Page 54 of Her New Billionaire Bosshole

“I just wanted to wish you good luck,” he says, before I can gather my thoughts enough to respond. “And let you know I’m proud of you for doing the right thing.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, shifting out of my seat, turning and stepping away from the table for a moment. “What exactly makes this therightthing to do?”

I’m thinking of Brandon — who is, objectively, doing the right thing — and how our father has refused to talk to him since he started divesting his inheritance.

Dad laughs like I’m making a joke. “Well, taking an offer of that size is kind of a no-brainer, son. Whoever made it must have known that you just couldn’t turn it down.”

It hits me so suddenly, so completely, that I feel stupid for not seeing it earlier.

First the call from Dad, then the call from the attorney right after. I’d thought, because if my brain’s preoccupation with him, that it would be Clark Eddings behind the offer. But it wasn’t.

“It was you?”

I’m furious, the anger building up inside me, flushing my skin, and my father laughs.

“Took you long enough to figure that out, son.”

“But youhatesports investing. Why would you offer me such a ridiculous sum just to get me to sell the team? That doesn’t make any sense if you’re not interested in building the franchise.”

“I’m not interesting in building it,” he says, with a bored tone, like that’s beside the point. “I was going to dissolve it the second you signed it over.”

The thought of that hits me like a ton of bricks — the disaster that I only just narrowly avoided. I think about Sophie, the players, Rhett and Steven, the people who love this team and rely on it.

“I don’t even know what to say to you right now.”

“You could start withthank you.”

“Why—” I bite off the sentence, stalking to the side, thrusting my hand into my hair even though it’s been perfectly put together by the stylist. “Why in the world would Ithankyou for lying to me?”

“Less of a lie, more of a strategic move. You’re my son, and I care about you. It’s more than worth it to me to waste a few million dollars to get you out of that fucking city.”

My dad doesn’t normally swear, and the sound of it from his mouth knocks me off-kilter. A sound tech appears at the side ofthe stage, making a hand signal to me that I don’t understand. They probably want me back, to sit down for the signing.

“Icareabout this team, Dad. Do you get that?”

“You think you care about it,” he fires back, a little venom flying into his voice. “But when a good offer came across the table, you were more than ready to abandon it. So how much, exactly, does it matter to you?”

“That was because?—”

Again, I cut myself off, realizing I don’t want to say a thing about Sophie to him. He doesn’t deserve to know about her — to hear about how happy she’s made me in the short time I’ve known her.

“Becausewhat?” His voice is prodding, insistent, and in another moment of clarity, I realize that there’s more than one Clark Eddings in the world — and maybe my own father is one of them.

And I’ve already wasted too much of my mental energy on assholes like that.

“I have to go.”

“Elliot, we are not done with this?—”

I hang up the phone, still pacing back and forth, mind a whirlwind of thoughts. I think back to when I first bought the team, the way I walked in there and started demanding changes, how I thought it would be best to grab it with an iron fist.

I’m pissed off with my dad because he offered up the money for the team without telling me.

And Sophie isn’t talking to me because I was going to sell the team without telling her.

Even if I thought it was best for us, even if it’s my right to sell the team if I want, I should have been honest with her. I should have talked to her. We agreed that we were going to work together, and I took her cooperation without offering my own.

“Son of a bitch,” I whisper under my breath, shaking my head, not believing I could be so incredibly stupid, sostereotypicalas to become my own father without even realizing it was happening.