by Katee Robert
Samara’s dark eyes seemed to read between the lines. “You know you can talk to me, right? We don’t have to be the COOs of competing companies first and friends second. I’d do damn near anything for you if you needed me.”
She knew that. Damn it, she knew that.
The temptation to spill everything nearly sent her to her knees. Her father’s threats. Her weakness that she couldn’t beat no matter how hard she fought. Maybe the burden would lessen if she could share it.
Sure. Dump your issues on Samara because you aren’t strong enough to handle them on your own. You already dragged Frank into this mess. Are you really going to pull your best friend in, too?
She managed a smile. “I know. I’m just at a point where I have to figure some stuff out, and unfortunately I have to do it alone.”
Samara finally nodded. “Okay. I get that. You’ve had a hell of a lot of changes in a seriously short time, and needing to get your feet under you is totally understandable.” She grimaced. “Though you don’t have to justify that to me—really. I’m not trying to add to your stress level, but I miss you.”
“Aw, honey, I miss you, too.” She pulled Samara in for a quick hug, inhaling her lavender scent. “When all this bullshit has calmed down, I’m going to kidnap you for a weekend at the Hampton house or somewhere in the Caribbean. We both deserve a few days where the only things we have to worry about are turning over to sun our other sides and whether our drinks are getting too low.”
Samara laughed. “Deal.” She grinned. “Though if things go well, we can bring the guys along and have a couples’ weekend.”
Fat chance of that happening. “Ha ha. Very funny.” Journey relaxed back against the couch. “Enough about me. Fill me in on all the giddy details of how things are going with my darling cousin.”
Chapter Nine
After Samara left, Journey got through two meetings without the sky falling. Some days, her entire job seemed to be putting out fires, but she was good at it. There was nothing like two people walking into a room angry and frustrated—and walking out of it with a solution she’d helped provide. She smiled to herself and set down her pen. There was time for a short lunch before she met with Bellamy for their monthly check-in regarding all things security for Kingdom Corp.
She froze as someone knocked on her door, and then cursed herself for freezing. “Come in.”
The woman who stepped into her office could only be termed handsome. She had a strong jaw and solid body, and her strawberry blond hair was pulled back into a no-nonsense low ponytail. Her gray suit was expensive but boring. All in all, it gave her a forgettable-type appearance…if they had met under any other circumstances.
She gave a cool, professional smile. “Journey King?”
“That’s what it says on the plaque outside my office.” She set her pen down with care and forced herself to take a slow breath. Just because she didn’t recognize this stranger didn’t mean she was in danger. Her fight-or-flight responses were all jacked up, and she couldn’t afford to start attacking anyone who crossed her path. “Can I help you?”
“I’m Dr. Alice Scott. I’m here for the first step of your evaluation.”
Cold skittered down her spine, and she straightened. “I don’t have an appointment on my calendar.” No use in apologizing for her abrupt behavior. From the tight set of Dr. Scott’s mouth the second she walked through the door, she already had a convenient diagnosis ready—at Elliott’s bidding.
“I can reschedule if that’s required.” She reached for her pen, no doubt to write a note about how uncooperative Journey was.
“It’s fine.” She paused and made an effort to moderate her voice. “I only have thirty minutes before my next meeting, but we can speak now.”
“Thirty minutes is more than adequate.” Dr. Scott closed the door softly behind her and took in the office with a critical eye. “I like your art.” Her tone said the exact opposite.
“Thank you.” Journey gritted her teeth. “Please have a seat.”
The shrink sank into her chair as gingerly as if it was covered in something disgusting. She flipped open her notebook and crossed one leg over the other. “We both know why I’m here, so I think it would be best to skip over the softball questions and get to the heart of things.”
“No reason to waste both our time.” Though that was exactly what they were doing right now. Elliott wouldn’t have brought in someone who was objective—he had a goal to accomplish, and this shrink would play a key part in that. He would have covered all his bases to ensure he ended up with the outcome he wanted.
“Your mother leaving under such sudden circumstances must have been difficult to deal with.” Dr. Scott pinned her in place with hard blue eyes. “How are you holding up under the increased demands on your time?”
“To be honest, not much has changed.” It was even the truth. “My mother appointed me as COO because she knew I could handle it, and she only micromanaged her pet projects when they came under my purview. The rest of the time, she was focused on the big picture, while I did my part to keep Kingdom Corp functioning like a well-oiled machine.” She gave a tight smile. “If you’ll excuse the pun.”
The shrink made a note. “I have it here that Samara Mallick also left the company around the same time as your mother. Who’s handling her duties now?”
“Anderson and I have split them.”
“Hmmm.” Another note. “You and Ms. Mallick were friends.”
“We are friends—present tense.”
She made that annoying hmmm noise again and sat back. “You don’t think that friendship is in direct conflict with your current position within Kingdom Corp? She’s now the COO of Morningstar Enterprise, is she not?”
This, at least, Journey had prepared for the second Samara left the company. Since they worked so closely for so many years, it stood to reason that people would wonder if that would affect their ability to work for competing companies going forward. “Samara and I are professionals. We’re more than capable of being friends outside of work and competition within our respective positions.”
“That’s a rather optimistic outlook, don’t you think?”
“Hardly.” Journey gave her a hard look. “Samara was with Kingdom Corp for ten years. I know how she operates, both professionally and personally. As such, I can say with confidence that I’m correct. You’re more than welcome to confirm that with Anderson.” If her father thought he could use Samara to bring her down, he had another think coming. Their friendship brought up questions like this all the time, even when they had still worked for the same company. They’d managed to keep things separate when they needed to for the last decade—they’d do it for the next decade, too.
Dr. Scott recrossed her legs, apparently a signal of the subject changing. “You’re dating Frank Evans.”
That didn’t take long for Elliott to figure out. “Yes.”
“Another relationship that you can keep separate from Kingdom Corp.”
It wasn’t a question, so she should have kept her damn mouth shut, but Journey saw the writing on the wall. “If anything, my relationship with Frank is an asset to the company. While we also keep the professional and personal separate—shocking, I know—our being together may very well mean that he’s more inclined to make favorable deals with Kingdom Corp.”
“Those statements contradict each other. Either your relationship has nothing to do with your professional life or it’s an asset professionally—which means you’re also in danger of being influenced.”
Journey caught herself white-knuckling the arms of her chair and released them. This wasn’t going her way, but she’d be damned before she went down without a fight. Journey forced a smile. “Dr. Scott, I’m not sure how psychologists work, but within the oil industry, there’s a significant amount of socializing and elbow rubbing between companies that are both allies and enemies. It’s the nature of the beast. Personal bias, both positive and negative, comes into every single business m
eeting, whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Frank Evans made things very difficult for Kingdom Corp within Houston because he dislikes my mother intensely. I think it would be considered an asset that my relationship with him may open doors that have been previously closed to the company.” Chew on that, bitch.
From the way the woman’s mouth tightened, she wasn’t a fan of Journey being so damn logical. Those cold blue eyes flicked up to her, crinkling a little at the corners, and that’s all the warning she had before Dr. Scott said, “You seem rather confrontational, Ms. King.”
“Excuse me?”
Dr. Scott’s mouth quirked into something resembling a smile. “I believe you heard me. You knew a psychological evaluation was part of being the condition for holding a position on the board of directors. I haven’t asked anything out of line, but you decided this was a fight the second I walked through the door. Why is that?”
Oh, so they were going to be honest. Great. Journey leaned back in her chair and stared at the woman. “You have one purpose here, and we both know it’s not to provide an accurate report. My father has his plans in place, and you’re on his payroll. So, yes, I’m confrontational. You’re wasting my time when you decided on the outcome before I said a single word.”
“Interesting.” Her pen scratched over the paper as she made yet more notes. “It’s perfectly normal for girls raised without their father to have issues with authority, as well as feelings of abandonment. Neither of those things is your father’s fault, you know. It’s simply the natural reaction to the choice your mother made.”
Her hands started to shake and her heart beat in double time. Rage blackened the edges of Journey’s vision. “I’m sorry, could you run that by me again?”
“Which part?”
“You think that my mother is to blame for how much I loathe my father? That he abandoned us?” That his leaving wasn’t the best thing that ever happened to me and my siblings? She could have laughed if she wasn’t so close to screaming. “That’s not even close to the truth. My father is a monster.”
Dr. Scott’s expression might have been sympathetic if it’d actually reached her eyes. “Ms. King, that statement alone, combined with your dating Frank Evans within twenty-four hours of your father coming back to town, speaks volumes. Your feelings for your father are getting in the way of your ability to function. Your decision-making skills are compromised—will continue to be compromised for as long as you avoid dealing with the issues your father’s presence represents to you.”
“Get out.”
She ignored that and consulted her notes. “Your father isn’t going anywhere, Journey. It would behoove you to mend the relationship between the two of you if you want to make a seamless transition.”
The threat couldn’t have been clearer if she’d spelled it out. “This session is over.” Journey spoke through numb lips. “I have to get to my next meeting.”
“We’ll have another appointment later this week to continue this conversation.” Dr. Scott rose as if completely unaware of the shit storm she’d stirred up. But, then, she’d done it on purpose. “Think about what I said, Journey. Kingdom Corp obviously matters a lot to you. I’d hate to see you self-sabotage and lose it.”
Journey held it together as the woman left. She held it together as she crossed her office and threw the lock on her door. She even held it together as she sent Bellamy a quick text pushing back their meeting.
Then she sank onto her couch and pulled her legs up to make herself as small a target as she could. She couldn’t close her eyes, couldn’t risk being shoved back into the past and those nightmare years between four and ten. The way she learned to walk soundlessly to avoid alerting Elliott to her presence and provoking an attack. The look that would come into his blue eyes that made her stomach drop out. The teasing in his voice as he’d stroke a hand over her hair…right before the pain came.
No. I am not a child anymore. I am stronger than this.
She’d known Elliott would try to get her declared unfit. She should have anticipated that he wouldn’t go about it in the most straightforward manner. If he wrote her off, he would incite Anderson to draw a line in the sand and, even with majority shares, that was one fight Elliott couldn’t be sure he’d win. Not without heavy losses. Better to push and prod and provoke Journey to lose her shit so spectacularly that even Anderson couldn’t argue that she should stay on in Kingdom Corp.
Her brother would make that call. She already knew he would. It didn’t matter if it was to protect her—he would support Elliott’s ousting her if he thought it would get her out of their father’s crosshairs.
Journey rested her forehead on her knees, trying to think. She couldn’t call Anderson. Now it was about more than protecting him. It was about keeping him from doing something unforgivable to protect her. He would remove her as COO until he could deal with Elliott, and that was something she couldn’t allow.
There’s a way out of this. There has to be.
If she played along and tried to “mend” the relationship with her father, he’d break her. They both knew he could do it, which had to be why the therapist took this route.
Breathe, damn it.
She bit her bottom lip hard, using the pain to steady the shaking ground she stood on. She hadn’t been expecting the pointed questions about Frank. Something about him set her father on edge, which was why he’d had his pet shrink attack that relationship. He’s threatened by Frank. But why? It wasn’t just because of Frank’s power within Houston. There were plenty of people that powerful, her cousin included, and Elliott hadn’t singled them out. No, it was Frank specifically.
Surely it couldn’t be as simple as the fact that Frank stood between him and Journey.
But what if it is? What if he’s trying to cut away every single tether I have?
Journey crossed her office on shaking legs to grab her phone. She dialed almost from memory, letting out a relieved exhale when Frank answered. “Where are you?”
* * *
“Are you ready?”
Eliza smoothed down the long dress she’d chosen specifically for this meeting. It covered her from neck to ankle—too hot for Houston, even in February, but she’d suffer it gladly considering how like armor it felt. “Of course.” She smiled at Anderson, which only earned her a severe look.
“Let’s go. I have to be back in the office in an hour.” He was always like that with her, as if the warmth he showed Journey used up what little bit of emotion he was capable of. All that remained for Eliza was disapproval so intense, she could feel it from three feet away.
It wasn’t the outfit. It wasn’t that she was in full makeup without a hair out of place. It wasn’t even that she modeled for a living instead of dancing to the tune Lydia King set.
No, Anderson just flat-out didn’t like her.
Eliza lifted her chin and fell into step beside him, refusing to let her brother outpace her with his longer legs. “I still don’t understand why I was called home for this.”
“We have to deal with him, which means you have to deal with him, too.”
She wanted to slap that cold expression right off his face. “Yes, well, I’ve had to deal with Mother ever since she was exiled. She might be out of your hair, but she’s essentially moved in with me while she supposedly scouts for other places to live.” In the meantime, Lydia had begun meddling in every aspect of Eliza’s life, and kept making worrisome comments about how shitty Eliza’s agent was at his job. If she didn’t give the woman a project or a small country to conquer soon, Lydia would slip into her life permanently, and the small bit of breathing space Eliza had fought so hard for would disappear as if it’d never existed.
“It’s nothing more than the three of us have been dealing with for the last twenty years, Eliza. It’s about damn time you grew up.”
Grow up, Eliza. Stop being such a spoiled brat, Eliza.
She swallowed a sharp response. It wouldn’t make a difference, and they couldn’t afford t
o be visibly divided when facing down their father, no matter their personal opinions of each other. Nothing she could say would change Anderson’s mind, anyway. She wasn’t brilliant, wasn’t particularly business savvy, wasn’t technically advanced beyond other people in her generation. The only thing Eliza excelled at was being pretty. She made it an art form, and was widely renowned for it.
But pretty only went skin-deep.
A fact her oldest brother never hesitated to remind her of.
He stopped just inside the door, his jaw tight. “If at any point you feel uncomfortable, we will leave. The only thing you owe him at this point is a meeting, seeing as how you’re not officially an acting part of Kingdom Corp.”
Even his help comes with thorns.
She lifted her chin. “I can handle it.”
“All the same.” He opened the door and allowed her to precede him.
The dim lighting gave her pause for half a heartbeat, but Eliza had walked runways where lights blinded her plenty of times before. This was nothing compared to that—even knowing what waited for her. The hostess caught her eye and led the way back to a private room situated in the far corner of the restaurant. It was called the Cellar, and the decor more than lived up to the name, the exposed brick and flickering candlelight raising the small hairs on the back of her neck.
Or maybe that was the man who pushed slowly to his feet at their approach.
Elliott held out his hands, and there was nothing she could do but take them and let him tow her closer. He brushed a perfectly polite kiss against her cheek, but bile still rose in response. Show no fear. “Elliott.”
“Eliza. Thank you for making the time.” As charming as ever, all warm voice and easy smiles. If she hadn’t seen the moment when the peace turned to nightmare, she might not have believed it possible of this man. Even so, Eliza knew all too well that she’d been spared the worst he had to offer—something her siblings held against her, even if they weren’t aware they were doing it.
