Page 3 of Ms. Fortune

“Brandon Carmichael?” He quirks an eyebrow. “Surely, you’ve heard of him before?”

I shift in my seat a little. Of course. What woman doesn’t know Brandon Carmichael? Besides being one of the wealthiest men in the universe, he’s also one of the most attractive. Sometimes life just isn’t fair. I doubt any of this is coming directly from him, though. He’s probably got people to deal with this stuff for him. Shit, he most likely has people to deal with his people.

And now they’re concerned about us? Of course, they’d be concerned. Hell, I’m concerned.

“But they didn’t cancel, right?”

“No. They haven’t canceled.” Sora nods, appeasing my worry.

I can hear the ‘yet’ not spoken. He doesn’t need to say it. I have to get things back to normal for this company as soon as humanly possible.

“Do you think it’s in jeopardy? Should I try to speak to their CEO or something?” I cringe at the thought of having to grovel to keep business, but I don’t see much choice here.

Sora eyes me curiously, not sure what to make of me. I’m definitely not what he was expecting.

“It wouldn’t hurt to have a conversation, I’m sure. But…” He drifts off, his features clouding slightly. I can’t read what it means.

“But, what? Is there something else I should know?”

“Well, just know LC Consolidated has its own troubles right now. The stock tanked today, and there are rumors of insider trading.”

This is shocking, even to me, who keeps tabs on all of the Fortune 500s. For one of the biggest companies in the world to have that kind of scandal is almost beyond consideration. It makes me wonder if we should be doing business with them if they’re now wrapped up in a scandal. We can’t afford a misstep at this point.

“Should I be worried about our association with them? I don’t want to tarnish the business’s name by working with criminals.”

Sora laughs lightly, the corners of his eyes crinkling. It’s the first sign he’s a real human being I’ve seen from him since coming to his office to go over my father’s accounts. Until now, he’s been all business.

“I don’t think you need to worry. LC Consolidated is strong enough to weather a pretty big storm.”

The way he says that makes me envious. As though we’re weak and couldn’t handle any kind of storm in comparison. Not even a brief rain shower or a strong gust of wind. I get that we’re in a precarious situation. There’s no need to twist the knife.

“So, I just need to make sure that LC Consolidated stays our customer.” I stand and prepare to leave with a nod to Sora. “I think I can do that.” I hope I can do that.

He shakes my hand with a kind smile.

“I’m sure Mischief Motors is in good hands with you, Ms. Blake. I look forward to working with you. I wish it were under better circumstances. And again, my condolences to you and your sister on your sudden loss. Your father was a fine man and will be missed.”

“Thank you for saying so.” The familiar pang of grief crashes into me again. I made it through this whole meeting without crying or even getting misty-eyed. I’ve been too wrapped up in all the issues the business has to think about the loss. But now, I can feel my eyes stinging with unshed tears, and my throat tightens as I strain to keep the sob in my chest at bay.

I leave the accountant’s office no happier than when I went in. I am more determined than ever to pull Mischief Motors together. My father may not have been the savviest businessman in the world, but he knew how to build a company from the ground up. He was a people person, something I am absolutely not but will need to work on fast if we have any shot at staying afloat. I have other ideas that might help us as well, but first and foremost, I need to talk with Chelsie. We need to lay down some ground rules and define our roles in all this.

We weren’t close growing up with as little as we saw each other, but we’ve always been friendly. When we found out we both inherited the company, we were both shocked. We are vastly different people. Being co-owners could get tricky between us.

I think I can handle Chelsie; I’m not too worried about her. Brandon Carmichael? That’s an entirely different story. Hopefully, I won’t need to deal with him personally. I can handle admin people, the richest man in the world? No, thank you very much.

Chapter 3

BLACK HONEY

BRANDON

The LC Consolidated saga continues as the insider trading rumors come to fruition in the worst possible way. My ex-girlfriend, Eve Cromwell, is now being investigated by the SEC for insider trading, and I’m not surprised. Apparently, she caught wind of an acquisition we are making and decided to buy up their stock on the cheap. I have no idea where she heard about the takeover, but it wasn’t from me. When we were together, I figured out pretty fast her interest in me wasn’t personal. It was strictly a financial transaction on her part. It’s too bad, she appeared to have all the ingredients to make a great person. Well, all except one – a soul.

Now I need to find out who she got the information from, and it should be easy. For a large corporation, we have a relatively small Board of directors. Our Executive Management team is tight as well. However, I don’t see any of them giving up information. So that means someone from the acquisition team is most likely the culprit. With the SEC's approval, I’ve already got two of our private investigation firms on the case. It’s incredible how much more a private citizen can do to expose crime than the government.

I’m not complaining, though. Ever since the rumors surfaced, I’ve been in damage control mode, which isn’t easy when you know who’s at fault but can’t say it out loud yet to the public. All I can do is spout the old “we’re cooperating with investigators…” blah blah blah. It’s frustrating, to say the least. I want to shout from the rooftops, ‘My ex is a bitch from hell who only cares about where to get her next Birkin bag and who will be dumb enough to buy it for her. And, by the way, she’s about to be arrested for insider trading.’

What I’m not looking forward to is all of the relationship questions that will come along for the ride on this. We broke up over eight months ago, and I don’t think I’ve talked to her since, except at a charity event or two. Come to think of it, I don’t think we even spoke at those. I have nothing to say to her. Well, no, I’d like to tell her off for making my life a living hell right now, but she’s not worth the air required for me to speak.

---