He smiles placidly. “The name sounds familiar. Related to Thomas Erickson, the financier?” The fucker knows very well I’m not.
“No silver spoon for me, I’m afraid.”
He chuckles, unmistakably smug. “We can’t all be so lucky.”
I can’t help myself. “At least I inherited all myt’sandr’sup there in Minnesota.”
His clear, dry laugh grates on my nerves. “You Americans are hilarious.” He makes sure to come down hard with the accent. “I’ve always appreciated Jackie’s sense of humor.”
“She’s a riot,” I deadpan.
The woman in question clears her throat, andWilliambreaks the stare between us, smiling at her.
“Sorry, dear. I’ll let you get back to business.” He leans in, kisses her on the cheek, and nods at me. “Mr. Erickson. Have a good one.”
I will as soon as he’s out of my sight.
The elevator doors close behind him, and Jackie’s smile vanishes. She rounds her desk, high heels clicking delicately, pencil skirt tight around her ass. Her perfectly manicured hands pick up a folder, and she looks at me cautiously.
“What are you doing here, Adam?” Her voice is cold. Detached.
I should tell her what I had planned to. Instead, anger takes over, and something darker spills out. “So that’s who you replaced me with?”
Her head snaps up. She looks at me in shock, lips parted. Then her eyes sharpen. “Are you serious right now? Just because you tumbled through so many beds you lost count doesn’t mean I did the same. Don’t you dare judge me.”
“You have no idea—” My voice dies away, snuffing out the words.
It was so easy for people to believe what they wanted when they saw me out with different women. The truth was that very few ended up at my place. It never felt right.
“It’s not a secret, Adam.” She shakes her head, trying to control her voice. “I don’t care anyway.”
“That’s why you were shooting daggers at Alexandra?”
Jackie takes a deep breath through her nose, pushing back her retort. “You’re ridiculous. What do you want? You didn’t show up at my office just to rehash the past.”
“No, because that would be pointless. You didn’t have anything to say back then, either. Want to give it a try now?”
Her frame goes rigid, her back to the city’s skyline.
Silence. There’s no getting through to her when she digs her heels in like this.
“Thought as much.” I let out a sharp, jagged breath, tightly gripping the back of the nearest chair. “For someone trained to handle the press, you’re terrible at actually communicating.”
Her mouth parts slightly, but I don’t give her the space to cut in.
“Turner’s not going to come back with a positive decision until we find out who’s attacking you and why.”
Jackie’s gaze narrows. “That could take months. Years…”
“Yeah,” I say. “There’s no way around it.”
“Have you told Carter?”
“No. Why? You’re the CEO now. You’re the target.”
She looks away, jaw hard, but not before a flicker of relief slips through the cracks. I bet it’s exhausting. Being undermined constantly, with people still treating Carter like the decision-maker, still trying to run things past him first.
I have to get out of here before I do something stupid. “I’m headed to see Derrick downstairs. See what I can do with the FBI.”
