“It’s the other way around, Elena. I want you to be the next CEO,” Imani said, lifting her chin.
Chapter Fifteen
“Do you know what this is about?” Matthew asked Devon as they strode toward the appointed conference room.
“No idea,” Devon said. He had just finished one meeting with a client, and all he wanted was to take a breather before a high-profile lunch. He’d been back from New York for less than a day and somehow that weekend getaway seemed like years ago.
He felt like half a person until he saw Elena again. They’d crossed paths in the hallway for a brief moment earlier that day and she’d winked at him. That’s when he realized he had to tell her he loved her. And take a chance to have it all.
During their short months together, he had battled his sexual attraction to her, then he yielded to temptation and made love to her. And she was perfect. For him. Now his blood pounded hot at the idea of letting her go. Although sexually she graduated with honors from his tutoring, he had been the one who’d learned the most. That he could trust himself to be the right man if he had the right woman beside him. And that woman was Elena.
He loved her, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.
Matthew scratched his chin. “Do you think this is about Elena?”
He leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
“Mom’s secretary, Angie, told me she’s in the conference room with Elena.” Matthew stopped for a moment and turned to face him, his expression sincere. “Despite our differences I want you to know I didn’t tell Imani about what you were up to with Elena.”
His blood chilled. What the hell was going on? “So you knew?” Devon stretched to his full height. Since when did his half-brother do anything to help him out? Something was off.
“Yeah, Elena told me.” Matthew shrugged. “We’re friends.”
Of course. Friends. Which was why Elena hadn’t kept their affair a secret. Elena’s loyalty to Matthew meant far more than hers to Devon. His heartbeat accelerated and blood thundered in his ears. Devon had jeopardized his goal of becoming the company’s next CEO by sleeping with Elena. He’d trusted her.
God, he had been taken for a fool. Or had he?
Devon rubbed his temple. Maybe there was an explanation to all this. Maybe Matthew had discovered about the two of them and was simply playing him, to get him riled up. A part of him laughed at his own naïveté, but Devon willed it away. First things first.
He’d get through the meeting, and then talk to Elena and figure things out.
Matthew whispered something he didn’t quite hear. When the doors swung open, Devon’s attention snapped onto Elena who sat next to Imani behind the conference desk. Elena. What on Earth could she be talking to Imani about? He, for one, hadn’t requested her presence as his PA.
A gasp escaped her lips, and he could read the guilt burning in her cocoa eyes. She leaned in her chair, as if there was some sort of cloud surrounding him that sucked the air from the room. And she had no choice but to draw back.
He curled his fist, desperate to stop the wild race of his pulse. The tension inside him stretched his usually comfortable shirt and jacket. “What’s going on?”
“Sit down,” Imani said.
Matthew sat down on the chair at the other end of the oval table, but all Devon managed was to smooth his hand down his tie. Unfazed by his unwillingness to obey her request, Imani clicked on a button to lower the electric blinds.
“Devon.” Elena mouthed, and he doubted anyone else but him heard her. She swiveled in her chair a little, and he wondered if she was tapping her feet on the floor. Something was up, and fuck, it didn’t seem good.
“What is this about, Mom?” Matthew asked and tossed Devon a glance.
“I want to announce I have made my decision about the new CEO,” Imani stood, hands tapping the table, and smiled. “I truly believe this is the best choice for Wilder & Co.”
Devon curled his fingers into a ball so hard, he felt the ache from his nails digging into his flesh. He swallowed. Why would she make that decision so soon? When neither of them had even unveiled the mystery thief?
“That’s unexpected,” he said nonchalantly, albeit he was anything but calm. His body was charged with confusing emotions. A moment earlier, he’d mused over loving Elena and wanting her in his life, forever. If she had helped Matthew and betrayed him, would his feelings change?
Imani upped her eyebrow. “Some of the best changes are.”
He slanted a look toward Elena, who simply stared down at her lap. If she had told Imani anything about their affair to give Matthew some advantage… She did. His gut clenched. Even though he wasn’t confined in an elevator, his temples throbbed.
“I have something to confess. There wasn’t a thief. I was the one withdrawing money from the company and injecting it into different departments. Wilder & Co.’s top accountant, Toby, also knew about my plan and obeyed my directives.”
Devon clenched his mouth. Come again? He had gone over the accounts and hired help, and done all that work for nothing?
“What the fuck? Why?” Matthew asked, his voice louder than usual.
“Because I had a tough decision to make. I had to choose someone to take over my position, and setting up a fake problem was a good way to prevent a bloodbath between the two of you. I needed time to figure out whom to pick—you’re both strong candidates,” Imani said. “But you’re also your father’s sons. And he nearly destroyed this company before he dumped me for his assistant and ran off with her. And a lot of our capital. I had to make sure I could trust my replacement.”
Devon paced the room. What the fuck, all right. “Matthew and I aren’t accountants. If Toby was in collusion with you, how would we be able to spot the discrepancies on our own?” he asked. His brain barely registered the irony that, for once, he and his brother weren’t on opposite sides.
Imani rolled her forest-green eyes. “A good CEO knows what goes on in his company,” she said her voice deepening. “Which is why you had Elena Moretti do it.”
Elena Moretti.
Devon’s gut dropped all the way to the floor. He wanted to storm out of there, but his legs betrayed him, and he remained pinned to the spot. Licking his lips, he could taste the bitterness of betrayal. “You knew about this?”
Elena raised her gaze to his, and shook her head. “No. I mean yes. I mean, she just told me a few minutes before you walked in.”
“Why her?” Matthew asked. “She’s his assistant.”
Imani shook her head and folded her arms over her chest. “She’s not just an assistant and we all know it. Truth is, when I had this idea, to see who would rise to the occasion, I was unsure about who would surprise me. And, behind the lines, Elena surpassed all my expectations,” Imani continued, her voice smooth as silk. “I always thought men often made decisions based on their private parts. This situation proves it.” She paused and pointed at Devon. “You got involved with an employee, which is strictly forbidden in this company.”
“True,” Matthew said.
“Not so fast, Matthew.” Imani focused her attention on him. “You let your emotions blind you to what really needed to happen and what was going on in the company.”
Matthew ran his hand down his face.
“We don’t need those kinds of problems plaguing Wilder & Co.,” Imani said.
“She got involved with me. Her boss. How is that not a deal-breaker?” Devon asked. How could Imani, who had always been known for her common sense, be so wrong? And how could she have different rules about the same issue based on who the players were?
“Elena Moretti came to spy on you and see if you’d slip up. She slept with you. And she could have used that information against you, but didn’t. Instead, she kept her eye on the prize and vowed to discover the real thief. And she has. She should lead Wilder & Co. until you boys get beyond what your father did to our family and move forward.”
“What about the shares?” Matthew surge
d to his feet, hands jammed in his pockets. “She doesn’t have that kind of money.”
“I’m open to making her CEO and I’ll sell one of you my shares.” Imani lifted her chin. “I’ll have one of you be the major shareholder. This way, we can all sort of work together as I prepare to leave my position.”
Devon curled his fist and slammed it on the shelf. Hard. “This is ridiculous. Do you know the valuable time I wasted trying to figure out who had been stealing from our company?” He ran his hand down his face. Every part of him tingled with compressed anger. Striding toward her, he let it out. “Elena. You played Matthew and me. You got involved with me because you wanted my position,” he said, and a sad chill poured into his bloodstream. She betrayed him.
Regina had used him to promote herself in the end, but she didn’t toy with his emotions. She hadn’t made him care, like a fool, just to throw him under the bus. She had scratched his reputation, sure, but Regina didn’t cost him the CEO title. Elena did.
Elena shook her head. “What? No.” She raised her voice. “No,” she repeated this time a bit more commanding. “Damn it, Devon, no.”
Devon snarled. “Doesn’t seem like it right now. What are you doing here?”
“I came to talk to you as soon as I found out who was stealing. I thought you were still in this conference room. Then I saw her, and—
“And you just told her everything.” Because that would make you look good.
Elena stood, hands perched at her waist. “You think I betrayed you? Really? Or is this because that whole spiel about me standing up for myself came with restrictions? As long as what I say serves your purpose, I’m good, right? Otherwise I have to double-check with you before I open my pretty mouth.”
“Don’t change the subject,” he said, and vaguely registered Imani and Matthew’s curious glances coming his way.
For an instant, he wondered if the air-conditioner quit working. He took a deep breath, and the sound of him inhaling filled the otherwise quiet room. She walked toward him, her heels clacking across the wood flooring with intent.
She curled her fingers into a ball, her shoulders rigid. “I didn’t say yes to Imani.”
“Did you say no?” He stared deep into her eyes. “Tell me. When she asked you to be CEO, did you say no immediately? Because you knew that’s what your supposed friend there”—he pointed at Matthew—“and I wanted?”
“I didn’t have time—
“It’s a yes or no question.” He cut her off.
Rubbing her forehead, she broke the stare and glanced at the floor. “I didn’t say no.”
He lifted his hand to his temple, massaging it, trying to keep a vein from popping. Then, a sadness that defied description spilled into him, numbing his pain for a moment. She didn’t say no. Just like Regina hadn’t said no during that interview, when asked about the open relationship he’d shared with her. That no had opened the door to dozens of other questions, and Regina had been all too happy to respond. Was Elena any different? He had thought so. But now…there she stood. The pulse on her smooth neck visibly spiked, and he watched how her fingers trembled as they drummed at her waist.
“We’re done, Elena. You’re either fired or promoted. Whatever it is… I can’t see you again,” he managed to say, even if each of those words weighed like a boulder in his lungs. Even if they had the power to hollow out his chest and carve a hole in his heart.
If he fooled himself and kept Elena around…there was no going back.
***
Elena watched him storm out of the office, and her stomach sank. Touching it, she pressed her fingers into her flesh as if she could stop the nausea from getting worse. No such luck. The bile floated all the way up her throat.
“Well, that was a bit dramatic,” Imani said.
She turned around to find Devon’s stepmother rolling her eyes and leaning back on her seat. “Very,” Elena said after she swallowed hard.
“Now, let’s talk business.”
“I can’t. I can’t talk business and accept a position that Devon and Matthew both want,” she said. Being the CEO of Wilder & Co. hadn’t crossed her mind until Imani suggested it. Would she be good at it? Yes. Would she enjoy it? Hell yes.
Matthew sighed and loosened his tie. “Ells, hear me out, my mother may have a point. Strategically. If either myself or Devon are calling the shots, the other one will have a hard time listening.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” she said, and clicked on the button to switch the electric blinds on and pull them up. The sky cleared up, and a few rays of sunshine entered the room.
She’d unintentionally hurt Devon, and that had cost her a lot. But he’d refused to see that she wasn’t the bad guy here. That pained her from the inside out. How could he expect her to acquiesce to his demands after helping her come to terms with her past, flourish sexually and stand up to her brothers.
He only cared about what she wanted and deserved if it didn’t inconvenience his plans. And Elena deserved so much more. How ironic that Devon had been the key to her discovering just how much.
Emotions welled up inside, and tears burned hot behind her eyes. She blinked them back. “Look, don’t get me wrong. If circumstances were different, I’m sure—”
“If you hadn’t gotten involved with a man?” Imani asked. “Oh, dear, how many decades have gone by since I last heard those words? Do you have any idea how far we’ve come? Why is it that men always get their way? They mess with us in such a way that we end up making less money or giving up jobs and making it all about them?”
Elena looked away from Imani’s intense, piercing green eyes and glanced at the view outside. The sun shone brightly over the high-rise buildings—a yellow circle of hope cloaking all the concrete beneath. There was bitterness in Imani’s voice, and she didn’t dare disagree with her. How could she? But she didn’t like being caught in the middle, all things feminist aside. “If I say no, do Devon and Matthew still have a shot?”
Imani gave her a long glance before answering. “Not at the CEO position.”
She barely kept up with the beats of her heart. Could she do this? Hell yeah she could. “Okay. I will accept to be the CEO. But I have one request.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Why did you ask me to come here? I was in the parking lot when you called,” Devon asked, stepping on the roof.
Matthew scratched his goatee. “Because this is where I come to think whenever life gets shitty.”
Devon removed his jacket and threw it on the ground. A cool fall breeze caressed his face, and he almost regretted taking it off. If only all decisions were that easy to change. “By the looks of it, you already have something in mind,” he said.
He couldn’t help but notice the half-smile Matthew gave him almost seemed…genuine. Shaking his head, he sat on a block of cement. Somehow, the view of the other buildings gave him the misleading sensation of serenity, if only for an instant.
“Elena said she’d only agree to become the CEO if my mother agreed to sell the shares to both of us. Half and half.” Matthew produced a stress ball from his pocket, and started throwing it from hand to hand. “Since I don’t have the money right now to pay for the shares, that means you can buy all of them.”
“And you expect me to believe you’re okay with that?” he asked, even though the words burning the tip of his tongue were, Why did she do that?
“Strangely enough, I am,” Matthew said, then sat next to him. “Man, I admit it, I didn’t do right by you.”
“Yeah?” Devon said casually, even though the recognition of his brother sent a warm sensation through him. “What is this about? Do you want me to lend you money for your shares? What’s the catch?”
Matthew gave him a long glance, as if agreeing to what he just heard, then shook his head and willed whatever thought away. “There is no catch. She can be the new CEO, but you’ll be the largest shareholder. She has the title, but you own the company. And we can all work together.”
“Wouldn’t that be something?” Devon mocked. “She lied to me. She probably lied to you too. And now—”
Matthew lifted his hand in protest. “Dude, shut up for a second. Elena isn’t this monster you’re painting her to be. She made mistakes, I guess, but all she wanted was to help. In a way, she did. She kept forcing me to see a different side of you. I didn’t want to see it. But she’s taught me that you’re not to blame for our father’s shithole behavior. I was a confused kid when you showed up. I acted like a jerk. And I’m sorry.”
Was Matthew implying that Elena brought them together? “I thought she had an affair with you at first.”
Patting his shoulder, Matthew chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect anything else from you. When did you realize she wasn’t?”
“I don’t know. I guess it was easier to just believe the worst. Because if she weren’t the worst, if she was this kind, funny, bad dancer kind of girl…who cooked like a dream and smiled like the sun—if she were all that and emotionally available, she would be real trouble for me.”
Matthew squeezed his shoulder. “That meant you would have to become the man she deserves.”
At first, he almost jerked away from the touch. Could he really erase years of estrangement? “Yes. And it’s not easy being that guy.” The guy who forgives. The guy who realizes when he makes mistakes. The guy who…couldn’t fathom the idea of another man laying a finger on his woman.
“Trust me. It’s not. I’m separated from my wife and it sucks.”
He let out a sigh. “I heard. Sorry, man.”
“Thanks.” He produced a flask from his inside pocket, popped the top, and took a swig. “I had it coming I guess. I was a prick.”
“Not a stretch.”
He took another sip then handed it to Devon. “Guess not.”
“Never took you for a flask kind of guy. Specially this early in the morning. Should I worry?” Devon glanced at the flask, and smelled the bourbon, but didn’t drink any. To believe everything that was happening right now, he needed to remain sober.
Accidentally Seduced (The Naked Truth Series Book 3) Page 15
