list of names and companies. Working in the pharmaceuticals industry gave me extensive knowledge about healthcare so the project was easy. I talked to Isabel often on the phone because she requested daily updates, but I didn’t mind.
We met up in her office during the end of my first week working for her and I met Mr. Price. He was coming out of her office just as I was going in. He seemed pleased to see me, which was the same reaction my mother had when she saw Isabel.
I wondered if there was more to their friendship. My mother had been single for two years now and no one could blame her for wanting to move on with her life. I just failed to understand what the secrecy was all about.
When I walked into Isabel’s office, she was standing by the large window overlooking Manhattan. She almost didn’t notice me walking in until she turned around to pick something from her desk.
I noticed the teary troubled expression across her face and stopped. She seemed surprised to see me. It was like she’d forgotten we had a meeting.
Something stirred in me when I saw her like that, something alien and it made me uncomfortable.
“We can postpone the meeting if this isn’t a good time,” I said.
I didn’t know how to offer comfort so her current state disturbed me because I wasn’t sure how to reach out and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
“No, no, this is a good time.”
She quickly dubbed a tissue over her eyes and dried the unshed tears.
“What, the iron lady has never seen a woman cry?” she asked.
I wasn’t sure how to answer her. I was still at the door debating on whether or not I should leave and come back when she was a little more composed. “I uh… try to avoid the situations,” I said.
Cougar Boss Page 18