Chapter Two #2
She swallows and I watch her throat, mesmerised. She keeps looking up at me, just looking and looking, and I feel the pull of her hunger, feel my own need to feed that hunger…
I want her, it is as simple as that, and I step forward so that the toes of my shoes collide with hers…
I hear the lift in the foyer, and then a swell of voices, and I am suddenly, furiously angry with myself, but more so with her.
Because this is her fault. She unravels me.
And I want to punish her for making me a stranger to myself.
For a moment, I consider kissing her then pushing her away just to prove I can. That I am immune.
Only, I’m not sure I can take that risk. I jerk backwards, and her eyes widen as I shake my head. ‘Not happening, Hennessy. I’m not that desperate or stupid,’ I say, and her face hardens.
She can’t be held accountable for the two of us being thrown together. Charlie and I bear the lion’s share of responsibility for that but still, I am furious with her for putting me in this situation.
‘You’re not my type anyway.’
‘Knowing your type as I do, I take that as a compliment.’
She doesn’t quite roll her eyes but there is a curl to her lip that momentarily interrupts my train of thought.
‘You want me to take you seriously? Then be a serious person. Start thinking, Hennessy.’ Because she is smart, and it enrages me further that she is so careless with the advantages she has.
‘I’ve done nothing but think,’ she snaps. ‘And no amount of thinking is going to change what’s happened. Like I told the FBI yesterday, if Charlie doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.’
My shoulders stiffen. ‘They’ve interviewed you already.’
This shrug is accompanied by another of those maddening couldn’t-care-less smiles she has turned into an art form. ‘They didn’t look like they have much of a life outside work ‘
‘This isn’t a time to be making jokes. Your father going AWOL is bad for the business. The shareholders won’t like it, I don’t like it, and you shouldn’t like it either, given that Wade and Walters’ profits pay your bills.’
‘Thank you for mansplaining that to me. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here.’ Her forehead creases as she pretends to think. ‘Oh, yes, I do—I’d have a glass of champagne to celebrate.’
As she squares up to me, I realise that the fabric over her bust is almost transparent in places, and suddenly I’m gritting my teeth so tightly that it takes me a moment to reply.
‘Of course you would, because you have absolutely no sense of responsibility. You tell me that people matter more than profit—well, here’s some statistics that should interest you.
‘Wade and Walters employ over three thousand people in twelve countries on six continents. David Walters was so worried about those people, he had a heart attack when he heard about Charlie’s latest exploits.
But then, you are your father’s daughter, so I suppose champagne is never far from your thoughts. ’
Her delicate jaw tilts up a fraction. ‘And you’re Antony’s brother. What a pity you don’t have his empathy and decency.’
Tamping down my fury, I take a step forward and, although Hennessy doesn’t blink this time, I have the satisfaction of watching her face lose some of its colour.
‘The moment Charlie lets you know where he is, you tell me. And if he calls, I want to speak to him. Do you understand?’
‘Completely.’
I expect her to move away, but she doesn’t. Feeling my body respond to her nearness, my voice is harsh when I speak. ‘We both know you’re not ready for this. And don’t give me that crap about being made CMO—you only got that job on the basis that your surname is over the door.
‘So, here’s what’s going to happen. Obviously, the board is going to have some questions about Charlie’s disappearance.
You’re going to need to answer them as best you can.
But aside from that I need you to keep that mouth of yours shut.
In fact, it might be best all round if you just keep your mouth shut, period, and leave the running of this business to me.
Think of your role as a sleeping partner in our relationship. ’
‘Is that why you date so many women? You send them all to sleep?’
I sigh. ‘Can’t you just do what you’re told, for once?’
‘You sound like Principal Farrow. Is this what happens when you’re heading towards forty—you start talking like a teacher?’
‘I’m surprised you know what a teacher talks like, given your somewhat par-optimal attendance record. And I’m thirty-four.’
‘Really?’ She mimes surprise. ‘You seem so much older.’
She’s goading me, like a cat testing her claws. And there is a part of me that wants to laugh, that is enjoying sparring with her and wants to engage, because she is young and beautiful. And she’s watching me with those teasing, violet eyes that unlock parts of my brain that I’d rather stay locked.
Locked. Closed off. It’s something I’ve been accused of on more than one occasion by more than one of the women I’ve dated, and it’s true I don’t do emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy, yes, but love lacks boundaries. It’s distracting and it encourages complacency.
My parents thought that ‘love is all you need’.
They were wrong. That’s why I’ve been an orphan since the age of eleven.
And why I spent seven years of my life being bounced from one foster home to another.
Turns out what is needed is health insurance.
You need to be in control of the variables that life throws, and for that people need money, not love.
‘It’s called maturity, Hennessy. It’s what happens when you stop thinking your life is someone else’s problem to fix, and you don’t think it’s sexy or funny to see your name in some gossip column.’
Her mouth pulls into a shape I shouldn’t find fascinating but do.
‘What’s the view like up there on that high horse of yours?’ she says softly. ‘Must be pretty lonely.’
I meet her gaze. ‘Says the woman whose father has left her to face his demons.’
She blinks and there is a fierce light in her eyes then that makes everything inside me tilt sharply sideways. ‘Just to clarify, Renzo—as your partner, I won’t be sleeping with you, at work or home.’
Pausing, she gives me one of those unravelling little smiles.
‘Now, I think it’s time we talk about our strategy for the next twenty-four hours.
I’ve come up with some publicity triage for when the story breaks about Charlie disappearing.
I can email you my thoughts. Or would you prefer me to print it out for you?
I know screen time is hard on the eyes when you reach a certain age. ’
‘An email will be fine.’
She pulls out her phone, all ice-cream cool. I watch her type something with her small, delicate fingers, somewhat destabilised by the shift in her manner. She is not quite the clueless nepo-baby I’ve painted in my head. It might be an act, but she is talking like a co-CEO.
As if she can read my thoughts, Hennessy looks up from her phone and I feel like I’ve been kicked by a horse.
‘You know, you got one thing right, Renzo—my name is above the door. So. I don’t care that you don’t like how I live or what I wear.
Or that you live like a robot and dress like a hitman, because you are not my boss, you’re my business partner. ’
‘I give you a week.’
Her gaze locks onto mine and there is the same fire and defiance that I saw that day in the principal’s office.
‘Is this where you warn me not to try appealing to your softer side?’ she says in that imperious way of hers. ‘Because you don’t need to. I know you don’t have one.’
‘You’re right. I don’t,’ I say tersely. ‘And Daddy isn’t here to protect you now, so don’t think your name is going to give you special treatment, because it won’t.’
‘I hate you,’ she says then, and I can hear it in her voice. Good, I think. It will ensure she keeps her distance from now on.
I shrug. ‘I don’t care.’
Her hands curl into fists, and I know she wants to thump me. I have a sudden, sharp memory of that moment in the lift when she was squaring up to another man, also twice her size. But this is different, I tell myself. This is for her own good. And, more importantly, mine.
‘A word of warning, Hennessy,’ I say then.
‘That the business is in profit is largely down to the sustained and focused efforts of David Walters and the rest of the C-suite. Charlie’s chaotic input is not missed, and the board is inches away from ousting you, so I suggest you think very carefully about pushing my buttons.
In fact, if I were you, I’d work very hard to keep me happy, or you will find yourself looking for a new job and a new source of income. ’
She jerks backwards, as if I have slapped her. Her eyes are suddenly bright, but the rule is once bitten, twice shy.
‘My father will never let that happen.’ Her voice is hoarse with emotions that I don’t want to name, much less address.
‘Then it’s lucky he has no say in it.’ I glance at my watch. ‘We have two minutes until the meeting starts…’
But she stalks past me, and I am left in Charlie Wade’s office, feeling not just out of place but more dissatisfied than I have for years.
Hennessy
I slam into the bathroom. I hate him with every atom of my being. He is rude, arrogant, patronising and utterly lacking in empathy.
But apparently none of that is enough to stop me feeling knocked off-course by his presence, as if he just T-boned my car. And I hate that he has this power over me.
I stalk over to the mirror and stare at my reflection. There is a flush of colour along my cheeks and my pulse is visibly jerking at my throat.
Nobody else has ever had this effect on me. I won’t let them. I was thirteen years old when I realised that, if people thought I was a hard-hearted bitch, then they would keep their distance. And if they kept their distance then they wouldn’t see how vulnerable, alone and scared I was.