Still Loving You

by Sheryl Lister

  He climbed from the vehicle before Julius could even leave his seat. “Good night, Julius,” Alek called over his shoulder, already loosening his bow tie and the top button of his monogrammed shirt as he strolled up the length of the walkway and entered the building.

  After a full day of work topped with his evening flight to and from Paris just to attend a charity event at the Pavillon d’Armenonville, his muscles felt weak with fatigue—a rarity for him. He was strong and fit and thrived on challenge. Still, he was human and required even minimal rest.

  Striding across the stylishly appointed lobby, the soles of his handmade Italian shoes beat against the marble floors as he made his way to the elevators. He entered his private code for the elevator to go to the penthouse and rode in silence. As he stood there with his legs apart and his hands behind his back, he flexed his shoulders and rolled his head to relieve the slight strain of tension he felt. He paused when he caught sight of his reflection against the bronze of the double doors.

  He did a double take and then chuckled a bit. Earlier that night one of the waitresses shared with him that he should audition to be the first black James Bond. He was nearly 100 percent sure she thought he was Idris Elba. He didn’t know whether to be flattered by that or insulted that he was the honoree at the very event where she worked and she had no clue who he was. That was a first in the circles in which he moved.

  The doors of the elevators opened directly into his apartment; he removed his white dinner jacket and folded it over the back of one of the four modern charcoal sofas in his expansive living room.

  “Your drink, sir.”

  Alek turned away from the view of the London cityscape to find his loyal manservant, Huntsman, still very much awake, dressed in customary black on black attire and ready to serve. With a smile, he accepted the snifter of brandy from the small wooden tray held by the bald middle-aged man. The warmed crystal felt good in his hand as he swirled the alcohol and took a small sniff of the aromas released by the heating of the glass before taking a satisfying sip.

  Over the rim of the glass, he looked out at the sight of Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament in the distance. At night, he often found himself standing there in front of his windows enjoying the sight.

  To think there was a time when none of it mattered to him. Simplicity had been key.

  With a smirk, he looked around at his lavish surroundings. Everything had changed, and sometimes he wasn’t sure it was for the better. With a slight clench of his square jaw, Alek focused on his six-foot reflection, letting the cityscape laid out before him blur as he did.

  Sometimes he felt he hardly knew the man in the reflection.

  “Big day tomorrow, sir.”

  With another sip, Alek glanced over his shoulder to find that Huntsman had never moved from his spot, the serving tray still in his hand. “Very,” he agreed, curving his lips into a smile.

  Huntsman chuckled.

  The two had been officially employer and employee over the last fifteen of Alek’s thirty years of life, but they had a friendship and a mutual respect that extended beyond a work relationship and their twenty-year age difference. Huntsman knew almost everything about Alek’s life and pretended to turn a blind eye to his jet-setting ways filled with a string of beautiful women that gave the international paparazzi plenty on which to report. It was well documented that Alek Ansah worked hard, but he played just as hard.

  Still, Huntsman was very aware of Alek’s inner struggles, and he knew Alek’s imminent return to New York was a mixed blessing.

  “Your luggage and travel arrangements are prepared. Are you?” Huntsman asked, stepping up to stand beside him.

  “I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Alek asked, and took another deep sip.

  “No, sir, you do not.”

  In the morning, Alek would return to the corporate headquarters of the Ansah Dalmount Group in New York to officially claim his position as the cochairman of the billion-dollar conglomerate. He was fulfilling the wishes of his father, Kwame Ansah, and not his own. “You won, Dad,” he mouthed as he lifted his snifter in a toast and looked up to the heavens with a small sardonic shake of his head, as a wave of grief caused his gut to clench.

  Five years ago, the lives of both his father and his father’s business partner, Frances Dalmount, were tragically ended in a crash of ADG’s company jet. He had been deep into his grief and grappling with the lost opportunity to mend his strained relationship with his father when the reading of the will completely turned Alek’s life upside down.

  Alek’s grandfather, Ebo Ansah, began a financial services firm in Ghana in the 1950s that grew significantly in the mid-1960s, providing a very respectable living for his wife, Kessie, and their four children. His eldest son, Kwame, grew under the tutelage of his father and was anxious for his opportunity to enter the family business. They expanded the fiscal services offered to their loyal clients and grew their business. Life was good, and with the Ansah men working together doggedly, it became even better. Upon Ebo’s passing in the early 1980s Kwame took over the running of the business, aggressively taking over smaller banks and insurance and investment firms to catapult himself to wealth and prominence. When the opportunity arose in 1987 to join forces with Frances Dalmount, a business competitor from England, he accepted with the intent to use their combined resources to take on other business ventures. The Ansah Dalmount Group was formed, eventually becoming one of the most successful conglomerates in the world with its business umbrella encompassing financial services, oil, hotels/resorts/casinos and telecommunications.

  Kwame Ansah relished every moment of their success because he knew his father would be proud. And he wanted nothing more than for his eldest son to join him to advance the company even further. It was their biggest point of contention.

  Alek clenched his jaw in regret.

  After graduating with a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia University, Alek did not enter the family business as planned and instead fostered his love of the outdoors and sailing by working as a deckhand on a luxury mega yacht, with plans to rise up the ranks to captain his own vessel. What his father saw as defiance was just him fighting for his independence to be his own man. It was the first time he ever defied him.

  Back then he felt so much pride in striking out on his own.

  Back then he was pleased that his job kept him away from home so that he could avoid the look of disappointment and anger in his father’s eyes.

  Back then he thought he had more time to make everything right.

  And now?

  Five years had passed and the guilt was still palpable.

  “I knew your father well, Alek,” Huntsman said, reaching up with his free hand to firmly pat his shoulder. “You have already made him proud.”

  Alek’s smile was slight but genuine. “He threw me in the deep end and I had no choice but to sink or swim,” he said with a chuckle.

  Kwame Ansah had been determined to have his way, even in death.

  Alek had to make the difficult choice of accepting the position as cochief executive officer of ADG or having all his father’s shares in the conglomerate sold, with the proceeds donated to various charities. That would leave not only Alek but the rest of his family without an inheritance. His father had to have known he would never lose the family’s legacy and financial security. Stubborn old man.

  Kwame Ansah was relentless, and in the end, he had been right. Per his father’s request he had spent the last five years training inside the company in preparation to run it. He spent considerable time within every branch of the ADG learning about it from the ground floor up. He took to it all like a fish to water. He soared, driven by a desire to make his father proud, but also pure determination to thrive and win—traits he inherited from his sire.

  For so long, his stubbornness to pave his own path in life had blinded
him to the innate skill and tenacity his father had seen in him all the while.

  Now he was prepared to take the Ansah Dalmount Group even further.

  Well, along with Alessandra, he conceded, sliding one hand into the pocket of his tailored slacks and taking another sip as he shook his head.

  The news that his father’s business partner had left his shares of their billion-dollar conglomerate to his daughter had yet to sit well with him. Their power in the company was equal. Each inherited 49 percent of the shares, with the board of directors left with 2 percent of the shares to decide on a stalemate between them.

  Alek felt that was inevitable.

  They were completely driven.

  With their fathers as both business associates and close friends, Alek had known Alessandra since childhood. Ever since they were small, Alek had found Alessandra’s quiet nature off-putting. She was never friendly and seemed afraid of her own shadow. As teenagers, they were never in the same circle of friends or schools but saw each other at social functions. She was decidedly awkward and found with her head in a book more times than not. He had little patience for the mousy little introvert and was glad their time in each other’s presence became nonexistent with age.

  He frowned at the memory of her during their first meeting with the board of directors of ADG. Slender and petite with a head full of massive curls that dwarfed her face. Her petite figure swamped in the shirt and pants she wore. Oversize, ill-adjusted spectacles that she continuously pushed up on her nose. Nervously biting at her bottom lip. Looking confused, lost and unaware that she was completely out of her element.

  He expressed his discontent with her appointment as co-CEO, so much so that the board readily agreed to his request to do his training in their London offices while Alessandra remained in New York. That was the last time he saw Miss Alessandra Dalmount.

  And all of that would change tomorrow.

  Everything would change tomorrow.

  Alek released a heavy breath.

  “It is not your last walk to the electric chair, sir,” Huntsman said, taking the now-empty snifter from him to cross the polished floor to refill it.

  Alek reached up to run his long fingers across his close-shaven head. It wasn’t the move that Huntsman spoke of and they both knew it. It was not a “what” but a “whom.”

  Alessandra Dalmount.

  He accepted the snifter Huntsman pressed into his hand. “What in the world was Frances thinking?” he muttered darkly, his brow furrowing as he gripped the nightcap so hard that a lesser material would have crushed in his grasp.

  “Ah, the eternal question,” Huntsman said softly, his tone amused.

  “I will not sit back and let her destroy everything our fathers worked so hard to build,” Alek said sharply, turning in his spot to face the older man.

  Huntsman smoothed his hands over his vest before clasping his hands together behind his back and rapping his heels together. “And yet the firm still stands strong after five years of her working there,” he said smoothly, his face almost unreadable.

  “But she gains forty-nine percent control tomorrow—”

  “As do you, sir,” Huntsman reminded him.

  “Yes, but I know what the hell I’m doing!” Alek snapped.

  Ding-dong.

  “Plans, sir?” Huntsman asked drily.

  “Damn,” Alek swore, dropping his head so low that his chin almost touched his chest.

  He’d forgotten the beautiful woman he’d met after a business lunch out on the cigar terrace of the Boisdale of Belgravia earlier that day. It had been hard not to notice one of the few women enjoying the decidedly masculine Scottish decor, particularly her handling of the long and thick cigar in her mouth as she boldly met his stare from across the terrace. She’d made an invite back to his apartment for a nightcap completely undeniable.

  He’d since forgotten all about her.

  Huntsman waited patiently as Alek looked down into his drink and then toward the door before looking back at his drink again. Whatever desire he had to bed the woman had waned. He couldn’t remember her name and could only vaguely recall her beauty. “Have my driver take her home and offer her my apologies,” Alek said before tipping his head back to finish his drink.

  Huntsman immediately turned to do as he was bid.

  Alek wasn’t proud of treating the woman like a disposable convenience. It wasn’t usually his character, but he would not be good company for her or anyone else that night. His thoughts were centered on one thing and one thing alone: how to convince Alessandra Dalmount to willingly step down from her position at ADG.

  For him, that was all that mattered.

  * * *

  Alessandra Dalmount leaned back in her leather executive chair and crossed her legs in the pin-striped pencil skirt she wore as she coolly eyed the junior executives sitting in the leather club chairs across from her at the conference room table. The two young men glanced at each other and shifted nervously in their seats as her silence filled the air.

  As she continued to study them, Alessandra took the moment to ponder how hard she had to fight to prove her worth in the last five years. She was proud to finally be so respected within the company that her silence after the presentation of a business proposal elicited subtle anxiety. In the early days of stepping into the role her father had bequeathed her, Alessandra had been nervous, fidgety and apologetic. She had felt so unsure in her role. So unworthy. So judged.

  Well, no more.

  “As you all know, the expansion of ADG into the shipping industry has been of the utmost importance to me for the last year,” she began. “I expect some resistance.”

  From Alek Ansah.

  She forced a stiff smile and nearly snapped the pen she held in half from her tightened grasp as she shifted in her seat. She forced herself to do a mental five count as her employees watched her.

  Get it together, Alessandra.

  “I expect my team to gather the information and analytics I need on the list of firms I am suggesting the company acquire. I will make some notations and corrections to the report and get them back to you this evening,” she said, forcing her shoulders to relax as she stood up on her sling-back Fendi heels and gave each man a hard stare. “I expect the amended reports back to me before the end of the week, sans the little loopholes I’ve already discovered after a two-minute cursory perusal.”

  “But, Ms. Dalmount...” one of them said.

  “That is all,” Alessandra said firmly, dismissing them as she turned to look out the window at the Empire State Building among the sprawling landscape of Midtown Manhattan.

  As her staff members quietly took their leave, her focus on the neighboring high-rise buildings blurred. She pursed her lips and released a breath meant to calm her nerves. It didn’t work.

  Today she would assume her share of the responsibility in running one of the largest conglomerates in the country. She had the last five years to prepare, but in this moment, she felt as if that time had flown by so quickly.

  And in truth she felt completely overwhelmed.

  Alessandra unclasped the locket she wore on a long chain around her neck and stroked her thumb against the wedding photo of her parents nestled there. They both were lost to her. Her mother, Olivia, died when Alessandra was young, and her father had loved his wife so deeply that he never remarried. She could only find solace that her parents had reunited in heaven.

  I miss you, Daddy.

  As always, the thought of her father dying in such a tragic way weakened her knees. She closed her eyes as a wave of sadness and grief hit her, causing her to wince. Will the pain ever dull?

  Not enough time had passed to properly grieve the death of a parent. In the space of a week, she lost her father, attended the funeral and then learned during his will reading that it was his wish for her to take over his position as
a chief executive officer of the Ansah Dalmount Group. She’d wanted nothing more than to return to their family estate and bury her head under the dozen pillows on her bed so that she could sleep and pretend the week had never happened.

  But that wasn’t to be.

  Alessandra had been completely moved and surprised by her father’s faith in her, but her fear of it all had come with a quickness. Although she had previously graduated with a bachelor’s in English, Alessandra’s life had been all about her volunteer work for various charities. With one stroke of his pen, Frances Dalmount had solidified his daughter as one of the most wealthy and powerful women in the world. And now the day had arrived for her to take the reins.

  Father, what have you gotten me into?

  Alessandra closed the locket but kept it pressed in her hand.

  Back then the last thing she wanted was the responsibility of taking over the family empire. She had hardly ever bothered herself with her father’s business affairs. She was his only child, and although he loved and spoiled her immensely, she had always known he would have preferred a son to raise in the ways of business. She had never held ill will about that.

  And she never assumed he would expect so much of her.

  Alessandra squeezed the bridge of her nose as she turned and walked along the length of the table to leave the modern and stylish conference room. Closing the glass door behind herself, she began walked down the hall to the right to her corner office, but stopped midway with a soft curving of her crimson-painted lips. Instead she turned and walked down the opposite end of the hall to the elevator. As the wood-paneled doors opened, she stepped on and pressed the button to go to the top floor of the twenty-five-story building.

  She couldn’t lie; there was excitement blended with her fear.

  The last five years she worked hard to form herself into a successful businesswoman. Between the fifty-to sixty-hour weeks she put in working in various departments to garner a firsthand knowledge of the business, to returning to college to earn her Master of Business Administration from Columbia University, to reshaping her image and bolstering her confidence, Alessandra went above and beyond to prove herself to the naysayers. It was clear that many people questioned her father’s decision to have her inherit his shares of ADG—she even questioned it herself.