Page 1 of Insufferable Boss

PROLOGUE

Lena

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF JOHN MERCER

I,John Mercer, being of sound mind and memory, do hereby make, publish, and declare this to be my last will and testament, revoking all prior wills and codicils made by me.

FIRST:I give, devise, and bequeath all of my estate, both real and personal, to be divided equally between my two children, Lena and Dylan Mercer.

SECOND:In particular, I bequeath to my daughter, Lena Mercer, and my son, Dylan Mercer, each receiving an equal share of my 50% equity in the Standard Rock Company, as well as the following assets:

(a) my vacation home in Hawaii,to Dylan

(b) my personal art collection, to Lena

(c) my yacht, "The Pearl," to Dylan

(d) my beach house in the Hamptons, to Lena

(e) my townhouse in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Dylan

(f) my villa in Tuscany, Italy, to…

It went on and on…and my mind floated back to a time when he was still alive, the sun was in his eyes and he was laughing. The whole family was laughing with him. Not until my name was called out once again did my attention return to the words that were being read aloud.

“…Lena Mercer as the executor of this will. In the event that she is unable or unwilling to serve, I appoint my son, Dylan Mercer, as the alternate executor."

FOURTH:If any provision of this will is declared invalid…

I zoned out again.Not until the reading was over, did I look up again. I’d been dragged here, obliged to listen to how my father’s assets were to be distributed. However, it was the last thing I wanted to think about. I had been slated to see him in the winter, but I was too busy. “I’ll see you in spring,” I said. How was I to know it was his last winter? I never saw it coming.

I was still in shock,of course, but the torment was slowly beginning to set in.

“I’m growing my company,Dad. I just need a bit of time. Christmas is our busiest season. I’ll see you soon. I promise. Oh, and don’t foget I love you,’" I called gaily, as if we had all the time in the world.

It was morethan two weeks since I last spoke to him, and now all I had from him were the words of this will.

Suddenly,I was aware of many eyes turned in my direction.

“Are we done?”I asked softly. I felt completely drained. I wanted to be on a flight and out of here as soon as possible. There was now a cloud over this city in my mind that I couldn’t wait to put behind me so that I could breathe again and begin to heal.

“Yes, Miss Mercer,"my father’s lawyer said expressionlessly.

I rose to my feet.

He mentionedsomething about sending the documents my way and about the execution, but I didn’t care. Not now.

My brother was present too,but I didn’t look at him. There was nothing we had to say to each other. I just kept moving forward until I arrived at the lobby of the office building in Manhattan. I slipped on my sunglasses, but before I could exit the building, my name was called. I ignored the voice. There was some unpleasant memory attached to the voice and my first instinctive reaction was to ignore it, but the man was relentless.

“Lena,”he called again, his voice ringing out authoritatively across the vast space.

I stoppedand turned around slowly. The breath slowly escaped from my chest as I watched him stride across the polished granite floor. Yes, he was exactly as I remembered. Tall, broad, and utterly delicious, but an undeniable asshole I would

“Yeah?”I asked affecting a bored manner, when he stood in front of me.

His nostrils flaredwith annoyance at my tone, but his voice was even. “Can I have a few minutes of your time? There is something extremely important that we must talk about.”

Vaguely,I recalled the particular detail of my father’s will where he had assigned his 50% equity in Standard Rock to my brother and me. Given that this man was the CEO and one of the other owners of the company, I wasn't surprised he was on the warpath.

---