Page 42 of Knocked Up By the Silver Fox

"Guess our absence was noticed," he grumbled, and I righted my dress, making sure my top was covering my chest and my skirt was over my hips how it should be. He tucked himself awayand zipped his pants, but he didn't even button his shirt before opening the window.

Cold air burst in on us and I shivered as I took my soiled panties from his grip and hid them in my fist. It was Allen and he looked angry. He leaned down and looked into the car, at Will's bare chest then at my face, then back to Will.

"You're needed in the hall, and you're not going to like this," Allen said, and my stomach flipped. Whatever it was didn't sound good.

28

WILL

Allen stormed off and I had no choice but to rush after him. I left Beth sitting in my car where it was warm, probably feeling confused or overwhelmed. I knew I was. She rejected my proposal, and while it wasn't the most romantic way to ask her to marry me, I didn't understand. We were perfect together; she was having my child, and we both loved each other deeply. When she explained that she didn't want this out of obligation I wanted to assure her it wasn't, but Allen cut me off.

Now I rushed after him, buttoning my shirt as I struggled to keep up. Whatever it was, it made him pretty upset and after everything else, I didn't relish the idea of drama or some sort of upheaval during our event. We had our shareholders, board members, and all of our management team in attendance. It wasn't a good time for anything to go wrong at all and following the scandal in the media about Nevil Banks buying up shares, things were fragile.

We burst back into the building and darted for the hall. My tie was loose, but my shirt was buttoned up and tucked in properly at least. I felt a bit flustered, and my mind was still inthat car with Beth hoping to make her see we belonged together, but I had to face this.

Before I even entered the ballroom I heard his voice. That weasel of a man was here at my gala, and he was making trouble. Of course he'd been invited—he was a shareholder now. There was no way I could legally keep him out. This event was something we did every year to give our shareholders updates about profits and losses as required by law. But I'd be a fool to invite him to speak. I hadn't. I didn't know why he was on the dais when I stepped into the room, but his voice carried over the sound of soft music playing.

"Ah, there he is…." Nevil raised his champagne flute in the air and nodded at me with a wicked grin. "As I was saying, my declaration is public now. I've sent in the forms as required. I am announcing my 10 percent." His stupid grin made him look like the snake he was. His eyes were too far apart. My father told me to never trust someone whose eyes were too far apart.

"What is he doing up there?" I growled at Allen, who stood with his hand over his mouth staring. His eyes were wide in shock. Nevil hijacked our event and was up there in my place doing God knows what.

"He's taking over the party, Will…The board is gonna flip." Allen shook his head, and I sighed hard and scowled at him as I started to push through the crowd of people toward the front, but Nevil's little game continued.

"I'd like to let you all know I'm willing to buy all of your shares at a premium price." He cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes on me as I moved closer. "It seems your CEO has been a bit loose with his reins. The Butcher account was substantial and it's fading away… Oh yes, I got that bit of information." He chuckled and continued. "Let's just say his little mistress was moved into a new department and rumor has it she's pregnant too."

The crowd around me gave a collective gasp and I spotted Carl near the front. People were staring at me as I nudged him and grumbled, "Get him off that stage." Then I continued moving toward the microphone and Carl walked with me.

"A company's client information should be a bit more secure, don't you think?" Nevil asked, turning back to the crowd as Carl and I mounted the stairs.

My shareholders and employees stood in stunned silence, a bit of murmuring going on, as I stormed over and took the mic from him. He smirked at me and scoffed as Carl placed a hand on his bicep and leaned in to whisper something to him. Offending a shareholder wasn't a good thing under any circumstance, but this man could take a flying leap and I wouldn't be upset.

"Mr. Banks, please come have a drink with me," Carl said loudly before nodding at the bar. Nevil snarled at me as he walked past, and I took a deep, calming breath as I turned to the crowd, now waiting for whatever my rebuttal might be. I could hear a pin drop. It was so quiet.

"Well, folks, you heard it from him." I felt like loosening my tie and when I reached up to pull it away from my neck, I quickly remembered that it wasn't even tied. I felt foolish. My chest was so tense it was making it hard to breathe. The man got under my skin. He had to have been listening to my conversation with Beth in the hallway; no one else knew she was pregnant yet.

And how the heck had he heard about the Butcher account? That wasn't common knowledge yet. In fact, only a few people knew Butcher left the firm; he'd done it on good terms, but a lost account was still a lost account.

"Apparently Mr. Banks is in the buying business…" I had a hard time coming back from that, but I thought of Beth alone in my car and pushed myself to focus. "I do hope you're all having a good evening. Please understand that my personal life and myromantic endeavors are not fodder for your gossip." I scanned the crowd and my eyes caught on my secretary. She stood with a look of humiliation and shame, and when my eyes met hers, she turned and walked away.

I wondered what that was about, if she'd been the one feeding information to Banks the way the board had accused Beth? But why would she do that? She'd been nothing but a faithful employee since the day I hired her.

I watched her slink out as I said, "And please enjoy the rest of this evening. The bar is open and drinks are on the house. I'll be back later with my company updates."

I nodded as I put the mic back on its stand and the music started playing again. My march off the stage was unnerving. I felt a hundred eyes on me until I was lost in the crowd again, wondering where Carl whisked Nevil off to. A thousand things went through my head all at once. I needed to get to Beth and finish our discussion, but I had to find Banks and give him a piece of my mind.

This event wasn't for him to make such a bold announcement. His hostile takeover plan was working so far, and he just had an open mic with his target audience—my shareholders. It was the most reprehensible thing I'd ever experienced.

All of the gossip and rumors, all the looks and snickering, everything that had been hearsay for so long just manifested into factual statements no one could take back. I thought about the faces that stared back at me as I gave that awkward segue back into our event. Most of them looked awkward or ashamed. Sarah was the only one who didn't look like that. She looked guilty. My gut told me something was going on with her, but I didn't have time to go chase her down.

My eyes raked over faces one by one, searching for Nevil's. Instead I found Allen. He pressed a hand into my chest, palm splayed out, stopping me. "Will, what are you doing?"

"I'm gonna kill him, Allen." I gritted my teeth and realized my hands were clenched into fists.

"I think you're gonna have to wait," he said, and he pushed me backward a step. "The board just called an emergency meeting. We have to go."

The news wasn't surprising but I was frustrated by it. Now Beth would have to wait. I knew the meeting was probably necessary given what just happened and Nevil's announcement. Share prices would drop and anyone who was feeling hesitant would sell off. That bastard would probably give them double the value just to scoop it all up. If it got bad enough, he might even try for a spot on the board.

"Fine," I growled, and I turned and followed Allen out. The words I told Beth replayed in the back of my mind on repeat. I didn't care if this company stayed or went, but I needed her. And after that rejection and the way she honestly felt like I was only asking her to marry me out of obligation, I didn't know what to do.

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