5. Declan
Declan
S omething’s wrong with my wife.
I stare out over the cityscape, not surprised at the fog rolling in, shrouding the buildings in different shades of gray. There’s a light pattering as rain drizzles against the windows of my office, obscuring my view.
Usually when I stand in this spot, I’m filled with satisfaction, seeing it as a symbol of how far I’ve come.
I don’t see it now.
Instead, I see Lily’s withdrawn expression as candlelight flickered over her features. I see her pale face and dark circles underneath her eyes, after she spent the night on the couch.
And I didn’t even notice she’d left the bed.
Guilt surges, hot and shameful.
I should’ve taken her home, tucked her into bed, and checked on her. Instead, I left her standing outside of the real estate office with promises to meet her back at our new condo later that night. I couldn’t even give her a clear time of when that would be, not when I had fires to put out here.
Carter’s been blowing up my phone for the last 24 hours, and I’d known it wasn’t something I could keep ignoring, not when my father had planned it this way. What better time to make his move than when I’m out of the city and on my goddamn honeymoon?
I rub the back of my neck, right where a knot of tension has lodged itself at the base of my skull.
Lily would be fine. She was clearly tired from our trip, as brief as it was. And it wasn’t a surprise she was exhausted after running herself ragged organizing our wedding, especially after my father had taken it upon himself to invite over 50 last minute guests.
A knock precedes my assistant, Adam, as he comes in with an apologetic grimace. Carter saunters in behind him, ignoring the dirty look my assistant shoots his way.
“Sorry, Declan. I know you said you didn’t want to be disturbed, but he insisted,” Adam says.
I eye my friend impatiently. “Thanks, Adam. I’ll deal with him.”
Adam straightens his bowtie—blue and white stripes today—and flicks one last aggravated glare in Carter’s direction before sticking his nose in the air and waltzing back out, shutting the door behind him.
I look at Carter, who seems entirely too satisfied as he collapses into a leather-backed chair facing my desk.
I clasp my hands behind my back, arching a brow. “Do you have to piss my assistant off before he’s had his third cup of coffee? You know he doesn't do well with your shit before then.”
He smirks back at me. “Adam makes it too easy. I can’t help yanking his tail.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, head thumping painfully. “I like Adam,” I tell him tiredly. “He’s efficient and good at his job. Don’t chase him away with your antics.” I send him a warning look.
“You mean he’s good at managing you.”
“I don’t need to be managed.”
“Yeah, right.” There’s a glint in his eyes I don’t trust. “Anyway, you’re giving me too much credit. I don’t have the power to chase Adam away.” I shake my head, biting my words back. “So…” he starts, watching me curiously. “The honeymoon. How was it?”
“How do you think?” I return dryly. “Considering I’m back after only three days away.
Lily was disappointed, but she seemed to understand.
She wasn’t well last night, so it’s probably for the best.” I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince, so I clamp my mouth shut, before any more useless words fall out.
“Is she okay?” Carter’s amusement falls away, leaving only a deep frown.
“She will be.”
“Did you tell her?”
I narrow my eyes, but the problem with working with someone I’ve known for years means he knows how to read me. Without me saying anything, he blows out a breath, a low curse escaping him. “You’re gonna lose the best thing that ever happened to you, man.”
“It’s got nothing to do with Lily,” I argue stiffly. “Or our marriage.”
He barks out a caustic laugh. “And she obviously knows that. She went into this with her eyes wide open, hm?”
That shame curls through me again, scorching everything it touches, and acting like the strike of a match to my temper. “Stop talking about my wife,” I demand through clenched teeth.
Our eyes clash and hold, but he breaks first, muttering something under his breath that I pretend I don’t hear. “Seeing as you’re here, you must have an update for me. Get on with it. I want to know everything he’s been doing.”
It seems like he might ignore me, but then a mask of professionalism drops down over his face. His voice is detached as he informs me, “Your father’s been having secret meetings all over the country. Meetings,” he stresses pointedly, “that he’s being very careful to keep off all the books.”
I sit down behind my desk and steeple my hands in front of me. “So, how did you find out, then?”
“His assistant accidentally CC’d me in on an email. It was like picking up breadcrumbs after that.”
I flick up an eyebrow. “And that was enough?”
The slightest pause, a pinching at the corners of his mouth, and then he admits, “No. Your father also met with an acquaintance of mine. She gave me a heads up.”
A silent alarm blares. “An acquaintance,” I repeat, and he nods. “Who was it?”
“Declan—”
“A name, Carter. ”
He looks downright petulant. “Annabeth.”
I let that sit for a moment, keeping my eyes firmly locked on him while he tries to look anywhere else. “And that would be the same Annabeth who?—”
“Do we really need to drag it all back up?” he interrupts in a grumble.
I raise my voice to speak over him, “—pricked holes in your condoms and then told you she was pregnant? That Annabeth? The one who then had a very convenient miscarriage, and then got engaged to her personal trainer?” I smile tightly.
“I just want to be really clear that we’re talking about the same person. ”
“Fucking hell,” he snarls. “Yes, asshole, that Annabeth. She’s grown up a lot since then.”
“Has she?” I murmur, faux surprise widening my eyes. “You see her a bit, then?”
His own eyes get big with panic. “No, no, I don’t see her at all. We’re just… we’re friends on social media. And we keep up, you know, as you do with acquaintances.”
“Can’t say I’ve spent time with women who’ve tried to baby trap me,” I counter.
“No, you just spend time with viperous bitches instead,” he snaps back.
I slice him with a furious stare. “Don’t fucking push me, Carter.”
“I’m not saying anything that’s not true,” he argues stubbornly. “You think Silvia’s on your side, but she’s not. She just knows exactly what to say to manipulate you.”
“I know exactly who Silvia is,” I say flatly. “Enough. Tell me who my father has been meeting with.”
He looks like he might argue, but shakes it off. “Donald’s been meeting on the sly with all of Hi-Tech’s suppliers. Going off the evidence I’ve gathered, I would guess he’s planning on investing or obtaining all future contracts.”
I scowl. Hi-Tech was a research and development company specializing in the development of next-generation microchips.
They were used globally across the health and medical sector, and the company was years ahead of anyone else in the market.
With the CEO looking to retire, I’d been working on a deal to acquire the company for well over a year.
“You think he’s gonna destroy their supply chain,” I muse with no small amount of anger.
“He wants to isolate Hi-Tech, giving Grant Foster no choice but to go into negotiations with him.” He narrows his eyes. “He’s tanking Hi-Tech’s value before the sale goes through, because you never told him that the deal changed, and that you were buying Hi-Tech outright from Grant.”
“Goddammit,” I curse, scrubbing a hand through my hair.
Carter makes a noise of agreement, his mouth pursed. “Exactly. You’re out to buy Foster’s company, and your father’s decided to basically pour gasoline all over the place, ready to light it up.”
“Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” I say sarcastically. “When did he start this campaign?”
Carter grimaces. “According to the dates on the email, a week before the wedding.”
I sit back, pressing two fingers to my lips as I think back. “That fits,” I mutter. “He showed up here, demanding a meeting. Told me if I didn’t cancel the wedding, I was gonna regret it.” Carter curses and I nod. “Has he actually got any of the contracts yet?”
He lifts his hands, palms up. “My contacts?—”
“Annabeth.”
“My contacts—” he repeats firmly, “aren’t that informed. But the board of Nexus Capital has heard some rumors, and they’re nervous.”
I slap my palms against my desk, leaning forward with a furious glower. “How the fuck did they find out? You just said my father was doing this on the sly!”
“I don’t know, man.” He shrugs helplessly.
“I wish I could tell you, but something smells fishy.” His phone beeps in his pocket and he pulls it out, glancing down with a disinterested look.
“I’ve got a meeting. I’ll get my assistant to bring all the files down for you.
I kept everything off the company servers, knowing Donald still has access.
” He stands up, shaking his head. “I just don’t get his reasoning.
If he didn’t trust you to handle this, why did he hand over the reins of Nexus? ”
I sigh tiredly, running a hand through my hair.
“It’s not about trusting me,” I say. “It’s about getting revenge on Foster for something that happened twenty goddamn years ago.
” And smack in the middle of it all, with no idea about any of it…
was Lily. “I’ll need to push the meeting forward with Foster, to get ahead of my father. I’ll see if he has time tomorrow.”
The intercom sitting on the corner of my desk lights up, and I press the button connecting me to Adam. “Yes?”
“Sorry to interrupt.” He doesn’t sound very sorry, and I raise my eyebrows, meeting Carter’s eyes as he grins. “But Mr. Ledger is here, demanding an emergency meeting.”
“There’s the board now,” Carter murmurs unnecessarily.