Page 47 of Threaded Lies

“While I’ll remain the final word on all major decisions, I will also be creating a new position.” He pauses for dramatic effect. “Co-CEO.”

“What the fuck?” Rhett barks out, echoing my own thoughts. The deal stated that Rhett was to remain the CEO and Chad the COO. A co-CEO? Is he going to bring in some outsider corporate bigwig to further decimate this company?

Dread filters through me. No doubt another man to push me out.

“Explain yourself,” Chad says, and by the grit of Holden’s jaw I fear for Chad’s safety.

“I don’t have to. That’s what happens when you own the keys to the company.” He unbuttons one of his cuffs and rolls his sleeve up. The whole room watches with bated breath. Each roll of his sleeve, a stretch of uncertain seconds.

My chest burns and my hands tremble. He’s doing this, inviting me here as a witness to see what he’s about to rub in my face.

“Excuse me.” My chair scrapes even louder than Rhett’s as I shove it out behind me. I can’t be here. I struggle to breathe as the room feels like it’s closing in on me.

“Rowan,” Holden says my name. It’s not a question, but more like a command, and that makes me even angrier. “Sit.”

The room falls silent, almost holding its breath to see if I’ll defy him or not. I take a step back, fold my arms over my chest, and lean against the wall.

I refuse to obey him and by the flicker of a smirk he offers me, my silent protest is noted and admired.

“As I was saying, the co-CEO is a new position I’m creating to effectively distribute authority so that there remain checks and balances on power in this office. Major decisions must be signed off by both CEOs before coming to my desk for final approval.”

I can see the panic in my brother’s face—the wide eyes and gray pallor—of realizing he’s about to be put in check. How will he siphon money from the company if he has to get everything approved?

As much as I’m supposed to loathe Holden right now, I might admire him just a tad for doing something I can’t—scaring the shit out of Rhett and stripping him of his autonomy.

“This new position is effective immediately. She’ll have—”

“She?” someone repeats the same thing I’m thinking.

And my mind goes there. To the stunning woman in the pencil skirt who strutted down this very hallway a few weeks ago like she owned the place. Holden greeted her and then met my eyes as he shut his office door and proceeded to spend hours behind those doors with her.

It’s her. She has to be the new co-CEO.

Acid churns in my gut at the thought of her working side by side with him. At them sitting at this conference room table after knowing how he bent me over it.

Nowhere in whatever this is do I have to justify every single person I meet with … and you don’t want to be the woman who asks me to. I assure you of that.

Weren’t those Holden’s words when I asked who she was?

Now I know.

“Yes,” he states resolutely. “She’ll.” He pauses and meets the eyes of everyone at the table before continuing. A nonverbal warning that we may be in Westmore, but we’re playing by his rules. “She will have the same authority as Rhett or whoever her co-CEO is.” My brother bristles at the unspoken warning that he is replaceable. “As well as a seat here on the board with voting power.”

“You can’t just do that,” Mr. Seymour, one half of a power-hungry couple sitting at the far end, says. They’ve been a part of this company forever but I’ve never liked them and always considered their seats here a bribe of some sort by someone in my family. Especially after seeing all the dirt Gran has on them.

“I can and I did,” Holden states.

“There needs to be a vote somehow before anyone gets a seat on the board. You can’t just add them as you see fit,” Chad says.

“Not per company bylaws there doesn’t.” He points to Audrey in the back of the room, who holds up a stack of papers. While we can’t read the words on the cover, we can all assume they are in fact the bylaws. “As the majority owner, I have the authority to create new positions as I see fit so long as they are for the benefit of the company. Any new executive position I create also has the opportunity to gain a seat here at the table with you all if I choose.” He lifts his eyebrows, a taunt to test him. “And I chose.”

“We should get a lawyer to look at this,” Chad says.

Holden’s chuckle sends chills over my skin. “Considering it was a Williams who helped establish those bylaws way back when, I’m pretty sure they’re solid—unless of course you don’t trust your own family and their integrity? Should I worry, Chad? You did once tell me they would bend rules for me, didn’t you?”

There are a few cleared throats as Chad’s cheeks flush. “What are you talking about? I’d never say that.”

“Ah, so that’s how this goes. Good to know. You catch that, Rowan?” Holden asks, putting me on the spot. His little display of who has the bigger dick is more than obvious to me, but then again, no one in this room knows I’ve slept with him, so there’s that.