Page 59 of Bitter Heat

“A minute,” she repeated and took a deep breath. She snuffed out her emotions. If she showed weakness, he would have the upper hand. He wasn’t her ex-husband, friend, or enemy. He was a nobody, a faceless fuck who was messing with her family. She had several hundred million at her disposal, and he wouldn’t be expecting that. Money was what he wanted. It was what he craved. She would give him what he wanted, ensure Hennessy & Co was back in her sister’s hands, and then peace the fuck out of here.

Someone knocked on the glass. She opened her eyes to find an unfamiliar security guard watching her. She rolled down the window a crack.

“Mr. Roth’s expecting you,” he said.

When she unlocked the door, he held out a hand to help her from the vehicle.

“I’ll escort you,” he said.

She looked down the empty sidewalks of the business district. It had to be close to eleven o’clock. She glanced across the street at her father’s building and felt her swinging equilibrium stabilize. She would never be a CEO, but she was still a Hennessy. Maximus Carlsbad Hennessy didn’t raise weak women. He built a legacy that would live on for generations, and it was up to her to make sure that happened.

She lifted her head as she walked into the building. Their footsteps echoed eerily in the empty lobby. The guard didn’t say a word as he pressed the button for the forty-fifth floor. The elevator was so smooth, she didn’t feel it stop. They strode past a beautiful reception area filled with fresh flowers, then walked down a long hallway lined with offices with frosted glass sliding walls. The guard led her to the executive suite and knocked on the double doors.

“Come in.”

She steeled herself as the guard opened the door. Roth sat behind his desk with the stunning backdrop of New York City behind him. The view paired with his palatial office let everyone know immediately who was in control here. The white floor, espresso desk and walls were the perfect neutrals to highlight the strategically placed plants, statues, and artwork. She didn’t have to ask him to know that everything in this room was top of the line.

The door closed behind her as she walked toward him. His suit jacket was draped over the back of his chair. His navy silk tie was loose around his neck. He looked stylish and expensive and every inch a tycoon.

“You finally used my number,” he said and shrugged back the sleeve of his shirt to look at his watch. “We can fuck here or at my penthouse.”

She stopped dead in her tracks a few feet from his desk. “I’m not here to fuck.”

He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “I thought you needed more material for your books.”

“Don’t talk about my work!” She wanted to knock his computer off his desk and spit in his face. Instead, she suffocated her emotions and focused on her mission. “I’m here because you bought a controlling share of Hennessy & Co.”

He surveyed her coolly. “What about it?”

“I’m here to negotiate.”

His eyes flicked over her. “Is that right?”

Her temper threatened to break free from its leash. “You let my pregnant sister wait in the lobby all day?”

“I’m a busy man.”

“Yet here I am.”

“I thought you wanted to fuck.”

He was trying to make her feel cheap, and it was working. Clearly, the truce they had in Colorado was officially gone. He was showing her how little she mattered to him. Her stomach rocked. The urge to turn around and walk away was overwhelming, but she had something he wasn’t counting on. He didn’t know about her inheritance. She was her sisters only hope. At least she had gotten further than her sisters and actually met him face to face.

“I want to buy back the shares,” she said.

“They aren’t for sale.”

“Everything has a price.”

“Some things are priceless,” he said as he steepled his fingers. “Like having Colette Hennessy Caruso sitting in my lobby all day.”

“You fucker,” she said and took a step forward before she stopped herself. He was deliberately antagonizing her. To make her walk? She forced herself to think through the red haze.

“The shares,” she said hoarsely. “How much?”

“Colette got cocky. She took risks, which is good, but she took too many at once and didn’t pull back when the first handful didn’t pay off. We never borrow. You don’t want to be indebted to anyone. Her arrogance made her reckless.”

She ground her teeth. “She knows she made a mistake.”

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