24. hayes
TWENTY-FOUR
hayes
I walk into my father’s office, resolved to find a way out of this without hurting Fallon. There has to be a middle ground we can reach that doesn’t involve trying to crush her. Ideally, I want to buy myself more time with her. I could lie to him and tell him I haven’t found anything yet. Our last meeting was only two days ago. I don’t understand why he’s already requested another meeting with me. I know it’s not because he had high expectations of following through with my task this quickly.
He’s on the phone, so I sit in the chair across from his desk. As a child, he was my hero. I’d listen to his phone calls, then pretend to be on a call with the old cellphone he gave me to carry around. I’d pretend not to hear him fighting with my mother when she’d bring me to the office. It was the only time I spent with him. His evenings were always full. As an adult, I remember spending more time with the nanny than either of my parents. My mother would go through phases of loving me dearly and then hating me entirely.
I don’t know if I reminded her of him, but that’s one of the reasons I grew to despise him. Not only did the way he treated my mother hurt their marriage, but his actions directly impacted how she treated me. There would be days she couldn’t get out of bed. I would try to lie down with her and watch a movie, but she’d send me away so she could sleep.
My father puts the receiver down and leans back in his chair, pressing a button and calling for his secretary to come in. Less than a minute later, the door opens, and I hear the grating voice of his eighth secretary. They keep getting younger. I believe this one is in her thirties and is most likely hoping that she’ll be the one to get Frank to leave his wife.
He never will. As rich as he is, he won’t want to give my mother the satisfaction of paying alimony, and admitting defeat would be too big of a hit to his ego. He’s content to continue fucking his secretaries until he grows bored of them and hires a new one. Cynthia, his current secretary, could pass for a younger version of my mother, which adds another layer to this twisted dynamic.
“Bring me a glass of whiskey,” Frank grunts.
“Right away,” she says, sashaying to the drink cart and pouring him a glass. “Would you like a glass, Hayes?”
“No,” I reply dryly, refusing to look at her.
Frank looks at her with disinterest. She doesn’t even realize her days are numbered. His next victim will probably be younger than me, just to prove to himself that he can still fuck someone that young. What he refuses to accept is that women only sleep with him because of his money. He sends them on expensive vacations every year and spoils them with jewelry in exchange for their silence. They all sign NDAs, but he likes to sweeten the deal. He believes women can’t be trusted.
Cynthia leans forward when she delivers his drink to him, giving him a view of her ample cleavage. He takes the bait, lustfully staring at her until she closes the door of his office behind her. I know exactly what he’ll be doing when I leave today. Cynthia.
Anxious to return to Sanderling, I ask, “Why am I here?”
He finishes his whiskey in one swallow and sets the glass down. “Raquel is pregnant. She doesn’t know who the father is. I know it’s not you.”
“Could be Jace,” I mutter, unsurprised by this tidbit of information but wondering why the fuck it required me to come to Boston. “She has a roster of men.”
“She’s always been a beautiful girl.” He sighs deeply. “When her father became my partner, it was always expected that the two of you would marry someday.”
I’ve heard all this before. Being with Raquel was always one of the many expectations placed on me. As a teenager, I considered it. She lost her virginity to me in the poolhouse one summer, but neither of us wanted to commit. We were way too bored and had access to way too much money. It wasn’t until recently that she started pressuring me to settle and choose her to do it with, but my feelings hadn’t changed.
Her decision to sleep with Jace cemented that I could never be with her. She did it to get a reaction from me. I wouldn’t ever be able to trust a woman who uses manipulation like that. “What does any of this have to do with me?”
“She’s afraid to tell her father,” he continues, standing to refill his glass. I’d wager it’s his tenth glass of whiskey today. “She came to me yesterday and asked what she should do. She doesn’t want to get rid of it. I suggested that.”
“Of course you did.” I wouldn’t be surprised if he encouraged my mother to do the same when she was pregnant with me. “Again, what the fuck does this have to do with me?”
Raquel’s father still owns half the company. He and my father golf together every Sunday. I don’t understand why he can’t just tell her father or why it required me to drive here and hear about Raquel’s fatherless child.
He returns to his desk. “You and Raquel will announce your engagement in the paper. After that, she’ll inform her father of the pregnancy. He’ll assume it’s your child.”
I’m rendered utterly speechless.
He just hit me with a shit ton of bricks.
“You’ll be assigned an official position in the company.” He’s trying to soften the blow. “You’ll be given shares, and your vote will count for twenty-five percent in all business matters.”
“For this fucking child that isn’t even mine?” I stand, but I have nowhere to go. I can’t seem to unclench my fists. “This is a joke, right? You’re not seriously shackling me to Raquel and trying to buy me off with shares that I’m already going to inherit anyway? I won’t agree to this.”
I want to call my mother for the first time in a long time. She’s most likely at a spa in the fucking rainforest, but she won’t allow him to go through with this. There has to be some motherly instinct left in her to protect me from this.
Frank remains eerily calm. “You will marry her, Hayes. I hold your entire future in the palm of my hand. You’ve always believed you’re entitled to this company, but you forget I can take it all away from you instantly.”
My chest heaves. “I’m your son .”
“And as my son, you will uphold any responsibility I give you if you want to sustain the life you’ve been given.” His fist thumps against his desk. “You are going to do this, Hayes.”
I do not want a future in the company like this. It’s not worth my freedom being stripped away to appease Raquel’s father. “Why do you even care what her father thinks?”
“He is the majority shareholder!” Frank barks. “He owns fifty-one percent of this company.”
“Fuck!” I shout. Her father could buy mine out or pressure the board to relieve him of his seat. Not only would my future be at risk, but everything my mother is used to could be stripped away. We’d have enough money to sustain us our entire lives, but everything my father built would be in someone else’s hands. Our entire legacy would be gone.
But that still doesn’t mean I want to earn my place in this company by being with someone I can’t stand.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out to find a text from Fallon. She sent me a selfie of her sticking her tongue out and crossing her eyes, followed by a series of texts.
Bored. There’s a lull.
I kinda miss you.
Can we get sushi tonight?
(Say yes.)
I stare at her picture, mind racing.
“I have different conditions,” I whisper, pocketing my phone. “And I want a contract drawn to reflect your agreement. Only then will I agree to your demands.”
“You’re not in the position?—”
“I am,” I interrupt before he can spew more bullshit. “Just because you’re threatening my future in this company, I can still walk away. I’m not your puppet. I agreed to gather information on Fallon because I believed it would make you respect me. I realize now that you’re incapable of that.”
Frank narrows his eyes. He wants to call my bluff, but his curiosity will win. “What do you want?”
If I walk away and deny him this request, his vengeance toward Fallon and her success will increase. It’s up to me to protect her and her future. “I want you to forget her name. I want you to forget she exists.” I calmly return to my chair. “You won’t pursue her any further, nor will you use any of the company’s resources to bury her business. You will withdraw your application to the space in Sanderling immediately.”
“And if I refuse?”
“I walk,” I reply plainly. “And I help her grow her business. You might believe I haven’t paid attention to how FFJ operates, but I’ve logged enough hours here to learn the ins and outs. I know our resources. I graduated with honors from Boston University—the same one you attended, though if I recall, you did not graduate with honors.”
He clenches his fist.
“Andrew will follow me,” I continue. “Jace’s father will assist with any tech we need. You always said it’s important to have powerful friends, Frank.” My smug grin is most likely making his pulse skyrocket. “I listened. Do we have a deal?”
His nostrils flare with each tight breath. “You’re willing to do this for some woman you hardly know? You’re risking your entire future on a maybe, Hayes.”
“She is more than a maybe.” I roll my shoulders back. I have never been more confident about anything in my life. Fallon will achieve everything she’s hoped for. “And I will not be the reason she fails. Neither will you.”
He doesn’t utter a word for a long time. Frank is a dick, but he’s a smart businessman. He’s dissecting every outcome. Fallon is a threat. He was correct in assuming that. But me and Fallon as a team? FFJ would take a direct hit.
I’d make sure of that.
“And not only will you leave her alone, but you’ll sponsor the upcoming banquet in Sanderling that supports small businesses.” I might as well sweeten the deal while he’s weakest. “FFJ will present a check to a small business. Each member of the board will cast a vote to decide who receives it.” Fallon would kill me if she learned I forced him to grant Shoreline Scribes the money. It stays fair this way.
He picks up his receiver and presses a button. “Cynthia,” he grunts. “Get Jerry on the line. I need a contract drawn up.”