That earned me a tight smile.
He glanced over at Chandler, and I assumed he was about to dismiss him, but when he spoke again, he said, “Whatever you have to say, Celia, I hope you’re comfortable stating it in front of Chandler because I’d like him to stay.”
Chandler gave a smug grin. “You won’t even know I’m around.”
“Afraid to be alone with me, Huds? I suppose that’s fair.” I smirked. He wouldn’t be cruel with his brother in the room. So, really, the situation was a win for me.
Apparently, Hudson didn’t appreciate my gloating. “Why are you here, Celia?”
“So we’re jumping right in then. I suppose it was too much to expect we’d catch up first.” It had been just something to say, but as I scanned the room, I wished for a moment we could be something else. Not friends, maybe, but something less guarded than whatever this was. We’d been close once. I’d designed his office. He’d been my first official client. We’d celebrated with champagne on the roof.
“You’ve changed the décor,” I said, hoping I’d hid any trace of sadness from my tone. “Not what I would have done, but I like it. It suits you.”
“Why are you here?” This time the question was emphatic, a warning that his patience was wearing thin.
I sighed. “Can we at least sit?”
He rubbed a hand over his chin. “Fine. Sit.” He gestured toward the sofa, waiting until I sat before taking the armchair. Chandler perched on the arm of the loveseat, a silent bodyguard who, despite having grown, came across more poodle than rottweiler.
It was almost adorable how he wanted to protect his older brother. How he thought I had any power to hurt him. I had to bite back a laugh.
Then there was Hudson, keeping me to task. “Out with it, Celia. We don’t have all day.”
Well, here goes nothing.
I straightened my back and rested my hands on my belly like it was a talisman. “I have a favor to ask.”
Hudson laughed. “That’s ballsy of you.”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps I just know what to say to get your attention.”
“You have my attention. But it’s waning quickly.”
I nodded, acknowledging that he was already giving me a favor by letting me in the room with him at all, then got to the point. “I know you aren’t going to go through with the Accelecom merger.”
“Did your stepdaughter tell you that?”
My mask broke, and I could feel my brows rise in surprise. “Genevieve?” What the hell did she have to do with anything?
Chandler pounced. “You aren’t the reason she’s gotten close to me, then? That wasn’t your idea?”
Hudson frowned, his gaze demanding I answer.
I was baffled. Though her room was next to ours, I’d barely seen Edward’s daughter since she’d come to the States. “I didn’t even realize you knew each other. Genevieve and I aren’t particularly close. We definitely don’t talk business. If you’ve already told her the merger was a no-go, she didn’t pass it on to me or Edward.”
That might have been a lie. It was very possible that she’d spoken to Edward, that he had her on some mission that I was unaware of, but if so, I didn’t know about it. And considering how adamant he had been not to involve Genevieve in revenge-related activity, I was pretty confident what I’d said had been true.
Unless I didn’t really know Edward anymore either.
I didn’t want to think about that possibility.
Thankfully, Hudson distracted me from those thoughts. “If Genevieve didn’t tell you, then how did you know?”
“I know there’s no way you’d hand over the company to my husband.” I flicked my eyes toward Chandler, wondering how much he knew, then deciding I didn’t care. “It would contradict the reasons that you bought it in the first place.”
“Let me guess—you’re going to try to convince me to give him the job anyway.”
His sardonic expression ruffled my feathers. “You really do have a bad taste in your mouth where I’m concerned, don’t you? I hope you understand when I tell you I feel the same.”
He took a beat, growing somber. “That’s fair.”
It felt like he’d given me some ground, and I did my best to stand on it, delivering the speech I’d prepared. “In answer to your question, no. I’m not here to convince you to give him the job. Frankly, I’m happy with our lives the way they are. I’m not interested in moving back to the States, and I’m especially not interested in that kind of move with a baby on the way.” Nevermind that we were here indefinitely at the moment.
“Then the favor you want is for me not to give the job to Edward?”
Guilt wrenched my intestines. “I didn’t say that.”
I considered backpedaling, considered trying to fight the other side, considered begging on my knees. But as much as I was doing this for our baby, I was also doing this for Edward, even if he didn’t see it that way.
I pushed on. “Let’s be clear—I’d love for Werner Media to be back in the hands of my family. I simply know that isn’t an option on the table.”
“Then what is it that you’re asking?”
I thought about what I really wanted, for Edward to come away from this unscathed. I wanted him to let this go on his own. I wanted him to walk away and focus his energy elsewhere. On Accelecom. On me. On his baby.
Hudson couldn’t grant that, no matter how much power he had.
But there was one person I could try to protect, whether or not he deserved it. “My father,” I said. “This company is his pride and joy. His legacy. He wants Edward to take his place because he thinks it will make me happy, yes, but mostly because he thinks it will be good for Werner Media. He hasn’t even considered giving the job to anyone else. You and I both know that you will give the job to someone else. I’m willing to help convince him that’s best.”
“If…what?”
“If you let him believe it’s his idea.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
It was satisfying to find I could throw Hudson Pierce for a loop. It gave me confidence to plunge ahead with what I knew would be a near impossible request. “I’m saying go ahead and pick who you want to pick for the job—I know you have other names in mind. I’m confident that you’ll select the best person to head Werner Media in the future—you’d never let a good business fail, no matter how you feel about me. It’s not in you. I just want my father to believe the decision is still up to him. Let him leave his company in a dignified fashion. Let him think it’s his creative vision he’s implementing, not just yours.”
“What a noble endeavor,” he said, and he almost didn’t sound like he was mocking me. “Unfortunately, I don’t know how I would begin to convince your father of anything.”
I didn’t either. If anyone could, I’d hoped it would be him, that he’d have enough dignity to try to keep the ruse up, especially when I’d kept my end of our bargain and left his family alone.
I was seconds from saying just that when Chandler shot to his feet.
“I’ll do it. I can do it,” he said. “Get me a meeting with him, and I got this.”
“Chandler?” Hudson was as surprised by this as I was.
“The proposal I was telling you about. I’m confident Warren will be interested in it. I just need to be able to present it to him. Thirty minutes. That’s all.”
I didn’t know anything about Chandler’s professional abilities, but he was eager, and he wanted to try, and I was so grateful, I almost fell to my knees. “I can arrange that. If Hudson agrees.”
Hudson studied me intently. I knew what he was looking for, and even though I understood why, it still stung that he couldn’t just see me for who I was now instead of who I’d been. Hadn’t he said the same to me once upon a time? Implored me to see that he had changed when he’d given up The Game? I hadn’t wanted to believe him then. Was this my karma? That he wouldn’t believe me now?
See it. See me.
After what felt li
ke a full minute, he gave up. “I can’t figure out what game you’re playing.”
“Maybe I’m not playing any game,” I said, my voice oddly raw.
“Wouldn’t that be the most conniving scheme of all?”
“Wouldn’t it?”
Our eyes locked, and something shifted. Not by much, but by enough that I could see glimpses of the man he must be now—a father, a husband. A person who did good in the world instead of harm.
Could he see something of the same about me?
“Random acts of compassion aren’t like you. Thinking of anyone else’s feelings isn’t either.” But he didn’t seem to be accusing me, more he was puzzling. Then his eyes widened like he’d figured something out. “You fell in love.”
Now Hudson had thrown me.
Because of course I had. Of course that was exactly the reason I was here. Because I’d met a man who had ruined me so completely that I would now care enough to ruin him in kind.
I’d loved Edward more for it. Could he love me more as well?
I couldn’t think about it and not fall apart. “Do you want the meeting or not?” I asked stiffly.
“We’ll take the meeting.”
Relief blanketed me. My breath shuddered as I inhaled, my throat tight. “Thank you, Hudson.”
Needing to get out of there before sentimentality took over, I stood. “I’ll make arrangements with your secretary. No need for us to have any further contact, as far as I’m concerned.”
“I appreciate that.”
I beelined for the door and was halfway to escape when he called after me. “Celia.” He waited until I turned back around, and it took a beat because I had to gather myself first. When I did, his eyes grazed my belly. “Congratulations on your pregnancy. I once thought you’d make a good mother.”
Tears pricked at my eyes as the past slammed into me, bringing vivid memories to mind. We’d been friends. And he’d hurt me. So I’d hurt him. Then the pregnancy. And he’d claimed it. And I’d lost it. So I’d begged him for an escape. And he gave it while I’d given him companionship.
We’d been bad to the people around us. Really, really bad. Bad to each other, as well. But we’d been good to each other too. When both of us had needed it most.
No matter what else between us, we had that.
My vision blurred, I nodded toward the framed picture on his bookshelf of him, his wife, a baby in each of their arms, a little girl tucked into his side. “Congratulations on your own little family,” I said, amazed my voice didn’t crack. “I once thought you’d make a good dad.”
I went straight from his office to the bathroom, planning to schedule the meeting with Trish on my way out, when I was composed.
Now, though, I needed a minute to myself. Locked in the privacy of a stall, I let the tears fall. Tears I couldn’t quite explain. I wasn’t sad. I was a bunch of other things all rolled into one, a muddy mess of too many emotions to name.
It felt good to let them out, the way it felt good to pull out a fresh clean sheet of paper. A blank slate. A place to start anew.
Edward had said I’d needed closure with the man who’d taught me how to play. It was why he was so determined to find out his identity, because he wanted to seek out that closure for me with hellfire and brimstone and revenge.
But this was what I’d needed. Just this. Just today.
My story with Hudson was over.
Now I could shut the book and move on.
Five
Edward
Hagan leaned over to whisper something to me.
Whatever he said, I couldn’t hear it above the pounding in my ears. I was seething. Violent rage surged through my veins, my vision flashed with white hot anger, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it but sit and continue to listen to the presentation being given to me in the conference room at Pierce Industries.
Pretend to listen, rather.
I’d stopped hearing much of the details after I’d got the general gist of the whole thing. In a nutshell, Pierce Industries proposed that Werner Media and Accelecom enter into a three-point alliance, and that, when Warren Werner stepped down, the CEO position should be handed to Nathan Murphy.
Nathan Fucking Murphy.
A man with credentials, yes, but not a man with my credentials. No matter what his experience, he was not the right man for the job. For the last twenty minutes he’d been sharing his plans for the company, and except for the idea of the alliance—which was clearly not his own—not a one was new or visionary. I’d given Pierce a missive with a dozen more innovative proposals. He knew that Murphy was the inferior choice, and still he chose to sell it to Warren, knowing the old man would jump on a Pierce-backed proposition in a heartbeat.
Hudson hadn’t even had the nerve to introduce the idea himself. He’d left it to his brother, Chandler, a kid, fresh out of college, with less experience than Hagan.
Worse? Genevieve had a hand in it as well.
Not only did she hand over Accelecom numbers and strategies, but she’d assisted in leading the hour-long presentation that was just now coming to a conclusion. I’d known she was spending time with the younger Pierce and had even suspected they were growing close, but never had I imagined she was drumming up the idea of an alliance that would effectively kill the merger that Warren and I had discussed.
Again Hagan whispered something at my side.
I blinked, clearing my vision before I leaned in to better hear him.
“...not what we were after, but it’s better than nothing. At least they didn’t leave Accelecom in the dark. It’s a rather good compromise.”
What had Celia said was the recipe for a perfect compromise? None of the parties walked away satisfied, something to that effect. Well, from the look on the faces of those around me, the only one dissatisfied in this particular arrangement was me.
This didn’t feel like a compromise. This felt like a giant fuck you.
Except, I was having a particularly difficult time figuring out just who had done the fucking.
I looked at my daughter, smiling confidently as she expertly answered a question from Pierce’s financial analyst. A burst of pride swelled out of the midst of the cacophony of rage and betrayal inside me. She’d had a part in this, but I couldn’t blame her for selling me out. I hadn’t treated her any better, holding her at arm’s length, refusing to let her really sink her teeth into the job I’d given her, forcing her to try to stand out on her own. In many ways, I’d given her no choice but to go prove herself elsewhere.
And, by God, had she proven herself, presenting an attractive strategy to men and women who had far more experience than her under the belt. She’d been bloody brilliant, and I couldn’t take any of the credit for that.
Hagan nudged me again. “We could run this from London, even, which is a plus. Less manpower than a merger. Less risk, too. Merging with Werner while all this business is happening with Ron Werner isn’t necessarily the wisest of moves.”
I turned to face my son as I digested his words. There was logic in them, and from the point of view of the CEO and owner of Accelecom, a merger right now probably wasn’t in the company’s best interest.
It was from the point of view of Celia’s husband that losing Werner mattered. That company belonged in her family. She may have done things that had forced Hudson to take control like he had, but he was well aware that he could still keep that control with me in charge. I’d made sure he understood.
“Look, Dad,” Hagan said, his tone more direct. “Pierce could have shut us out all together. We could be going home empty-handed. We should look at this as a win.”
I studied him, blinking again as I began to come to my senses. There was no betrayal. This was business. This strategy was sound. Had I been in Pierce’s position, this was a move I likely would have made myself.
Honestly, I may not have even been this generous.
“I wonder if it was Genevieve who had a hand in looking out for us.” I turned m
y attention back to her as I rubbed my thumb along my bottom lip. I’d failed her, hadn’t I? She was smart and savvy and stunning, and even when I’d failed to lift her up, she’d made sure I was taken care of.
I didn’t deserve her for a daughter.
And, Christ. I had another one on the way. How long before I failed that one too?
My thoughts were interrupted by the shuffle of chairs as those around me stood. The meeting was officially over. For a brief second, I imagined ducking out without having to speak to anyone, but before I could really begin to entertain the idea, Warren, still seated, nudged me with his elbow.
“Edward, this is a pretty appealing scenario.”
I had to make a choice—show my true feelings about this bloody plan and risk losing the opportunity of the alliance altogether or play nice.
Being a smart man, I made the smart decision. “It is,” I said. “One I’m happy to support if you’re on board.”
Warren grinned and turned his attention to the other proposed entity in our alliance. “Hudson, I’ve got to say, Pierce Industries as media players—quite a bold move. I like it.”
“We try to be innovative whenever we can,” Hudson said.
Right. Innovative. More like safe. His motivation had been protecting his personal best interests. Real innovation was about taking risks.
Fortunately for Hudson, Warren was easily impressed. “I’d like to study these numbers more closely, boys,” he said, standing. “But if everything checks out, I think we have ourselves a solid strategy.”
It was too much business for him for one day. He was obviously itching to get out of the building, probably headed for the golf course in the afternoon. Warren hadn’t officially retired yet, but he’d been acting like he’d checked out for the last few years.
Sure enough, it was less than three minutes later when he’d gathered his team and was walking out the door.
“I’ll walk you to the lift,” I said, heading out with him.
“That went well,” he said when we were in the hall and the conference room door had shut behind us. “Not at all what I was expecting. Love the idea of putting down our own digital cable. That will be very valuable to us. Nathan Murphy—have any qualms about him?”
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