From Fake to Forever (Newlywed Games 2)

That’s why he hadn’t stayed. Because he’d liked reconnecting with her far too much.

He groaned and groped blindly for the fresh cup of coffee on his desk, gulping it in hopes of banishing his wicked vixen of a wife from his mind. The coffee scalded his tongue and he swore. Colorfully.

There was not enough coffee in all of Midtown Manhattan to caffeinate him well enough to face the day anyway. He dumped the whole cup in the trash. Might as well make his morning complete by calling Avery.

Anyone who would steal a company’s bread and butter deserved a special place in hell.

When Avery answered on the first ring, he knew something was up and the back of his neck tingled. “Hey. We need to talk.”

How to bring up the designs? If he dove right into an accusation, Avery would figure out how to weasel out of admitting anything. Maybe he’d get the lay of the land first and then work his way up to it.

“I agree,” she said smoothly. “I’ve been talking to Paul about the points made in the oh-so-clever article you released. By the way, nice job with that, little brother.”

The sarcasm was so thick, he grinned. Meredith’s strategy had worked. That article must have really pissed off Avery for her to be so nasty right out of the gate. “Marketing, plain and simple. Surely you of all people appreciate the value of truth in advertising.”

She paused long enough for Jason to wonder if the connection had been lost.

“I’m a fan of the truth, actually,” she returned cryptically. “So I mentioned to Paul that you weren’t off the mark. Hurst doesn’t have the heavy hitting haute couture reputation of Lyn. It’s not in our DNA, nor our strategy. If we want to run with the big dogs, we have to consider our weaknesses.”

Ah. So that was the reason behind the stolen designs. She planned to use them to launch a line that would compete with Lyn. But surely she realized that at least twenty people could attest under oath that those designs had originated inside Lyn’s walls, not to mention the digital footprint of the saved files with date/time stamps. Hurst’s reputation wouldn’t be haute couture or prom dresses—it would become famous for being a company full of convicted felons.

The whole concept made him a little sick.

“What did Paul say?” Uttering his father’s name didn’t help the queasiness.

“This and that,” she hedged. “The important thing is that I laid the foundation for the merger. So in reality, our dueling media blitz only helped that cause.” And that would be the only admission he’d ever get that she’d orchestrated the sweatshop allegations. “In a few days, I’m going to mention the need for a new strategy. Then I’ll casually drop the hint—have you thought about the benefits of bringing the company back under one roof?”

God, she was good. If he hadn’t known about the stolen designs, he might have actually bought that song and dance. Avery didn’t have a problem playing both sides of the table, obviously. And neither did he.

Suddenly, he didn’t see the value in mentioning the designs. He’d rather wait to see how that played out. Though he’d still have to find a way to deal with the spy in his company.

“Fantastic. I’ll do the same with Bettina, though I’ll focus on revenue. She’s interested in launching a swimsuit line.” Normally, he wouldn’t mention detail, but with it on the table, Avery couldn’t steal it out from under Bettina now. “It would be a good time to talk financing and how expensive new lines are. Hurst’s numbers are better than they’ve ever been, according to what you’ve told me. That’s still true, right?”

“Of course.” She sniffed. “Hurst House is and always will be the cash cow of the Lynhurst empire.”

“This is great,” he said heartily. “It’s progress, which is sorely needed. Now we have to work on how to convince Paul and Bettina to relinquish their CEO roles to us.”

The hope was that they could figure out a way to make it seem attractive to retire or find other projects. Paul was going to be difficult as he’d been on the business side since the inception of Lynhurst Enterprises, whereas Bettina was a designer at heart. It might be possible to get her interested in stepping aside.

As always, Jason cared more about Bettina’s feelings than Paul’s. Honestly, if Jason and Avery ended up doing a hostile takeover of Hurst, it would be exactly what his father deserved.

After all, it was Paul’s fault the company had split. And Paul’s fault Hurst and Lyn weren’t doing as well separately as they’d done together. But a hostile takeover would be difficult and costly and would breed ill will. It would be better to avoid it if possible.