Super. Time to meet the families. I had folders for them, too. If Kaci and Collin were with them, maybe I’d have my answer about their involvement.
“Five minutes.” He disconnected, his eyes still locked on me. “And if we don’t meet your demand?”
“I have digital copies, of course, of all of this, of everything you’ve buried over the span of your careers.” Some my mother had collected, the rest hacked, purchased, and bribed thanks to Benny’s expertise. “Recorded conversations, coroners’ reports, DNA evidence, statements given by eye-witnesses.”
His face paled. Yeah, that kind of leak wouldn’t be a conspiracy or a scandal. He was looking at a six-by-eight-sized future with a bedmate named Bulldawg.
He held up a page from the orange envelope and angled it so I could see it. “I take it this is your real résumé? Top honors at MIT?”
I’d included it to prove I was more than qualified to handle the legitimate aspects of the job. I nodded. “You realize if anything happens to me, I’ve got a trigger man waiting to press send. You can guess what that recipient list looks like.”
Benny would broadcast every piece of evidence to Trenchant’s multimedia competitors, local law enforcement, the FBI, and the families of the murder victims.
Neither Trent nor I wanted that. Of course, he didn’t know I planned to kill him instead, so I needed to make damned sure he understood my fictitious motivation. “I want the same things as you. Power. Money. Women. But most of all, I want security.”
Vertical lines appeared between his eyebrows.
“I want the protection that comes with the connections of a powerful family.” I propped my elbow on the armrest and leaned my chin against my closed hand, all casual and contemplative. “Has there ever been a murder attempt against you or yours?”
“No one would dare.” He studied me, something shifting in his narrowed eyes.
Was he remembering how he’d orchestrated my mother’s death? Or was he berating himself for not knowing she had a son? Granted, she’d hidden me from the world, but if Trent had looked, it wouldn’t have been hard to find me.
He was still studying me, his gaze ever-calculating. “What are you saying?”
“I’m here”—I stretched out my arms, indicating the expanse of my soon-to-be office—“to take advantage of your wealth, your connections, the reputation you’ve built, and the respect you command. But most importantly, your protection.” Blah blah, bullshit. I lowered my hands, hardened my face. “No one will ever hurt someone I love again.” And now he had my fake motivation.
The dickhead grinned. “Fierce. I like that.”
Just wait, motherfucker. You haven’t seen fierce.
“I wonder…” He returned the papers to the envelope. “Who this someone is you love?”
Of course, he’d want to know who his blackmailer loved and how he could use them as leverage. I would do everything possible to keep Benny out of his sights. As for the other someone, the truth was harmless. “Someone I haven’t found yet. But when I do, I will not lose her the way I lost my mother.”
He held up the orange envelope filled with secrets. “And this is why you chose Trenchant to be your security? Why you chose me?”
I’d hoped the contents of that envelope would make my motivation believable, make him want to trust me. But I knew, as soon as I walked out of here, he would investigate me, try to dig up whatever he could to use against me. I also knew he’d come up empty.
I smiled. “We understand each other.” Not even close.
He leaned forward and tossed the confidential envelope in my lap, his eyes watching me with their unnerving scrutiny, analyzing my play. “There’s one problem with your proposal.”
I returned the envelope to the messenger bag with a calmness I didn’t feel.
“The position has been contractually offered to my daughter-in-law.”
My stomach dropped. Kaci Baskel. “Then contractually un-offer it. Sic your lawyers on it. Not my problem.”
That smirk reappeared. “As CEO, everything is your problem. And she wants this job, passionately. Enough to fight for it. And she’ll stir up a goddamned media circus on her way to the courthouse.”
I gritted my teeth. Fuck, I hadn’t seen this coming. Last thing I wanted was a publicized legal dispute.
How far would Trent go to avoid that? It seemed he was willing to deal with the scrutiny that would come with a new CEO with no experience in running a media corporation over ignoring my threats and giving the position to a family member who had been molded for the position since birth.
He stood and gathered the remaining papers. “The contract has a fidelity clause.”
My throat thickened. “A what?”
“The contract is void if she cheats on my son.”
12
Logan
Back in the mortuary-like lobby on the executive floor, I sat in a hard-ass chair, waiting to be invited into the boardroom, surrounded by stainless steel shelving and side tables, monochromatic wall art, and Alicia’s lifeless personality where she sat behind her desk ten feet away. My palms grew hot, my jaw locked, and my veins thrummed with restless energy. Fucker kept me waiting.