Page 9 of Kiss & Collide
Her phone buzzed with an incoming call just as she reached the door. The call was coming from someone in Hammond Holdings. If that fucker Reece was calling her now …
“Hello?”
“Violet Harper?” a woman asked.
“Yes?”
“Please hold for Carter Hammond.”
She was shunted to hold before she could even process that. Carter fucking Hammond was callingher? Now?Why?She huddled up against the front of the pub and stuck a finger in herfree ear, trying to block out the street sounds while she waited to be connected.
She’d done a little hurried research on Carter Hammond this afternoon. American, richer than God, CEO of Hammond Holdings, which was an umbrella corporation for dozens of other companies. He had his fingers in everything: hotels, restaurants, cable networks, several manufacturing companies, and a handful of online businesses. Not much of a European presence, but a real mover and shaker in the States. And now he wanted to talk toher.
The line clicked. “Ms. Harper,” he said, telling her, not asking her.
Since he didn’t need confirmation, she didn’t offer it. “What can I do for you, Mr. Hammond?” She trotted out her best work voice, smoothing out the rough edges of her Essex accent.
“I trust you’ve gotten up to speed with the Pinnacle sale.”
Again, telling her, not asking her. In a weird way, she appreciated it, the assumption she was prepared for this call, even though she wasn’t. At all.
“I have.”
“Then you should know, Pinnacle came as part of a larger package of acquisitions. It is, on its own, not of much worth to me. My goal with Pinnacle is to keep the situation stable so that its value improves.”
While she respected Carter Hammond’s directness, she still wasn’t clear why he’d called her.
“Can I ask what you see my role as in this transition?”
“As you know, I’ve put my son Reece in charge.”
“Yes.”
Carter paused for a moment, a pause that spoke volumes. “You’ve met him?”
She paused, too, letting it speak for her in the same way. “Yes.”
“Pinnacle seems like it will … keep him occupied.”
Ah. Reece was the Fail Son, and Carter Hammond absolutely knew it. He’d been stuck at Pinnacle because there didn’t seem to be much more that could go wrong there.
“I see.”
“I understand the sudden sale of Pinnacle will lead to a great deal of negative speculation about the team. My expectation is that you can settle that down in the coming weeks.”
“That’s my job,” she said, keeping her voice as neutral as possible. Yes, she knew very well what her task would be in the coming weeks. That was why she was on her way to a bar to get utterly fucking obliterated.
“I very much hope there is no additional negative press about the team going forward.”
Ah, there it was. He was telling her it was her job to keep his idiot son from fucking things up. Add corporate childminder to her job description, then.
“Understood,” she said at last.
“I took the liberty of doing a bit of research on you, Ms. Harper. You handled that mess at Lennox Motorsport quite well.”
It was Mira’s story, but Violet had been the one to get the information about Brody McKnight out there, making sure the world knew Brody had taken advantage of a vulnerable girl and then thrown her to the wolves to save his own skin. And she’d helmed the resulting flood of additional negative press about Brody just as carefully. His racing career was in shambles now, something Violet was extremely proud of.
“Thank you.”
