Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“I did a lot more than that.” I rub my jaw. “I worked on making Denia’s dreams come true.”
He runs his finger over his chin. “How so?”
I glance down while I suck in a deep breath to steady my nerves. “The Dertend deal was initiated by me. I spoke to Carol Auchter before she sold her company to grandmother.”
“That’s why you were in Scotland?” he questions. “You met with Carol then?”
I nod. “Yeah. It took a bit to convince her to sell, but she did.”
“She told grandmother that she had a change of heart.” He shakes his head. “You got her to change her mind, didn’t you? Denia wanted that company for so long.”
“I know.” I sigh. “She used to tell me about all the companies she wanted to buy out. I kept a list, and when I left New York, I set out to work my way through that list.”
“Was Montgomery Candy on that list?”
“Yes,” I admit. “Burton was a hard sell. I spent almost three weeks in California trying to get him on board. He held out until two months ago. He flew to New Mexico to have lunch with me to tell me he would talk to grandmother about selling.”
“The Ballew deal was you, too, wasn’t it?” He smiles. “You said something to Rosetta to get her to come around.”
I lean back in the chair. “She agreed to it hours before you called to tell me Denia was gone.”
“Jesus.” He rakes a hand through his hair. “Are there more?”
“A few,” I say. “I never talked exact terms with any of them. All I wanted to do was get them to a place where they’d be open to negotiating with Grandmother. You know what a hard ass she could be when it came to business.”
Holden chuckles. “I do.”
“I let her down.” I glance toward the window. “I walked away. I had to make up for that somehow, so I did what I could.”
“She had no idea.” He stares at me. “Your name popped up once, but we never connected the dots.”
“My name came up?” I tap the edge of his desk. “When?”
“Bright Lollipop’s negotiations.” He closes his eyes briefly. “The owner, Stuart, mentioned seeing you in London.”
I laugh. “Damn, Stuart. I asked him to keep my name out of it.”
Holden grins. “Grandmother asked how you were. Stuart said you were good, but he changed the subject pretty quickly after that. Why the secrecy, James? Why didn’t you want us to know?”
“I was trying to prove something,” I admit. “I wanted to clear that list of companies she wanted to acquire. I thought if I could do that, I could face her again. It was my gift to her. A gift to try and make up for letting her down.”
“All she wanted was for you to be happy.”
I glance at him. “She wanted me to be a better man than I was at the time. That’s why she wanted me to get married. I was a loose cannon. I had no direction, Holden. Hell, I’d show up late for work half the time, and I spent most of my days slacking off.”
“She wanted great-grandchildren.” He looks me in the eye. “She manipulated us because, to her, that was the fast track to becoming a great-grandmother. She admitted it to me after I married Finella.”
“What?” I ask in disbelief.
“She loved us a lot.” He smiles. “She wanted the best for us. She also wanted great-grandchildren. I was dragging my feet with Finella. You were crazy about Sinclair but never got up the courage to go after her. Denia watched it all from the sidelines. She thought she was giving us the push we needed to settle down and have kids by waving control of the business in our faces. That’s why she tacked on that five year minimum on the marriages in order for us to inherit the company. She figured at least one of us would give her a great-grandchild by then.”
“You’re serious?”
“Two weeks after we got married, she asked Finny if she was pregnant.” He chuckles. “That question was asked on the daily until we divorced.”
I shake my head. “Damn. I had no idea.”
“You should have told her you were advocating for Carden behind her back.” He taps his palm on his desk. “Your influence has helped us expand globally. Some of those deals were dead in the water. Then suddenly, the owners were open to selling. I attributed it to good luck. I had no idea you were out there making shit happen.”
“I want to keep doing that.” I tug on the lapels of my jacket. “You’ve got the CEO in a suit thing down to a tee, but I want something else.”
He glances at my jeans and the T-shirt under my jacket. “What do you want, James?”