Chapter Two #2
She was glad she’d opted to buy herself a suit—she felt better seeing him again dressed like this: for business.
The navy pants were wide-legged, teamed with spike heels, and she’d tucked a cream-coloured blouse into them before adding the tailored blazer.
Her hair she’d pulled into a neat pony tail, to remove the temptation to toy with it as much as possible.
‘Annie,’ he said, with a slight nod. It was a slightly better greeting than the night before.
He gestured with his hand for her to enter the penthouse and she hesitated for only a millisecond before forcing herself to move through the door, ignoring the hint of his masculine fragrance she caught as she passed him.
Inside, she was immediately hit by the stunning view of the harbour, first, with the world-famous opera house right in front of her, and then, inside the apartment, the luxury of the furnishings.
Not a cent had been spared in creating the kind of home away from home that only the world’s wealthiest could possibly afford.
‘Not bad,’ she said, lips pulling to the side, trying to remember the Theo she’d known who’d been so averse to obvious signs of wealth, who’d virtually equated extravagance with the gutter. She turned to face him, and her stomach twisted viscerally. ‘I was surprised to hear from you.’
His features shifted, ever so slightly, in a sort of acknowledgement of that.
‘I take it you looked at the financials?’
‘I looked at them, yes.’ He crossed the room, so he was standing toe to toe with her, his nostrils flaring as he looked into her face. ‘The company is in a mess.’
She winced. ‘I know.’
‘What happened?’
She let out an uneven breath as she tried to work out how to explain it all—how her father had barely been able to function after his wife—Annie’s mother’s—death, and so Annie had done her best to step into the breach.
She’d also been grieving though—she’d barely recovered from the blow of losing Theo, and then her mother had died.
So she’d hired a temporary business manager to work with her, but it had all gone pear-shaped.
‘It’s my fault,’ she said, slowly, heavily, the admission hurting to say. ‘I thought I could handle it, but I messed up, and if I don’t fix it, if I can’t fix it…’
He didn’t say anything, but she felt the force of his gaze on her face. She refused to cry in front of him, but she did sniff a little, to stave off the emotions that were rioting through her.
‘Why did you think I would be interested in this?’
She made herself meet his eyes. ‘Because you used to care for me, and I thought there might be some part of you that still does.’
A muscle jerked in the base of his jaw. ‘You were mistaken.’
It felt like a blade was slicing through her midsection.
She nodded slowly, but now, anger was usurping grief.
‘Is that why you organised this meeting? To see my reaction when you told me that to my face? I never had you pegged as a sadist, Theo.’ She waited a moment, to see if he would explain, apologise, say anything that would lessen her anger, but he just stared her down, face neutral.
Annie made a sound of disapproval, then began to stalk towards the door, but Theo was right behind her, his hand curving around her wrist, bringing her to a stop.
‘I did not arrange this meeting to insult you,’ he said, crisp and calm. ‘I was genuinely curious about your reasoning for seeking me out. After all, you have many friends who could help you with this.’
Annie’s heart hurt. The truth was, she’d seen what her friends were really like in that god-awful year of intense grief, when Theo was gone, and her mother had died.
There wasn’t a single one of them she’d turn to in a crisis.
Not after that. When Annie was no longer a source of lighthearted fun, she’d ceased to be someone they thought of at all.
If anything, the last five years had turned her into a recluse.
‘You made the most sense.’
‘No, that can’t be it. I drive hard bargains. I’m renowned for it—I was, even back then. You must know that having seen your financials, I would offer you only what the actual value of the company is—and such an amount would be an insult to your father.’
She noted the fact he referred only to her father, confirming that he knew her mother had died. And hadn’t reached out.
She’d been dead to him, like he’d said she would be.
And oh, how she’d needed him then. How she’d wanted him to kiss her and make her tattered heart better.
‘I had hoped—’ but it had been a stupid hope.
‘I’m not a charity.’
She flinched. ‘The company is in bad shape—I’m the first to admit it. But the potential—’
‘Yes, there is potential,’ he admitted. ‘To be frank, there is potential that I doubt it has even occurred to your father to think about harnessing, but I can see it. And if the company were mine, I have no doubt I could reverse its course in eighteen months.’
She drew in a shallow breath. ‘Aren’t you tempted, to see what you can do? When was the last time you had a challenge like this?’
His lips quirked in an expression of wry amusement. ‘Every investment I make is a challenge. I seek that out.’
‘So seek this out,’ she half begged.
‘I told you, when I acquire an asset, it is in its entirety. That’s just how I do business.’
‘I can’t do that,’ she whispered. ‘I know I need help, to turn things around, but this is my father’s pride and joy. He’s lost so much, Theo, please, I can’t ask him to lose this, too.’
For a moment, Theo’s eyes flexed with a dark tumble of feelings, so Annie felt like the floor had fundamentally shifted beneath her feet.
‘How badly do you want my help, Annie?’
She blinked, something like hope flickering, albeit briefly, in her chest. ‘I—need it,’ she admitted, aware she was putting all her cards on the table. ‘I’m begging you, in fact.’
‘Excellent. Now that we’ve established my preferred bargaining position, let me explain what would make this deal worthwhile, and we can see just how desperate you are, hmm?’
The hope flickering in her chest extinguished as wariness stole through her instead.
‘I hate your father, Annie. I want to be clear about that, from the start. Your goal is to help him, my goal is to hurt him. However, through this merger, we can both achieve our ends. You should be aware, though, what my intentions are, going in.’
Her lips parted in shock at the darkness of that admission. ‘How can you say that?’ she whispered.
‘Your father is an elitist snob, the kind of man who sees suffering and turns up his nose to face the other way. He is a judgemental bastard I would happily never think of again, for my entire life.’
Annie’s heart felt as though a mountain had been dropped on it. She blinked now, unable to step the moistness gathering behind her eyes. ‘How can you say that?’ she repeated.
‘We both know how—and why—I feel as I do. What you are perhaps not aware of is the amount your father offered me to leave you alone, nor the conversation we had that night. Unlike you, I told him precisely where he could take his interference. Unlike you, I chose to stand by our relationship.’
Annie’s lips parted on a rush of shock. ‘What?’
‘If I hate your father, it is because of the things he said to me that night, the way he acted. I have no doubt he has said similar things to you about me, often enough, to spare us both the need for a rehashing of the conversation. Suffice it to say, he is not someone I would be interested in helping, were it not also a means to achieving my own ends.’
Annie could have been blown over by a light breeze.
She could hardly think straight. She’d had no idea her father had gone to Theo, no idea he’d offered to pay him off, to get him out of Annie’s life.
Though she shouldn’t have been surprised: her parents would stop at nothing to control every aspect of Annie’s life, but she hadn’t thought them capable of that.
What had her father said to Theo? The idea of Elliot Langley offering Theo money made her skin feel all clammy—like she was some kind of commodity—but she couldn’t focus on that now.
She’d come here with a single purpose, and she didn’t intend to leave empty-handed.
‘What exactly are your “ends”?’ she asked, steeling herself for whatever his response would be.
Annie hadn’t realised he was still holding her wrist, until he started to stroke his thumb over the soft skin there. She glanced down, surprised by the familiar sight of his hand on her flesh, and how much it made her insides glow with warmth.
‘Your father made it abundantly clear that the last thing he wants is for his precious princess of a daughter to be with someone like me. So we are going to present him with that reality, Annie.’
She gasped.
‘You and I will get married. It will be fast, it will be public, and it will be completely in his face. I will be in his face, and you, my dear Annie, if you want my help, will love me slavishly and devotedly in front of your father, lavishing me with affection, attention, until he almost can’t stand it. ’
The world seemed to be cracking apart, splintering into a thousand pieces. It was too cruel, too impossible to contemplate.
‘I can’t believe you,’ she ground out. ‘How can you even suggest—’
He dropped her hand then and the ice that seemed to flood her veins was a deluge of frigidity.
‘This is non-negotiable. Those are the only terms that will allow me to contemplate breaking my usual practices and buying less than half of a stake of a company.’
She shook her head, lifting a hand to her lips.
‘And I will not just buy it, Annie. I will make it a point of pride to turn your father’s company into a jewel of my crown. It will be ten times more valuable than he’s ever dreamed of. I can make that happen—but only if you marry me.’
‘You are such a bastard. How can I have ever thought otherwise?’
His smile was laced with cruel amusement. ‘I’m not sure. Everyone else seemed to have my measure.’
She looked beyond him, towards the white leather sofa, then crossed the room and sank down into it.
He was right. Everyone had warned her that he was dark, and tortured, that he’d been through too much for her to ever really be compatible with him.
They’d all said he was unpredictable, that he’d hurt her.
But she hadn’t believed it. She hadn’t, for one second, thought he was capable of behaving like this.
‘They were right about you,’ she said, squeezing her eyes shut on a surge of nausea.
For years, she’d felt guilty and remorseful for having ended it with Theo, for having ignored her own affection for him, her own instincts, in favour of her parents’ wishes.
And now she saw they’d been right. Her friends who’d warned her had been right.
Theo was the devil, and here she was, trying to make a deal with him.
‘By the way,’ he said, moving into the kitchen, his tone now careless. ‘In case you are wondering, this marriage will be real, in every way.’
When she looked up, it was to find his eyes latched to hers.
‘Yes, by that I mean we’ll share a bed. If I’m going to go along with this, there has to be some inducement.’
Her heart stammered; her pulse trembled. Did he have any idea what he was suggesting? Innocent Annie, who’d never been with a man before, was being propositioned into a loveless marriage that was to include sex.
Her voice wobbled as she said, quickly, ‘You’re the one who suggested marriage.’
‘As I said, an inducement.’
She flinched, hating him for speaking to her like that.
When they’d dated, he’d been so patient, so careful with her.
He hadn’t wanted to rush her, to pressure her; even when she’d been desperate to sleep with him, he’d said there was no rush.
She shuddered now, at the ease with which he was trying to pressure her into a marriage that would include casual sex. ‘You are horrible.’
‘Apparently.’
‘I can’t—’
‘That is your prerogative. I also have a business Realtor I can put you in touch with, if you’d prefer to find a buyer on the open market.
I will warn you, though, you are likely to struggle to find someone who’ll consider the company in its current state.
Bankruptcy is more likely. And if you’re thinking I wouldn’t enjoy that prospect, then you really are clinging to some romantic notion of the man you thought I was. ’
The grief devouring her was overwhelming. How had she been so stupid and wrong about him? How had she misread him so completely?
Besides, she knew a business Realtor wouldn’t get her anywhere. She’d consulted with one six months ago, when she’d realised how badly things had been mishandled. He’d advised her just as Theo had—though he’d chosen his words with a little more compassion than the man opposite.
‘Why on earth would you want to marry me?’
‘I told you.’
‘Just to hurt my father?’
He dipped his head in silent recognition of that.
‘I can’t believe it.’
‘Nonetheless, those are the facts. And one more thing, Annie.’
She hadn’t thought he was capable of anything else, but then he surprised her.
‘Every single cent of my profits will go to a charity of my choosing, that supports children like I used to be. Every cent. Your father will see the company he loves so much flowing to the hands of impoverished street kids.’
Annie’s jaw parted. Well, that wasn’t something she had any problems with. After all, she’d still own a controlling stake, and the profits from that would be used to support her father.
‘As for the percentage,’ Theo continued, pulling the rug out from under her once more, ‘only a fool would agree to allow you to continue to hold the lion’s share.
I will buy a fifty-five per cent stake, but,’ he held up a finger to silence her.
‘On the day we divorce, I shall return the whole thing to you. One hundred per cent.’
Annie’s brain hurt too much to fully understand what he was saying. She shook her head. ‘What?’
‘I am not interested in owning your company long-term. I will take it over, fix it up, make your father rich again, then walk away. But he will have to know two things,’ Theo said, his nostrils flaring with the force of his emotions.
‘It is because of me,’ he tilted his jaw.
‘And that you were mine, for as long as it suited me, and then I left you, on my own terms. If you can live with that, then you have a deal. Otherwise, I wish you well.’