Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Molly
“ S o, you decided to grace us with your presence.”
I groan internally at the smarmy voice behind me. Doing my best to ignore him, I open my laptop and pull up my notes for the meeting.
“I said, so good of you to join us.”
I just manage to restrain myself from jumping at Brad’s voice, closer now, and turn lazily in my chair to find him just inside my personal space. I adopt my most bored expression before I speak.
“Forget how to tell time, Brad? It’s nine-thirty. The meeting starts at ten. I am, in fact, not late at all.”
Brad smirks at me, but the look in his eyes is calculating. I’m immediately on alert. “I guess I assumed you would be here for breakfast. You know, the one my uncle and I had earlier this morning in the executive dining room.”
I fight to keep my face neutral, but inside, I’m incandescent with rage. Of course I wasn’t invited to fucking breakfast. Harvey Randall is as old fashioned as they come, and in his mind, there are many places women don’t belong. Chief among them is a power breakfast in the executive dining room.
“Couldn’t make it,” I say breezily, wondering idly how strong my rage has to be before I spontaneously combust and burn down the building.
“Too busy with your billionaire fiancé, I assume?”
“In fact, my billionaire fiancé was busy this morning. He’s a real man who actually works hard for a living instead of just sailing through life expecting to be rewarded for doing absolutely nothing. Not that you would know anything about that.”
I smile sweetly as Brad’s face turns bright red. He opens his mouth to respond but doesn’t get the chance because Harvey chooses that moment to stroll into the conference room. Tall and imposing even in his sixties, Harvey Randall has salt and pepper hair, a perma-tan from all his time spent golfing and yachting, and a wardrobe better suited to the Palm Beach country club where he spends half the year than a Pittsburgh office. He has benefitted from immense generational wealth and success and loves to remind you about it.
“Molly dear, lovely to see you.”
He comes right to me, and I stand and shake his extended hand even as I mentally dick punch him for the Molly dear comment. “Thank you for coming in on a Sunday.”
“Mr. Randall, good to see you. It was no problem.”
“Please, sit.”
I re-take my seat, and he settles down at the head of the long conference table despite the fact that I’m sitting in the middle. Brad, the suck up asshole, sits right next to his uncle. I have the insane urge to stick my tongue out at him like I’m a six-year-old on the playground.
Harvey steeples his hands together in front of him and nods at me, glancing down at the ring on my finger and back up. “I was so happy to hear the news of your engagement. Gabriel Sullivan, that certainly was a surprise.”
“Thank you very much.” I keep my face neutral and nod, not giving him anything. I wait for his next move, sure I know what’s coming next.
“I hope you’ll bring him by sometime. It would be a pleasure to meet him.”
Bingo .
I hum noncommittally. “Maybe. He’s a very busy man.”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure he is. Well, your engagement makes me even happier that I decided to call this meeting. As you know, with the reorganization of the family office, there will be a significant amount of legal work coming up over the next few months.”
I sit up straighter and nod. “Yes, I prepared a list of action items for the reorganization and a proposed timeline, so I’m ready to discuss that at your convenience. I also have an outline for the draft of your new trust and an explanatory memo for the family limited partnership we’re creating that will ultimately fund the trust since that is our first priority.”
“Good, good,” Harvey says, nodding. “If you wouldn’t mind, please share those files with Brad. We discussed it at breakfast, and Brad and his firm are going to be taking point on the big picture items, leaving you more time to focus on our estate planning. I’ve decided that will need a complete overhaul, in addition to the trust and the partnership. I’m sure you’ll be wanting more time to spend with your fiancé as well, so reducing your workload will be good for everyone.”
The audacity.
The absolute fucking audacity of men, I swear to fucking god.
And everyone wonders why women are so goddammed angry all the time.
I take a slow deep breath, so I don’t just explode all over this conference room.
“Mr. Randall, I wasn’t present at breakfast this morning, but if I was, I would have told you that my engagement has absolutely no bearing on my ability to do my job. I am just as capable of managing this entire restructure as I was a week ago, so none of this seems necessary.”
Harvey gives me a patronizing smile, and Brad looks positively gleeful. I want to punch him in his smarmy face. “No need to get upset, Molly dear. You know I think you’re a very smart and capable attorney. I’m just doing what I think is best for everyone and for my company. Now, if you don’t think you can work with Brad, I completely understand. I can find someone else to handle the estate planning.”
Brad turns to his uncle, placid smile on his face. “Uncle Harvey, I’m sure Molly and I will work well together. We’re old law school friends, after all.”
Every instinct in my body is telling me to get up out of my chair and walk out of this conference room. To tell both of these men to fuck right off. But I force myself to stay seated. This is my biggest client, and he knows all of my other biggest clients. Pittsburgh is a big city, but at this level of wealth and prestige, it’s a small town, and the last thing I need is to get the reputation for being the hysterical woman who flew off the handle in the middle of a business meeting with one of the city’s wealthiest and most well-known men.
So, despite feeling like I’m letting down women everywhere by not telling these assholes exactly where to stick it, I give them both a tight nod.
“Excellent,” Harvey says, banging a fist on the table. “Let’s get to work.”