Zander #2
“Gossip or not, they got access to our flight manifests and were able to link you two from the right time period. That takes an insider here and some searching. I don’t like what that implies about our employees and how easily our private information is getting out,” Hayes says, his anger rising to meet mine.
He’s always been incredibly private and comes down hard on anyone who steps out of line and shares company or personal information.
He had his own struggles with the Atlanta Haute List when he met his now-wife, Paige.
They were hounded from the beginning, every public step they took ended up on the Haute List, all the on-and-off portions of their relationship splashed on the internet, and several employees were let go in the process.
It doesn't surprise me in the least that his main concern is privacy and potential company leaks.
“Fuck!” I exclaim, my hands shooting out and stopping my brothers from continuing in this vein.
“It doesn't matter how it got out. I don't know if the kid is mine, and Harlowe isn’t telling me anything about him. She’s the only one who can confirm who the father is, and she wants nothing to do with me.”
“We can have a paternity test subpoenaed from her,” Payton offers gently.
I shoot daggers his way and wish I could toss him out the window.
“For fuck’s sake, you don’t know her like I do.
Sending a team of lawyers after her is just going to raise her defenses and make her howl her rage to anyone who will listen.
That’s a lot of ears right now that she has a new cookbook out and is appearing on local and national news segments and morning shows, and has stories splashed across the internet.
” It’s stupid to admit I have been digging into Harlowe since she crashed back into my life, but it’s the truth and may help us out.
“We don't need to demand a paternity test if she’s not even asking for the connection. We would have heard from her by now if she was trying to get into my bank account. Leave her the fuck alone,” I growl, surprised by the intensity of my rage as I stare my older brothers down.
I don't want them harassing Harlowe. Or going anywhere near her.
Payton steeples his hands in front of his face, his blue eyes blazing with an intensity that can only mean he’s scheming.
“Or we can turn this around in our favor. The public loves a good romance. They love seeing a bad boy reform for the right woman. Both would do wonders at taking the heat off Olympus while we clean up the cyber attack mess and the Pegasus issue.”
My throat constricts and my mouth goes dry. No.
“Are you seriously suggesting what I think you are, Pay?” Hayes asks, squeezing his temples between a thumb and forefinger. “There’s no fucking way he would do it.”
“Think of the headlines,” Payton says, holding his hands out in front of him to highlight an invisible marquee.
“Fuckboy billionaire breaks with one-night-stand tradition to become a family man. It would push public perception up faster than our stocks dipped in the first few weeks after the cyber attack. It would take the heat off the company at large, and you know we need that. It’s taking forever for our stock prices to come back up after we sent the all-clear that our data was safe outside of the Pegasus project. ”
“This is ludicrous. You can’t force me to claim a child that I have no proof is even mine and force a relationship with a woman I haven't spoken to in five years just for public perception.” My heart is beating wildly against my ribs at the very prospect.
That’s far more than attachment. It’s life-changing.
“You want to play at being CEO, but you balk at the prospect of putting your reputation as a sex-crazed fuckboy on the backburner when it’s what could save the company.
” Hayes scoffs and shakes his head. “All you would be doing is making a show of the attempt at reconnecting with Harlowe and the kid. We’re not asking you to fuck her out of pity.
We know you wouldn’t do that since she has no value to you, being a conquest well in your past,” he says, both challenging and poking fun at me.
“Olympus needs you to man the fuck up and take some goddamn responsibility for once in your personal life. You made the choice to fuck without a condom and this is the consequence, just coming at you a delayed five years later. Our company’s reputation is still at rock-bottom and you figuring out your role as a parent would show your ability to take responsibility for your actions, and a softer side of the company leadership.
” Payton leans back in his chair, confident in his ability to push me into a corner there’s no fighting my way out of.
I cast a glare from him to Hayes and point my finger his way, looking for any way out. “Why can’t we leak the news about Hater popping out kids with his hot debutante wife? That would show a softer side of the leadership, and the media already loves them, so it would be easy to focus on that.”
Hayes stiffens, but quickly relaxes, with a small smile softening his hard expression as he likely thinks of his wife who is about three months pregnant.
“We’re working on that, but we can’t announce anything yet, so stop deflecting from what’s asked of you now.
If you have a child, you need to be more than a sperm donor.
You’re a fucking Olsen, act like it. Own your mistakes and stop being a coward. ”
Fuck. He’s hitting below the belt, cutting off the legs of any other possibility I can latch onto. The worst part is he’s right. I am being a coward. But there’s a bigger obstacle in place than just my own hesitance to accept the mantle they want to saddle me with.
“Harlowe wants nothing to do with me,” I grit out.
“Change her mind, idiot.” Hayes’s look is withering. “You’re the hotshot CEO who can close any deal. Consider this the challenge of a lifetime. Make it work or prepare to watch the company you love so much be picked apart and crumble at your feet.”