“No, I was lost in ideas. I didn’t hear a thing. What are you doing here? I thought it was one of the guys coming home.” Now that I have some semblance of calm, I’m curious as to why he’s here.
He comes over, holding out my phone for me. “I’m here to go over those appearances with you,” he says, and I feel a wave of fury wash over me. I thought maybe, just maybe, he was here to see me, but of course he’s all business.
“What the fuck do you want from me, Cole? Can’t you take a hint? I don’t fucking want to do any appearances.” I stand up and start to storm out of the room, but before I can get past him, he grabs me by the arm and shoves me up against the wall. He pushes his body in close, much too close, and leans down until his mouth is beside my ear.
“Damn it, Jacinta, stop being so fucking selfish. Your family is under fire, so for once in your life, it’s time for you to step up and help them. Draw the attention away from your dad and his new relationships and your brothers and theirs. It’s time to put on a pretty dress and a vacant smile and draw everyone’s attention to you. Get drunk, get caught blowing someone in a closet, have a cat fight, but make sure everyone is looking atyou.”
I struggle in his grip, but he just pushes tighter against me. “Because you’re no longer CEO of one of the companies, it won’t look as bad as all of the past press. They will see a rich, bored socialite and lose interest in what the rest of the family has going on. Hopefully, this will help Neighpalm Industries weather the storm that’s coming.”
“Storm? What storm?” I sneer at him. “We’ve had some bad shit happen to us. Anyone else would have crumbled under the pressure my family has been under, but we’ve come out the other side stronger than ever.”
“Don’t be stupid, Jacinta. Brad and Howard weren’t as honest as they probably should have been during that board meeting. You’re in averyvulnerable position at the moment. A source has told me that Urie Sokolov is gunning for you. He is not happy about being beaten out for NW European Airlines, and he’s not happy about the fact that he can no longer return to the States because Thomas exposed him for stealing military secrets. He has combined forces with Diamant Unlimited, and they want to see your company torn down around you. All this bad publicity is just one of the tools in their arsenal.”
“Diamant Unlimited? Aren’t they that diamond company with rumors of blood diamond trading and ties to the Angolan government? Why on Earth would they be trying to bring Neighpalm down?”
“Having a legitimate tie to America will help them smuggle their diamonds in despite regulations making blood diamond trading illegal. I’m sure Urie made a case for why Neighpalm would be the perfect choice for their Trojan horse.”
“How is me appearing in the press going to fix any of that? Surely it will just make it worse.” I’m not ready to give up my argument yet, because what he’s suggesting makes me feel ill. Contrary to his belief, it’s not because I’m selfish. It’s because when I think about going out in public, I’m crippled by fear, not that I’ll ever tell this asshole that.
“It would be even better if you took on the count’s family name too. Then we can have the focus all on you and not on Neighpalm Industries as a whole.”
I feel like he just stabbed me in the gut with a knife.Give up being a Summers?But he doesn’t seem to notice as he keeps talking. “We need a scapegoat, Jacinta, and you’re it. While the others get to smile and save puppies and try to generate positive attention to make the public forgive their so-called sins, we need less eyes on them. They can only do so much to help themselves, and everyone loves a new trainwreck to make them forget the last.”
“And my family is okay with this? This is what Dad and Poppy want?” I ask quietly, losing all of my fight. Cole must realize this because he eases off me a bit, shaking his head.
“No, Jacinta, they have no clue I’m asking this of you. They wanted to ride it all out. They’re confident that this company is strong enough, and with the impending launches of the Sanctuary and Cruise Lines and the new hockey team, they think Neighpalm will generate enough income and positive publicity for the shareholders to be happy. But all of that is still months away, and Urie is buying up as many shares as he can in the meantime.”
Time for a last-ditch argument. “Our family owns the majority. He will never own enough to take over.”
“But he can make life very uncomfortable for you all,” Cole points out. “I just don’t understand what the problem is. You’ve never been shy about being in the spotlight before. I would see you at things all the time, looking pretty and having a blast with California’s wealthy and influential.”
There’s no way I’m telling him the truth, so I roll my eyes. “They grow so tiresome and boring. But fine, if this is what it’s going to take to save our company, you can count on me.”
I’m feeling a little less annoyed about all of this now that he’s explained everything, especially the fact that this is all his idea. Dad had never used me like this before, and it hurt to think he ordered all of this without talking to me about it.
I push him away, aware we’ve been pressed against each other for far too long, but despite the uncomfortable conversation, my body isn’t uncomfortable at all. It remembers all too clearly what it feels like to be manhandled by this annoyingly sexy man, and it desperately wants more.
He steps away, and I wave a hand. “Come on then. Let’s go to my office. We can go over everything you’ve set me up for, but I’m not promising anything about how long I stay at any of them, and of course my security goes where I do.”
I lead him out of the little sitting room and down the hallway. “Sure, of course, I don’t want to compromise your safety.”
“No, just my sanity,” I mumble under my breath.
“This house is really something.” I smile at the awe in his voice, glad to let the subject change. “Did you really inherit properties all over the world?” he asks, and I frown a little, but when I look back, there’s no hint of greed or envy in his eyes.
“Yeah. Jax and I haven’t quite worked out what we’re going to do with them yet. I guess one of us should visit and check it out. It will probably be me because he has the new hotel, and he’ll want to work closely with the Cruise Line team since it was his idea. Not to mention Harlow, the zoo, and this house.”
“I wonder if the other places are as interesting as this one.” He stops directly in front of the painting of the count that’s covering the elevator that goes down to the vault. “Is this him? I can see the family resemblance with Jax.”
“Yeah, they aren’t entirely sure if they want to keep the painting of him up or not,” I lie to him. The reality is we can’t move it until we find someone to paint us something new to cover the secret elevator. Kai had a look at the mechanism and assured me I just needed to find something big enough, then he could swap them out. I’m just not sure what. I was thinking about asking Shane to take a photo of them to put there, but I think we’ll wait until the babies arrive. That would be cool. “Everything we’re learning about him points to him not being a very nice man. But then itispart of our history.”
We keep walking until we get to my office. I take a seat behind my desk, thankful there’s some space between me and this frustrating man. He takes out his phone and starts to tell me about the various events he’s got me booked for.
Most of them are just appearances at parties or being seen at hot spots around town, but I still feel my body getting more and more tense with each thing that I add to my calendar. There’s no less than three things a week leading up to Thanksgiving.
“What are all these? Where are you finding them all?” I burst out suddenly.
“What do you mean?” He frowns, looking up from his phone. “These are all just invites that came in through the Neighpalm PR office. They’re the same events that you’ve always been invited to.”
