8. Capri
C apri~
It was the end of the day, but I knew that my father was still in his office.
Even though the papers had already been signed, I knew my father well enough to know that he wasn’t going to just dip out, taking the coward’s way out.
While there was no need for me to be here beyond next week, I knew that my father would stay through the transition, assuring all the employees that everything was going to be fine.
Thanks to my upcoming marriage.
Now, it could easily be argued that I wasn’t responsible for everyone else’s livelihoods, and it could also be argued that it wasn’t my job to save the world.
The Cormac Corporation had found a way to get its hooks into Martha Holdings, and as much as it sucked, that was life.
Life had never been fair, and this was one of those situations as proof.
Plus, everyone here was a grown adult, so it was expected that they’d all do the grown-up thing and handle their business, despite their feelings regarding the takeover.
Still, I’d been given the opportunity to keep thousands of people employed, with special consideration to those that were nearing retirement.
If Martha Holdings went bankrupt, then lots of futures would hang in the balance, and no matter how I felt about Ares Cormac, I just couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t entertain his offer seriously.
As for how I felt about Ares Cormac, I couldn’t deny the dark shivers running down my spine when he had crowded me in my office earlier.
His hands on my neck and hip had felt like a searing heat shooting straight between my thighs.
There was also something hypnotic about that tawny gaze of his, and it’d taken everything in me not to throw myself at the man, dry spell or not.
There was also how he’d made it clear that he expected me to warm his bed every night, and in any other situation, I would have loved to jump at the chance.
However, this wasn’t any other situation, and I felt like Ares was pretending to be a pup when he was really a wolf.
He kept saying that his motives didn’t matter, but they did.
They did because there was no way that I was going to be able to be married to the man and still keep my distance; I wasn’t cold like that.
I knocked on the door to my father’s office before letting myself in, sure that he was alone. While we had quite a few employees that worked late hours, none of them would be up in my father’s office right now. Most of our late-nighters were number crunchers.
Letting myself in, my father looked up as soon as I shut the door behind me, and though he looked tired, he didn’t look haggard, so I’d take that as a win.
I wasn’t even sure if he’d told my grandfather yet, but that was also something that I didn’t want to get involved in.
I was quite close to my grandfather, and that was a heartbreak that I didn’t want to have to deliver.
“Hey,” he greeted, setting his reports down on his desk.
Taking a seat, I got right to the point. “Ares Cormac came to see me.”
His head reared back in shock, and I didn’t blame him. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Ares Cormac came to see me,” I repeated.
His eyes began to shift wildly. “Why? Why would he...why would he want to speak with you?” I watched him swallow nervously, but I understood his panic; this was a big deal.
“I thought...I mean, I know that your meeting with him the other day wasn’t amicable, but I didn’t think that it was bad enough for him to come here. ”
“Well, believe it or not, he came to make a...a deal of sorts,” I hedged.
My father’s brow immediately furrowed. “A deal?”
I nodded. “He claims that he doesn’t want the headache of dealing with the ownership transition, so he proposed a...a kind of partnership. It’ll leave me in charge of Martha Holdings, and all the employees will be able to keep their jobs.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” he said, repeating the same thing that I’d said myself. “Why would he buy the company just to give it back to you?”
“He said his motives were irrelevant,” I answered honestly. “Truthfully, he kind of spoke in riddles, not making much sense.”
My father leaned back in his chair, regarding me carefully. “There has to be a catch, Capri. After all, this is Ares Cormac that we’re talking about here.”
It was time to bite the bullet. “He wants me to marry him, and in exchange, he’ll gift me Martha Holdings as a wedding present.”
His eyes widened to the size of platters, and it was almost comical how shocked he was, considering that I had reacted the exact same way. “What?”
“That’s the deal,” I said. “I’ll become CEO of Martha Holdings if I marry him, and everything will run as it’s been.”
“Where...where does that leave me?” he asked, and it was hard not to feel sorry for him. It was one thing to voluntarily retire like my grandfather had, it was quite another to be forced into retirement.
“I’m not sure,” I answered. “If nothing else, we can put more into your retirement if Martha Holdings still belongs to a Cohen.”
“It will definitely help to keep Ines in the lifestyle that she’s become accustomed to,” he muttered, and I had to grit my teeth from snapping at him. We were losing everything, but all he cared about was Ines’ image in their gated community.
“Honestly, I think that we have more important things to consider,” I told him. “There’s more at stake here than Ines’ country club membership.”
He shot me a look, silently reprimanding me. “What was your answer?”
“I didn’t give him one,” I sighed tiredly. “I wanted to speak to you first.”
“What’s there to talk about, Capri?” he asked, and his callousness took me by surprise a bit.
“If you don’t marry him, then we lose everything, and we’re not the only ones.
The employees that have dedicated their lives and careers to Martha Holdings will also lose everything.
Plus, I still haven’t told your grandfather about the devastating news.
If you marry Cormac, then we won’t have to tell him anything.
We can simply tell him that I decided to retire, leaving you to run the company. ”
“So, I’m the sacrificial lamb?” I almost snapped, upset that he was essentially feeding me to the wolves...or wolf, as was in this particular case. “What happened to Ares being the enemy?”
“Isn’t it best to keep your friends close but your enemies closer?” he countered. “Besides, people get married for business reasons all the time.”
I started to shake my head. “I can’t believe that you haven’t any reservations to this.”
“That’s not true,” he quickly corrected.
“I have lots of reservations about you marrying someone as ruthless as Ares Cormac. Nevertheless, we can’t let sentimentality get in the way of the bigger picture, Capri.
We’re talking about thousands of livelihoods at stake.
We’re talking about your grandfather’s financial future, as well as mine and yours. ”
“Grandfather has enough money to last him for his remaining years,” I pointed out.
“Which will be considerably less when the stress of losing Martha Holdings finally does him in,” he replied coldly, and he wasn’t necessarily wrong.
“So, that’s it?” I asked, even though it was clear to see that he was on his own side on this. “I marry Ares, keep Martha Holdings, and you, Ines, and Grandpa Yoseph get to all ride off int the sunset, none worse for wear?”
My father let out a heavy sigh, and it was one that I was used to. He hadn’t ever really liked dealing with my combative personality, and now was no different. “You can always say no, Capri,” he pointed out. “Despite Cormac’s motives, my reasoning, or your grandfather’s wishes, you can say no.”
I shook my head as I stood up, upset that he was right. I had come for his advice, but he’d basically said the same thing that Ares had said. I had only two options here, and this was simply about choosing the one that I could live with best.
“I’ll see you Monday,” I told him, the writing on the wall a mess of choices.
“What are you going to decide?”
“I don’t know,” I lied, letting him stew for not automatically choosing my side as my father. “I have until tomorrow at nine to think about it.”
“I’ll expect to hear from you as soon as you decide, Capri,” he said, and I knew a command from my father when I heard one. “I’ll need to prep for whatever announcement we give on Monday.”
“Sure thing, Dad,” I drawled out before turning, then heading out of his office.
After greeting the cleaning crew in the hallway, I made my way back to my office, and no matter how much I wanted to fight it, I knew that I had only one choice in this situation.
I couldn’t live with myself if everyone lost their jobs when I could have prevented it.
Besides, regardless of Ares’ comment about divorce, I couldn’t see the man staying married to me after the novelty wore off.
Ares Cormac was as far away from a family man as you could get, so that’s what I needed to hold onto.
I just had to tough it out for a few years, until he finally saw how ridiculous this was.
I glanced around my office, and for the first time in my life, I regretted not having a free-standing bar available to me. I needed a drink right now, and if I went to an actual bar, they’d probably have to kick me out, and it wouldn’t do to show up at the church hungover in the morning.