Stealing Her (Covet 1)

And I also knew that when he woke up.

Izzy and I were done.

I accepted a glass of champagne and lifted it toward my father.

He lifted his right back and looked happier than I’d ever seen him, and smug as ever.

“To Tennyson Financial.” A board member whose name I couldn’t remember raised his glass in my direction. “And to our new acting CEO, Bridge Anderson Tennyson!”

Cheers erupted around the room, reporters waited outside the glass doors, one from Forbes, another from the Times. When I walked out there, they’d yell Julian’s name, not mine.

“Gentlemen.” My father stood. “If you’ll excuse us, I’d like a private moment with my son.”

They slowly exited the room, slapping each other on the back, while I stared out at the cityscape, a city that felt like I’d helped him own, now that two of the largest finance firms had merged. The sick feeling didn’t dissipate; if anything it worsened the more I stared.

“You saved a lot of IFC jobs today, a lot of money, a lot of speculation.” He moved to stand right next to me. “You were firstborn, you know. This was always supposed to be yours.”

“Don’t patronize me,” I spat. “You chose him because you couldn’t control me and you knew it.”

He was quiet, and then, “Had I known you’d grow up to have bigger balls, believe me, I would have chosen differently. He pretended to want this, but I saw through it. He was always angry with me. He has so many ideas, most of them good, but he’s too eager to please me, too eager to do whatever I say, and it drives me batshit crazy.”

“I wonder why,” I said tersely, then took another sip.

“I see the world differently, and I’m willing to sacrifice whatever I need to earn my cut of what it has to offer.” He didn’t sound the least bit apologetic. “Tell me, are you enjoying Isobel?”

“Is she my door prize?” I snapped, angry that I was falling for her, angry that he saw that too, possibly planned on it.

Father smiled and put his hand on my shoulder. “She was going to break off her engagement with him, Amy overheard the conversation. He would have let her. A kingdom needs its kings and queens just like it needs its pawns. A broken engagement would have looked bad. It could have seemed like the family was unstable and it could have leaked into the news, and as much as you doubt my next words, I do care what happens to her. She’s been loyal to the family and deserves what we have to offer, and if she’s willing to play the game why not let her have some winnings?”

I shook my head. “Why won’t you let her go?”

He frowned. “Why would she want to leave?”

The man was delusional. “Is this a pride thing again—”

“Enough,” he snapped. “Julian’s worked hard. It’s only natural that he gets to have the girl in the end. Besides, she has no one, we basically adopted her into our family, the media loves a good sob story. So I ask you again. Why would she want to leave?”

I had no words.

I stared at him.

“I don’t have to worry about that anymore anyway, son, she’d never leave you. I saw the way Julian treated her, he’s cut from the same cloth as his old man. He’s not a one-woman man. I expected her to walk, but everything’s worked out as it should. We have over seven hundred billion in assets, the girl’s back in love with you, we have a wedding that would make royalty jealous. Everyone wants to be you, don’t you see? You have everything at your fingertips, why would anyone run away from that?”

I needed him to stop talking. I needed him to make the relationship not sound like a business transaction.

“And if I walk? You could run things behind the scenes, you know, they don’t need to see my face. What if I walk and take Izzy with me, along with the trust fund and all my shares?”

His smile faded. “You walk, you get nothing, and I’d think before walking away from all of this, you’d have to consider the thousands of jobs that depend on you, son.”

Sickness took over, and I almost hurled my champagne all over him. “Ah, so this isn’t about you, it’s about other people now? What? You suddenly care about your employees more than the money they bring in?”

He flinched.

It was barely there.

Maybe he had a small sliver of his heart left, or maybe he just had the hiccups.

I was going to go with the hiccups.

Pain filled his eyes. “A father does what he needs to do to protect his family even if it means he’s protecting them from themselves.”

“Bullshit.” I set down my glass. “I’m gonna go see Julian tonight, talk to him, see if there’s any progress.”