Like it or not, I’m stuck with them.
I have no other choice but to alter the board’s perception and convince them I’m no longer a bed-hopper and—even though I’ll never be Barron—I’m theonlysuitable contender. Niels Knight’s desperation became my golden ticket when he barreled into my office unannounced, unwilling to budge until I granted him a meeting. Ironic… like father, like daughter.
In a pinch, he needed a little over two hundred million dollars—an astronomical sum for most. Pocket change for me. I was in a different kind of pinch. I needed an image makeover, stat. One look at Michaela’s photo and I accepted Niels’s merger-marriage request on the spot.
“Michaela stormed in here without knowing what her father was up to.” Slate’s comment breaks me from my rumination. “I’m willing to bet my fortune, she knows by now.”
“I hope so. I have no doubt Niels had his reasons for keeping this from her for this long, but now that the cat is out of the bag, he’s forced to fess up. None of the women I date?—”
“You mean, fuck.”
“Thank you, choirboy.”
He grins.
Asshole.
He’s as much of a manwhore as I am. All four of us are. There’s a reason the press dubs us, the filthy rich playboy kings.
“Like I was saying, none of my flighty one-night fucks would be able to step into the role of Mrs. König and dupe the board. Michaela Knight has the perfect pedigree—she’s intelligent, elegant, poised, passionate, and incredibly beautiful. Another feather in her cap, she’s used to the media’s scrutiny.”
She’d fit into my world—into my wicked plan—like the queen she is.
“You have to find a way to lasso that filly—I mean, win over your runaway fiancée and put a ring on it,” my brother says.
“You make it sound so easy.”
“A little König charm and she’ll be putty in your hands,” Slate says.
“It’s going to take a lot more than a little charm.”
“Then turn the volume way up.”
“That woman needs aMasterto taper the hellion in her. The flare of rebellion in her green eyes as she flipped me the bird suggests you don’t tame a woman like Michaela Knight. You fucking dominate her.”
My brother nods as a familiar cocky smile stretches his lips. “Good thing you hold a PhD in the subject.”
I can’t help my wicked grin.
Chapter 5
Michaela
My head spins like a cyclone all the way to Rhys’s place. A thousand questions rattle in my brain. On numerous occasions I was tempted to call my father back because I didn’t have the patience to wait, but I refrained. Something tells me once I have this discussion with him, my world will never be the same. It’s like I’m a puppet on a string and I’ve lost all control.
The ride back seemed interminable. LA traffic and all.
Once I paid the cabbie, I slid out of the car and closed the door, the thumping sound as eerily scary as the lid of a coffin closing over me while I’m still alive. The moment I stepped into the main house to tell Keira I was back, she could tell something was wrong. There was no hiding it—stress was rolling off me. She had a thousand questions. I didn’t have answers. I only have bits and pieces of information, and none of it makes a lick of sense. I promised her I’d spill my guts once I talked to my father.
Daddy, you have some explaining to do.
With my head hanging low, I make my way to the guesthouse. I kick off my high heels and shrug out of my pink dress in favor of shorts and a tank top. With my phone clenched in my hands, I walk to the living room, plop myself on the sofa, and video call my father.
When Daddy accepts the call, his tired face fills the screen.
His green eyes, darker than mine, hold my gaze before his lips part in a sad smile.
My heart is beating so fast, I swear it’s going to jump right out of my rib cage and start running back to New York City.
