Coup: A BWWM Romance (The French Connection Book 2)

by Brooklyn Knight

  “Michael told me this would happen,” she muttered.

  A cold chill zipped through my body and my hands rolled into fists. “What did you just say?” I demanded.

  She hesitated but jutted her chin forward. “He said that you’d never understand my needs or dreams; that you’d never be able to connect with me on an emotional level because of our cultural differences; because of our heritage. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but now I see that he was right.”

  My eyes burned as I glared at my woman, standing there telling me that she’d allowed another man to infiltrate her mind and our relationship with his rhetoric and racist propaganda. And not just any man.

  Michael Sawyer.

  I closed my eyes and counted to four. “You do remember that Michael Sawyer hates me, don’t you?” My voice was calm.

  “You hate each other,” she snapped.

  My jaw tightened. I decreased my tone. “He’s trying to get in between us, Lai.” I swallowed. “He wants what’s mine and he’s doing whatever he can to steal everything away from me, including you.”

  Laila’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t make this about you and your male chauvinistic pride, Dylan,” she accused me.

  A fiery arrow pierced my chest.

  “Michael has done nothing more than open my eyes to understand and explore my true identity. He hasn’t done anything wrong, and I refuse to let you sit there and attack him like – ”

  “You’re defending Sawyer, now?” I managed through my teeth. “One of the few fucking people on this entire planet that I don’t trust... you’re siding with him, and not with me?”

  She glared at me. The misguided resolve, that bullheaded way of hers – the same one that reared itself when she was my intern – ignited a blinding rage in me that I couldn’t quell. An impulsive fury consumed me. I ripped the lamp off the night table and slammed it against the wall. The glass shattered, and shards dashed across the floor, and a Picasso plummeted from the wall.

  Laila shrieked in horror. Fear registered in her eyes.

  I stormed back over to her and shoved a finger in her face. “Do you have any idea, the shit I have been through tonight? And you have the audacity to come home and throw that man in my face like he’s your goddamn savior?” I breathed like a bull. “I’ll tell you what...” I erected myself. “Effective immediately, you’re going to quit working there and you’ll cease all communication with that sonofabitch. I should have followed my first goddamn mind and never allowed you to go there in the first fucking place. We tried it your way, and now we’re going to do it the way I want it done.”

  “I’m not leaving Sawyer, Inc., Dylan.”

  “Yes. You are.”

  Silence.

  “He wants me on his executive board,” she revealed. Her voice was low, but her words were like a jackhammer in my ears.

  I jerked back. “You’ll decline the offer,” I commanded.

  “Dylan – ”

  I shouted in her face. “You’re my woman and you’ll do as I say, not him or anyone else for that matter!” I lowered my voice. “Now, either you’ll tell him, or I will. You have the next two minutes to make your choice.”

  Laila’s eyes were wide with shock. Her mouth trembled, and her eyelashes fluttered. She puffed out her chest and ran her hands over her bald head, but her fingers recoiled, and she ripped her hand away. Her eyes fell to the floor and what she said next rocked my world.

  “I am not your woman. Not anymore.” She pulled the sparkling ruby off her finger and pitched it at me. It slammed into my chest and dropped to the carpet with a resounding thud.

  I glared at her, my body shaking almost uncontrollably, refusing to acknowledge the symbol of our love, lying amongst the shards of refuse on the floor. My throat clamped closed and the sense that the ceiling and walls were closing in on me was overwhelming. My heart compressed inside of my chest, but fury, unlike anything I had ever experienced, inflated it and made it whole again.

  I turned on my heel and stalked out of the room. By the time I reached the stairs, I was floating like a wizard on a cloud of wrath. I whizzed past Ignacio and grabbed my keys off the marble countertop. Then I passed through the door, slamming it behind me.

  Twenty-Two

  Dylan

  ‘Misery Likes Company’

  Me: I’m outside.

  I pressed send and waited for Stefan to appear outside of his apartment. Five minutes later, he was skipping down the front steps. He hadn’t even fully buckled his seatbelt before I was ripping away from the curb.

  “Damn...” he cursed as his head whipped backwards. “Is... everything okay?”

  I grunted. “It will be.”

  He peered at me and finished clicking his seatbelt into place. The lights on the side of the road blended into an angry blaze as I pressed the pedal.

  “Do you want me to tell you about Brenneman now or wait until we arrive at the bar?”

  “It can wait.” My responses were clipped. “The penny has already dropped. He’s trying to get rid of me and put Michael Sawyer in my place. I can’t imagine there would be more.”

  I saw him rub the back of his neck as I flipped on the indicator and peeled onto the exit.

  Stefan frowned. “LIV was two miles in the opposite direction,” he reminded me.

  I hadn’t forgotten. “I have a stop to make.”

  The rest of the drive was in silence. I weaved the car in and out of the traffic. Commuters blared their horns at me, but the sounds barely registered. There was already too much noise in my head.

  Ten minutes later, I wheeled the Maybach around a certain roundabout and shoved the door open without turning it off.

  “Dylan – ”

  I ignored Stefan.

  He hopped out of the car and chased me. He grabbed my arm, but I ripped away from his grasp.

  “Dylan, wait!”

  I stomped through a border of fragrant imported lilies, crushing them under my feet, and I marched across the grass towards a party scene where people were dancing the night away under the silk cover of an extravagant tent. My eyes flitted across the crowd and locked on Stafford, Ellis, and Marigold, who were merry from fine drink, but when they saw me, their faces fell, their buzzes reducing to nothing. Lucky for them, they weren’t the object of my present obsession.

  I searched the crowd until I saw him.

  “Holy shit...” Stefan muttered. “Dylan, don’t do it. Think about Laila.”

  “That’s exactly who I’m thinking about,” I growled.

  Michael Sawyer was laughing and jesting like the perfect host, but when he saw me, the smile melted off his smug face and he turned full on to face me.

  I pushed through the crowd, shoving people to the side, not caring if they fell or stood.

  “Shit, shit, shit – Dylan, no!”

  I gripped Michael by the shoulder and swung my tight fist back, then propelled it forward until it landed hard against his brazen jaw. He crumbled to the ground and I hovered over him, raining blows on his face. He covered his head with his hands and our watches clashed as I pounded him. Over and over.

  “I told you not to mess with mine,” I shouted. Spit flew in his hair.

  The crowd gasped, and people fled for cover. Soon an army of Michael’s bodyguards was ripping me off him, but not before I landed a mighty kick in his abdomen.

  A particularly burly man hoisted me up and threw me in the opposite direction. I stumbled back, still on my feet. My eyes were ablaze as Michael groaned on the ground. I started for him again, but the men pulled out pistols and aimed them at my chest.

  I stood back. My eyes shifted from the guns back to Sawyer as he stumbled to his feet, laughing. “There’s no need for all of that, boys. Pack ‘em away,” he ordered the men waving his hand dismissively against the air.

  The goons slowly obeyed as Michael stood, hunched over, massaging his ribs.

  I scowled.

  “Dylan Hamilton.” He tsked. “You’ve totally ruine
d my party. Or perhaps I’ve ruined yours and that’s why you’ve come. Because misery likes company...”

  “Stay away from my firm and my woman,” I threatened him. “I swear to god I’ll – ”

  “You’ll what?” he growled. “You see these men?” He wagged his finger at his henchmen, standing on guard. “You make another move in my direction and they’ll drop you like a lead balloon.” He chortled, a cocky grin slapped across his face, and I wished there was some way for me to bypass his gorillas so I could slap it off again.

  “You know what’s really sad about this entire thing?” he piped up again. “Not only have you utterly embarrassed yourself, in front of these good people, including members of... my new board...” He said it as if he were trying the phrase out on his tongue for the first time, but there was no doubt in my mind he’d been saying it over and over for ten years. “You also fail to realize that neither your firm or your woman want you anymore.” He paused. “Laila isn’t happy, Dylan. Face it, you’re unable to give her what she needs. It’s simple, Dylan. Leave everything to me: the business and Laila Renaud. Let me take care of them for you, because the evidence suggests that you’re not cutting the mustard and it’s a damn shame that you ever thought you could, especially with an African queen.”

  Silence.

  “Get off my property. And know that the only reason I’m not pressing charges is because I’m fully aware that you’ve had the police chief in your back pocket ever since you made that charitable donation to the precinct.”

  I stumbled backwards.

  Stefan reached out to me and I jerked away from him.

  “Stay calm,” he advised, but I grimaced. There was no way I could follow his advice.

  Stefan pulled me back the way we had come, and we jumped into my still-running car. Then I peeled away from the roundabout.

  Twenty-Three

  Laila

  ‘True Identity’

  I heard the front door slam, even though I was all the way up on the second floor, and I crumbled into a mess of tears. They poured from my eyes and I covered my mouth to muffle the sobs. My body quaked as my emotions and my resolve split in two. I screamed into the empty bedroom and pounded my fists against the floor, wondering if I had gone too far or been unfair.

  I pulled myself from the floor and walked to the bathroom mirror. My feet passed over the ring I’d tossed and crunched over the remains of the lamp Dylan had thrown. My heart wrenched in my chest at the sight of both.

  I stared into the mirror.

  I turned my head to the side to get a good view of the new hairstyle that had prompted an epic argument between me and my fiancée and ran my nails through the shiny black curls. Then I pulled my hand away and my shoulders slumped.

  My eyes dropped to the ring on the floor. The blood-red ruby sparkled on the ground like a slain symbol of love. My jaw hitched as I reached for it, but the sudden blaring of my cellphone forced me to spin around. I ran to my purse and ripped it out. Sasha’s number was plastered across the screen. I rolled my eyes and answered.

  “Laila, where are you?”

  I couldn’t help but notice the suspicious tenor of Sasha’s tone.

  “Why do you care?”

  She groaned. “I’m serious,” she insisted, ignoring my comment. “Where the hell are you?”

  “I’m home. I left early,” I grunted.

  “Michael actually allowed you to leave early? This annual party of his is supposed to be mandatory. I can’t believe he excused your presence.”

  “Sasha, what do you want?” I asked cutting to the chase. “Why are you calling me sounding like a detective on duty? What’s going on?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said. Her voice dropped lower. “Look, I know we didn’t get off on the right foot.”

  “You actually know that?”

  “Laila, I’m trying to be nice,” she said. Her tone was clipped. “I haven’t done everything right since you got to Sawyer, Inc., but...” she sighed. “Things are different now.”

  My brows joined. “How so?”

  “Things aren’t right.” She paused, as if she wanted to say more.

  I waited.

  “Michael is up to no good,” she revealed. “He just announced that he’s going to promote you to his executive board...”

  I grimaced. I had told him I would think about it, yet he’d gone ahead and proclaimed it in front of everyone? My chest tightened.

  “I didn’t give him permission to announce anything,” I informed her. “I told him I needed to think about it.”

  “I thought it strange that he’d announce something like that without you here,” she commented. “I also heard him talking about something else.” She paused.

  I gripped the phone. “Sasha, spit it out. What’s going on?”

  She sighed. “He’s planning a takeover, Laila. He’d kill me if he knew I was telling you this, but you need to know.”

  “A takeover?”

  “To be honest, it’s more like a coup. He hasn’t told me everything; he never does, but I overheard him talking to some men behind the tent about ten minutes ago.”

  My blood ran cold through my veins as images of Dylan’s board members flashed into my mind. Then I remembered Dylan’s board meeting and all of the concerns he had; the look on his face when he’d stepped into the bedroom, before he’d even seen my new-do.

  I dropped onto the bed, staring into the depths of the cold, empty room. “Sasha, what exactly did you hear? Did he mention the name of the company?”

  “That’s why I’m calling you,” she whispered. “Their voices were hushed, so I couldn’t hear all of the details, but I could have sworn he was talking about Dylan Hamilton and – ”

  Sasha’s looming revelation was interrupted by an ear-piercing shriek and sudden commotion in the background.

  “Sasha?”

  “Laila, oh my god!” she shouted into the phone.

  I jumped off the bed, squeezing the small cellphone in my hands, pressing it against my face. “What is it? Is everything okay?”

  “It’s Dylan. He – ”

  “Dylan?” I was instantly searching for my shoes. “Sasha!”

  “Oh my god, he totally attacked Michael, and they’re... they’re fighting. He’s – ”

  I rammed my feet into my stilettos. “I’m coming,” I announced.

  “Oh my god, hurry up! They’re – ”

  I hung up the phone and dashed down the steps. I sprinted past Ignacio and he grabbed my shoulders, halting me abruptly.

  “Señorita, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”

  “Ignacio, it’s Dylan. He’s been involved in an altercation and I have to go!”

  Ignacio’s eyes were wide with fury. “Ya me voy,” he asserted grabbing the keys to the Porsche.

  “No, you stay here,” I urged him. “He might come back, and I’ll need you to call me if he does.” I grabbed my temple trying to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything.

  Ignacio stared at me with uncertainty.

  “Go quickly.” He pressed the keys into my hand. I nodded and rushed out of the door.

  BY THE TIME I GOT TO Michael’s house, the party had long ended, and Dylan was nowhere in sight. I hopped out of the Porsche and Sasha ran up to me, her skin pale.

  “Where is he?” I demanded.

  “I have no idea,” she admitted. “Him and Stefan sped off about twenty minutes ago.”

  “How do you know Stefan?” I asked.

  “Long story,” she said. “Dylan was like a bull in a china shop. I have never seen someone so angry.”

  I cursed and swiped my nape. That was when Sasha noticed my hair. Her mouth fell open and she stared.

  “What the hell did you do to your hair?” she whispered angrily grabbing my shoulder.

  My body tensed.

  “When did you – ”

  “I did it tonight,” I said, ripping away from her, “and when Dylan came home and saw it, he lost it, just like Mich
ael said he would.”

  Sasha stood back. Disbelief and shock were splattered over her face. Her mouth trembled, and she jerked her head to the side. “He got to you,” she muttered. “It was part of his plan, and it actually worked.” She turned her glaring eyes on me. “You actually let him get to you!”

  My eyes narrowed. “Sasha, what are you talking about?” I had asked the question, but in my heart, I knew the answer.

  Sasha ran her hands over her face. “Honestly, at this point it doesn’t matter.”

  I gritted my teeth. Manipulation cocooned me.

  Who could I trust?

  Michael had asked me to trust him, but Sasha was confirming that I couldn’t.

  And as for her... Now, all of a sudden, she was applying for a position as my BFF, when all she’d ever been was a bitch from the moment I’d arrived on Sawyer, Inc. soil.

  Sasha stared at me. Her mouth wrinkled with regret and sadness. “You were wrong, Laila. You were wrong for doing what you did.”

  “And what exactly did I do?”

  She flung her hand at my head. “You pushed Dylan over the edge, and he didn’t deserve that.”

  “I did no such thing,” I spat. “The only thing I did was step into my true identity, and Dylan couldn’t handle it. All that happened was that I saw his true colors before I did something stupid like marry his prejudiced ass. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before now.”

  “You didn’t step into anything,” she shouted pointing in my face. “You were thrust into something, and Michael Sawyer is the one who pushed you. You didn’t cut your hair for you, Laila. You cut it for Michael!”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but nothing came out.

  “You know what? Now is not the time to be talking about this. It’s pointless. We need to find Dylan, and I have a feeling I know where he is. Follow me.”