Page 99 of Bidding War

He sighs and glances out the window before looking me in the eye. “I want to do better by you. By everyone. But I want to start with you. If you'll let me.”

I'm still too angry about this. It takes everything inside of me not to throw this in his face. But I have to think of the future. If he wants to play nice, then I should let him. I have to be strategic about this.

He's playing right into my hands.

It will be so much easier to dismantle his empire from the inside. The plan I started months ago is finally coming to fruition. I went on the ride-alongs. I learned everything I could from Moss in the time that we had together. Now, Dad wants to move me into the office. I can use this, too, if I'm smart about it.

But what if he's being honest?

That doesn't change the fact that he's involved in a lot of illegal activities that need to end. So, let him be honest. Let him try to become dad of the year. I will use every bit of this to my advantage. Even if it hurts.

Can I forgive and forget? Maybe. But I have two things to think of. June and any children we might have. If I do this from the inside, I'm going to have to walk a very tight rope. I can do this and make him an enemy. Or I can do this and keep him as my father. What happens next depends greatly on him.

So, I swallow my anger down harder than I ever have before and give a wan smile. If I make this too easy on him, he won’t buy it. “Dad, if you're turning over a new leaf, I'm happy to see it.”

He looked like he was stressed as if I were going to yell at him. He expected anger out of me, which means he knew that he had earned it. Or that he thinks I'm a hothead. Whatever the case, he looks more relaxed now.

“Your mother and I would like for you and June to join us for supper this weekend. Saturday night. If you don't have plans.”

“Nothing on the schedule that I know of. But I'll check in with her to make sure.”

“Excellent.”

I wait for more of a follow-up than that, but nothing comes. No snide comment. No judgmental overtone. He simply seems glad that we are coming to dinner. It's uncanny. I really do wonder how much of this has made him reevaluate who he is. Maybe I'm not the only one in recovery.

“Was that everything you wanted to talk about, or is there something else?”

“I believe that covers our bases. Your mother said that dinner will be ready at seven. Are you still on any food restrictions for your wound care?”

“I can eat most things these days, but soft foods are still best for now.”

“Understood.”

I stand, and so does he. For a moment, he holds his arms up as if to hug me. But that's a bridge too far. I make up an excuse and stiffly move back from the embrace. “I'm not really physically capable of safely hugging right now.”

His arms drop, but he has a sad smile. “Of course. I don't know what I was thinking.”

“It's a lot to get used to. There are things that I can't do that I used to do without a thought. Now, they exhaust me. It's an adjustment. But we'll get through it.”

“We certainly will.”

As I leave Dad's office, I have an impending sense of dread. I don't know if it's about Saturday or about the future in general, but something deep inside is telling me that everything is wrong. Maybe I'm paranoid. But I have no reason to doubt this feeling. It's always been right in the past, and Dad’s given me no reason to think it is wrong now. But I would like it to be.

52

JUNE

Digging through shareholder agreements is a slog. I've been at this all week now, and it starts to look like gibberish after a while. Sure, it's legalese and I should be familiar with this sort of thing. And I am. But, oh my god, this is not what I'm cut out for. But Andre wants to buy these companies, and it's my job to help him do that. So that's what I'm doing.

It feels like one part corporate espionage and one part extraordinarily tedious work. I always thought spying would be more fun. The movies make it look fun. But they don't show the spies going through boatloads of paperwork and the boredom that accompanies it. Corporate espionage is dull.

It doesn't help that I feel like I haven't seen Anderson all week long. This is my fifth twelve-hour day in a row, or it will be by the time I get out of here, I’m sure. But I can't complain. Andre gave me a well-paying job before anybody else would even give me the time of day. He might be a kook who kidnapped me, but he's my boss. I'm gonna do anything I can to keep him happy.

In studying these companies, I have figured out a few things. It seems Andre wants to branch out into media conglomeration, which is not something that I would have expected out of him. Most of his holdings range widely. For him to specifically target media is odd. But maybe he got a tip from somebody that their stocks are gonna shoot up. I don't know. Whatever the reason, he has a hard-on for these selections.

He asked for a report today to him and his partners in order for them to see why he is steering them to these investments. I have presented to corporate partners before. But this is my first presentation with Andre’s partners, and I'm a little nervous. Out of instinct, I have drunk way too much coffee today. Thankfully, my hand doesn't shake when I reach for my mug again. It's just about time for me to head over to the boardroom to do my presentation. So, I need to get every milligram of caffeine in me that I can.

A knock on my open office door startles me, and I almost spill my coffee. When I look up, Carlos is grinning at me. He smoothly asks, “A little nervous about your presentation?”

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