3. Lucian
3
LUCIAN
I t wasn’t a surprise to find Ivy sitting at her desk by the time I arrived at the office for an early breakfast meeting with my father. Our usual Wednesday ritual in the few weeks since the Jones Media buyout was struck, when he had brought me on in an official capacity as opposed to the summers I’d interned here. I was under no illusions—this was not a means of solidifying our relationship or anything like that. He liked to get a look at me and wanted to make sure I wasn’t letting my nighttime activities get in the way of what needed to be done during the day.
When exactly did a person become old enough to become a complete hypocrite? It was either that, or he couldn’t remember the shit he’d gotten up to in his day. Considering his memory was as sharp as ever, so sharp it made me hate him when he would bring up something I said or did years ago for the sake of winning an argument, I’d have to lean on hypocrisy as the winning theory.
I had asked my mother about it once, around the time I graduated college, and she had laughed it off. It was all part of getting older. Mellowing out, with the memories mellowing too. Like he had never gotten home, showered, then gone to the office without catching a wink of sleep.
In other words, my nerves were already on edge because I knew how closely he would scrutinize me when I reached his office at eight sharp. Finding Ivy bright and chipper, already pounding away on her keyboard when I arrived, didn’t make things much better.
Though she was easy on the eyes. Much nicer to look at than my old man. With her shining blonde hair pulled back in a low bun, I admired the graceful lines of her neck. Like a swan. Something that had first caught my attention at the country club before those eyes of hers had pierced me.
And she hadn’t known who I was? How was that possible? The only child of a billionaire media mogul. Did she not pay attention to that sort of thing? Granted, I’d managed to keep my name out of the papers and tabloids, if only to keep from getting flayed alive. And she didn’t come from my world. Billionaires were probably as familiar to her as long-term relationships were to me. Maybe it was possible… or maybe she would say anything to cover her ass. I couldn’t be sure.
She noticed me sizing her up on my way out of my office. Her head turned, her lips curving in a cheerful smile. “Good morning, Mr. Diamond,” she chirped. It was almost enough to make me stumble, knocked off-balance by her attitude.
What was she playing at? It wasn’t a matter of only being professional. A simple greeting would have covered the bases. No, she had to go above and beyond, swiveling in her chair to follow my progress past her desk.
“Good morning, Poison,” I murmured, keeping my voice low in case there was anyone nearby to hear.
Her eyes hardened before she widened her smile until it went brittle. “Is there anything I can do for you this morning? It looks like you have a meeting with your father in a few minutes. Do you need to be prepared?”
I knew how to silence that smart mouth. An image of her on her knees with a mouth full of my cock sprang to mind. “I think I can handle it,” I told her, my voice coming out a little gruff.
“You sure?” she asked, head tipping to the side. “I’m only trying to find ways to help you learn the ropes of your new position.”
Throwing my words in my face. Wasn’t she in a mood today. Only the thought of what she could report back to Dad kept me from telling her to fuck off if she knew what was good for her before continuing past her desk without a word, heading to the opposite corner of the floor, where Dad’s office sat. She snorted softly behind me, but I pretended to ignore it, continuing down the hall while reminding myself of my place. She was nothing, nobody. A good lay with a tight pussy. A dime a dozen, in other words.
What a shame she looked so damn good in those suits she wore—slim cut, hugging her every curve. The universe was throwing me a bone, giving me something to look at as I suffered the indignity of some nobody with great tits taunting me from her desk. Not that she had to actively taunt me. Her mere presence was enough to remind me of how I fell short in my father’s eyes.
Dad’s assistant offered a warm smile as I approached her desk in front of his office. “Good morning, Lucian. Your father is waiting for you.” Cynthia had been with Dad for as long as I could remember and was practically a part of the family. She sized me up with a practiced eye as I passed her desk. “Is that a new suit? It’s very well-tailored.”
“Thank you. Picked it up last week.” I checked out the fresh, colorful bouquet on her desk and arched an eyebrow. “New boyfriend?”
“Now, you know I’m taken,” she chided with a soft laugh. “Twenty-two years and counting.”
“If only I were a little older…” I sighed, snapping my fingers like I was disappointed. This was our harmless game, reaching back to my interning days. It made Dad grind his teeth, which was a big part of why I continued teasing her—as if I’d end up getting the company sued for harassment or something.
The man had a habit of walking around almost silently. Out of nowhere, he appeared in his open doorway, wearing an exasperated grin. “Could you please stop charming Cynthia so she can get her morning started?” he nearly growled out, waving me into the room.
I looked over my shoulder to where Cynthia’s lips twitched as she tried and failed to hold back a grin. “You hear the way he talks to me?” I whispered, and she laughed behind her hand, shaking her head.
Once we were alone, Dad shook his head too. “You seem to be in a pretty good mood this morning,” he observed, pressing the button on his desk, which turned the clear glass walls opaque for the sake of privacy. “I take it that means you had a successful evening.”
Any goodwill flowing through me died a quick death at the sound of his voice and the disapproval in it. “I had an early evening, now that you mention it.” I joined him at the small table in the far corner of the room, where he sometimes took meetings during meal times. Our customary breakfast was spread out and waiting for us. Bagels, cream cheese, and smoked salmon. There was plenty of hot coffee in an insulated carafe, along with orange juice and fresh fruit salad.
“Turning over a new leaf?” Why the hell was there so much enthusiasm in the question? Jesus Christ. He couldn’t be more transparent if he tried.
I had no idea what the hell my personal life had to do with him. He hadn’t given a shit since I moved into my own Upper West Side apartment when I was nineteen. Why did he care now? Since I wasn’t in the mood for an hour-long lecture, I didn’t bother asking.
Instead, I settled for shrugging, taking a seat, and pouring coffee. “I’m the lone wolf now,” I explained with another shrug.
“You know, I was thinking about that just the other day.”
Again, did he have nothing better to think about? “Let me guess,” I ventured with a smirk, glancing up at him while smearing a thick layer of cream cheese on a bagel. I didn’t eat breakfast often, but when I did, I liked to go all in. “You and Mom had a nice, long discussion about me over a bottle of wine. You’ve decided now that since my friends have gotten involved and are starting to get married and all that, it’s my turn.”
“You don’t have to sound condescending,” he warned, fixing his own bagel.
“It isn’t condescension if I’m basing my guess off of reality. Both of you have best friends whose kids just got married last month, and they’re going to have a baby. Everybody else is with their significant others now too. Of course, you would start thinking about me.”
“You’re twenty-five, Lucian.”
“So it says on my driver’s license,” I muttered, taking a bite of a sandwich piled thick with salty salmon.
He groaned, then added, “It’s time to start thinking about the life you’re going to build.”
I lifted an eyebrow. Again, with the hypocrisy. “What were you doing when you were twenty-five? Because last I checked, you’re knocking on sixty now, meaning you had more than your share of fun between twenty-five and when you and Mom settled down together.”
“I see. Now you decide what to follow in your father’s footsteps. But only in this respect, right?”
I was not interested in getting into it, especially not at this hour of the morning. “Anyway, it’s not as much fun to go out by myself with everyone busy all the time…”
“That can only be a good thing,” he insisted.
I had to settle for chewing my bagel harder than necessary, gnashing my teeth, swallowing back my true thoughts as I choked down a mouthful of food. “ Your father means well. ” One of Mom’s favorite lines. It was only knowing how much it upset her when we fought that kept me from telling him what I thought about his well-intended advice.
I needed to change the subject fast, and only one topic came to mind. “So, tell me. How long is that girl going to shadow me?”
“Ivy? She isn’t shadowing you,” he scoffed, shaking his head as he wiped his mouth. “I swear, son, you come up with the strangest ideas.”
“And you are much too comfortable gaslighting me,” I countered. “If she’s not shadowing me, what is she here for?”
“You’ve been steaming over this for two days, haven’t you?” He could have at least tried not to seem so pleased at the idea, the old prick. “You have no experience. She is here to help you gain that experience.”
“I thought experience was earned over time. Am I missing something?”
“We don’t necessarily have that time. We’re looking to expand our digital division, and if you’re going to spearhead it, you need to hit the ground running. This is no time to doggy paddle and flail your way around.”
I had never failed at anything in my life. What I didn’t know, I figured out. The word ‘can’t’ didn’t exist. So even though I couldn’t have given a wet shit about the company, Dad’s legacy, or any of it, I wasn’t about to step down if only to prove him wrong about me.
He finished his coffee and set the cup aside with a sigh. “I admit, we haven’t had the chance to do much talking about the game plan when it comes to incorporating the new employees into our current framework.”
I waved a hand, scoffing. “Why would you want to do that? I’m only your son and a new vice president. Why would you clue me in?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Let’s put the hurt feelings aside, shall we? The idea here is to get a sense of how everyone is working together, whether they can be an asset to the company.”
There had to be something truly wrong with me since my polluted stream of consciousness immediately connected the word asset to the word ‘ass,’ which brought Ivy’s rather perfect ass to mind. I had no business thinking about her.
“Who said anything about hurt feelings?” I asked, annoyed with myself for letting her distract me again.
“Then, once we’re clear on who can best serve us, we trim the fat. Identify redundancies, thank the people we don’t need for their service, and we move on stronger than ever. That is the general idea.” Narrowing his eyes, he asked, “Are you satisfied? Or is there something you think you could do better?”
It was as if I hadn’t spoken. Not that I needed an answer. My input was never relevant. “So anybody who thinks their job here is set in stone needs to think again,” I concluded.
“That is the long and short of it, yes.”
“Do they know that?” I asked.
He smirked, chuckling. “And set off a war with people clawing at each other to keep their job? No doubt they know they have to prove themselves. That’s enough.”
This, I could live with. For the first time in days, hope sparked in my head. “Is Ivy one of the potential redundancies? Since she’s only supposed to usher me into my position.”
His forehead creased in a familiar scowl. Great. I had pushed too hard and overplayed my hand. I should’ve known better, but something about her took everything I knew and threw it out the window. She stood in my way, and that was a problem.
“You have a real hard-on for this girl, don’t you?” he asked.
What a choice of words. I certainly had a hard-on for her when we first met. “Did you expect me to be happy? You gave me this position, then assigned someone to… what? Micromanage me? Or is this flat-out babysitting?”
“Lucian. Let’s get one thing straight.” I knew what I was in for when he used those words. He pushed what was left of his breakfast aside, staring at me the way he used to when I would say or do something to irritate him enough to pay attention to something other than this fucking company. “You’re a person with many talents. And you know that over the years, I’ve been disappointed when you haven’t used them the way you should. You insult yourself more than you insult me when you ask a question like that. It’s childish, beneath you.”
“But having her looking over my shoulder isn’t supposed to insult me? Explain that, Dad, because I’m at a loss.”
“I know you aren’t demanding I explain a damn thing to you. Is this or is it not still my company?” He rose, glaring at me the way he had countless times before. “And like it or not, son, you don’t have the experience to take a position like this and run with it. Being skilled at using social media for your own personal purposes is not the same as running the digital media division, but I know you can work your way into it. I’m sure you can. It will take time, and you will need guidance.”
He shook his head and clicked his tongue, looking as disappointed as he ever had. “There I was, thinking you would understand that without having it spoon-fed to you. For someone who’s usually quick on the uptake, you are an expert at playing dumb when you feel like it.”
My resentment followed his disdain the way lightning followed thunder. “Sure, accuse me of playing dumb. That’s definitely going to make all of this work so much better.” I jerked a thumb toward the closed door. “The girl said it herself on Monday. She barely had a chance to make a difference at Jones Media before the buyout. How do you know she has the first idea what she’s doing?”
“She may not have been able to turn things around for them, but analytics don’t lie. There was a more than three hundred percent improvement in ad revenue month over month in the first quarter of this year. Sadly, it was a little too late. The girl knows what she’s doing.”
He went to his desk, talking as he walked. “If I remember correctly, she double majored in journalism and digital marketing at Brown on a scholarship, then spent three years managing social media for a handful of small businesses while publishing editorial content to Medium before she took the job with Jones Media.”
He pulled a file folder from the deep bottom drawer of his desk and opened it, flipping through then continuing, “She started as a basic advice columnist while working her way up to junior editor over two years. She then pivoted to digital media and did her darndest to convince the owners to move away from print.”
Did he expect applause? Was I supposed to be impressed? Okay so maybe I was, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “Good for her,” I replied, shrugging.
“Goddammit.” He closed the folder before closing his eyes and leaning back in his leather chair. “Put your ego aside and learn something. That’s all I ask.”
“And all I ask for is a little confidence. Is that too much?” I stood and tossed my napkin onto my half-empty plate. “Are you sure she understands her place in the hierarchy? Or does she think she’s here to steal my job?”
He shrugged, the lines at the corners of his eyes deepening when he frowned. “Why don’t you see to it she doesn’t get the wrong idea? If the position seems vulnerable, easy to steal from under you, that sounds like a you problem. Right?”
The miserable old prick. “I hear you.” And did I ever.
“Now go out there and learn something,” he concluded, waving a hand toward the door. “Prep for your meeting with the team next week. How are you going to bring everybody together? How will you fill any perceived weaknesses with the strengths of our newcomers?”
His questions didn’t piss me off. It was the fact that I hadn’t considered them before now. Since I had nothing to say, I decided it was smartest to get the fuck out and put together the answers.
Though I’d be damned if I asked Ivy for help. It would be a cold day in hell when I asked her for anything that didn’t involve her mouth wrapped around my cock. Since the chances of that happening again were slim to none, thanks to our professional relationship, there was nothing she could do for me but serve as a reminder of how useless my father thought I was.