Devoted: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella

by Lexi Blake

  He would sell the condo, the cars, anything he had to in order to make sure she was safe.

  “I want it in writing that you’ll sign the stock over to her at the end. We’ll work out some way to pay you, but I can’t have you taking over Slaten. If this is some kind of ruse…” Will began.

  Flynn shut that shit down. “I don’t want to take over Slaten. I want her to take over Glendale. I’ll sign whatever you want me to sign. Just keep it quiet until I can give her what she needs.”

  Will took a deep breath and groaned. “Oh, thank god. Bridget told me I had to come over here and kick some ass or she would, and she’s on bed rest. You’re lucky she’s on bed rest. She wouldn’t have stopped to listen to explanations. You’re an asshole. That was a shit ton of drama. Someone get me a beer.”

  Mitch proved he knew where the beer was.

  And Flynn prayed it all would work. He was gambling everything but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Of course if they were going to take two board seats, he would need a partner in crime. He could use Mitch, but Amy might see that as a hostile takeover. There was only one man she really trusted. Perhaps if she saw him there, she would trust Flynn, too.

  Flynn prepared for what might be the toughest call of his life. Luckily Will had Frankie’s number. It was time for the ex-husband and the man who prayed he would be the future husband to have a long talk about the woman they both loved.

  Chapter Nine

  Amy felt a little sick at the thought of what she had to do.

  “It’s going to be all right,” a voice said over the speaker. Bridget. Her sister sounded calmer than usual. It was odd. Bridget was usually the emotional one. “You have to know that. You’re going to walk in and stare him down and let him know he can’t beat you.”

  Their father. He was already in the building. He’d been shown to the boardroom and her security people would ensure he didn’t walk around causing trouble. They were the same security people who would very likely be out of a job in less than an hour.

  “I think he already has,” she said hollowly. She wished her sister was here with her and not just talking through the speakerphone. “Someone’s buying up stock. I think Dad bought out our cousins.”

  A groan came over the line. “Violet and Meryl? Jeez. That’s a lot of cash for them to get their claws on. Did they blow it all on cocaine and male hookers?”

  She had to laugh despite the gravity of the situation. Bridget had an interesting view of their family life. “I believe Violet needs the cash because the IRS finally figured out she hasn’t filed taxes in twelve years, but I’m pretty sure Meryl wants it for her new nineteen-year-old boyfriend. And he probably will buy cocaine with it.”

  “I knew there was some blow in there somewhere. And the plastic surgeons of Los Angeles probably had a party when they heard the news.” She could practically see Bridget fist pump. The line went quiet for a moment. “I really do think you’re going to be fine. You’re a fighter and you have people who love you very much.”

  Yes, she had her sister and she had Frankie. “I haven’t told him, you know. He has no idea what’s going on.”

  “I think Flynn knows,” Bridget replied.

  Her whole body tensed. “I wasn’t talking about him. I was talking about Frankie.”

  “Oh. Well, yeah. Uhm, I’m sure he doesn’t know.”

  Her sister was a freaking horrible liar. Even over the phone. “Damn it, Bridget. Tell me you didn’t call him.”

  “I didn’t.” She sounded confident again, that waver in her voice that always told Amy she was lying gone. “I haven’t talked to Frankie since the last time you both came over for dinner. I don’t talk to anyone anymore. I lay around and a small soccer player tries to score goals on my bladder. Bed rest sucks. Will won’t even let me type right now. I’ve watched so much HGTV I’m ready to write a ménage about those damn twins.”

  Her sister was good at deflecting. “What’s going on, Bridget?”

  There was a pause. “I think you need to give Flynn another chance.”

  “What? You were the one who told me to cut his balls off with a rusty pair of scissors, toss them out on the lawn, and watch the birds eat them.” Her sister had a way with words.

  Simply hearing Flynn’s name made her heart hurt. She missed him. The last two weeks had gone by in a blur of work and anxiety and way too much crying over that man. She’d done it with her sister. She’d spent more time in Will and Bridget’s guest room than she liked to admit. At first it was because she kind of thought Flynn would show up and try to explain himself again. Then it was because he hadn’t. He didn’t call or text or write her an e-mail. He was gone and that was that.

  She thought she would be relieved.

  Tears pricked at her eyes, but she wasn’t going to shed them. He was done with her. She was done with him. She would concentrate on Slaten…or finding a new job.

  If she lost today, she would go back to California and start over. She would forget the man who’d made her feel safe, the one she could be herself with. She would leave it all behind and she would never let another man in again. Never.

  “Maybe I was wrong. He’s actually quite sweet,” Bridget said.

  She felt her brow furrow. “When did you see Flynn? You’re supposed to be on bed rest.”

  “He came to see me. Well, I think he mostly came over because Mitch and Will were watching a basketball game and it seems like he’s in the process of moving.”

  Moving? He was leaving that glorious condo of his? Well, maybe it had only been temporary anyway. He was likely moving back to San Francisco where Glendale was located. He’d done his job. He’d gotten everything he could out of her and now he was leaving. It made sense. “And Will let him in?”

  She knew that shouldn’t hurt so much, but up until earlier in the week, she’d been staying with them to avoid Flynn. Will invited the bastard over? She knew he was friends with Mitch, but couldn’t he have waited? She was still going over to see her sister most days. That would have been an awkward situation.

  “Will likes him.”

  She definitely felt the betrayal. Somehow she’d gotten it in her head that maybe, just maybe Flynn was suffering, too. Nope. He was hanging with her brother-in-law and enjoying some guy time. Asshole. “Awesome. I hope they’ll be very happy together. I’ll make sure I call from now on to see if he’s visiting. I wouldn’t want things to be weird.”

  A long sigh came over the line. “Amy, this isn’t like you.”

  “What? Not enjoying my own humiliation? I can see where you would say that since I’ve had so much of it in my life.”

  “No, this negativity. It’s not like you. Even when Dad was doing his worst, you stayed upbeat. You were always the positive one.”

  She had to be because Bridget could be relentlessly negative at times. One of them had to see the positive side of life. Her sister had found her true joy when she’d married Will and that darkness was gone, so now Amy could let some pessimism in. “No, I showed you what I wanted to show you. I didn’t let you see me cry back then.”

  “But you let him,” Bridget said quietly.

  “How do you know that?” Those sessions had been private.

  “Because he told me. Because he knows a you that I don’t know and that’s because you loved him enough to let those walls down. Amy, I know it’s hard. I really do. I never thought I would get married and have a kid because our childhood fucked me over, too. But Will managed to get through and I think Flynn got through to you.”

  He’d gotten through to her. He’d ripped her heart right out of her chest and kicked it to the curb. “It’s a totally different thing, Bridget. Will was afraid of long-term commitment. He didn’t lie to you about his name and motives. Flynn played me.”

  “Not according to him.” Bridget’s voice had gone soft.

  “He lies.”

  “He did in the beginning but you have to know Dad fucked with his head, too,” Bridget pointed
out. “I talked at length with him about the Glendale side of this feud. Dad was a bastard who took every opportunity to screw Flynn’s dad over. Everyone thought you would continue on with the family hobby. Did you know Dad sent one of his old employees out to Glendale to tell their CEO exactly that? He sent the old head of security out to fuck around with Glendale and make you look bad.”

  “Ray Paulsen? That doesn’t surprise me.” She could even see the plotting behind it now. If Glendale thought she was going to continue the feud, they would come at her hard when she was in her first year. That would be her most vulnerable time. The chaos all the conflict with Glendale could produce would shake faith in her and give her father a better chance at getting back his job.

  It was a dick move, but then her father wrote the dick move playbook.

  “Flynn says he’s been telling the Glendale CEO all sorts of tales about how you’re working against them and spying. The CEO brought his paranoia to Flynn. He honestly thought you knew who he was and you were using him.”

  She could give him that in the beginning. Unfortunately, she’d proven him so very wrong and he still hadn’t come forward. “And when he figured out I was nothing more than an idiot?”

  “Men are stupid. They get comfortable and they don’t think about the future. They’re only capable of thinking about two minutes ahead. He thought he had time to fix things. He knew he’d screwed up royally and he got scared.”

  Why on earth had Flynn had this discussion with her sister? What angle was he playing now? Why wouldn’t he try to talk to her? “There’s nothing to fix. I can’t trust him. And you know he hasn’t exactly tried to apologize to me. He might be hanging with Will, but I haven’t heard from him at all.”

  “I think he’s kind of a big gesture guy,” Bridget said. “He was waiting until he could make his big gesture.”

  “No gesture is going to work on me.” She could hear the stubbornness in her voice, but she had to question it since she’d spent days praying he would call and come up with something that would make his betrayal forgivable.

  What would work? Could she ever believe him again? Work would always come between them.

  Except she was about to get the boot and then she wouldn’t work for the enemy anymore.

  “If this big gesture doesn’t work for you, then you probably will be alone for the rest of your life, sister. Because this one is epic and you have no idea how hard it’s been not to tell you about it. I wish I could be there in person. It isn’t often a Dom hands over his balls in quite so public a fashion. Take care of them. Balls are actually quite delicate.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’ll see. I’m hanging up now so I can call into the conference room. Will’s in emergency surgery so I’m calling in our vote. I wonder who I’ll vote for? Evil Dad or my beautiful princess sister. It’s a mystery. Stay tuned.”

  The line went dead.

  She stared at the phone wondering what the hell her sister had meant by that.

  “The meeting is supposed to start in two minutes,” Val said, poking her head in the room. “Do you need me to delay?”

  Her stomach did a slow somersault. Was there any reason to delay the inevitable? “Is everyone here? Or at least their proxies?”

  Since she’d moved the company to Texas, her aunt only sent proxies out to vote for her. Aunt Beverly thought Dallas was still the Wild West and refused to even touch down at the airport. She believed that New York, Los Angeles, and Paris were the only cities in the world worth being in. The good news was the proxy didn’t typically insult Amy’s wardrobe choices and make snide comments about her gaining weight.

  God, she hated her family sometimes.

  Why had she thought she could start a new one?

  “The last two board members are on their way up. I’ve been told they’ve cleared security and should be here any second.”

  They would do her father’s will. He’d likely nominally put the shares under their names so he could control the vote. They would be paid off and the shares would be used as a cattle prod to keep everyone in line. Her father now owned enough board seats to never have to worry about Amy or anyone else kicking him out again.

  He would eventually use those shares and those votes to sell the company, and all the work she’d done with Clannahan would be for nothing.

  She wondered if Glendale would sweep in and scoop them up. Would Flynn be celebrating? She grabbed her bag. Her father would very likely have her walked out of the building. “Let’s go and get this done.”

  Val nodded, her face a tight mask. “Yes, let’s finish this off. I’ll be waiting for you if you need anything.”

  Val was being kind. Amy started down the hallway that would take her past the lobby and into the conference room where she would find her fate. Waterloo. It was her Waterloo and it looked like she was playing Napoleon this time. “I would like for you to pack up my office if the need arises.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And my father will bring in his own assistant. I’m so sorry about that, but I’ve ensured you get six months pay. Take it before he realizes what I’ve done and countermands the order,” Amy instructed. “HR will be waiting for you. They’ll cut a check then and there.”

  Sometimes she had to move fast to get her will done. She wished she’d realized that before this moment.

  “Do you really think this is going to happen?” Val hurried to keep up with her.

  “Yes. We need to prepare ourselves.” She needed to be ready, to stand tall.

  God, she wanted to see him. The need washed over her like a tidal wave. Flynn. He was a rat-fink bastard and all she wanted was for him to be right here, right now. She wouldn’t talk to him, wouldn’t promise him anything, but she would ask him to pretend for a moment. She would ask him to pretend it had been real, that he’d loved her the way she’d loved him.

  She could fool herself all she liked. She loved him. He was there in her heart, a weed she couldn’t bring herself to pull. It was a damn good thing he hadn’t shown up on her doorstep because she likely would have bought his bullshit.

  She missed Flynn and her friends at the club. They would all be graduating and moving on with their lives. They would get together on weekends and play and explore and she…wouldn’t. She would move back to California and find new work. She would throw herself into it and forget about all her other needs. If she ever took another lover, she would be in control. Submission would be something she merely dreamed about because she would never take another Dom. He’d been it for her.

  Amy stopped outside the door.

  “Are you all right?” Val asked.

  She couldn’t. God, she couldn’t walk through that door yet. She pulled out her cell and dialed the number she’d promised she wouldn’t dial ever again.

  What was she going to say? Please, Flynn. Just tell me it’s going to be all right. Tell me I’m going to be all right. I can do it if I hear your voice.

  She heard his unique ringtone and stopped. He’d changed her ringtone on his phone so when she called him he could tell it was her. It was a chiming sound because he told her talking to her soothed him.

  “Amy?”

  She hung up because she’d heard his voice and not through the damn phone. He’d sounded like he was on the other side of the door.

  Oh god, how wrong had she been about him? How bad was it? He was here and what the hell did that mean?

  She pushed the door open and there he was, sitting at the conference table, looking like sin in a suit. His hair was slicked back, his face clean-shaven. He’d dressed for the occasion.

  Someone had bought her cousin’s seats on the board. She wondered why her father hadn’t shoved it in her face.

  Glendale was about to take over Slaten.

  Or was he here for something else?

  “Does she look totally surprised?” Bridget’s voice came over a speaker. The conference room phone was sitting beside Flynn.

  �
�I think she’s definitely surprised,” Flynn replied, not moving his stare from her.

  “Would you describe it as happy surprise or angry surprise,” Bridget continued. “I need description. Use your words.”

  Amy ignored her sister for the moment because she was mostly shocked surprised. What would a grand gesture look like to Flynn? How would he say he was sorry?

  “I want to know what the hell that fucker is doing here.”

  In the shock of finding Flynn in her conference room, she’d managed to miss her father. He was standing at the back of the room, staring her way. He was dressed up, too, looking every bit the businessman in his prime. But his face was flushed a nice shade of red.

  Her father wasn’t a good actor and Flynn wouldn’t work with him. He might have lied to her, but she was sure he wasn’t working with her dad. Certainly she’d accused him of it, but then the day she’d learned who he was, she’d pretty much accused him of anything she possibly could. For the first week, she’d called him every name in the book and would have believed he was the second coming of Satan himself.

  Then she’d thought about everything he’d done for her. He hadn’t needed to. She’d been perfectly ready to fall into his bed. Not once had he asked to go to her place. He’d preferred having her in his world. Shouldn’t he have tried to get into her office? Borrowed her computer?

  He hadn’t done any of those things.

  Was he really that stupid? Could he have found himself in a trap and not realized how to get out?

  Or had this been his endgame and the sex had just been a way of lording it over her?

  Do you have any idea how good you make me feel?

  Had that been all about sex? Or had he been talking about something more?

  “I’m asking you a question,” her father said, moving toward her.

  “You’re being an asshole,” Bridget shouted over the line.