Wicked Surrender (Hollis Brothers Book 3)

by Linda Verji

  Feeling as if she had something on her face, London tugged at Zeke’s sleeve. When he bent his head to her she whispered, “Is my lipstick smudged?”

  His eyes caressed her face then he shook his head. “You look good. Why do you ask?”

  She made a face. “I don’t like how they’re looking at me.”

  “They’re just jealous.” Zeke smiled then kissed her forehead. That little kiss was enough to up the volume of the murmurs rippling around them, and by the time he walked her into the massive gallery where the main event was, his peers couldn’t hold back their curiosity.

  “If it isn’t Zeke Landa-Hollis.” A tall blonde in her forties, wearing a red gown and flaunting jewelry worth enough to feed a small country on her person, approached them. “I haven’t you seen you in a while. How are you?”

  “I’m fine, thank you.” Zeke kissed the woman’s cheek lightly. “It’s good to see you too, Manda.”

  “How is your mother?” Manda asked, but her curious gaze was on London.

  “She’s fine.” Zeke introduced, “This is London.”

  Manda’s eyebrows shot up. “Like the city?”

  She could’ve chosen to be offended by the question. London saw the flare of nervousness in Zeke’s eyes and decided that this was not the time or place to start drama. So she smiled at Manda and said, “I know, right? I would’ve preferred Paris too.”

  That drew a laugh from Manda, and she turned to Zeke to say, “I like her.”

  THE SAME CONVERSATION repeated itself several times as Zeke introduced London to the people he knew. Many greeted London with only curiosity in their eyes and genuine happiness that he was finally dating. Some were obviously startled by his choice of date but were gracious enough to hide their surprise behind polite smiles. But a few were incapable of even that. Both Zeke and London caught a few of the smug glances and sneers. Zeke was extremely proud when London didn’t confront any of those people. Actually, make that proud. Period.

  She’d handled their first official date like a champ; smiling where needed and falling into conversation with his peers with an ease he’d never known she could accomplish. Watching her work the crowd was like watching her on stage. She shone here as she always did when singing, and he found himself smiling several times. And his ‘people’ responded to her in the same way – well at least the ones who didn’t have million dollar chips on the shoulders.

  After seeing how well London was doing, he realized that she didn’t really need the back-up he’d arranged. But by that time Danny, Nathan and their wives had already arrived. Fortunately, their arrival eased the pressure of having to field questions off of Zeke and London, and he could finally drag her to the floor for a waltz.

  He held her close as they danced, not quite believing that they were actually here tonight, together. Every fantasy and dream he’d had these past few months was coming true right before his eyes. Finally she was his, really his. He could feel people watching them, judging them and he knew that they’d be tomorrow’s headline. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to care. All that mattered was that the woman he loved was here with him.

  “So what do you think of them?” he asked as they swayed amongst the swirl of dancers.

  “Eh! They’re not so bad.” She looked up at him, her brown eyes glimmering with amusement. “But I think your friend Gerard thinks that I’m an escort.”

  “Yeah, I got that feeling too. Sorry.” Zeke winced. Studying her half-smiling expression, he asked, “You’re not offended?”

  “No.” London shrugged. “Shoot, you’re Zeke Landa-Hollis. Any escort you bring here would have to be expensive as hell. So that means he thinks I’m expensive too. I bet if I start handing my Jezebel card out here, I’d be a millionaire by tomorrow.”

  Zeke squeezed her waist as jealousy shot through him. “Don’t you dare!”

  “I wouldn’t.” She grinned widely. When he gave her a narrow-eyed look, she laughed. “Don’t you trust me?”

  “Hmm.” He snorted, even as his lips curved in a reluctant smile. “I know how you love money.”

  Both of them laughed. But their laughter was cut off by a sudden tap on his shoulder. He turned to find a smiling Winston standing beside him.

  “May I have a dance with the pretty lady,” Zeke’s step-father asked. Glancing behind him, he added, “Your mother wants to talk to you.”

  Both Zeke and London immediately stiffened and Zeke turned to look across the room in search of his mother. He found her at the entrance of the gallery. She looked regal in her green dress, standoffish, and a bit bored. But he could tell from the way she was staring at him that she was very, very, very angry.

  He’d expected her to show up at this event, even planned for it, yet seeing her standing there so obviously displeased with him started a knot in the pit of his belly. He wanted to pretend he hadn’t seen her and keep dancing with London, but knew that that would only delay the inevitable.

  So he nodded to Winston. “Of course.” Before bending to whisper in London’s ear. “I’ll be back.”

  With a kiss to her cheek, he handed her over to Winston then strode through the crush of people and towards his mother. Edya chose that moment to turn and slip out of the room. Zeke followed her. He caught up to her in one of the offices off the hallway.

  As soon as he walked into the room, she confronted him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  His mother never swore, and for her to do so signaled how fired up she was. The set of her shoulders reminded him of a colonel who’d discovered that his cadets had started a mutiny. She gritted through her teeth, “What is that woman doing at my party?”

  “It’s not your party,” he countered calmly, closing the door then leaning against it.

  “Don’t be smart with me, Ezekiel,” she snapped. “I thought we agreed that you were walking away from her.”

  He shrugged. “I changed my mind.”

  “You don’t just get to change your mind.” Edya inhaled sharply. “Especially not when it means ruining our family’s reputation.”

  He watched her for a silent minute before asking, “Our family’s reputation or your reputation?”

  “What does that mean?” she bit out.

  “Mother, I have done almost everything you’ve ever asked of me. Done everything for this family since I was twelve-years-old.” He pushed away from the door to cross the room. His mother moved out of his way when he came close to her as if she was afraid he’d do something to her, but he was only going to take a seat. Slumping onto the couch, he continued, “But this I won’t do. You’re asking for too much and I won’t do it. I won’t let go of London. I love her.”

  “Love? Ha!” Edya laughed. The harsh sound, so empty of amusement, echoed in the room. “Ezekiel, you’re the last one I ever expected to spout such nonsense.”

  He kept silent.

  “Really? You in love? With her?” She turned to face him. And even though her lips were still stretched in a smile, her eyes were devoid of all amusement. “You must be kidding me.”

  “Yes. In love. With London.” He smiled. “Not kidding.”

  “Ridiculous.” His mother’s patience flared out. “I have been patient with you, Ezekiel, but this is the last straw. If you don’t do as I say, if you don’t get that woman out of our lives, it’s over.” Her chin quivering slightly, she threatened, “Your life as you know it will be over. I’ll strip you of your title as the CEO of Landa-Hollis Investments. That apartment you love so much, it’s in my hotel, so it’s gone too. That car – company car. My company car! I will take it all back.”

  “I thought you’d do that.” Lifting to his feet, he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. Striding towards his mother, he held out an envelope. “Which is why I took the liberty of preparing this.”

  “What is that?” Edya stared at the envelope but didn’t take it.

  “My resignation letter,” he said. Ignoring his mother’s sharp inhalation of breath, he add
ed, “You don’t have to take anything from me because I’m giving it all back.”

  “Wha- wha-” His mother opened her mouth then closed it as utter shock crossed her features. She swallowed hard. “You’re not serious.”

  “Look at me.” He pinned her with his unswerving gaze. “Do I look serious?”

  CHAPTER 28

  He’d spent all last night assessing his situation and figured, quite accurately as it turned out, that his mother would use his position as heir-apparent as a bargaining chip. So he’d made the only logical choice – he’d taken it and himself out of the equation.

  “Ezekiel, you can’t do this.” His mother swallowed hard as her eyes shadowed with panic. “You can’t give up everything you’ve worked so hard for over that woman.”

  Funny that. How Edya was only willing to acknowledge how hard he’d worked for her and for the company now that he’d snatched all the cards from her hand.

  He sighed. “I’m not doing this for London. I’m doing this for me. Who knows if this thing with her will even work out long-term but whether it does or it doesn’t, I still don’t want the company or you running my personal choices or my life. If I can’t live my life the way I want because I’m head of this company, then I choose not be the head.”

  All he got from his mother was silent look filled with disbelief.

  “Don’t look so horrified, Mother. This is a blessing in disguise from you,” he soothed even as his face broke into a half-smile. “You don’t need to worry about me ruining the company or the family anymore. You can put any puppet you please at the head of your company. A puppet who’ll follow all your rules unquestioningly and marry any woman you want.” He let the envelope drop to her feet. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go back to dancing with-”

  “No.” Edya slapped a hand on his wrist, gripping it hard. “You’re not quitting.”

  “I just did.” He could’ve easily snatched his hand from her hold, but he kept it there even as he stared at her hard. “There is nothing you can say that will make me-”

  “You win,” she cut him off. Glaring at him, she repeated, “You win.”

  “It wasn’t a contest.” He watched her face as he started, “This is about-”

  “I know. I know. It’s about you getting to live your life the way you want… blah, blah, blah.” She tried to keep her face dismissively expressionless but couldn’t control the angry flash that rose in her cheeks. “Fine you can do what you want. But you’re not leaving the company.”

  He laughed. “You can’t force me to stay.”

  “No, I can’t.” Edya opened her fist over his wrist and let him go. Then he saw something he’d never seen in her mother’s eyes; remorse as she said, “I can ask you to stay.”

  It was enough to get him to take a shocked step backwards. Was his mother actually asking- no, pleading with him to do something for her? Pigs were definitely flying and it was winter in hell.

  Edya waited for his response. When he didn’t give her any, mostly because he was too shocked, she continued, “You think I want some schmuck with a half-baked business degree running my company-” She cleared her throat then corrected herself, “- our company? I would rather run it into the ground myself than hand it to someone else. Even on your worst day you’re the best CEO I’ve ever known. You know how I know that? Because I trained you. And you turned out to be even better than I expected.” She swallowed hard as she met his gaze. “Better than me.”

  Even said in that angry tone, it was one of the nicest things he’d ever heard her say about him – about anybody, and his heart warmed. Sure, she could be icier than Alaska, but she was still his mother and hard as it was to admit it, her opinion mattered to him.

  “If I stay, my personal choices will affect the company.” Though he knew it was cruel to kick her while she was down, he taunted, “And I intend to make some very bad choices.”

  His mother harrumphed, “Hmph! If only people who made good choices run businesses, then Forbes 100would be populated by monks and virgins.” She sighed. “I mean sure, there’ll be some bumps along the way for the company but I might have over-exaggerated how big there’d be.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “You think?”

  Actually, he’d come to the same conclusion last night. Yes, he’d seen this conversation going exactly this way – well except for her weird pleading. There was no way Edya would’ve taken his resignation letter. As much as she constantly blustered about holding the reins of Landa-Hollis investments, they both knew she couldn’t do it alone. And he was her best option – even on his worst day.

  Game. Set. Match.

  “Don’t be smart with me.” Edya’s eyes dipped to the floor between their feet and focused on the envelope up. “Just tear that thing up.”

  Trying to keep from breaking into a victorious grin, he asked, “Are you sure?”

  Her answer was a huff then she turned on her heels and headed towards the door. She opened the door and was just about to leave when she said, “This is your mess, so don’t expect me to clean it up.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He’d already started thinking of ways to minimize any fallout that would come from his relationship with London. A few words in the right ears and their story would headline the papers as a modern day Cinderella and Prince Charming tale. Obviously some people wouldn’t fall for it, but he’d deal with them as they came.

  “And straighten your bowtie,” his mother shot over her shoulders as she exited the room. “You’re embarrassing me.”

  Just for that he was leaving it crooked.

  Once she was gone he bent and picked the envelope. He opened it to reveal the sheet of paper folded inside it. When he unfolded the sheet, all that met him was a blank page.

  He laughed.

  “YOU THREATENED TO resign?” London stared at him in wide-eyed shock hours later when they sat in the limo.

  Zeke chuckled. “Yes. But I knew she wouldn’t let me.”

  London stared at him in open-mouthed surprise before she gulped. “But what if she had? What if she’d disinherited you?”

  He shrugged. “Then I would’ve gone to plan B.”

  “Which was?”

  “I have some money on my own.” He slouched back into the seat. “I’d just start something of my own. Maybe give LGH some real competition.”

  She gaped at him for another long shocked moment before suddenly slapping his chest with the back of her hand. “What is wrong with you? I can’t believe you’re being so nonchalant about almost being disinherited. For me? Zeke, that’s stupid!” She raised her arm again.

  “Hey.” He caught her upraised arm and pulled her onto his lap. “I didn’t do it for you. I did it for me. You make me happy, and I want to keep being happy.”

  When he said it that way it almost allayed the guilt she was feeling for being the instrument that had pushed him into doing something so idiotic. Almost. “Zeke, if this is going to complicate your life like this maybe-”

  “No,” he cut her off firmly. “Hell. No. You’re not backing out now.” Something flickered in his eyes as he added tentatively, “Unless you want to back out because you can’t handle it.”

  She rushed to answer, “I can handle it.”

  “Can you?” He frowned as if not quite believing that she could. “You had just a taste of it tonight. Those people who were smiling at us, they won’t always be on our side. People will talk about us. They’re going to rifle into our lives and dig up dirt we didn’t even know we had, and they’ll judge us for it.” He exhaled, then drew in a deep breath. Sounding grave, he continued, “A relationship between us isn’t going to be easy. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. So if you want to cut and run because of that then it’s okay.”

  His speech was to meant to frighten her and make her back away from him as fast as she could. Yet it did the exact opposite. It pulled at her heartstrings, eased every doubt she had and strengthened her.

  “No. I don�
�t want to cut and run.” If he was willing to put up with all that bullshit for her, then she was willing to do the same for him. She twined her fingers through his. “I want to be with you.”

  He studied her face keenly. “Are you sure? You can take a few days to think about it.”

  “I don’t need a few days,” she said firmly before leaning forward to graze her lips against his. “I’m sure.”

  Zeke paused. London held her breath as she stared at him, let him see the truth in her eyes. And he did.

  “Good.” The corner of his lips curved into a smile. “You want me to be with me. I want to be with you. We’re doing this.”

  “Okay.” She pursed her lips. “Look who’s being cocky now. Tch. Tch. Tch.” She clicked her tongue several times against the roof of her mouth. “Ezekiel Landa-Hollis, I think I’m a bad influence on you.”

  Her heart rate shot up when he lowered his head towards hers until he was so close she could taste the champagne on his breath. He whispered, “But I like it when you influence me badly.”

  “Do you?” She licked her bottom lip.

  “Mm hm.” His gaze tracked the wetness she’d left on her lip even as his hand inched from her waist and upwards until he almost cupped her breast. Then he lifted his eyes to hers and smiled at her in that way that made her want to do very bad, bad things to him. “Don’t you like it?”

  She breathed. “Maybe.”

  “Maybe?” he chuckled before he set his lips on hers and gently parted her mouth.

  The kiss was like a first time kiss – wondrous, magical, a meeting of two people who could hardly believe how lucky they were to have met each other. It felt like a dream, yet it wasn’t. It was as real as the passion that pulsed between them, and the tenderness that shone in his eyes as he lifted his lips from hers to whisper, “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” she returned then sealed that declaration with another kiss.