Epilogue
EPILOGUE
LUCIAN
“ A re you ready?” My father eyed me from the other side of his desk as he stood and buttoned his suit jacket. Most men his age, sitting at the head of a media empire, might consider backing off a little, enjoying life in his mid-sixties, spending some of the wealth he’d amassed, not that he could hope to spend it all.
Instead, he was as active and involved in Diamond Media as he’d ever been, leaving me wondering if he ever planned to retire. Not that I was chomping at the bit to take his place. It would’ve been nice to have a little warning, was all, considering I was the reluctant heir apparent.
This was hardly the first buyout Dad had masterminded over the decades after he’d taken my grandfather’s place. It was, however, the first I’d taken part in as the corporation’s new Vice President of Digital Media. We’d recently completed the purchase of a dying brand, a dinosaur helmed by stubborn old men who refused to keep up with the times. It would be my task to fold their employees in with our own .
And to cut loose anybody who couldn’t hack it.
I had to be merciless. This was business, nothing personal.
I nodded firmly, following close behind him as we strode out of his corner office and down the hall to the large conference room where the former employees of Jones Media, Inc. sat in chairs arranged in rows, facing the screen where a welcome presentation would play. I’d prepared a few words, after which point Dad would wrap things up.
A nervous, tense energy hummed in the air as we entered the room, our every move followed by dozens of pairs of eyes—mistrusting, anxious. No doubt they wanted to make a good impression and prove why they were necessary to the company. Their livelihoods depended on it.
“Oh, Lucian. Can I have a moment?” Dad motioned for me to follow him to the far corner of the room, where a young woman stood with her back to the wall, her attention focused on her phone. There were a handful of empty chairs among those already taken, but she had decided to stand. Her rigid posture drew my interest, but it was a curtain of icy-blonde hair that held my attention, stirring my memory. Why? It was like having a word on the tip of my tongue, just out of reach. I knew her from somewhere.
Dad cleared his throat. “Ivy St. James?”
Her head snapped up, the phone finding her pocket as she offered a tight, professional smile. It was when her steely gray eyes met mine that worlds collided. I knew her. Weeks had passed since the night we spent in my hotel room, but she was not the sort of woman whose face faded to nothing the morning after.
Considering the way her fair cheeks flushed, she recognized me too. I’d hope so. The woman had raked the hell out of my back in the hours after Colton’s wedding .
Dad was completely unaware, shaking her hand. “I wanted to introduce you to my son, Lucian Diamond. You two will be working closely together in the coming weeks as we blend our two families together.”
It wouldn’t be the first time we’d worked together, though we hadn’t exactly been clothed at the time. To think fate threw us together again. For once, I was glad to run into a one-night stand after the fact.
Until Dad’s choice of words sank into my overheated mind. “We’ll be working closely together?” I asked, looking from her to my father. “How so?” And why the hell hadn’t he mentioned her before now?
“Ivy here was Vice President of Digital Media at Jones,” he explained.
“For the six months we began developing a digital brand before the buyout,” she added, staring at me as I stared at her. Yes, she definitely remembered.
What mattered more was the implication of her job title. “We need two VPs?” I asked Dad, grinding my teeth in a parody of a smile.
“Ivy will assist you in learning the ropes of the position…” he explained. “Since she has a bit more experience. And her familiarity with the people we brought in will help us determine how to put their talents to use.”
What a crock of shit. He wanted her around to babysit me. He didn’t trust me to do this on my own. Why else would he keep her around?
I’d have the pleasure of knowing she was looking over my shoulder, possibly reporting to Dad on whether I could handle the position. For all I knew, she was already planning to take the job for herself. Any growing hope of continuing what we’d started at the wedding died a quick death then and there .
“I look forward to working with you, Mr. Diamond,” she offered, extending a hand to shake mine.
When I clasped it, I had the feeling I was about to begin the fight of my life.