Willow
I was so distracted by Ronan’s offer that I almost didn’t notice the man behind me. It was only after he’d followed me around the third consecutive corner on my walk back to Lennox Securities that I grew worried. I glanced over my shoulder, hoping to get a better look at him, but he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, and his face was in shadow. That in itself wasn’t unusual. There was a chill in the air, and many people were dressed warmly, but it was strange that he was making all the same turns as me.
My heart rate accelerated. Perhaps I was imagining things, but I didn’t think so.
I was rapidly approaching another corner—one I didn’t intend to turn—but I knew this might be my best chance to get a look at him. I darted around it and into a narrow alley between two buildings. Then I ducked behind a dumpster and peered around the edge. Sure enough, a few seconds later, the hooded guy strode past. He was glancing around as though looking for someone.
Me?
He paused at the entrance to the alley. Took a few steps forward and scanned it.
I huddled against the wall, praying he wouldn’t see me or hear my breathing. But a moment later, he continued on his way, muttering to himself.
I counted to one hundred before venturing out. I couldn’t see the man, and I didn’t want to wait around for him to come back, so I retraced my steps until I was back on the route to Lennox Securities.
My phone rang, piercingly loud to my frantic mind, and I fumbled it out of my handbag.
It was an unknown number.
“Hello?” I asked as I accepted the call. Nobody responded. “Is someone there?”
There was a muffled thud and then the call ended.
I stared at my phone, quietly freaking out.
The call couldn’t have been related to the guy following me, could it? It was just too weird. But I couldn’t convince myself they were unrelated. Two strange things happening at once? I didn’t think so.
I speed-walked the rest of the way to the office. The fear I’d felt put any thoughts of Ronan’s offer to the back of my mind, but as soon as I was inside and feeling safer, I began to dwell on it again. I couldn’t understand why he would offer a solution that seemed to be to his detriment. What did he have up his sleeve?
Still, at the end of the day, it didn’t really matter if he had a secret agenda. I couldn’t turn him down. He was in a position of power, and he was offering a win-win—although I wasn’t sure Tom would see it that way. As much as I loved Tom, he didn’t always understand that compromise was sometimes necessary to get the things we wanted. He’d been raised as the heir to the Lennox empire, and in his perspective, the world revolved around him. I’d never been in the running to take over the company. Partially because I didn’t have a head for business, and partially because our father had been a little old-fashioned. He’d loved me but preferred to think of me as his baby girl rather than his potential replacement.
If Tom lost his shit about Ronan’s offer, this situation had the potential to go pear-shaped fast. I needed him on board with the plan so I could return to Lennox Securities after the month was done. Staying on at King’s Security just wasn’t a legitimate possibility.
I went directly to Tom’s office and paused outside to knock. He kept the door shut whether he was in or out; I’d never understood why.
“Come in,” he called.
As I entered, I was struck by the difference between this place and King’s Security, where Fiona had escorted me to the boss’s office. Tom didn’t have an assistant because he went through them like disposable napkins. When he desperately needed help, he got it either from me or from a temp agency.
He gestured for me to sit. “What did he want?”
I gripped the arms of the chair and winced, knowing he wouldn’t like what I was about to say. “He offered me a job.”
Tom exploded to his feet, his blue eyes burning with fury. “What the fuck?”
“Take a breath and listen.” I raised a hand and kept my tone even. My brother had always been the more emotionally fueled of the two of us. I was the quiet one. The responsible one. “He said if I worked with him for a month, and at the end of it I didn’t think our company would be better off in his hands, then he’d abandon his plans to take over.”
“No.” He shook his head, pouting in a way that reminded me of when he’d been a petulant teenager. “He wouldn’t agree to that, and no Lennox will ever work for a King.”
“Something seems strange about the offer,” I said. “But if there’s any chance at all that he could successfully stage a takeover, then maybe we need to take him up on it.” Besides, it would give me an excellent opportunity to gather intel we could use to protect our company or win back former clients.
“We can come up with something else.” He picked up a paperweight and bounced it on his palm. “The answer is no.”
Annoyance flared. “If it’s what the company needs, then we should do it.” I’m not sure when I’d decided I wanted to go forward with the offer, but now that Tom was arguing, I felt certain in my gut that it was the right thing. “It would only be for a month. Then I could come back and he’d leave us alone—assuming he’s telling the truth. If he’s trying to pull one over on us, then I’d have an entire month to figure out his plan and find information we could use against him.”
He cocked his head, considering it, but then shook it again. “No. Absolutely not. We’ll find another way.”
“How?” I asked because I’d been under the impression we were pretty much out of options.
He sank into his chair. “I’ll think of something.”
I gritted my teeth. “If you told me exactly what was going on, I’d be able to help more.” It frustrated me that he wasn’t being completely open about our circumstances. “I have no idea where our money has gone or how we got into this situation in the first place. I feel like you’re keeping me in the dark.”
“You know everything you need to,” he snapped. “This is my company, not yours.” His expression softened. “You just focus on getting more customers. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“I’m all over the customer strategy.” I decided not to argue with him anymore about Ronan’s offer. It wouldn’t go anywhere. I reached over the table and took his hand, which was cold and clammy against mine. “I know I’m much younger and you always felt like you had to take care of me, but I’m an adult now. I can help.”
He smiled tightly. “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.” He disentangled his hand from mine. “You’re very sweet.”
I stood, recognizing a brush-off when I heard one. He was done talking. But I’d noticed that he hadn’t given any indication of how he might get us out of our predicament. He had no ideas. No backup plan. And as I strode down the corridor, I knew I had to accept Ronan’s offer. Otherwise, Tom would dig us deeper into trouble as he tried to bail water out of our sinking lifeboat.
I stepped inside my office, closed the door behind me, and withdrew my phone from my purse. Then called the number Fiona had used earlier.
“Ronan King’s office. Fiona speaking.”
“Fiona, it’s Willow. Are you able to put me through to Ronan, please?”
“Ronan is on another call, but I’ll send this one through to him as soon as the other has ended. He should be free shortly. Is that okay?”
“Perfect, thank you.” I switched the phone to speaker mode and got to work while hold music played in the background.
Before long, the music cut off and Ronan’s deep timbre came down the line. “Have you made a decision?”
Biting my lip, I prayed I wasn’t doing the wrong thing. “Yes. I accept your offer. I’ll hand in my resignation later today, serve out my two weeks’ notice, and I can start with you after that.”
He hummed approvingly, and the sexy rasp did all kinds of things to my insides. “You’re making the right choice. But I don’t want to wait two weeks. I’ll give you a signing bonus if you quit, effective immediately.”
My eyes widened. Wow, he was committed to seeing this through. Or did he just want to minimize delays and maximize the disruption at Lennox?
“I can’t do that.” I curled my fingers into my palms, hoping he wouldn’t rescind the deal. “I have a contract, and I’ll abide by it. I’m not going to leave them in the lurch. Two weeks, take it or leave it.”
He chuckled, and I felt it to my core. “You’re more stubborn than I would have thought.”
I smiled to myself. I could hear the grudging respect in his voice. He may not like me sticking to my guns, but he admired it.
“Okay, two weeks.”
A breath whooshed from me. “Thank you.”
“No problem. And, Willow?”
“Yes?”
“There will be a confidentiality agreement. You won’t be able to pass anything you learn along to anyone else, including your brother. Will that be a problem?”
“No.” I’d have been a fool to expect anything else.
“Good. I’ll have someone send over a contract tomorrow.”
When the call ended, I packed my laptop into my bag and slung it over my shoulder. Perhaps it made me a coward, but I didn’t want to be around when Tom found out what I’d done.
I slunk out the side exit, down the stairs, and out of the building. Then I caught a bus home. When I arrived at our apartment, Sage was out—probably at yoga. I frowned, noticing the book I’d been reading on the coffee table. I could have sworn I’d left it in my bedroom. I shook my head. I was going crazy.
I opened my laptop and typed a brief resignation email, which I sent to the human resources manager rather than Tom.
Then I waited for the fireworks.
“He offered you a job?” Sage asked as she sipped her green smoothie.
I resisted the urge to pull a face. I drank one every now and then when she insisted, but no matter how they tasted, the texture was enough to put me off. Meanwhile, Sage lingered over them like she was enjoying a latte. Not that she’d ever put caffeine into her system. She insisted she didn’t need the extra kick, and she was probably right.
“Yes, and I took it.”
She assessed me in that special way she had that made me feel as though she could read my soul. “So what will you be doing for him?”
“Launching their social media presence.”
She smiled. “That’s a great opportunity for you. I’m glad you said yes.”
“I didn’t agree because of that.” Although I couldn’t deny being excited by the opportunity. I’d inherited Lennox Securities’ stale social media from my predecessor, and trying to change anything was like swimming upstream.
“I know.” She finished her smoothie and set it to the side. “You agreed because you want to protect your dad’s company from becoming a wing of someone else’s empire.” Her brows knitted together. “Has Tom heard yet?”
“Not yet.” I hesitated, wondering whether to share the other thing that had been on my mind.
“What is it?”
“It might be nothing,” I said. “I feel silly, but I could have sworn someone was following me earlier, when I was on my way back from Ronan’s office.”
Sage didn’t laugh off my concern. She pursed her lips in thought. “Could Ronan have had someone tailing you?”
“I wondered about that,” I confessed. “But I don’t see what the point would be. It’s the only thing I can think of though.”
Unless I was going crazy.
My ring tone sounded, and I hurried to the sofa to collect my phone. It was Tom.
“My guess is that Tom just found out.” I hit the Answer button.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Tom yelled. “I told you I’d fix it. Does my word mean nothing to you?” My teeth sank into my lip while I waited him out. “Do you know how this is going to look?” he demanded, his voice steadily rising. I hoped he wasn’t in the office, where everyone could hear him. “A Lennox working for Ronan fucking King. It’s all kinds of fucked up.”
I counted to three, making sure he’d finished, then replied, “You won’t tell me what’s going on, so I have to do what I can to get us out of the situation. Don’t forget it’s my family company too.”
He snorted. “You’ve never been involved the way I have.”
“That’s not fair, Tom.” Just because I wasn’t interested in being the boss didn’t mean I didn’t care.
“I’ll tell you what’s not fair. You refusing to give me the benefit of the doubt. I’ve been working at this company since you were in middle school.”
I glanced at Sage, who offered a sympathetic smile. We’d been friends for as long as I could remember, so she was familiar with Tom’s temper tantrums.
He fell silent for a moment. “Of course, there is a potential upside to this,” he said, finally coming around.
“I’m glad you can see that.”
“You can use your access to gather information we could use against him. Perhaps get some of our clients back.”
I rolled my eyes. He said it as though I hadn’t suggested that exact thing earlier. Yes, I’d have to deal with the confidentiality agreement, but there would be ways around it. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Good. Let’s bring that asshole down from the inside.”
I winced. I didn’t want Ronan taking over Lennox Securities, but I didn’t necessarily want to damage his business either. He’d worked hard for it, especially after Dad’s death, when Tom had made it clear Ronan was no longer welcome at our firm.
“I’ll do what I can to protect Lennox Securities, but I’m not going after him personally. He doesn’t deserve that.”
He snorted. “You’re so naïve.”
I didn’t care what he called me. There were some lines I wouldn’t cross.
“Oh,” he added, “don’t bother coming in tomorrow. I’ll have someone pack your things and deliver them.”
I flinched. “Are you…firing me?”
He scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just speeding your plan along. The sooner your month is up, the sooner I can be sure King is off my back.”
Drawing in a slow breath through my nostrils, I tried to calm my racing heart. I couldn’t help but feel that he was punishing me for defying him. “What about the marketing campaign I was working on?”
“Someone else can finish it. You don’t need to worry. Just get me the inside scoop on King.”
Then he hung up.
“Nobody else knows what the campaign is,” I muttered to myself.
Perhaps I’d be able to keep my work laptop and continue the campaign during my free time.
Sage reached across and patted my hand. “Try to view this positively. You’ll be free of a work environment where you’re treated poorly and taken advantage of, and you’ll be near the guy you’ve always dreamed about. Perhaps this is the universe at work, giving you the good things you deserve, just not in the way you thought you’d get them.”
“Maybe.” I appreciated her looking on the bright side, but it wasn’t her life that had been turned upside down.
My phone pinged, and I glanced down, wondering if Tom had maybe had second thoughts, but it was an unknown number.
Unknown: Fiona has a contract for you. I’d like her to go over it with you in person. What time would suit? — Ronan
“Who is it?” Sage asked.
“My new boss.” Quickly, I typed a response.
Willow: Turns out I’ll be able to start tomorrow after all. Shall I come in at nine?
The reply arrived within seconds.
Ronan: Yes. I’m glad you changed your mind.
I didn’t feel the need to correct him. My hand trembled as I tucked the phone away, and Sage leaned in for a hug.
“It’s going to be okay,” she said.
But I wasn’t sure I believed her.