Page 19 of The Romance Library

6

Theo

‘What do you mean you didn’t close the deal?’ Father banged his hand on his antique desk.

‘The vendor wants us to prepare a presentation—he’s insisted we pitch to him in two weeks, then he’ll make a decision.’

‘Why didn’t you just offer him more money?’

‘I did.’ I blew out a breath, frustrated at how much he underestimated me. ‘But he said it’s not just about the money. It’s about the idea and how it will benefit the community.’

‘Who cares about the stupid community?’ he shouted, his face reddening by the second.

‘He does. And he wants to get to know me and Jessica better.’

‘Who is Jessica?’

‘The competition.’

‘And what does this woman intend on building?’

‘A romance library.’

‘A romance library!’ he scoffed. ‘What a load of nonsense! Libraries are an outdated concept. They’re closing all around the country, which has been great news for us. Why on earth would someone want to build a dying entity? She may as well open a video rental shop for goodness’ sake! And romance? Of all of the genres, what an idiotic one to choose! Nobody takes those books seriously.’

‘That’s not necessarily true,’ I interrupted. ‘I did some research and romance is one of the biggest and most profitable genres in fiction and has a very passionate fan base.’ I’d always assumed that it was popular, but even I was surprised at how voracious romance readers are.

‘I can assure you that it is not more lucrative than property. In any case, if they’re handing out free books, how can they possibly make a profit? It’s a joke. You cannot lose this site to a stupid library. Understood?’

‘Father,’ I said sternly. ‘I have every intention of securing the land, but you need to understand that this vendor is not like the ones we normally encounter. He seems… sentimental. I get the impression that he places great importance on emotions rather than figures. This isn’t going to be straightforward.’

‘Sounds like you’re not up to the job.’ He leant forward on his desk. ‘How can I trust you to run a company when you can’t even secure a deal in some tiny seaside town? I’ve just secured a multimillion-pound site in Paris. How many international deals have you secured this week?’

I ground my jaw and clenched my fist. I was the one who’d found that land in Paris. I was the one who’d done the groundwork. And just because he insisted on going to the final meeting, he wanted to take all the credit?

This was bullshit.

‘I’ll get it done,’ I snapped.

‘You’d better. I’m starting to think I picked the wrong son to be my successor. I’m sure Ben wouldn’t have this issue. Maybe I should call him back to London to step into your shoes. He couldn’t do any worse.’

My chest tightened. Sometimes I swore the only reason he had more than one child was to play us off against each other.

Little did Father know there was no way Ben would be coming back to London anytime soon. He was having too much fun in America. Dad thought he was studying, but I knew my brother and the only thing he was studying was different women’s anatomy. There was no way he’d give that up to get stuck in an office working 24/7 like I did.

And as for my other brother, Tom, he’d already told Father he wasn’t interested in following in the family footsteps.

I wished I’d had a choice, but it’d been decided since birth that taking over this company was my destiny. And even though sometimes I wanted to just say fuck it and try something else, I always came back to my senses.

My whole life had been dedicated to preparing for the moment I took over from my father. It wouldn’t make sense to think about quitting when I was so close to making it happen.

‘Was there anything else?’ I got up from my seat. ‘I need to get to work on this pitch.’

‘Close the door on your way out,’ Father replied bluntly, his eyes flicking straight to his computer.

As I left, I was tempted to slam the door, but I had to learn not to let him get to me.

After walking to my office, I sank into the leather sofa and squeezed my eyes shut.

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