Seduce Me (Austin Singles 1)

“Why didn’t anyone say anything?” I asked, my brows pulled in tightly. I assumed this had been done months, if not years ago!”

Marge nodded. “So did the rest of the board, Charlie, or they assumed your grandfather pulled some of the old-timers aside and did it in secret.”

I focused back on the tape.

“Sir, your father had the companies best interest at heart.”

The way my father shot daggers at Ricker had me smiling. “Listen, you and I are friends. I know deep down you think you should run this company if anything should happen to me, but I know my daughter will do the job and do it better than any of us. So, I’ll say this again, get it out of there. Even if it stayed, it wouldn’t hold up. You and I both know it. Charleston could take it to court and contest it. Any judge in their rightful mind would throw it out, and I’m pretty sure my father knew that. He was bitter that Sally and I never tried for a boy. This was more of a jab at me than directed toward Charleston.”

Paul moved around in his chair. “Mike, we’ve been friends for a while now. You know I’ll do whatever you want, but do you honestly believe your daughter is the right person for the job of CEO in the event that, God forbid, anything should happen to you?”

My father looked angry. “Do you honestly think I’d put my entire life’s work, and that of my father’s, in the hands of someone who wouldn’t know what to do with it? I’ve been grooming that girl since she was in the single digits to take over.”

Pride filled my chest.

My father went on. “CMI is her entire life. She’s dedicated and smart as hell, and I’ve taught her everything I know.”

Paul nodded. “She is very much all those things. But she is also young and hasn’t even been out of school but a few years.”

My father laughed. “Do you think I’m going anywhere soon?”

Shaking his head, Ricker had the decency to look embarrassed at his choice of words.

“Hell, I’ve gone out of my way to make sure my daughter stays away from men, and you want my father to force her to marry one. No. She doesn’t need a man by her side to do this job. No woman needs a man by her side to do any job. Besides, by the time she’s ready to take over as CEO, she’ll be older and wiser. You and I will long be retired.”

Paul Ricker tensed some but let out a laugh along with my father. My chest ached knowing my father would be gone weeks after this was taped.

Paul finally stood. A fake-as-hell smile grew over his face. “I’ll get it taken care of as soon as possible.”

“Get it done today, Ricker. We have a shit ton of lawyers I pay a pretty penny to. Get them to handle my father’s little joke before someone tells my daughter about it.”

“Yes, Mr. Monroe.”

We watched as Ricker walked out of my father’s office. There was a break in the video and another one started up.

“Found this one a few days later.”

Marge’s voice says over the video.

Then I heard Marge’s voice again, this time coming from the TV. “Mr. Monroe, Mr. Ricker is here to see you. He said it is in regards to the situation you asked him to take care of last week.”

Hitting a button, my father answered. “Send him in.”

The door opened and Ricker walked in. “Paul, tell me you got that taken care of ?”

Ricker cleared his throat and sat down in the chair. “Yes. It’s all been taken care of. Nothing to worry about.”

Lifting his head, my father lifted a brow. “It’s done?”

“Yes, just like you asked me to do. I talked to Mr. Knots about it, and we handled it. He took it to one of the judges he knows who simply laughed. Said it would never hold up in court. You could, of course, move to have the board vote that Charlie would need to be of a certain age before becoming CEO.”

“No,” my father retorted.

“Then the subject is dropped.”

Marge and I looked at each other.

My father’s voice made me jump.