Page 56 of Enemies with Benefits

I stared at the man who’d had the audacity to claim a seat at the head of the conference table. The years had turned his hair white and his face weathered. But those piercing eyes and that cruel mouth were the same.

The roar in my ears was nothing compared to the tight vise around my chest. Wren would never forgive me for this. I’d left things in a precarious enough state in my rush to return to London. And taking her to Morocco would be seen by her as the perfect opportunity to get her out of the way in order for my family to stage this ambush. Hell, I’d feel the same in her shoes. Which was why I needed to end this debacle asap.

‘You have balls of steel, I’ll give you that,’ Damian murmured from his place two seats over. Next to me, my cousin Gideon snorted and reclined deeper in his seat, his expression reeking of boredom. I knew it was deceptive because he wouldn’t have attended this meeting at all if he were uninterested. But he knew what the instigator of this meeting had done to me. To my siblings. Just as I knew he was here to support me. Hell, maybe my family wasn’t so dysfunctional after all.

‘Big, fat ones. Trouble with big balls is, expose them like this and they’re stupidly easy targets,’ I tossed in.

Hugh Mortimer’s gaze turned to ice, his gaze tracking his eldest son’s, then Gideon’s before meeting mine. With me, he lingered, as if trying to spot the weakness he’d condemned me for all those years ago.

I stared him down.Look all you like, old man. I’m immune to you now.

He blinked first, his gaze shifting to take in the other Mortimer board members. ‘Have you all gone soft in my absence? Bingham is ripe for the plucking.’

‘Along with a hundred or so other struggling companies. Why this one in particular?’ I taunted.

‘Because it’s the lowest hanging fruit, that’s why,’ he answered, his voice booming across the room.

‘So much hot temper, Hugh. Calm yourself before you suffer a stroke.’ This from Aunt Flo, whose gaze threatened to turn my father into icicles.

To my left, my cousin Bryce sniggered. ‘This is way more fun than the reality TV shows Savvie’s addicted to,’ he murmured.

I allowed searing jealousy to consume me for a moment before I shrugged it off. If I let my guard down, I’d walk away with nothing. Destroy for ever the possibility of having what Gideon, Damian and Bryce had with their new but thriving relationships. Hell, even my wild-child cousin, Graciela, had settled down and was insanely happy with her new man.

‘I don’t have time to sit around all day debating this. This company isn’t in the habit of staging hostile takeovers. I, for one, don’t intend to start now.’ I glanced at Uncle Conrad, chairman of the board. ‘Shall we put it to a vote?’

He glanced at my father, his expression apprehensive. ‘Um...’

‘I vote nay,’ I snarled.

Gideon’s hand barely left the armrest. ‘It’s afuck, nayfrom me.’

‘And from me,’ Damian growled, his eyes shooting daggers at the man who’d sired us.

I lost interest after Aunt Flo, Bryce, Gem and Graciela also sided with me. Even if the remaining board members voted against me, I’d still win.

The second the votes were counted and confirmed as fourteen to six, I rose from the table.

All my calls to Wren so far had gone to voicemail. The moment I’d discovered what my father was up to, I’d tried reaching her in Marrakesh, only to discover she’d packed her bags and left without waiting for my plane. She was probably still in the air. Or blocking my calls.

Stomach hollow at the strong possibility it was the latter, I reached for my phone again. It would be easy to check which flights had left Marrakesh—

‘Jasper, a word.’

I stiffened at my father’s voice. Damian’s eyes narrowed. But when his gaze flicked to me, I nodded. Ten seconds later, I was alone with my father for the first time in years.

He sauntered away from me, hands deep in his pockets as he looked out of the window for a full minute before turning to face me. ‘I expected you to be the loudest dissenting voice and you didn’t disappoint. Still grappling with that bleeding heart, son?’ he sneered.

The bite of his condemnation was less...sharp than I’d expected. ‘You say bleeding heart, I call it exercising good business sense. You still know what that is, don’t you? Or are you so locked on this trifling obsession you can’t see straight?’

He inhaled sharply. ‘What did you say?’

‘You heard me. When are you going to let this go?’

‘Not for as long as I draw breath, that’s for sure.’

I studied him for a handful of seconds. ‘There’s more to this than just business, isn’t there? What really happened between you and Bingham?’

I didn’t expect him to answer but, surprisingly, he responded. ‘The upstart had the nerve to try to steal your mother from me.’

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