Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 53725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
He moves in that direction, perfectly respectable in an older but nice blue suit. Like my mother, he’s aged well, the bits of gray in his dark hair distinguished, but the fine lines by his eyes are more pronounced as of late, and he just looks tired all the time. The scowl on his face deepens as we near each other.
“I have to film, Dad,” I say.
“Damion West? Really?”
I try again, this time with him. “He’s always been my prince charming, Dad. You know that.”
“Yeah, right. He can fuck both the women in my family.”
My eyes go wide and my defenses ripple and roar. “He did not sleep with Mom,” I snap. “I don’t even appreciate that implication.”
“His dad fucked Mom and now he’s fucking you to get something from you.”
“Get what from me, Dad?”
“Our company.”
My fingers curl into my fist as I fight back the words that want to come out of my mouth. “I have to film. And I’m done with this, Dad.”
“What does that mean?’
“I’m not paying for your gambling habits anymore. You once owned the real estate market. Try to obsess over doing that again. We’ll all be better for it. Mom doesn’t deserve this.” I turn and walk away from him only to find Shauna watching us, and I don’t like it one bit. She is a little too interested in my personal life, but then, this is a TV show about my life.
I walk right by her and to the elevator. When the doors open, she joins me. “How much money will it take to get you to fight with your dad on TV?”
My head jerks to her. “It’s never going to happen.”
“I could get you a hell of a payday.”
“Never. Going. To. Happen.”
I cut my stare and face the elevator. When the doors open, I look at her. “If this is what the show is going to be, I won’t be on it.”
I leave her there.
Now she can drop the subject of my father or fire me.
I really don’t care. Maybe I will go back to law school.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Damion
My father targets what he perceives as weakness. The only weakness he has ever seen in me is Alana. I should have known he’d keep a claw in her to control me. But all he really did was put a nail in his coffin.
It’s almost lunchtime when I finish talking to the key board members I need in my pocket, framing Alana’s involvement as a business decision when everything to do with Alana is personal. Much more so than I even realized when I came home for her, and when this is over, I’m going to make sure she knows just how true that is.
She thought I left this morning. I could barely force myself to let go of her and get out of bed.
I’m about to walk to my father’s office to have that conversation when he appears in the doorway. He’s a tall man, thin, with impeccable taste in suits and watches, and brutality in his blue eyes. “Hello, son.”
I lean back in my chair, casual, unaffected by his presence, when the truth is I’ve hated him since I was a young kid, something not even Alana knew. I kept it all close to my chest, afraid he’d find out I spoke against him and he’d make me pay.
He walks toward my desk and sits down, propping his feet on my desk, crossing one foot over the other, his red soles on display. “It seems you have something to tell me.”
My lips curve, my entire demeanor amused, when I really want to rip his balls out through his throat. But he doesn’t know that. He can’t know that. Because he doesn’t know who I am or how I operate anymore, beyond me being the enemy he made me long ago. I am also the man who took control of half the company from afar and garnered attention he meant to ensure I never knew. Between that and my last name he gave me, I am also the one person who threatens his seat on the board. “You mean that I’m fucking Alana Blue,” I say flippantly. “What of it?”
He sits up, anger dropping his brows. “I told you to stay away from her. She’s a distraction you don’t need when you’re in the middle of a hostile takeover.”
I laugh. “Okay. I wasn’t aware fucking and making money didn’t fit together for you. No wonder Mom left you.”
“Leave your fucking mother out of this,” he growls.
I’ve hit a nerve. He loved her. He just treated her like shit, as he does everyone. “You certainly did,” I say dryly. “Alana’s a distraction for Mary Morrison. They know each other.”
I could, at this point, tell him that I’ve secured the votes to dismiss Alana’s loan in exchange for her help with Mary Morrison, a structure that looked more business than personal to the board. But that would look personal to my father, and I’m not allowing him to get himself inside this until after the votes are official.