Yours Tonight (Reign 1)

“Are you serious? You want me to take over an account on my own?”

“Well, you’d have to land it first, but yes.”

“Wait, land it?”

And there was the second sigh. “I wasn’t lying when I said before that the Denver branch is struggling. We need a new client with substantial investment means to get Denver performing at the same level as New York.”

And the dots connected.

My entire body deflated like a balloon that had just been stabbed with a steak knife.

“You want me to get Jack to invest in your company, don’t you?”

“I’m giving you the opportunity you said you wanted. You wanted to work for me. Be an associate.”

Actually, I wanted to be a Finance Analyst. Something I’d told him several times over the years, yet he still didn’t seem to know.

I shook my head. “Here, I thought you actually called because you cared.”

“I do. I care about your future and I want you at Case-VanBuren.”

“Because you think I can benefit you somehow now. You had no problem letting me walk out, telling me Brock was taking over, and kicking me to the curb.”

“You’re being dramatic, Lana.”

Those words stuck to my stomach like day-old liquor in a burning gut. Only instead of day-old, it was more like ten years. It was always me being dramatic. Not the truth. Not the truth then, and not the truth now.

“I can’t help you.”

“Just talk to Jack. Set up a meeting for us to discuss business.”

By “business,” my father meant trying to sway Jack into entrusting his money to them on some level.

“No,” I said sharply. I wouldn’t use Jack like that, and I wouldn’t turn a blind eye to my father obviously using me.

He huffed like he had a right to be frustrated with me. “I told you, I’d make you an associate. You can help with an investment strategy for his funds. This is something you could actually put on your resume.”

“No,” I said again, calmly this time.

“If Denver gets a client like Jack Powell, there would be no need for Brock to be here. He could go back to New York.”

My heart stopped. My dad was pulling out the big guns of persuasion now. Using my fear and unease of Brock being in the same city against me. I hated that Brock was so close. That his encounters caught me off guard and put me on a higher anxiety level, knowing he was near. But I still couldn’t do that to Jack.

“What do your wife and Brock say about this grand plan of yours?”

There was a long pause, and I heard my father shuffle like he did when he was nervous. “Brock will play ball. And Anita wants what’s best for both Brock and the company.”

Uh-huh. Everything in my body was sick with disgust and realization that this was what my father and my relationship had descended to.

“I can’t help you,” I said. “If you want Jack Powell’s business, you’ll have to acquire it without me.”

“We’d have to woo him.”

Which was why he was coming to me. But I wasn’t going to help with this.

“Well, good luck with that.”

My father scoffed. “You talk about your dislike of Brock. I give you an opportunity to work for me, gain distance from Brock, and you refuse. Stands to reason that your issues with him are more in your mind than re