I jammed my teeth together.Relax. Don’t let them see how you feel. Control what you can control. Relaxing my face took all my strength, but I did it.
My father continued, “I received news late last night that another client is thinking of leaving. Blackwoods Publishing is in talks with another agency after our latest campaign fell short of expectations.”
I fisted my hands under the table, squeezing tight. How was I the last to know? I was the CEO for fuck’s sake. Someone was cutting me out, making me look like a fool. And a heads-up from my father would’ve been nice. Instead, he’d called me at seven this morning, demanding my presence at this ambush. Keeping my voice calm, I asked, “Why am I only hearing about this now? Who called you?”
He fiddled with one of his cuff links. A tell. Touching both meant the meeting was over. One meant he was about to lie. He didn’t realize he did it, and I’d never told him because I needed every advantage I could get when dealing with him. “Patrick. We’re old friends, you know. Who do you think brought the account to Knight twelve years ago?”
He knew I knew. Everyone knew who brought in most of our current top accounts. He’d grown the company to what it was, and I would always give him kudos for that, but he never let anyone forget it. Maybe I should quit, give him what he wanted—a CEOwho would bow down to him, do whatever he said. I had my own ideas on some things. Apparently, I was paying for that.
Aunt Stephanie stared at me from across the table. At least there was regret in her eyes and something else. Was that fear? I wanted to ask her why she’d do this, but it would be wasted breath. Whether she backed my father on this or not, she was another who toed the line to keep her position and to stay in his good graces. They had an older brother who was a free spirit. Uncle Sam and Dad didn’t agree on many things, so my father cut him out of his life. Uncle Sam ended up traveling the world until he died of a heart attack three years ago. My father forbade any of us from attending the funeral, but Jack and I did anyway. My uncle had been a lovely person, and I wasn’t letting someone’s stupidity stop me from paying my respects. What my mother was thinking when she picked my dad to marry, I had no idea. It was her only fault—having bad taste in men.
So, if it wasn’t Patrick who called him, who had?
My father stared at me, probably waiting for a response or an apology. Well, he’d be waiting until eternity. Fuck him.
“No questions, Curtis? Would you like to know how we’re going to fix this?”
“Please, do tell.” That got me a couple of seconds of narrowed eyes.
“You’ll comb over every inch of that campaign and fix it. I want it on my desk by Friday afternoon. We are not losing one of our core clients because of your oversight.” He leaned forward. “Marketing was supposed to be your area of expertise, and you did an acceptable job when you were marketing manager. Being CEO is too much of a stretch of your time-management skills if you can’t ensure the marketing department is performing. You have a week and a half to rectify things, or Friday week, you will step down as CEO.”
In my peripheral, one of the directors cringed. My aunt’smouth dropped open before she quickly closed it. My expression didn’t change—I made sure of it. But my heart did. Seared with anger, it hardened, a lump of carbon. Cold. Black. Impermeable.
My. Own. Father.
I stood, ignoring the sense of drowning. It would be easier to quit now, but I wouldn’t give him, or whoever was behind this, the satisfaction. Hopefully he wasn’t one and the same. “I’m working on something as we speak, and I’ll make sure we don’t lose that account.”
His forehead wrinkled. “What are you working on?”
“That’s for me to know. I have a week and a half, and I’m not answering anymore questions. I’ll see myself out. I have work to do.”
Without waiting for an answer, I strode to the door and left.
When I found out who was behind this, they’d regret the day they fired the first shot.
I was going to fire the last one and end them.
I hoped I hadn’t given too much away. If the traitor was in this room, they’d be sure to send someone sniffing around. Maybe it would flush them out.
I’d never felt so alone at my family’s company. Except for one person. For some reason, the thought of seeing Donut Girl with her observant blue eyes and bright smile sitting at her station outside my office gave me comfort. Times were bad when a lying spy was the one person you wanted to see in times of stress.
As much as I couldn’t trust her, she understood me. From that conversation I’d overheard the other day and her explanation, her mother was to her as my father was to me—not exactly our biggest supporters. If only I could truly open up to her. But I wouldn’t.
I was already fighting enough battles, and I didn’t need another drama. From what I could see, she had money problems. That was a massive red flag for me. Although, she hadn’t tried to seduce me. In fact, she’d done quite the opposite, verbally sparring with me atevery chance. A smile crept onto my face at our margin spat. I knew I was being a dick, but she handled it. My smile fell, and I sighed.
Falling for her would bring yet another lecture from my father, and I didn’t want my heart broken again. I had enough shit to deal with. Anyway, if I lost my job in a week and a half, I’d probably never see her again.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t convince myself that was a good thing.
Yep, I was losing it.
CHAPTER 21
FAITH
Isat at my desk, reading the same sentence in a report I was typing for the millionth time, but it still made no sense. Huffing, I shut my eyes.Stop stressing. That was like telling my mother not to be disappointed in me.Ha!Not happening.
Last night, Amy dropped a glitter bomb. She’d tracked down the real accounts of @SexySinger244 and @Topazzz—well, one of the expert techs at her office did. She bought him a dinner voucher to an exclusive restaurant for him and his wife for his time—something else I owed her for, not that she was keeping count, but my pride was. I’d sat on the news all night, tossing and turning. No sleep was had. I’d wondered whether to tell Stephanie first—as per my contract—or come clean about everything to Curtis.
