“Bullshit! This whole thing is bullshit!” Carl drags his heels, hindering Luis’s progress, if only by a little. “Do you even know what the CEO of Jones Group is like? He’s the youngest billionaire in the country. You’re not him. You’re just some homeless dude pretending to be him.”
Jade attempts to duck beneath Luis’s arm, but she’s not nearly fast enough. Too bad her mouth isn’t also bound. “Exactly. You’re a fraud, and there will be consequences. You’d better figure out how you wanna end this little act before it ends you.”
I arch an eyebrow, their bloodthirstiness only egging me on. “My company is no place for jackasses like you.”
“Oh, you’ve done it now,” Jade says, whipping her phone out of her clutch. “My dad is the vice president at Jones Corp’s headquarters. I’m calling him right now-he’ll know who the real CEO is.”
Luis peers over the top of their heads, a silent question in his eyes.
Hey, if they want to draw out their demise, fine by me.
“Daddy?” Jade says into her cell phone. “Someone at the charity auction is pretending to be the CEO. I need you to come here right now.”
“Okay, so all of that’s true, then?” Victoria’s tiny voice comes from my side, and I whip toward her, granting her my full attention. Her eyebrows lift in the middle, her expression shut off to me in a way I’ve never experienced.
“You’re the billionaire CEO people kept accusing you of being? And every time I asked you to explain…”
A stone forms in my gut.
“No, I demanded explanations,” she continues, a jagged break in her voice that about takes me to my knees. “And instead, you lied. To me, to my grandma, to my mom.”
Her chin quivers and she gives a dainty sniff that sends a crack through my heart. “Again and again. No matter how many opportunities I gave you to tell me the truth.”
“Victoria, please,” I say, but the doors to the ballroom burst open.
Whoever said timing was a bitch didn’t know the half of it.
As this is undeniably Jade’s fault, that made it doubly applicable.
“Who’s pretending to be the CEO?” Zack Barron strolls in like he owns the place, and I grit my teeth. Might as well finish up cleaning house while I’m here. I’m inclined to fire him, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt until he gives me a reason not to.
Jade breaks free of Luis, running to fling her arms around Zack. “That’s him, Dad,” she says, pointing at me for what must be the fourth or fifth time of the night. “He’s the one pretending to be the president. He tried to kick us out, too. Let him have it. Deliver his punishment.”
“Exactly,” Carl yells, but his eyes dart around the room. He’s no longer sure. “We can’t just let this slide.”
I pin my gaze on Zack, not bothering to hide the threat in my tone as I raise an eyebrow. “What do you say, Zack? Do you think I should be punished?”
I’d like to see him try.
As soon as Zack Barron sees for himself it’s truly me, his rage gives way to alarm. He hems and haws, glancing between me and his daughter as though he just stepped on a landmine and isn’t sure which way to dive.
Jade is oblivious, as per usual. “Come on, Dad, put him in his place!”
Zack wheels around and slaps Carl across the face.
Carl stumbles back, clutching his cheek. “What the hell?”
Jade whines, “Dad, not Carl! That guy!”
Zack glares at them both. “This is our CEO, Simon Jones, you idiots.”
Jade’s face turns ghostly pale. She’s shaking her head, but I think this time, the truth finally sinks in. “Y-you’re really the CEO of Jones Corp?”
Carl swears under his breath. “Well, I’m screwed.”
Victoria exhales a shuddering breath at my side, her posture robotic and wrong. Something’s shifted within her. She’s processed the facts that’ve come to light and is no longer in shock.
The angry heat has faded from her exquisite features, but she doesn’t appear to be happy or relieved.
She looks absolutely crushed. She knows everything I’ve done, everything I’ve been keeping from her, and if I’m reading her right… She blinks at me as if she no longer recognizes me.
As if I broke her tender heart.
Luis clears his throat, jerking my focus back to him. “I did a little digging, sir, and Zack Barron promoted Carl Smith for personal reasons. Not because he was qualified. If anything, productivity has tanked in that department.”
I’m more furious than ever. It was bad enough they’ve been compromising my company, but now they’re also getting in the way of my explanation to Victoria.
“Fire them both. I’m done with your family. I never want to see any of you again.”
Zack staggers toward me, and several security members step forward at once. “No. Sir, please! I’ve worked for your company for over a decade.”
I don’t bother responding. I meant what I said. They’re all done.
As soon as they’re out the door and people resume their chatter-they now have a lot to gossip about-I wrap an arm around Victoria’s shoulders.
But she doesn’t melt against my side like she usually does.
“You spent ten million dollars.” She steps out of my grasp, reaching behind her to undo the clasp of the antique necklace I won for her. “But all I ever wanted was the truth.”
For a moment, I just stare, struggling to put together her words and hostile mood.
“I-I’m sorry.” I’ve never stumbled like this in my life. Going from the highest, retributive highs to seeing the devastation in her eyes is giving me whiplash. “Deceiving you was never my intention, I swear.”
She holds up a stop-right-there hand, her dangly earrings swinging as she shakes her head no. “Save it. I’m out of here.”
The sapphire pendant hits the back of my hand as she thrusts the jangling necklace at me.
Setting my jaw, I shove my hands into the pockets of my tuxedo pants. “I’m not taking it back. Clearly, I’m not doing a good job. We need more privacy. I’ll explain everything once we’re in the car.”
I incline my head toward the double doors of the grand ballroom, fully aware I have a long, challenging conversation ahead of me. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
“Go ahead,” Victoria says, distrust and indignation singeing the words. “Why don’t you go back to the fancy mansion where you came from? I’ll be going home to my mom and my grandma, who don’t lie to me. This poor farm girl’s going back to the ranch, where I actually belong.”
Victoria
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.