“Love?” he scoffed. “My daughter doesn’t care about love. Not since her mother passed away. Have you forgotten who I am? I’m your father and I know you better than you know yourself.”
She wanted to argue with him, to put him in his place for thinking he could strong arm her into doing something that would ruin everything she’d started to love about her life. Thisfelt like a betrayal of utmost proportions. There was no way Chaz wasn’t aware of the plan. Come to think of it, it explained the way Chaz had stopped by. The way he’d pulled her into a hug not even five minutes ago. It all felt too convenient. Had they been planning this behind her back?
What was she thinking? Of course they had.
Closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths, she did her best to center herself. “I’m not the same daughter you sent to Montana, dad. I’ve grown up.”
This time her father laughed. It was a bitter sound, one that snaked through her being and made her wonder if she knew him like she thought she had. “You can’t truly believe that.” He was still standing, still glaring at her. He shook his head derisively. “The daughter I raised wouldn’t allow herself to lose sight of her future.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” she demanded. “I haven’t lost sight of anything.”
“Haven’t you?” His eyes narrowed and he leaned forward. They were half a room apart and yet she could sense the menacing undertone of his voice. “Tell me about Leo.”
If she wasn’t seated, she might have actually stumbled back a few steps. “What?”
“Leo Chambers, wasn’t it? The young man who came to all those meetings with Jane and Noah. He’s supposed to be the liaison between you and that ranch where we’re building the center. Last time I saw the two of you together, you were at each other’s throats.”
“Has Chaz said something?” Her thoughts were reeling. She racked her brain for any memory of Chaz witnessing the way she spoke to Leo. Had he seen something? Heard something? She hadn’t thought Chaz was capable of snitching on her, but then at the same time she hadn’t been thinking she needed to keep the budding relationship a secret. She was about to tell her father she had every right to date whomever she wanted to, but her words caught in her throat.
Slowly, he lowered himself into his chair. He picked up a pen and kept his eyes focused on it as he tipped it from one hand to the next. “Imagine my surprise when Mr. Chambers strolled into my office to inform me that you had no intention of taking the promotion you went to Montana to earn.” His eyes were searing right through her.
Kat’s gasp echoed around the office. Heat flared beneath her skin. Leo wouldn’t do that. He wasn’t the type to go behind her back and royally ruin everything she was working so hard to obtain.
Her hands balled into fists as she and her father continued their stare-down. She’d never backed down from a fight—but to be fair, she’d never been pitted against her father like this before. The whole arranged marriage to Chaz had been the first time she’d pushed against her father’s wishes. She could already imagine that her father assumed she was making these sorts of interactions a habit.
Finally, her father caved first. He sighed and settled in his chair once more. “Kat, I don’t claim to know what you’re going through in your personal life, but I do know what you want here.” He stabbed his finger on his desk. “This empire. It was built for you.”
She opened her mouth to retort—to tell him it sure seemed like he built it for Chaz, too, but she thought better of it.
“You have an entire future waiting here for you. Maybe it’s my fault. Maybe sending you out to Montana was a mistake. I’ll take responsibility for that. You weren’t ready to be out on your own where outside influences could sway you from the path you wanted.”
Once again, she opened her mouth but he held up a hand. “He told me, Kat. Mr. Chambers told me all about your interest in opening a location in Montana.”
She blinked several times. “He… did?”
“Yes. And I’ll tell you right now, that’s not going to happen.”
“But—”
“No buts. I didn’t get where I am today by making decisions on a whim. This is about business, not some crush.”
Several emotions flooded her system.
Guilt.
Fury.
Mortification.
Her decisions weren’t based on her feelings for Leo. Sure, her budding relationship with him would be easier if she could relocate to Montana, but it wasn’t the driving force. She loved being there for more reasons than that. There was a sense of peace and belonging that she hadn’t felt here in the city. For the first time in her life, she’d felt closer to grasping that clarity most people rarely got a chance to do.
“Before you tell me that I’m wrong,” her father continued, ripping her from the spiraling disappointment she could feel seeping into her soul, “let me make myself perfectly clear. You have no experience running a corporation. I know you assumed that the promotion here would be the same as if we were to open a new location. But it’s not. You would have no support system like you have here. I’ll still maintain my spot on the board and Chaz?—”
Her hands shook and she started to vibrate with fury. “I’m not going to marry him?—”
He didn’t seem to hear her. –“would help carry the burden. Besides, opening a new location is more than simply maintaining the status quo. You’d have so much work to find the balance of several moving parts.”
Well, he had a good point about that one, but there were ways around that. Bringing people from New York, even temporarily to help train new employees, for instance.
