Page 91 of Broken Empire

“No.I’vegot it covered, and you two are in charge.Ifanything at all happens to her whileI’mgone,I’mgoing to murder you two,”Itell them, giving them a death glare.

“Whatdo you think we’re going to let happen to her?”Graysonasks with a roll of his eyes.

“FuckifIknow.Butit seems like something is always going fucking wrong andIcan’t stop that shit.”

“We’llbe fine.Justgo do what it is you need to do and stop annoying me,”Huntergrumbles playfully.

“Dickhead,”Imumble before walking out of the kitchen and leaving them there.

Mycar is already out front whenImake it outside, soIhop in and take off for the placeIdon’t want to be right now.Butunfortunately, things need to get done.OnceIget to our building,Itake the elevator all the way up to my father’s floor.

“Followme,”Itell the secretary asIwalk past her and straight into my father’s office.Imove behind his desk and take a seat just as she scurries in, looking a bit frazzled.

“Mr.King.It’sso good to see you.Howare things?Minuseverything that’s currently going on with your father.It’sall over the news.I’mso sorry,” she says.

“It’sgood to see you, too.Yeah, well, we’ll all have to wait and see what happens when it comes to my father.Ineed you to send out a memo to all the department heads and tell them there’s an emergency meeting in half an hour, in the conference room.”

“Ofcourse.I’llhave that done right away, sir,” she tells me before quickly heading back to her desk.

Isit for a moment and take in the entire room.Everythingin here, all the furnishings, especially the art, is expensive.Thecompany is doing well.Itboggles my mind that my father had all of this, yet still resorted to underhanded tactics because of whatIcan only call greed.

Hecould have done so much other shit than go after her, andIkeep wondering why the fuck he’d even do that.Whydid he go to that much trouble to destroy her life?Whydid he want to break us up so badly?Ihave so many unanswered questions when it comes to my father,Winter, and me.

Bothcompanies are thriving in their own right and there is so much space in the business world for all of us to be there.Yetmy father went to great lengths trying to destroy hers, and not just her business, but her life as well.

Whywould he do that?Imean, regardless of whatever feud our grandfathers and fathers had before us, it wasn’t our job to continue that shit.Wetried to hide our relationship in the beginning and the years after, because we knew it would cause contention between our families.Ihonestly thought that whenever our fathers found out, they’d just get over it.Clearly,Iwas wrong.

Myfather definitely knew about us, since he made that assholeArchiedo what he did.Buthe had to have also known how muchIloved her.Hehad to know thatIloved her beyond anything else, which means that he had no problem hurting me to get whatever it was he wanted.

Heintentionally hurt me without any care of what the aftermath would bring.Forthat,Icould never forgive him.Infact, after finding out what he did, there was no wayIwas going to ever forgive him.Iwas just going to cut off contact with him, but then he sentAntonioafter her.

Thethings that bastard did to her are unforgivable.That’swhyIcan’t let my father live.Hewas the one who orchestrated it all.I’mstill lost in my thoughts when there’s a knock on the door.

“Comein,”Icall out.

“Everyoneis in the conference room and waiting for you,Mr.King,” the secretary says as she walks into the room.Damnit,Ididn’t realize that a half an hour had passed so quickly.

“Youcan follow me and take notes,”Itell her.

“Yes, sir.”

WhenIstep into the conference room,Isee that all the department heads are here, waiting eagerly to find out what the hell is going on.

“Hello, everyone.Thankyou all for being here on such short notice.Iappreciate it.I’msure you’ve all seen the news that my father has been arrested on a number of charges.”Thereare murmurs among them, with a lot of yeses going around the room.

“Whatis going to happen to the company now?” one of the men asks.

“Thatis whyIwanted you all here.I’vetaken the reins from my father.I’llbe your newCEO.Mybrother,Grayson, is your newCOO.Though, for now,Iwill be appointing both a temporaryCEOandCOOas my brother andIhave other matters to attend to.”

“Congratulations, sir,” another one says.

“So, our jobs are all still here despite your father being arrested?” someone else asks.

“Yes.Noneed to panic.Yourjobs are all safe, for now.”

“Whatdo you mean for now, sir?” another suit asks.

“WhatImean is that there will be a complete overhaul in the company in the coming weeks.Therewill be new implementations of policies and procedures and every department will be audited to make sure that things are being done correctly.Mygreat-great-grandfather built this business andIwill not let the actions of my father tarnish or destroy it.Onceeverything pans out andIhave the reports back that say everyone is doing their jobs according to code, then your jobs will be safe.”Isee some of them nod their heads and some of them look put out.Notsure what that is all about, but this is going to turn into the most legit business that it can be.

---