Page 5 of The Exposed Heiress

“Leo.”

He turned from looking out the large glass-plated windows framing London. Her heart constricted. The arrogant tilt of his masculine jawline told her that he came to fight. He believed in divulging secrets and wielded a ruthless honesty that made most people afraid to deal with him. His gold-flecked eyes held a challenge, and instead of stepping back, Emma made herself stand straighter.

In spite of her objections about him, her father had allowed his ad agency to stay intertwined with Francis Bolles. Unfortunately, her father trusted the thirty-year- old billionaire utterly and believed he had the power to resurrect the couture house. It didn’t seem to matter that her failed engagement to his brother was still being reported in the media.

Emma stepped forward and placed her workbag on a leather armchair, careful to mask her emotions. “Instead of merely sending one of your lackeys, you’re checking out the turmoil first-hand?”

His eyes swept over her. “I’m sorry about your father, Emma. I know you’re close to him.”

His voice stirred up all sorts of feelings that she’d rather keep buried. For some inexplicable reason, she’d always been drawn to him. She fought against the feeling, but it remained cemented deep inside of her.

Emma lifted her chin. “He’s going to recover.”

She had woken up an hour ago with tears streaming down her face. Luckily, a call to the hospital confirmed that her father had stayed stable throughout the night.

Leo remained silent, watching her.

She smoothed back a strand of her long hair. “I’m not sure why you’re here.” She had no desire to see anyone from the Bloom family, ever again.

Leo gestured broadly with his hand. “A crisis is looming. I know the new collection is due out in several weeks, but any ideas to breathe life into the ad campaign have been rejected.”

Removing her laptop from her bag, Emma avoided his piercing gaze. He reminded her of irreverence and dark secrets. “The board is meeting today to get behind an interim director.”

He crossed his arms. “They’ve asked me to come in and speak with them.”

Emma nodded but didn’t trust herself to say anything. The chair of the board knew that she wanted to fire Bloom Advertising. Her father had been loyal to them for years based on an old friendship with Harvey Bloom, but she had no intention of honoring the past.

She met his proud gaze and the thought occurred to her that he was different than his brother. Tyler didn’t have the bold confidence or cheekiness. “Bloom Advertising is no longer fitting the needs of Francis Bolles. It’s time for us to try a new ad agency.”

Leo shrugged and her eyes were drawn to wide, sculpted shoulders. “There are a few hurdles you’ll have to overcome. First, you’ll need to be appointed the interim director and that isn’t likely. Second, Bloom has an iron-clad contract that you don’t have the resources to break. And lastly, Bloom has been paid in shares for the last few years, and I now own a considerable slice of Francis Bolles.”

Her heart began to accelerate and she bit her lower lip. Her father hadn’t told her that he had been paying Leo in shares. “I’m not afraid of tough odds.”

His gaze narrowed. “Maybe you should be.”

Without considering her words carefully, she blurted out, “You can’t actually want to stay on. In fact, you probably came here today to cut us loose.”

Leo rubbed the back of his neck. “If Francis Bolles folds, I’ll lose five years of creative work. I have no intention of allowing the reins to be handed over to a repressed, entitled family member. I intend to help salvage what is left of the Bolles reputation, and I’ll cash out when the couture house begins to recover financially.”

Emma held her breath. She wasn’t repressed. Possibly reserved, but not repressed. “The Bolles family owns the majority shares.”

Leo smiled slowly. “Some members of your family have been at odds with your father over his leadership and autocratic style. They’ll use this chance to select someone from the outside.”

Her cousins had been pushed out by her father and still owned considerable shares. But she couldn’t imagine that they would hold a grudge against her.

Her head began to throb. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to handle a few things.”

Leo raised his eyebrows. “You’re rather inexperienced, Emma. Someone with more leadership insight would be trying to get me to vote with them.”

She turned her back on him. “I know there’s little chance of that, Leo.” She refused to allow herself to become emotional. His brother, Tyler, had nearly destroyed her and she needed to protect herself.

“Why is that?” His voice sounded casual.

She turned and met his gaze. A flush spread across her face. His brother had behaved despicably when he had sought out a prostitute and yet the media had shamed her. “Tyler. The last conversation we had, you advised me to forgive and forget. But you also made it clear that you blamed me for the incident.”

He unclenched his jaw. “I said that you bear some of the responsibility for how the events unfolded. That’s not blame. Is it possible that you don’t know all of the facts?”

Her voice rose. “I know enough.”

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