Page 10 of Ruthless Heir

Hunter at the head as CEO and me as the CFO. At thirty years old I’d be the youngest Le Blanche in the family to have such a role.IfI get married.

“Between the marriage thing and the shit with the Fairchilds, I’m not sure which I should be worried about more,” I seethe.

My father’sdearbest friend, Nigel Fairchild, owns a brokerage company that has been in partnership with Le Blanche Global for over thirty years. Nigel wants seats on the board for himself and his son, Nolan.

My father is ecstatic about the idea but I’ve always hated Nigel and Nolan, so I’m completely against it.

The position on the board opened up with the restructure and the passing of Archie Blackstone, an old mentor of mine. Neither Nigel nor Nolan could ever hope to fill his shoes.

“I think the Fairchilds have shady-as-fuck ulterior motives. I just can’t prove it.” I bite the inside of my lip. “And I can’t tell a guy like my father that I have a hunch his best friend is a shifty motherfucker.”

Nolan has been my fucking nemesis for as long as I can remember. He’s always coveted my achievements and status to the point where he’d go out of his way to sabotage me in my own family’s company.

Like what he did to me last Saturday.

I hooked up with an actress at a party, not knowing she was tied up in a federal drug investigation. The next day a scandal broke when the feds raided her home and found all manner of drugs. Then a bunch of photos of us togetherin her housesurfaced on the Internet that made it look like I was part of the scandal.

Hunter and I were able to do damage control to some degree. While doing so we found evidence that suggested Nolan could have paid my publicist to get dirt on me to make me look unfit to run the company.

“There must be something you can do.” Josh furrows his dark brows. “You can’t let that shit slide. I have no doubt that Nolan was involved.”

“I’m working on it.” I won’t stop until I find whatever I need to eradicate NolanandNigel. It’s better if they’re out of the picture completely.

Hunter and I are the next generation of Le Blanche Global. I don’t think it’s wise to place people on the board who could mess with us or the company in the future.

My phone buzzes on the table and I check the screen. “That’s my father.”

“Good luck. I’ll leave you to answer that.” Josh stands, crushes the can and tosses it in the trash. “Let me know what happens.”

“Sure. Catch you later.”

He heads out the door and I grab my phone, hoping like hell my father gives me the news I want to hear.

“Hello, Father.” I imbue my voice with my usual cool confidence.

“Asher Le Blanche, you’re a hard man to reach. Considering we work in the same building on the same floor, that seems rather odd to me.”

I can almost see him, the great Preston Le Blanche, sitting in his office at home still dressed in one of his well-tailored black suits at this hour. In my mind’s eye I imagine the disgruntled look he usually reserves for times like this when he’s pissed at me and trying to control his rage.

“I’ve been busy.”

“So I hear.”

“What’s going on?” I ask as if I don’t know. It’s just that there are so many things to choose from, I’m not sure which he wants to talk about first:the search for a wife, the scandal, something else, or all of the above.

“Seriously, Asher? I can’t believe you can ask me that.”

“I’m trying to get a handle on everything.”

“I’d love to know what that means. There’s the scandal we’re still trying to do damage control on and the matter of you getting married. Hunter told me that you guys felt Nolan might have had something to do with your publicist’s betrayal. Why on earth would you boys think that?”

Here we go. My father is the emperor of his empire and one of the most powerful men in America but he’s completely blind when it comes to the Fairchilds.

“Father, I’m sure Hunter told you that we found an email conversation between Coraline and Nolan discussing my suitability to run the company.” I can’t keep the anger out of my voice. Saying those words outside my head makes me realize how bad and outrageous the situation is. “Nolan asked her to keep an eye on me. Then we found evidence that she was paid bysomeone to follow me, take pictures of anything suspicious and send them to the paparazzi.”

“Hunter has told me all of that. But the problem is there’s no evidence suggesting that Nolan paid her off.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You don’t think that’s enough?”

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