Page 8 of Somebody's Watching Me
“Excuse me?”
“The first time it happened, I think he was around eighteen. Dad had taken him to some function where he was trying to make a deal with one of the local officials. They were blocking building permits and putting up a good fight,” he told her. “While they were there, the old man noticed that one particular guy giving them issues had a daughter who couldn’t keep her eyes off Ben.”
“Sounds familiar.”
“Not the same.”
She smiled softly, and his heartbeat picked up. Getting her pregnant wasn’t going to be a problem. As far as he was concerned, he would give her a million babies if she always looked at him as she was doing now.
“Anyway, it wasn’t only the guy’s daughter who was interested in Ben, but his wife, too.”
Viv’s hand flew to her throat, and Charlie shrugged. “Unfortunately, our mother was on that trip. She figured the easier path to compliance was through the wife, not the daughter, and sent Ben to the woman later that night… They granted the permits a few days later.”
“Oh my God.”
“Trust me, Ben didn’t mind. He even slept with the daughter later, just because he could.” Charlie smiled at her mouth hanging open. “And that’s not the worst thing he’s done. Bribes. Bullying. You name it. My brother is a carbon copy of our dad, and we know how much fun he is.”
“Yeah, about as much as mine.”
“I won’t be like that,” Charlie promised, with one eye on Paula leading Ben deeper into the hedge maze. “We won’t be anything like our parents. We’ll be happy.”
Viv clinked her glass with his. “Forever.”
“And ever.”
Chapter 2
2024
Narrowing her eyes at the tiny worm of a man sitting at the conference table, Jamison tried to recall his name. There was most definitely an M in there. Mike? Mark?
It didn’t matter. The man was still an idiot.
“You make a valid point, Mike.”
“I’m Mark.”
It was hard enough to be taken seriously in a room full of penises, but being a femaleanda Fairweather, made the job extra challenging. Members of her family often came with warning labels, putting most people on the defensive the second any of them even entered a room.
“But let’s be real,” she continued, standing at the head of the table with sweeping views of Houston’s downtown skyline at her back. “The suggestion you just put forth is the exact way of thinking that got us into this mess.”
In the rear corner, Rowan McIntyre stood, not bothering to hide his grin. With a leg propped behind him and his tattooed arms crossed over his chest, he was listening to the discussion from a safe distance. She had asked him to sit in on the meeting since the incident currently being debated was all over the internet and social media. As the head ofFairweather’s IT department, he could usually end their problems with just a click of a button.
And the situation they were dealing with was quickly getting out of hand.
Having spent the last four years working in the public relations division of Fairweather Holdings, she had learned the distinct difference between the truth and the truth as it was presented to the public. People judged every move a giant corporation made, and if they weren’t upsetting one group, they were upsetting another by engaging in counterpoint damage control.
It was exhausting.
The others on the environmental oversight team sitting with Mike-Mark laughed under their breath like they weren’t just as guilty. Each member had screwed up big time, approving land clearance on a property Fairweather Holdings acquired as part of their upcoming Georgia development. The project was ready to enter phase one, and this team had given the go ahead on their end without having a proper survey completed.
No, scratch that. One had been completed for the sale, but corners were cut, and the report overlooked an endangered species living on the land. A type of wetland shrimp that couldn’t be relocated.
A shrimp.
She never thought she would have a PR problem regarding shellfish, but here she was, on a Friday afternoon, with a bunch of men who felt her concern didn’t merit their time.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Jamison thought she probably looked ever the Fairweather as she did. It was a move both her father and half-brother Samuel made often when frustrated.
