She nodded. “Yep, I’m sure there are. The lawyer in me is ready to tackle all of that shit head-on to protect you and this company. But I won’t do that at the expense of your happiness, Jace.”
I dropped my head in my hands, and she stood up and put a comforting hand on my back. “Martin’s a lot worse than we originally thought, isn’t he?” she asked. I nodded without lifting my head. She pulled on my arms and forced me to look up at her before hugging me. “We’ll take care of him together, but I need to knoweverything.”
I hugged her for a minute, steeling myself to walk her through it—if not for me, then at least for them. There was no way I was letting him ruin their reputations.
I took a deep breath and pulled back, starting at the beginning. “You knew Olivia and I were friends when I hired her and that I gave her the job so she could have better hours for Kaylee.”
Sutton sat back down. “Yes, I never had a problem with that.”
“I’m assuming you also knew I was in love with her?”
Sutton chuckled. “You didn’t exactly hide it well, Jace. So, yes.”
“Okay, well just before she started working here, I went out to a bar and I met a guy. We went home together, and the connection was just…unusually strong. A couple days later, he showed up here as the architect who we’d already hired.”
Sutton tensed but took a deep breath, giving me a look to continue.
“I couldn’t have stayed away from him if I’d wanted to, Sutton. But if I’m being honest, I didn’t even try. I was crazy about him. The feeling was mutual and consensual, and you can certainly ask him, but I’m certain our professional dynamic had nothing to do with what happened between us.”
“I believe you, Jace,” she said, filling me with relief. I hadn’t realized how much I’d feared people looking at our situation like that. Kayden and Olivia being in this office added proximity and opportunity, yes, but never pressure.
“Thank you,” I said. “On Liv’s first day, I discovered that Kayden is also Kaylee’s biological father.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Sutton said, blinking slowly. “Sorry, keep going, but this is getting more complicated than I expected.”
“I warned you.” I chuckled, earning myself a lawyerly glare. “Kayden and Olivia still felt a connection, I was falling for Kayden, I’d never stopped loving Olivia, and eventually, we admitted our feelings to each other. How we evolved from there doesn’t matter, but we did. We’re polyfidelitous—a closed throuple, committed only to each other—and we’re all in love.”
Sutton closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “And what exactly is going on with Martin that he would try to take the happiest thing in your life and use it against you?”
I scoffed. “Martin’s been trying to block more and more things in this division all year. It’s been getting worse, and Olivia was probably right when she suggested that my assistants quit because of him. When you talked to him about his behavior and the future of the company a few weeks ago, he lost his fucking mind. He called the office last night, yelled at Olivia, and when she transferred him to me, he spent a great deal of time telling me I wasn’t cut out to be the owner of this company and thathe’d never respect me and neither would the board. He also acted like his entire rant was about the foster care shopping event for the holidays, but he was just clinging to something to justify his rage. I essentially told him to fuck off and went to Leo’s game. Apparently, he’s been having me followed by a PI for at least a week. He said he sent you the photos and I’m pretty sure he supplied the news with the one that’s online. Leo and Sophia have never been targeted by paparazzi before, so the timing is too convenient to be anything but him—especially since Soph and Leo aren’t the center of the photograph, I am.”
Sutton groaned. “What does he want from you? Did he ask you for anything as blackmail?”
“No. I think he just wants to discredit me and he believes he’s found a smoking gun. He probably figures that if the board no longer approves of me, you’ll have no choice but to keep your shares, or give them to him, maybe. I have no idea what he thinks he’s going to gain.”
She stood up and started pacing. “That stupid fucking prick!” she yelled, running a hand over her ponytail and yanking on it in frustration. “I knew it. I knew from the beginning he was going to be a problem, but I thought if he still had control of all the same stuff as when my father died that he’d just leave us alone to do the rest and we wouldn’t have to worry about it. I thought he’d have enough power to be happy and I needed him in that role so I could stay out of everything.”
“If it’s any consolation, I think he’s only gone along with it this long because he respects you. He has zero respect for me and has made several comments about the nepotism that got me this job.”
“You were fully qualified when I hired you and it’s a family business. What the fuck did he think? That because my father didn’t have any sons to take over that he’d be gifted the whole damn thing instead?Stupid, misogynistic—”
I stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Sit down, you’re looking murderous,” I said with a chuckle.
She huffed out a breath, adopting her lawyer tone. “Look, Kayden we can spin. Easily. We hired him weeks before you met him. You met a stranger in a bar and started a relationship without knowing his connection to the company and you were too in love to stop what happened next. I can work with that.”
“What about Kayden?” I asked. “What if they try to say that he knew who I was?”
“He didn’t, right?” Sutton asked.
“Of course not.” I scratched my beard. “He remembers every word of that RFP, trust me, we fought over my bathroom requests, and he was right. My first name wasn’t on anything, and we didn’t share last names the night we met.”
“That should be easy enough to prove then.” We sat back down, and I handed her the cup of coffee. She took a long sip and gave me a sympathetic look. “Olivia is going to be harder, Jace.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m a powerful man who slept with his assistant, right? The world isn’t going to care that I’ve been desperately in love with my best friend for years and gave her a job to help her?”
Sutton shook her head. “Right. How much does Olivia like being your assistant?”
I gripped my hair with both hands and groaned. “Please don’t tell me you want me to fire her.”
