VICTORY BLAKELY DRAGGED the sun out of hiding the very next week when she showed up at work with her crew. She even wore a yellow blouse tucked into a pencil skirt, as if to solidify her joy through colors. A large bag hung from one of her shoulders, and she smiled like she wanted to be here with everyone else who had arrived bright and early with stars in their eyes.
She showed all her teeth to Gloria who was introducing people, a grin so brilliant everyone should have known it was fake. Then she tried to laugh at something Stevie said, but her hand stayed on the handle of her bag, gripping it tightly.
Holding in her real feelings.
I stood in my office, leaning against a floor-to-ceiling glass wall that overlooked the office space below. I seated the best of the best in that space, right there in front of me. The open desk concept allowed ideas to fly freely and honestly. It gave me immediate access to everyone I needed on a daily basis too. This was my empire, and I ruled from a few steps above.
Gloria, like a king’s hand, moved down my list of onboarding duties, brutal in her six-inch heels and plum form fitting dress. I noted which men’s eyes lingered too long on that violet fabric and filed the information away.
Most men who let their dick overpower them on their first day wouldn’t last long at Stonewood Enterprises. It seemed I would do some firing sooner than I had anticipated.
Gloria, efficient and effective in all she did for me, snapped her binder shut. Her dark eyes flicked my way, and she nodded to indicate she’d finished. Last week she’d played up her sex kitten role because I’d correctly guessed it was the right way to butter up the men in that room.
Now, we were back to business, and that woman was the best at it. She knew as well as I did most of the men eyeing her would be gone within a few months. I’d never failed her in that regard.
I pushed off the glass and walked out of my office. I unbuttoned my suit jacket as I stepped down the stairs.
Eyeing Stevie first, I addressed him for the last time as the man I’d relieved of a business. “Happy to have absorbed your company, Stevie. It’ll be great having you work for us.”
He nodded, eager to please. “Absolutely. I think the acquisition will go through—”
“It’s already done, but the rest of your company will move here next month. That said, I have the people I want here now. We’ll be moving each of you to departments of need as Gloria said. Today, we have more onboarding that is personalized to your job descriptions.”
Gloria handed out files and more of my team appeared.
“My people will get everyone up to speed and show them to their departments. Most of you won’t be in this office. I have a very small team operating in here, personnel I need direct access to at all times. Every office throughout this building is a part of our family though. Remember that you’re one of us now. Welcome aboard Stonewood Enterprises, where the sky’s the limit for some, but not us.”
My canned welcome earned genuine smiles, but Vick’s was just as fake as my welcome. That woman wanted to roll her eyes at me, I knew it.
I turned on my heel and went back to my office. This was a normal day for me. We acquired companies all the time.
The only abnormal part was that I’d seated Vick and Stevie at two desks directly in front of my glass office. Gloria didn’t question why I wanted an associate lawyer and small business owner there. She eyed me with curiosity when I’d informed her of my decision though.
I wondered too. I told myself that after examining Vick’s file—which I did every now and again for new employees—I’d seen brilliance in her: she’d received a near-perfect score on her LSAT, turned down Harvard for a small school, and her mother used to run a Fortune 500 company. Having her on my team might be beneficial, but then again, I had Harvard graduates milling about in other offices.
So, maybe I was thinking with my dick that day too.
I saw most everyone peeling away from Vick and Stevie as they followed their mentors to the elevators. When the two of them were left with Gloria, I watched her give them the news. A high laugh burst from Stevie, a boy not able to control his emotions at all.
Vick’s amber gaze cut across the room to my office like a razor, catching me staring at her. She shook her head no and informed Gloria of the mistake.
“I’m just a junior associate. Surely Mark or John should be in this space.”
“I’m not mistaken,” Gloria replied. “Your desk is this way.”
Vick glared at me as she followed Gloria to a desk that was in my perfect line of vision. Stevie was directed to sit across from her. As Gloria gave them more instructions about their day, those amber eyes stayed glued to mine. She assessed the situation while I assessed her.
Game on, Pixie.
I headed back to my desk, determined to focus on work. My father’s number popped up on my cell as I sat down. I pressed the privacy button and the windows of my office tinted black so that no one could see in.
“Yeah, Pops?” I answered.
He sighed, “I could have been patching you on an important conference call.”
“And they all would have appreciated the father-son camaraderie.”
My dad’s laugh rumbled through the phone. “More like they wouldn’t have said shit to a Stonewood.”
I grunted in agreement. “What do you need?”
“We have signatures from the Armanelli family still?”
I glanced at my privacy button to make sure the light glowed red, indicating the room’s soundproofing had kicked in before I answered. “Why?”
“They’ll be trying to squeeze more from everyone in Chicago soon.”
“Bastian and I are good. They won’t ask us.”
“Bastian’s dad heads up Chicago, Jett. He doesn’t answer to his boy.” His tone wasn’t lost on me.
“Dad, making a fucking point through them to me won’t help you. You need to hand over the reins if you’re not going to steer Stonewood Enterprises with a clear head.”
“My head’s always been this clear.”
I turned to look out of my window at the lake Chicago abutted. The water shimmered in the distance, ever-changing yet always the same. “You keep up, I’ll give you that, old man. You don’t want to though. Your heart’s not in it. Mine still is.”
“Your heart was always in it. It’s a damn watch ticking to the beat of work. I’m not sure anything will ever jam up those cogs either.”
“Nothing will. Except potentially the Armanellis trying to take a bigger cut.”
“Bah.” My dad’s signature sound, the one he saved for my brothers and me, was his way of waving something off. He wasn’t going to give such an insignificant thing another thought. I wished I shared his ability to get past his concerns. “Don’t worry about it.”
“You called specifically for me to worry about it.”
Silence hovered on our line. My father’s voice was somber when he replied. “Maybe. Maybe I am getting a little tired of it all.”
The cogs stopped moving, jerked a little. Dad never admitted to wanting a break. The defeat in his voice shifted something in me. “It’s fall, Dad. Mom’s been emotional because of the wedding. It’s a lot. Take a few days, huh?”
“What if a few days is all I got?”
“Dad, come on.”
“I’m thinking I might agree with you after all this time and now you want to fight me?”
I cleared my throat. “Well, you not having your head in the game and half-assing it is still better than most people’s full-assing. The company needs you.”
“Not true. You and Jax handle things very well.”
“Jax is buried in algorithms half the time, and I’m stuck in meeting after meeting. We need you driving the stocks, your connections, your presence.”
More silence. “I’m thinking your mother needs me more.”
“Dad, come on. Not this bullshit again.”
“Love’s bullshit to you, son, but without it you wouldn’t be here.”
“You seem to forget the aftermath. Mom and you used to—”
“I’m aware our relationship damaged your outlook on love, Jett. Your mother reminds me of that more than anyone. But, make no mistake. What you witnessed between us was no aftermath. An interlude, sure. I’ll even admit to a break. But we were never done. There’s no such thing as an aftermath with us. She’s the only person aside from you boys who I will always fight for.”
“You didn’t fight very hard when the company was at stake and I came to run things with you.”
When he didn’t reply at once, I figured my attempt to go for the jugular had worked. He needed to pull his head out of his ass though. Our empire couldn’t have a lovesick leader and if I had to kick him a little to shake the illness, I would.
“Jett,”—his voice was woven with anger as he sighed my name—“the company is yours. I’m not making the same error twice. Your mother and I are flying back to Kauai for a few weeks. I intend to renew our vows. I intend to make things right.”
“I … you … are you fucking with me?” My ball of hate for love and happily ever afters grew twofold as I sat there waiting for a reply.
My father didn’t respond. He breathed into the phone, and I could picture him with his full head of silver hair, sitting in a desk much like mine, his index finger and thumb pinching the bridge of his nose. After so many years of working with him, I knew he was leaning back in his work chair when I heard the leather creak over the line.
“Dad, I’m not running this company without you.”
“You already are. Jax will be there. I’m done.”
“You’re giving up a multibillion-dollar company that you built from the ground up to run off into the sunset with the woman you think was your first love? You two could barely stand one another ten years ago! And that woman flies off the handle as much as you do. You’re putting the company at risk for nothing.” I tried to check my rising voice. I straightened a file on my desk. “Let’s just back up a step.”
“I’m not backing up at all, boy. This is me and your mom. We built this empire for you boys. Don’t forget that she was just as much a part of it as I was.”
“She wasn’t keeping the company afloat—”
“She kept this goddamn family afloat,” he yelled. “She worked her ass off to raise you boys and did a damn good job. And she righted my ship so many times, I should give the company to her, not you. Don’t make me question my decision.”
His shouting knocked me right off my high horse. The man was still my father, still the guy I looked up to, still the one I wanted to make proud even if I wouldn’t admit it. “I’m not saying she’s not a good mother—”
“You better not be saying anything of the sort.”
I sighed. “Can we just back up?”
“I’m not going back. I’m sick of the past where I don’t have her, Jett. I’m done. Start drawing up your crew. Get your goals together. You’re captain. You better not sink my damn ship.”
The phone lit up, signaling he’d ended the call. He might have been done with the conversation, but I sure as hell wasn’t.
I stalked out of my office and yelled to Gloria to hold my calls. I took a side door to the stairwell that led directly to my father’s floor. The rich mahogany doors screamed old school and clashed with my floor’s open concept. Every floor of Stonewood Tower varied in look and feel. The floors we managed represented our individual styles a lot closer than we wanted to admit. Dad’s style was always old money and power.
I didn’t knock or wait for his assistant to usher me in. She scrambled to buzz a message to him as I opened his door.
He sat behind his large wooden desk, smiling. The expansive piece of wood shined proudly in the middle of the room and a woman with dark hair curled in sleek waves sat on top of it, arms crossed, facing the door. She had a smile on her face to match his.
I groaned and started to swing the door closed as I backed out.
“Oh no, Jett Stonewood,” my mother shook her head and the dark curls swooshed lightly over her shoulder. “You get your workaholic ass in here.”
“Mom,” I sighed and skulked into the room where I slumped into the chair directly in front of her. “I have to get back to work.”
“You want to get back to work, you can start with an apology.” Her voice didn’t hide her amusement.
“If you two wanted a conversation, we could have continued it over the phone.”
“I wanted to see my son, not just hear his voice. I shouldn’t have to come to the tower to do it.”
“Mom, we’re busy.”
She clucked her tongue. “You’re about to get busier. That mean you don’t have time for your mother?” She leaned forward, arms still crossed like she was daring me to say no.
I shook my head and looked at my father. “You could have told me you had me on speakerphone.”
He chuckled, and I took in his relaxed shoulders, his light laugh, how the lines on his face disappeared when he grinned. Loving my mother always agreed with him; being in her company practically made him a teddy bear.
Without her, he was the most ruthless businessman in the country, one not even the mob would mess with. He’d woven himself into every big business in the city and staked a claim on it. But my mother honed his brilliance, and it showed whenever she came into town.
Dad motioned to her before he spoke. “She wanted to witness for herself how far off the deep end you were.”
She nodded and then slid off the table, pacing the office like her opinion of my work habits mattered. “You need to pull back, Jett. Jax will be with Aubrey. Your dad and I are leaving. You can’t take on the burden of managing this company alone. You have the most intelligent people working here. They know their products. Trust them. Trust our teams.”
“Dad, you can tell her that’s the worst business advice ever.”
He straightened in his chair. “I don’t think you need any advice. Just do as you normally would.”
Mom said from behind me, “No. He needs a vacation, Joe.”
“Honey, he can’t take a vacation when I’m about to resign.”
As he said the words, his eyes glazed over and a large grin formed on his face while he looked over my shoulder.
I turned to see my mother with the same damn watery smile on her own. “‘Resign,’ Joe. I love that word.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I grumbled.
My mom’s hand connected hard with the back of my head just as the words left my mouth. “Watch it. You’re treading on thin ice as it is. I’m so sick of your attitude.”
“My attitude? You two realize I’m a good son, right?”
“‘Good’?” she scoffed. “You’re not married, you work fifteen hour days like your father—”
“I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs. I’m successful. Forbes claimed I’m one of the most successful—”
“Success would be a grandson,” she mumbled while she glanced around the room and moved to straighten my father’s shelf. The awards that sat atop it, the photos of him with a president, the gifts from various businessmen. They were a testament to his accolades. Yet here he was throwing it away for love.
“Love and kids aren’t in the cards for me. You have Jax for that.”
“I have every single one of my boys for that.” Her voice cut through the office as she strode towards me with purpose. Mom was the most forbidding woman I knew when she wanted to be. Her striking blue eyes and tall willowy frame could come across as severe if she maneuvered herself just right. With a tailored pantsuit and deadly heels, she was a starkly beautiful older woman.
Maybe raising three boys and dealing with my father all these years had taught her something about authority, but I’m pretty sure it came naturally to her. “Each of my boys will give me grandchildren, you understand?”
She whispered, but her cold-blooded-killer stare screamed how serious she was.
“Mom, come on.”
“Don’t disappoint me. I’m so, so sick of being disappointed in you not finding the right girl and settling down.”
I stood. “You two have fallen off the sane train. I mean it.” I pointed at my father who was grinning like a fool. “You know I’m right.”
He shrugged.
If it had just been him, I would have stormed out. But I couldn’t leave my mom like that, so I wrapped up that crazy woman in my arms and kissed the top of her head. “Love you, Mom. If you’re here after I’m done with work, we can get dinner.”
Her blue eyes connected with mine and all I saw was love, no disappointment. “Sure, sweetie. Tell Brey I said hi.”
I nodded and walked out.
When I rounded the corner, the damn weight of a whole industry came down on my shoulders. Stonewood Enterprises was mine, and I knew better than anyone that one misstep could fuck it all up.
