Page 1 of The Enemy's Daughter

Chapter One

“I’m going to make him pay!” Alaric Patterson shoved the television off the wall until it crashed to the floor of his office. “The slimy fucking bastard.”

“The television did nothing wrong,” Rex said from his seat a few feet away from the television screen. He held the remote in his hand and sighed. “You overreact. You knew he was going to buy that stock.”

“For three months I’ve been chasing that little bitch around, kissing her damn feet for the stock to her company, and then she goes and gives it to Reed? He wants nothing to do with it. Three weeks, and he’ll be looking to sell it.” Alaric paced his office, really pissed off. “I was even willing to sleep with the fucking whore. I bet that’s what he did.”

“Either way he got the stock, and you didn’t.” Reed put the remote down and smoothed out the creases in his jacket. “Question is, what are you doing to do about it?”

Alaric paced the space of his office, and stopped near his floor to ceiling window. He loved seeing the city below. Watching the city and the people helped him to focus. He didn’t want to be just like anyone else. At forty-eight years old, he’d faced everything that life had to throw at him.

Gold-digging women, fluctuating markets, recessions, near bankruptcy. He’d faced it all, and he was still standing, richer than ever, happier than ever. The one constant in his life was his enemy, Jackson Reed. The bastard had been there, fighting him, taking from him, just as he took from Jackson.

“Is there a chance he doesn’t know?” Rex asked.

“No. He’s gone after it because he knows that I wanted it. The manipulative bastard.”

“What do you think he offered her that you couldn’t?”

Alaric thought about Mrs. Macalister. She owned a modeling agency that was the best in its field. A year ago she had made the business world aware that she had stock to sell, and she would sell it to the best bidder. Not the highest, the best. Alaric had wanted it. Some of his other businesses dealt with models, and he’d be able to save time, resources, and even money if he added that element to his portfolio.

“Whatever it was, it was meant to improve her modeling agency. Clearly, he offered more than I did.”

He’d gone all out, offering the chance of contracts with his other firms that would keep the models in business for years to come. Now he was stuck. He didn’t know what to do because he didn’t anticipate failing.

“Clearly. I thought you said you went all out,” Rex said.

“I did, or I thought I did.”

Rex pulled out his tablet, and Alaric watched him read through the article. “Mrs. Macalister said that she was more than happy to hand the stock to Jackson Reed. She wanted to know her baby was cared for, and she believes a father is the best bet. Jackson Reed is the father of one—”

“That’s it,” Alaric said, holding his finger in the air.

“What’s it?”

“He has a daughter.”

“Last time I checked you didn’t have a daughter.”

“I know.”

“She picked him because he has a daughter.”

“Bella Reed,” Alaric said. He remembered the article when she was first born, even when her mother died in a car accident when she was little more than ten years old. “How old is she?”

“You’re going to bribe Bella Reed into being your daughter?” Rex asked. “She’s twenty-five.”

Alaric smirked. “Nah, I’m not going to try to convince Bella to come to my side.” He turned toward his friend, smiling.

“I don’t like that look.”

“It’s perfect.”

“What is? You’re not making sense right now.”

“I’m going to have Bella.”

Rex frowned. “In what way?”

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