Twenty-One #2
“You’re lucky your company has done so well. Honestly, I’m surprised. But this news could undo all of that.” His dad’s tone was rife with finality.
“You don’t think I know that?” James headed for the nearest exit, tugging his suitcase off a snag in the rug.
His dad hummed. “I’m not saying that. Just … if you play your cards right, it won’t.”
James didn’t pause in his steps as he exited into the gray sunshine and made a beeline for the private car he had confirmed earlier. He handed his suitcase to the driver and slid into the back seat. “What do you mean?”
The car pulled away from the curb a moment later, lurching along with James’s stomach as his dad answered, “Say that Sophie blackmailed you into everything, and that you only looked happy in those pictures because you had to be.”
Something rumbled and flipped in James’s lungs, disbelief twining through them. Was his dad seriously asking him to throw Sophie under the bus?
“Like hell, I will,” James snarled.
God, his dad was known for being a ruthless businessman, but dragging Sophie down to cover James’s ass …
“Listen to me,” his dad barked. “I know you might have feelings for her, but she’s just a woman with nothing to her name. At the end of the day, what matters more—your company that’s already on thin ice, or her?”
“Her.”
“Wrong,” his dad said. “She doesn’t matter in our world. You know, you’re lucky I even let you keep seeing her.”
“Since when do you care?” James snapped. The remark was immature, but he didn’t care.
“Since she’s made you the subject of a significant conflict of interest regarding your business practices,” his dad continued, unfazed. “You need to protect yourself and watch where you step.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” James growled. “And she didn’t do anything, so don’t you dare go blaming it on her.”
“I’m only saying this for your own good,” his dad asserted.
“No, you’re not,” James responded tightly. “And let’s not pretend otherwise.”
He hung up and stared out at England as it passed by. It had started drizzling slightly, and the ground darkened.
‘You need to protect yourself.’
If Sophie understood that, why couldn’t he?
I don’t want to.
James could barely focus on what was being discussed at the meeting, and his leg thumped incessantly as the head of the French company droned on.
All that clouded James’s mind was how to fix things with Sophie.
“What are your thoughts?”
He blinked and stared at the CEO, who returned the look expectantly.
James searched for the right French words, stumbling as he spoke. “Uh … I think …”
The CEO’s personal assistant caught his attention.
A smile tilted her lips as she stared at the pen he had picked up and started rolling between his fingers subconsciously. Meeting his eyes, she raised a brow suggestively.
A twinge racked his heart and he cleared his throat, focusing on the CEO.
“I believe we have what you are looking for, but I’ll give my assistant a call to check. If we do, I’ll have her email in the photos,” he confirmed. “Excuse me.”
Pushing back from the table, he walked into the hall, staring at his phone.
The ringer heralded into the silence once, twice, then connected. “Hello?”
The windowpane pressed against his back. “Hey, I hope it’s not too early.”
Keys clacking filled the air behind Jackie. “No, you’re fine. Is everything okay?”
He blew a breath out of his mouth. “Yes. Do you know if we have this piece in our collection?”
He named the one the CEO described.
“Our database says we do, but I know we just sold some pieces last night,” she said. “It might not have been updated yet. I’ll have to get back to you on that. By the way, why are you calling me? Don’t you normally email this sort of thing?”
The cool glass trailed icy fingers through his suit and he shivered. “Sure, but I guess I felt like calling for once.”
“Uh-huh, right. Tell me, how worried are you about the state of things?”
Chuckling, he perched on the window ledge, bracing his free hand on it beside him. “Fine, you got me. How are things?”
“I’ll be honest with you, it’s not good,” Jackie reported. “Half the company doesn’t care about what you did, and half do. They don’t want to work under a ‘corrupt CEO.’
James sighed, crossing his ankles.
“Also,” Jackie continued. “I checked again and there’s more now.”
James’s heart dropped and he kneaded his temples with his fingers. “More articles? Fuck, I thought Gem and Cami were trying to control them.”
“They’re doing their best, but there are still two more pages.”
He bit his knuckles. Shit, shit, shit.
“Right, well. Keep me updated,” he said.
Hanging up, he ignored the ringing in his ears and moved toward the conference room again when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He drew it out and nearly dropped it.
His eyes fixed on the name he’d hoped to see since that day at the airport, staring at the option of answering the call.
Sophie ignored the messages he sent, so he backed off, convinced she really was permanently done with him. But here she was, calling.
Swiping the screen, he lifted the cell to his ear with a shaky hand.
“Sophie?” he said. “Listen, I—”
“I was going to hang up.” Her voice was too quiet.
Panic flooded him, and he braced his hand against the nearest door frame.
“Are you okay? Are you still the account director?” he blurted. “Are you still at Covey? God, Marilyn knows, doesn’t she? I am so sorry.”
If she lost that because of him … I understand why she never wants to see me again.
She was so quiet he thought she’d gone, but then she spoke. “Yes, I’m still at Covey, and I’m still account director. And yes … she knows.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said. He was more desperate than he had been his entire life.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the articles?” she asked, ignoring him.
He sighed. He hated every second of the secrecy. Every time he looked at her after the initial rumors, it was like someone plunged a knife straight into his gut, then yanked it out and poured a blend of lemon juice and salt in the wound. But …
“You’d just gotten your promotion,” he explained. “If you knew, it’d have added more stress onto your shoulders and you would have lost the promotion on top of that. Hell, you might even have lost your whole job.”
“Yes, I suppose,” she mumbled. She cleared her throat. “What about the other part?”
Shaking his head, confusion zinged through him. “What?”
He glanced at his watch, then cast his gaze to the conference room. He had to get back. As it was, he already walked the tightrope with this company.
The CEO had read about the scandal and, with some reluctance, agreed to meet with James.
But right now … he needed to stay here and hear Sophie’s voice.
“I’m talking about me getting the promotion,” she said. A strange anger gripped her words, making each one sting as they latched onto him. “Was any of it because of what I did? Because of my skills? Or was it all you?”
He clutched his phone, ears hollowing out. This was what she was mad about?
I knew I was making a mistake. I should've trusted my gut.
“Of course, it was you!” he spluttered. “You’ve been talking about this since we met. I know you’ve wanted this for longer than that, too.”
“And I was proving it myself!”
He stepped back towards the window, shrinking into himself.
“I didn’t want or need you to step in,” she continued. “Now, every time I come into work, I have to face the fact that I didn’t get here myself. Do you know what kind of feeling that is? Not to mention the looks I get.” She scoffed. “I … I was doing this for my mom. For myself.”
“I know.” He gripped the windowsill. “I figured it out.”
“Then that makes this even worse,” she snapped. “You stepping in made me seem incompetent!”
“Sophie, I’m sorry.” He took off his glasses. “But—”
“If you say it’s me again, I swear to God.”
He shook his head. “I really had nothing to do with this.”
“Right, so after you talked with Marilyn, she just happened to give me what I wanted? Excuse me if I don’t believe that.”
His argument died, shriveling to dust on his tongue. She had a point. What if her promotion did have something to do with him?
But, no, that wasn’t possible. Not with everything she had told him about her hard work. All he’d done was give Marilyn another example of that.
“Sophie, wait. I—”
The beeping signaling the end of the call cut across the silence and he snatched the device away from his ear, staring at his home screen in shock. He swallowed and hit his messages icon in a frenzy, swiping into the thread with Sophie.
I’m sorry. Please call back?
He waited a few minutes and when she didn’t reply, he called her. It rang endlessly before resulting in voicemail. Trying again, he got the same outcome.
Checking his watch, he swore. He had to get back to the meeting, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was turning his back on her.