Chapter 19
nineteen
Scotlyn.
Me: Dinner tonight?
Tezni: ??
Me: I'm taking you to dinner.
Tezni: If you're in town, I'm going to be happy and pissed.
Me: Why pissed?
Tezni: Because you should have warned me.
Instead of texting back, I called.
"Why would I need to warn you?"
"So I can be prepared, hoe. You can't just pull up on me. I have a life." I could hear the smile in her voice so I smiled too.
"I am your life, Tez. Just say you missed me and pick where you want to go for dinner. My treat."
"It's definitely your treat because I'm out here fighting for my life."
I grinned wider. "Can I help?"
"No but things are actually better. I have some new clients and have been invited to do a seminar at this new hair school that just opened."
I smiled, genuinely happy for her. "Tez, that's great. Are you excited?"
"I'm excited about how much they're paying me."
I laughed and glanced out the window. "I'll take that. We're celebrating tonight, so pick wherever you want to go and shoot me a text."
"I will but why are you home? Is everything okay?"
I sank back into the seat. "I wish. My father is my father."
"Shit, what did he do now?"
"He called an emergency board meeting to try and take control of my property."
"Can he do that?"
"The meeting, yes, and pending how the board members vote, he can possibly force me to partner with Whitney International if I want to use my name."
"What do you mean use your name?"
"Whitney is a brand, and even though I'm doing this on my own, I won't be able to attach Whitney to it."
"You are a Whitney, Scot. How the hell does that even work?"
"It doesn't, which is why he's doing this. My father knows it complicates things for me."
"He can't take this from you, can he?"
The question made me smile with a memory of Christian's surprise celebration dinner.
God, that man was making it incredibly hard for me to keep things with him compartmentalized.
His initiative to finalize my paperwork so I had every legal assurance that I truly owned the property edged my father out of any opportunities to derail what I was working on.
"No, it's mine, but he can still get in the way of my developmental plan."
"Can't you like… put him in a home or something? Why is he so determined to fuck with you?"
I sighed. "Because I don't have a dick."
"Yeah well I'm not sure he does either since he's always acting like a pussy."
I choked on a laugh. "Tez…"
"Don't Tez me. You know it's true. I get that's your father but no real man acts the way he does. A real man can handle a woman who's about her business without being intimidated. Your father cannot."
"He has archaic ways."
"Chauvinist ways."
Both were accurate but one thing I'd learned years ago was my father wasn't going to change.
Trying to convince him that he wasn't an archaic, chauvinistic asshole was a waste of my time and energy.
I chose not to waste either when it came to him.
I learned to work around his ideologies about who I was and what I was capable of.
Even today, I was going to argue my points, pray the board voted with me, then move on.
"You're right but I can't do anything about it."
"I can. I know some people, friend."
"Tez, please stop." I grinned and rolled my eyes.
"I mean I do but I'm only playing. Unless you want me to not be playing…"
"Tez…"
"Okay fine, but can't you at least have him declared incompetent or something?"
I groaned. "I wish but he could logically argue that he's not." My father was seventy-eight but fully capable and in decent health as far as I knew.
"I'm trying."
"I could seduce him, throw this good-good on him and get him to sign over everything he owns to you and Alex."
"Why the hell would he do that?" I laughed
"I'll tell him I want all his time so he needs to retire. Oh and then as soon as he does, I can leave him for Alex and we…"
"First of all, what the fuck? and no! That's just ehhh..."
Tezni laughed. "I told you I'm trying to help. I'm willing to do whatever necessary."
"I love you for loving me enough to be that twisted but no. I just pulled up at the office so pick where you want to go for dinner and call me later. We can plot my father's take down over expensive wine."
"Fine, I'll come up with some alternative plans. Go kick some chauvinistic ass, friend."
I grinned. "I am."
I ended the call and the driver caught my eye in the rearview. "Front of the building, Ms. Whitney?"
"Yes, that's fine."
A few minutes later he pulled up along the curb in front of the building my family owned, parked, and got out. After he rounded the front, my door opened and I stepped out of the vehicle.
"Thank you so much. I appreciate you getting me here in one piece."
"It was my pleasure." He reached into his pocket and handed over a card with his driving service name, his name, and phone number. "Just give me a call when you're ready. I'll be waiting nearby…"
I quickly shook my head. "That won't be necessary. I can get a ride."
Christian had chartered his family's jet for my flight to New York and promised to have it ready to bring me back to Crescent Falls.
He also arranged for a driver to get me to the meeting.
The least I could do was handle getting myself back to the jet later this evening.
At the moment I wasn't sure what time that would be since I wanted to spend time with Alex and have dinner with Tezni before heading back.
Christian made sure to let me know any time was possible.
I simply needed to allow a two-hour heads up for the jet to be on the schedule for the flight.
"It's very necessary. Mr. Devereaux had specific instructions for me to be available for you during your time here in the city. I plan to do exactly that." He offered a smile but his declaration was firm.
"Thank you…" I glanced at the card to find his name. "Johnson."
"You're very welcome. He tipped his head and headed back to the vehicle. "I can be here in about twenty minutes from the time you call. Have a great day, Ms. Whitney."
"You too."
I had a feeling Christian tossed out a lot of money and equal amounts of threats to ensure Johnson understood his position.
I smiled, shaking my head as I pushed through the glass doors and entered the lobby of Whitney International.
The security greeted me with a smile and so did Sonja who worked the reception desk that checked in visitors.
I took the elevator to the twentieth floor of the building and stepped off feeling like I was home.
No matter what issues I had with my father, I grew up here in this building.
As children, me, Alex, and Valerie visited the office with our mother, coming to see our father.
As teens, the three of us did summer internships here.
Once I completed my MBA with a focus in Project Development, I took over Whitney's development division but only because Alex still had three years left of college.
My position was supposed to be temporary but Alex refused to do what our father wanted and take over after he completed his MBA.
Regardless of the things I didn't like about this place and the memories it held, Whitney International was home.
"Hey, Scot." Elaine, my brother's assistant, was the first person I ran into in the hallway. She offered a bright smile but it dropped seconds later. "Are you here for the board meeting?"
"I am, why?"
"Oh, you weren't on the list of attendees. Alex didn't mention you would be here and your name wasn't on the list your father sent out. I assumed that was because you were working on that new project. How's it going by the way?"
Alex wouldn't have informed her because that meant my father finding out. My father wanted me in the dark because he wanted the board to vote without input from me. His plan was to influence their decision and force me to deal with whatever they decided, which meant he would get his way.
"Great, actually. The purchase is finalized. My team is scheduled to begin clearing the land as soon as I get back."
"Scot, that's great. Your mother would be so proud of you."
My heart clenched but I smiled and nodded. She would. She was the only reason this was even possible.
"Thank you." I cleared my throat. "Is my father in the office?"
The meeting wasn't until two so it was possible he wasn't coming in until later. I wanted to catch him before the meeting to try and talk some sense into him before. It was a long shot but at least worth trying.
"He is. Came in about an hour ago."
"Perfect, thank you. Is Alex here yet?"
"En route. I just talked to him about ten minutes ago. Would you like for me to let him know you're waiting?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm going to see my father first. Alex should be here by the time I'm done."
She nodded. "I'll let him know you're in the office when he arrives. It's good to see you, and congratulations. We're all very proud of you."
Not everyone.
She headed in one direction and I went in another, speaking to employees as I moved through the office to the left corner of the building where my father's office took up three quarters of the floor.
Everything about him had to be a presentation of power and wealth. It was annoying but I was used to him.
As soon as I entered his office, he frowned at me. "Should have known Alex couldn't keep his damn mouth shut."
"Why would he have to? This is a board meeting and I'm a member of the board. If you called a meeting about an issue with the development branch, then I should have been the first name on the list since I'm over all operations."
"Not since the meeting is about your incompetence with mishandling the Whitney name."
"How am I mishandling the name?"
I fully entered his office, crossed the room, and dropped my purse on his desk before I planted my hands on my hips and glared at him.
"Crescent Falls?" he grunted. "Who in the hell even knows where that is?"