Page 11 of The Acquisition

Sabrina shook her head. "It's a very good thing you are going to stay with me, because you'd totally fall into bed with my brother."

I rolled my eyes. We were a very strange group of people.

FIVE

COLTER

Ipushed away from the window I'd been looking out since Jana went for a walk. It started to rain some time ago, but she hadn't returned. Hopefully she found somewhere to get out of the rain. The odds weren't good, because she had no money, and I realized after trying to call her several times she left her phone here as well.

What I needed to do was to go to the office. There were financial reports to review. Beckett had our accounting department looking into the financial standing of all the board members and also looking at anyone who had recently purchased large amounts of stock in the company. With his father trying to push him into settling down by threatening to break up the company, it was just the catalyst one of the board members needed to make a move to unseat Beck as the CEO.

Since I was the one who told his dad about his relationship with Evie, I owed it to him to ferret out who was causing trouble. Neither of us believed Fredrick, Beck's cousin, was smart enough to mastermind everything working behind the scenes to seize control of the company.

Fitzgerald Anderson came from a large family. Most of them were not close, but his nephew Fredrick was using the familial relation to try and seize part of the company his mother had sold out years ago. In fact, there was only one family member not proving himself to be a money grabbing leech. Ted Anderson had never shown any interest in his uncle's company. He was a successful lawyer in his own right, and the only time he'd ever traded on the relationship was to borrow Fitz's yacht and private island when his son Jeremy and his friends found themselves in danger.

I pushed that information to the back of my mind, though if Caroline couldn't get the information I needed to save Jana, I'd ask Beck to call in that favor. He was going to be my son-in-law after all. Still fucking weird, but I couldn't think of a better man for my daughter.

All these distractions would hold for later. I couldn't sit around here all day waiting for Jana to return. After I called down to the front desk to make sure someone would let Jana into the apartment, I quickly changed into a suit and drove the short distance to the office.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up," Sabrina greeted as I walked past her door to my office.

"I thought I gave you the day off," I grumbled.

"Relax, grouchy. I brought you coffee. I only just got here myself, so it should still be pretty warm."

"Has Jana been into the office yet?" I asked.

"Mhmm," she hummed.

"Any more information than that?"

She fought a smirk, but she had a horrible poker face. "She's around here. I think she's working somewhere with Evie. Colt, you have to tell Evie that I'm your stepsister."

"Jana knows, I take it?" I asked.

The humor fell from her expression. "Am I a secret?"

Was she? I guess I didn't like to look back on that time, but it wasn't her fault. She was an adorable toddler when her mother moved into my father's mansion, which had the effect of shutting my mother out of her home. Not much different than the way Jana was locked out of her apartment.

My mother came home one day and found a moving truck loaded with her things. The locks were changed, and she was suddenly homeless. It took a bit of time before lawyers were able to get my mother access to money and get her a reasonable divorce settlement.

"No, you're not a secret. I don't like talking about my parents' divorce, and I guess you got wrapped up with all that. I'm sorry if you felt like I was trying to hide the fact that you're my sister."

"Am I though? I mean, you've never treated me like I was your sister," she murmured.

"That's my fault too. I will be better. If I've learned anything from finding Evie it's that it's important to hold my real family close. I'll tell Evie tonight."

Sabrina nodded her head. "Good. It's going to take a bit for her to get used to, and I really hope she doesn't feel like we were hiding it from her."

"Why do I feel like there's something else you want to talk to me about?"

Jana knocked on the door frame. "Probably because she wants to tell you I'm moving in with her."

My jaw clenched. For some reason I was irrationally irritated she was leaving me. "You don't have to do that."

"Yeah I do. There's a weird vibe that's been building between us. If I move in with Sabrina, we can keep it from building to the point we break," Jana said.

Sabrina pushed in her chair. "Not to be rude, but I really would like to exit this conversation, but you are both in my office, so—"

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