Having to step in and run the company while grieving my husband was an impossible task.I’m not sure I’ve even grieved him yet.Some days I want to scream and cry at the same time.
Right now, my tears are laced with anger at that jerk Carrington.If he’s put small print into this goddamn contract and I’ve missed it, I’ll sue the pants off him.
Don’t think about his pants.
It’s not his pants I’m thinking about.Which makes it all the more uncomfortable given I should be a grieving widow.
Shouldn’t I?
I loved my husband.
But Drew Carrington is a very,very,good-looking man who oozes sex appeal by just standing still with his square jaw, strong brows and steel eyes.
He also knows it.
Those strong shoulders and tailored suits hang from his large frame like he was born with them on.The day he slid his jacket off and handed it to his PA, then rolled up his shirt sleeves to reveal a hefty silver timepiece and sexy tattoos, I began coughing.
Thank God there was a glass of water in front of me.
“Are you okay, Ms.Ford?”
That motherfucker.
He knows I was married and that my title isMrs.and yet he refuses to acknowledge it.Which makes my inappropriate attraction to him even more infuriating.
In fact, I’d even go so far as to say he uses it as a weapon.
When I learned he was interested in buying Open Leaf, my lawyers warned he had a cutthroat reputation, but I was told he was an ethical businessman.That he would pay a fair rate.
That lined up when Drew Carrington proposed that Open Leaf would remain trading, and I would receive ten percent of the profits for a maximum of five years.
‘While it remained trading.’
The small print I didn’t pay enough attention to.
Why would he buy a company, then start closing stores?
It’s true I have little business experience and had never worked anywhere prior to my short marketing stint at Open Leaf, then as the CEO for the past year, and I take full responsibility for its failure, but why offer a share of profits if you never intend to invest in the company?
I truly thought he would bring it back to life.
Otherwise, I never would have sold it to him.
I wanted Zoe to one day walk into an Open Leaf store and say, my grandaddy started this company.
I’m heartbroken that I was wrong.
I’m furious.
Mostly at myself.
Thisismy fault.I wasn’t raised by businesspeople.They are both doctors who could afford to send me to Columbus University.My fancy degree and education attracted Anthony the night I met him at a party, but he’s probably looking down from heaven, just as ashamed of me as I am of myself.
His mother didn’t chastise me, simply shook her head, saying what a great shame it all was.Then she patted my hand and asked me if I wanted a cup of tea.
I’m sure it was one of those,keep your thoughts on the insidemoments.
Zoe is her granddaughter, after all, so the relationship between us is important.I respect her for that.
