Page 73 of The Acquisition

"It means that the board might take over the company, leaving you with nothing," she replied.

"Are my personal assets tied to the company? My apartment, bank accounts?"

"No, and the additional inheritance set aside by your grandfather is safe from the company as well," she confirmed.

"What steps are being taken to keep the board from taking over the entire company?" Colt asked.

This was an area he had a lot of recent experience after Anderson Global's own crisis with their board of directors. Fitz opened the company to outside threats when he tried to force his son, Beckett, to get married as a requirement for inheriting the company.

None of us knew at the time it was just a ruse to force Beck's hand. Of course it was my father who heard the rumors of the change in terms and took advantage. He stirred up a hornet's nest by finding a relative willing to try and take control of the company away from Beck.

It would serve him right to have the same thing happen to him. "Can you find a conservator to be put in his place until the terms of the will can be certified?" I asked Caroline.

"There is someone I've worked with in the past. He works for a firm that does consultant work for large corporations. Usually he does audits, but I think he can be persuaded to step in and oversee the transfer of the company to you. The board should be appeased with a neutral party stepping in to replace your father."

Colt reached over and squeezed my hand. "Make it happen, Care. I'm going to be turning off our phones for the rest of the week. If there's an emergency, contact Sabrina. I sent her our itinerary this morning. She's the only person who knows how to reach us."

He hung up the phone, and the car pulled to a stop. I reached for the blindfold, but he stopped me by grabbing my wrist. "Just a little bit longer."

I could hear people rushing to open the doors for us, but no one said a word. My heels clacked against the floor, and the sound echoed around the room. The space was clearly large by the sound of it; my guess was we were in a hotel.

"Don't we need to check in?" I asked.

"Already taken care of, now quit trying to guess where we are," he scolded me.

We took an elevator. That much I guessed by the ding alerting its arrival and the swishing sound the doors made as they opened. I could sense another person climbed on with us, but again, they didn't say a word.

"Did you tell everyone not to speak to us?" I asked.

"And let you guess where we are before I'm ready to show you? I told them it was a surprise, and that my wife was smart enough to figure it out by accent alone."

When we exited the elevator, my heels sunk into plush carpeting. I stumbled blindly behind Colt as he led me by the arm. With no other sounds to focus on, I could hear a lock releasing.

He put his hands on my shoulders and steered me around objects. I heard the jingling of a doorknob seconds before the room filled with sound.

Traffic, horns, and the cacophony of a large city filled the silence I'd been dealing with since we entered the hotel. There was a slight chill in the air, so we were likely still in the more northern part of Europe, as spring was just beginning here as it was back in Washington.

"Are you ready?" he whispered.

I nodded, knowing that even though I couldn't see him, he was looking at me. I felt his eyes moving over me as if he were touching me everywhere. Maybe there was something to learning to appreciate this kind of anticipation.

His fingers worked at the knot on my blindfold, and for some strange reason, I closed my eyes just as the material started to move away.

"You can open your eyes," he said, a hint of laughter in his voice.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and gasped. "Paris?"

"Well, we aren't in Las Vegas," he teased. "I can't think of another place that would have a view of the Eiffel Tower, can you?"

My throat felt thick, and I found myself embarrassingly on the verge of tears. "Have you never been before?" he asked me when I didn't say anything else.

I shook my head, afraid the dam would burst and I'd blubber like an idiot if I spoke.

"Surely—I mean, I know this isn't your first trip to Europe."

I cleared my throat. "I've been to Europe. London mostly, a few times to Milan with my mother when she wanted to go to fashion shows. I'd always wanted to go to Paris, but not until it was with someone special."

He turned me in his arms and framed my face with his hands. "Then I think this is the perfect place for us to spend our honeymoon."

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