What did he mean, who should inherit?
“I changed my will. If you’re not married by this time next year, then I will sell the company. If I die before that time, I’ve instructed my attorneys to sell the company and give the proceeds to different charities. Your trust fund will remain unaffected.”
“Let me get this straight — you’re blackmailing me into marriage now? You know how hard I work to make this company profitable, and you just want to sell it out from under me.”
“Of course I don’t want to sell it. However, I won’t let it run you into the ground. I know what happened to your parents has made you cynical, but a man needs an anchor. You need a family of your own.”
Michael couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His grandfather had threatened him many times before, but they were always baseless. He could see now that his grandfather was serious about his expectations and he began to resent the man. He would never get married; he would find another way. Possibly buy the company himself.
“If you’re thinking of purchasing it yourself then think again. I have an eager buyer waiting in the winds.”
Damn; the old man had thought of everything. “This is unfair Opa.”
“I understand why you may feel this way, but can’t you at least try? Just come to dinner tonight. I’m not forcing you to marry the girl.”
No, but you’re giving impossible ultimatums.
"Let's get this dinner over with.” Michael growled, then stalked out of the boardroom. His grandfather trailed happily behind him.
???
Le Capital was the type of restaurant that was bustling with human life and people celebrating something or the other, but the scene held very little appeal for Michael.
He stalled on the steps of the restaurant, wondering why he even came.
Yes, he had promised to try. He could have just flat out refused and gone home to review the company’s financial statement, a tedious concept since he may not even be running the company next year.
He glanced to the side only to catch his grandfather smiling smugly at him as if to suggest his thoughts were transparent.
“Having second thoughts?”
Michael snorted. "Let's get this over with," he said under his breath and headed for the door. It breezed open when he was a step away from it, propelled by the doorman.
His grandfather led him straight to their table. When Michael caught sight of the two people seated there, he could not help the thought that ran through him.
At least she is attractive.
Another man would have used more grandiose words to qualify the petite blond with black eyes and a body that was polished to perfection, but not him. He knew she looked like the picture of innocence, but one look at him and she betrayed herself.
She looked entitled and too desperate for his taste. He would bet his sizeable fortune that she believed he belonged to her. He stayed away from those types. They reminded him of his mother.
What a pity. He would never marry her — he couldn’t even bring himself to entertain the idea of another date at this point, but decided he would sleep with her once.
He was no angel and loved a romp in bed as much as the next one, and it had been too long since he had entertained a woman.
Maybe tonight?
“Michael, meet Jessika," his grandfather introduced the little blonde to him.
"With a K," her throaty voice interjected, and for one short moment Michael wondered if she would sound as breathless under him. It sounded too practiced, a little too well modulated and conscious to be natural but that hardly mattered.
He shook the hand she raised, acknowledged her companion, and the three men sat down. The waiter soon followed to take their orders.
She flirted, and fluttered her eyelashes, letting her hands stray a little too close to his, even though the table was large and the two older men were sitting with them. He ignored all her advances, both subtle and unsubtle.
Michael looked down on the manicured fingers curled elegantly around a goblet of wine, the delicate fingers led to a slender wrist that seemed to be almost too small to be real.
Over the rim of her glass, she regarded him with a bold stare, and he wondered all over again why he even came to dinner.
