Page 4 of My Million Dollar Secret

“You're kidding me, right?” he demands.

I shake my head. “Not at all.”

Ralph scoffs. “Do you even know the valuation of the company right now?”

“I don't have the exact figure in front of me, but I know it's worth a couple billion dollars.”

“At least,” he replies. “Which means, this buyout offer you're giving me is insanely low, Aaron. You're handing me the keys to the kingdom – the one your dad helped me build – for pennies on the dollar.”

I shrug. “I don't think a hundred million is anything to sneeze at,” I say. “But honestly, because he built such vast wealth – through both the company and his investments – I have more than I need, Ralph. For this lifetime and the next.”

“That still doesn't make selling off his half of the company for peanuts right, kid.”

I let out a breath and look over at Jack, who gives me a small shrug and a raise of the eyebrow. Great fat lot of help he is. I know he doesn't agree with my decision either. But then, it wasn't their decision to make.

“The most important thing to me, Ralph, is that the company remains in the hands of somebody I trust. Somebody I know will help carry on my father's legacy,” I explain. “Somebody I know will always do the right thing. It's my way of keeping my father's dream alive and keeping the company in the family.”

“Aaron, I –”

“Besides, you don't want me for a business partner, Ralph,” I interrupt. “I'm an asshole.”

He let out the first genuine laughter I've heard from him since the day my father died. It fades after a moment or two and he leans back in his seat, suddenly looking very tired. He looks at the offer sheets in the folder again, then returns his gaze to me.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks.

“One hundred percent,” I fire back. “This company should stay with you – with somebody who's as passionate about it as you are. I don't have that sort of love for the industry that you do and would probably do more harm than good, honestly speaking.”

His eyes slide back down to the pages. No, a hundred million isn't anything to simply write off as nothing. But compared to what the company is worth today – not to mention what it's going to be worth five, ten years from now – it's about the equivalent of finding money between the couch cushions.

Ralph finally nods and, leaning forward, puts pen to paper. “Okay, you've got a deal.”

“Excellent.”

Chapter Three

Emily

Six Years Ago...

“What are you telling me, Roderick?”

Roderick BellevilleRoderickBelleville my father's longtime personal lawyer, is sitting across the desk from me looking distinctly uncomfortable, which sends lightning bolts of panic shooting through my body. My heart is thundering like I just ran up twenty flights of stairs and my head is spinning.

I’d heard what he said the first time, but it's so unbelievable to me that I have to hear him repeat it just to make sure I didn't misunderstand him.

“There really is no easy way to tell you this,” he clears his throat. “But everything is gone, Emily.”

“What do you mean everything?” I ask.

“Everything means everything,” he replies, unable to meet my gaze. “The good news is that everything doesn't include the condo in Arcadia. That's been paid off, protected, and is in your name, not his, so it can't be touched by his creditors. You have a place to live that can't be taken away from you.”

I shake my head – none of this is making any sense. I'm not understanding any of it. I mean, I understand the basics of what he's telling me – I'm not stupid – but it's incomprehensible to me. No, my father wasn't a rich man. It's not like he made countless millions. But as one of the LAmore prominent defense attorneys in LA, he did pretty well. He did well enough, anyway, to give me a pretty posh upbringing.

And now, Roderick Belleville is telling me everything is gone.

This is not how I expected this to go when I walked into his office this morning. I honestly thought it was all a formality and that he would give me a fair accounting of the assets my father was passing along to me. I expected them to be substantial. Enough for me to finish law school without having to take out loans or try to work at the same time – a daunting, if not impossible task.

“How is this even possible, Roderick? I mean, I know he wasn't Warren Buffet or anything, but I also know he did pretty well,” I cringe at the panic I hear in my voice. “How can everything be gone?”

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