‘I saw…a niche in the market,’ she answered after a moment.
‘No, you didn’t.’ Nico’s rejection of her prevarication was swift and certain. ‘Everything about Infinite Innovations screams passion project. I’m amazed you’ve made any money out of it at all. If not for that robotic toothbrush being picked up by hospitals and care homes, you probably wouldn’t have.’
Ashley couldn’t help but wince at that, because she knew he was right. ‘Why do you want to know why I started it, since you only took it over to destroy it?’ she asked, her voice wobbling more than she wished it would. She wanted to come out swinging, but right now, with everything that had happened, she felt so pitifully weak. And it didn’t help that Nico was standing right in front of her, staring at her with eyes like lasers, as if he could see straight into her head, her heart, and was analyzing every thought she’d ever had.
‘Why aren’t you willing to go to bat for it now, if you care about it so much?’ he challenged. ‘I asked you a simple question, a question that most CEOs would bebeggingto answer, frankly, and you can’t be bothered to tell me the truth.’ His gaze was unrelenting, like a spotlight on her soul. ‘Why?’
‘Because it’sprivate!’ she cried. ‘Because anything I tell you will probably be used against me. Because I met you this morning and yet somehow it seems like you’ve hated me for years.’ She shook her head slowly, hating that tears were starting in her eyes. She never cried, not any more, yet here she was, having to blink hard to keep tears from falling. She drew a ragged breath as she willed back the tears. ‘Why should I tell you anything?’ she demanded in a broken whisper.
Why should she tell him, indeed?Nico rocked back on his heels as he gazed at the woman before him who was trying so hard not to cry. Either Ashley Woodward was not at all who he’d thought she was…or she was a hell of a good actress. But, if she was as sensitive and thoughtful as she now appeared, why had she not even remembered him?
That one little fact kept tripping him up. Yes, it was galling to know a woman he’d had at the forefront of his mind far too often hadn’t even recalled he existed. But, beyond that, it wasodd. Surely most people remembered seeing someone they’d talked to, had evenkissed, had seen handcuffed in front of their very eyes and then seen standing in the dock for twoweeks? That was surely too much personal history to have simply slipped one’s mind?
Which led Nico to the only other conclusion: that she was lying. But for what purpose? He could understand keeping up such a pretence for a little while, whether to humiliate him or make a desperate bid for pity, but hours…longer? It was absurd.
And so, all he could deduce from the whole sorry debacle was that somewhere in this tangled web of truths was a deception. Ashley Woodward was lying to him…about something. Maybe something important.
‘If you tell me why you started it,’ he told her, ‘I’ll consider keeping on all your employees.’
Her eyes widened to mossy pools as her lips parted—lush, moist lips that Nico remembered the feel of all too well. ‘You…will? Or are you just saying that?’
‘I will,’ Nico repeated seriously. He’d already decided he would, not that Ashley needed to know that just yet. ‘So?’
She drew a deep breath as she raked her fingers through her tangled hair, clearly trying to compose herself. ‘If you use this information against me…’ she whispered, her eyes briefly fluttering closed at the thought.
Impatience bit at him. Surely she was being a little melodramatic? ‘Why would I use such information against you? And how could I do so, even if I wanted to? All you’re telling me is what inspired you to champion these inventions.’
She gave a huff of disbelief as she opened her eyes. ‘Whywouldn’tyou do so?’ she demanded rawly. ‘Since you marched into my office this morning, you’ve done nothing but useeverythingagainst me. You’ve made no secret of wanting to destroy not just my company, butme, so why would I tell you anything personal that I cared about?’ She shook her head in despair, brushing at her eyes with her fingertips as she angled her body away from him. Clearly just saying that had made her feel more vulnerable than she liked, and Nico felt uncharacteristically chastened. When she said it like that, well, it made him see things differently.
But if she really was lying…
‘I promise,’ he said quietly, ‘I won’t use anything you tell me against you. I’m just trying to…understand.’ Althoughwhyhe was, he still didn’t know. Only that something about Ashley Woodward felt very…off, and he needed to figure out what it was.
She stared at him for a few moments, her eyes still wide, her whole body taut. ‘Fine,’ she said at last. ‘When I was sixteen, my mother had a massive stroke. She was paralyzed on the right side of her body and had pretty severe motor and memory issues. She became bed-ridden—a shadow, a shell of who she’d once been…’ Her voice choked, and her breath hitched. ‘She struggled so much, and I couldn’t do anything to help her. My father was ashamed of her, how she was, and he basically acted like she’d died. I hated that, even as my mum seemed to understand it and accept it, because my father was such a public figure. She was proud, too; she didn’t like people seeing her the way she was after the stroke.’
She sniffed, dabbing at her eyes again. ‘And so…this company was a way of helping my mother, and people like her, and also just…making sure they were seen and heard, because…’ She pressed her lips together, her gaze becoming distant, veiled. ‘My mother wasn’t,’ she finished flatly.
Nico felt there was even more she wasn’t saying, yet she’d told him so much. So much he’d had absolutely no idea about it. He hadn’t even thought about her mother once. He hadn’t realised Ashley had that kind of painful history, history he understood all too well. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, meaning it. ‘That all sounds very difficult.’
‘It was,’ she replied shortly. ‘And I…don’t like to talk about it, because my mother is a very private person. She never wanted to be the poster child for my company by any means, and I would hate her to be…used, in some way, so I don’t talk about her very much, at her own request. But…she’s the reason, if you must know.’ She looked away, still clearly struggling to regain her composure.
‘Where is she now?’ Nico asked.
Ashley hesitated before answering, ‘She’s in a care home outside the city. Her needs are too complex for me to take care of her at home, unfortunately, but I visit her as often as I can.’ He heard the guilt in her voice, and he understood it. He had so much guilt for letting his mother down, his brother… He couldn’t eventhinkabout his brother without the guilt pouring through him like acid, corroding everything it touched.
And yet… Ashley had beensixteenwhen her mother had had a stroke. He’d met her at that ball when she’d been eighteen. That didn’t necessarily mean anything, Nico knew, and yet he couldn’t reconcile the Ashley he’d known then with the woman before him now. If her mother’s stroke had been the catalyst for some kind of personality change, why had it happenedbeforehe’d met her? Something still didn’t make sense.
‘So now I’ve told you,’ Ashley said, straightening and flashing him a look of spiky challenge. ‘Will you keep all my employees?’
‘I said I’dconsiderit,’ Nico replied. ‘And I will.’
‘They need their jobs,’ she persisted, clearly not willing to let the matter go. ‘Go ahead and fire me,’ she continued defiantly. ‘I’ll figure something out. But those people depend on their jobs. They have families they take care of, with children or siblings with complex needs.’
‘I’m aware,’ Nico replied tersely. He didn’t need to feel any guiltier than he already did. Once again, he thought of his own brother, and how he hadn’t been able to take care of his needs. The knowledge was like a pulsing wound inside him, and not something he had any intention of sharing with Ashley Woodward. Some things were simply too private, and she thought little of him already.
‘And the inventions,’ Ashley continued, her voice rising. ‘What we do, the projects we’re pioneering and investing in…they’reimportant. If you want to absorb Infinite Innovations into your own behemoth of a company…’ she threw one arm out to encompass his financial empire in a way that felt stingingly dismissive ‘…go ahead. But still keep it going, so these inventions get made, because theyneedto be.’
‘Your company was barely breaking even,’ Nico felt compelled to point out. He sympathised with its aims, but he also had to be pragmatic. ‘If I kept it going, it would be little more than a pity project.’
