Page 13 of Acquiring Ainsley
Thinking it over meant a few things: long baths with a large glass of wine, ruminating over the collapse of our family’s future, morning walks after sleepless nights, and several hours spent reading the last few monthly reports about Ross Publishing’s future—reports that confirmed what Ashton had said. We didn’t have many options, and it wouldn’t be long before the cashflow slowed to a trickle.
By the time I showed up three days later for my usual Monday class at Namaste Now in Palm Beach, I’d decided to admit at least some of these problems to my best friend. She might have some good advice.
“You’re not serious.” Brooke gasped in the women’s changing room. She sat on the beechwood bench. “You’rebroke?”
I nodded as I wiped the back of my neck with a towel. We’d been working out at Namaste Now three days a week for the last six months, and often took morning yoga classes. Brooke and I both knew the owner, Luke Rothschild, so we hadn’t thought at all about the forty-dollars-a-class price tag. But now, that felt like an extravagance.
I’ll probably need to cut this from the budget…
“We can’t pay the company’s bills,” I whispered. “It’s all… it’s all gone. And I… I’m going to have to make some changes. I probably can’t work out here anymore, for one.”
Brooke’s mouth dropped open. “What? As in—you guys are bankrupt?”
“Yes. Finished. Nothing left.” I fished around in my bag until I found my wallet, from which I produced Namaste Now’s punch card of classes. I had one open class on the card. “If I hadn’t prepaid for all those classes at Christmas, I wouldn’t have been able to attend today.”
“But you’re almost billionaires. Your dad was one of the most brilliant people in publishing.”
I shrugged. “Not that brilliant, it seems.”
“How is this possible?” She stared at me. “It’s not. Is it?”
I considered how to answer this question. How much more did I want to confide in my best friend? We’d known each other for more than ten years yet telling her something so enormous felt like laying my soul bare, like revealing a dark corner of my life that no one else knew.
But I’d come this far…
“It turns out that the company made some bad investments. My father failed to see all the changes happening in publishing, and he failed to adjust. We didn’t have a plan.” It was embarrassing to admit, but the more I revealed, the more freeing it felt to let someone else know the truth of what was really going on in my life. She was my best friend, right? She’d understand.
And that’s when the truth of it all rushed out of my mouth.
“Ashton tried to prop up the business when he took it over after Dad’s death, but it was simply too late. We’re hemorrhaging money. He says the company will default on all its commitments. He’s run the numbers, and it’s happening, whether we like it or not.”
“Wow.” She studied the dark floor. “So, you’re going to lose everything? Like—now?”
“If something doesn’t change, it looks like it.”
She turned her attention back to me. “But you sound so… so calm.”
“I’m not calm. I’m numb.” I took a deep breath. “It’s like I’m walking around in a dense fog with no escape It’s been that way for the last few days.”
“That’s awful.” The corners of Brooke’s mouth turned down. “What a mess.”
“Understatement of the year.”
I sat next to her and took the towel from around my neck. That mid-level hot yoga class that day had been more grueling than usual, and I’d found it hard to focus on poses. My mind kept wandering, kept finding its way back to Trevor, and kept distilling his proposal. I still didn’t know what my final answer would be when Ashton asked for it later that day.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure, but there might be an option. Well, it probably isn’t one, but—” I glanced around the changing room to confirm we were still alone. We were. The two dozen or so regulars who made up the noon class had all left. Still didn’t stop me from lowering my voice. “I went to New York on Friday to talk with Ashton about all of this, and we had a meeting.”
Brooke’s attention remained fixed on me.
“And he has an idea… or rather… He and someone else have an idea.”
Brooke lifted a sculpted eyebrow. “Oh, god. I know how your brother is when he has ideas. Nothing stops him.”
“You’re right,” I said, adding a slow nod to accompany my words. “And this time, he thinks he can save the company… with me.” I paused. “He wants me to marry Trevor McNamara.”
Brooke’s eyes widened. “Trevor McNamara?Trevor McNamara?” Her voice echoed through the changing room, and I sent up a silent thank you that we were alone. “The real estate shark? Your father’s biggest rival? He’s not serious.”
