Page 6 of The Billionaire Is Back

I watch Lynch and his assistant silently arguing. There’s a familiarity to their manner. Not inappropriate, just…comfortable. The kind of comfort that has eluded me ever since I left Beacon Harbor.

A phone buzzes in one of my pockets. It’s my personal phone, the one that’s reserved for family and close friends. Which means it rarely rings. Instead of pulling it out, I deftly push the button to silence it through my suit jacket. I’ll call back whoever it is after the meeting.

The pantomime ends, and Lynch places his hands on the desk. “So, that’s not the only reason I called you here. I also want to know…” He pauses as he clocks his assistant. “I amdemandingthat you be true to your word and take care of our employees. I want to hear that from you.”

“Surprise and demands,” I murmur. And a dark, firelit memory pulls me from Lynch’s tower, back to another time and place that smelled of campfire and chocolate andher. Something oldand lost—no, not lost—something absent that I never even had makes my heart ache a little.

No one in this city is Claire Sweeney in firelight.

And no one ever could be.

Claire wasn’tan option when we were teenagers, and she never will be.

Why am I even thinking about her right now?

My focus snaps back to this moment, and I see Lynch cock an eyebrow, confused by my private joke. I clear my throat. “Are you saying that if I give you my word not to rip your company apart that you won’t come after me?”

“No,” he says simply. “I’m going to crush this deal, Barber.WhenI do, I don’t want you to accuse me of skulking around and being underhanded or two-faced. When I beat you, I want it on record that I did it head-on.” He glances at his assistant again. “But in the miniscule chance that I fail, I need to know, man-to-man, that you will take care of my employees.”

In another world, Lynch and I could be friends. We have built up a fair bit of enmity between us in this fight. But this is another trait we have in common. We take care of our own.

“You have my word. I don’t want to strip-mine your company. You’ve built something spectacular with a group of very impressive people.” I indicate Miss Lovejoy. She doesn’t smile, making it clear whose team she’s on. I return my focus to Lynch. “I plan on taking what you’ve built and bringing it to new heights.”

Lynch nods and takes that in. “Good.” He finally stops threatening to destroy his rocksglass and takes a sip. “But it’s not going to happen. That’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”

I nod and smile. The momentary detente is over. My nemesis has returned. I finish my drink and place it on his desk with a satisfying thud. “I hear you, Lynch.” I rise, buttoning up my jacket. “You’ve been an immovable object your entire life. Any obstacles in your way have broken against your determination. No one has ever outthought you. Outworked you. Until now. All this time you’ve wondered if there was a force out there that could beat you, that would show you your limits. You now have your answer. And I promise you it will not change. I, on the other hand, am still in search of that final challenge. Thank you very much for the drink. See you at the gala.”

I need not weep for love,I tell myself,for I have more worlds to conquer.

Lynch says nothing as he returns to his natural state of glaring and scowling.

“I’ll see you out,” Miss Lovejoy tells us with icy politeness.

She shows us to the door, and my assistant and I leave without another word.

“Are you actually worried, though?” Alice asks in a low voice as we walk down the hall.

I shake my head. “No. That wasn’t bravado. Lynch is smart and capable, and he might throw a couple of minor wrenches but nothing I can’t handle. This thing is over.”

“Great,” Alice says in her usual brassy tone. “Since you’re about to own this building, let’s talk business. You have a meeting with marketing when we get back. Logistics and R-and-D later this evening?—”

“Cancel them,” I say as I stab at the button for the elevator.

“What? Why?”

“Whole new ball game. Whatever plans they had to present, they now have to incorporate Relicteros Inc. Are we in a place to do that?”

“I’m gonna go ahead and guess no.”

“Right. On top of that, we shouldn’t make any big moves until the contract is finalized. So, I want everyone to go back to the drawing board and figure out our next move while we wait for the lawyers to hash everything out.”

The elevator doors open, and we step inside. “A holding pattern?” Alice says with a smirk. “Whateverare you going to do with yourself?”

“That’s a great question,” I say as the door shuts. My phone buzzes again in my pocket. I forgot about the missed call. I take it out and see that it’s a text notification from my mother. Several of them.

MOM: Grady, please call me ASAP.

MOM: This is your mother.

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