Page 67 of The Deal with the Playboy

Aurora:Call me, I have some info.

I stand up, excuse myself from the meeting, and step into the hallway. This is the conference floor, so it’s quiet.No other offices are on this floor.

I dial Aurora’s number, place the phone to my ear, and she answers on the first ring.

“Your father is having a meeting with the board members to have you removed as CEO,”is the first thing she says.

I shouldn’t be surprised about Tommy, he can’t seem to take no for an answer. I grit my teeth. “Where?”

“At Wolfgang Bank in the conference room. You need to leave now if you don’t want to miss it.”

I press the red button to end the call and tuck my phone back into my breast pocket. He couldn’t handle losing the business; he knows he can’t take me to court, now that I am married, and he can’t prove my marriage is fake. He already tried to sabotage my relationship with Poppy, by offering her money, so now he’s trying other methods.

Fucking moron.

Most of my adult life, he has always competed with me, and I believed my uncle when he told me he used to work hard to earn my mother’s love, because she stopped loving him a long time ago.

I pop my head into the door of the conference room and let Trent and Declan know I have to take a rain check. Then I call Chance to pick me up, and thirty minutes later, we arrive on Wall Street.

The building is made out of fiberglass, people with brief cases and their phones glued to their faces walking in and out of the door. Wolfgang is one of the best banks in the world, along with Underwood Banking.

I rush to the front desk and head to the private elevators. I haven’t set foot in the bank since Uncle James threw a Christmas party here last year. In just over eleven months, I’m going to be the owner, and the minute I take ownership, I’m yanking Tommy’s ten percent share out from under him. He won’t be getting a dime from this company.

In no time I barge into the meeting, Uncle James’s old friends and colleagues peering up at me, then I see my father. The minute he sees me, his smile deflates.

“What are you doing here?” He bangs his hand on the conference table, rattling the pens and sheets of paper.

The board members exchange a look before they glance at me.

I unbutton and remove my jacket before placing it over a chair, a vicious smile spreading across my face the whole time as I sit next to Fred. He was Uncle James’s best friend since high school. Fred watches me from the rim of his round glasses and rests his hand on his potbelly.

“You’re having a meeting about my job position without me.”

“We were informed you knew about it,” Corey says, then he side-eyes my father. “Tommy, what are you up to?”

Tommy shakes his head and rolls his eyes, opening a folder and passing it to the other board members.

“Jasper has never stayed at a business for too long. He starts them then hires someone else to run them, then he starts a new project. He plans to leave Risqué and start here.” He glances at everyone in the room but me. “We don’t know if this will be one of his investments that he’ll get bored with and eventually move on.” He pauses. “We need someone who will run this bank for years to come, someone who is passionate about this company. It’s what my brother would want, to have someone who’ll put in the effort and treat this like a project they cherish.”

I laugh like a hyena. He has some goddamn nerve. If the board feels as if I’m not ready to run the business, they have every right to veto me, but I’ve been waiting to become the CEO for years, my uncle groomed me for this position. I’m not going to allow some asswipe to take it from me. Tommy’s right about something, though, I do abandon a business once I hit a goal with it but if it wasn’t for how I operate, I wouldn’t be a billionaire.

All five sets of eyes land on me, some with uncertainty on their faces and others with curiosity.

Fred finally takes his eyes off me. “What is this, Tommy?”

“A history of my son’s work ethic. He only works a job for no more than three years.”

A wicked smile spreads across my face. “I only did that so I can build my background, because I don’t have a trust fund like the rest of your kids. My mother’s five million from her insurance company helped me start my business. So technically, I started my business from the ground up. Any person knows that you have to start different streams of income so you can be a multimillionaire. Or in my case, billionaire.”

I started all my companies by myself, and this is the only thing he’s trying to take away from me. The one thing my uncle left me. Tommy makes me sick. I can’t wait to piss on his grave when he croaks.

“What is the real reason you called this meeting, Tommy? We trust James to choose someone suitable to fulfill his role,” Corey states.

Tommy glares at him, but Corey continues, “Whatever bullshit you two have between you, keep it among yourselves and don’t drag us into it.” Corey rolls his gray eyes, then he runs his thick fingers through his white hair. “This meeting is adjourned.”

When the board members rush out of the room, I stand up, march up to Tommy, and punch him in the jaw.

“Next time you get in the way of me making money, I’ll make your life a living hell.”

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