“Wow. She’s even more in your head than I thought,” Lucy said, crossing her arms. He knew she was referencing Holly. The way she said it twisted Nathan the wrong way. No one should talk about Holly like that.
“What do you want, Lucy?” Nathan asked her. He could feel his time in the R&D department slipping away from him.
“We need to talk. In private.” She turned on her heel and began walking. “Follow me.”
Nathan raised an eyebrow and glanced at Gregory.
Gregory grunted.
Nathan had to agree Gregory was right. Don’t mess with an angry woman. Just do as she says.
So he followed her.
Her heels clicked on the tile floor as they crossed the main lobby and went past a row of empty desks. A little Christmas tree stood flickering off to the side, but Lucy passed it without a second glance. She headed straight for George Element’s office.
Once inside, she settled in George’s big leather chair.
“Have a seat,” she told him. Except she was sitting in the power seat. That left Nathan having to sit in the lesser chairs on the opposite side of the desk.
Instead he remained standing. He crossed the large room and looked at George’s bookcase. There were many photographs of the man, but none of his family. It was always just him in exotic locals, with over-sized fish, meeting celebrities, or posing in famous locations.
For some reason, it made Nathan sad. He knew the man had children. He had a family. Yet, in this office there was no indication of it. There was no love in this office for anything other than the job.
“What did you want to talk about?” Nathan asked her, taking a relaxed lean against a wall.
Lucy crossed her legs and glared at him.
“This company is moving to California.” She said it with authority.
“Is that so?” Nathan raised his eyebrows. “Since when did you become CEO?”
“Don’t play with me, Nathan,” Lucy warned. “I’ve spent months making this happen. I did everything for this acquisition.”
Nathan didn’t say anything. It was true. He’d given most of the responsibility to Lucy. He’d been busy trying to salvage RentTech and failing. He had only just started looking at Elements, even though it was technically his job.
“I understand that you’ve put a lot of effort into this,” he replied. “And I’ll make sure that you’re compensated. But the company should stay here.”
Lucy laughed, but it had no joy. “And why is that? To make your little princess happy? So that you can come in and be her white knight? So you can save the town?”
Nathan didn’t say anything.
“Nathan, I have put too much work into this. I’ve made deals and promises. I’m not letting you take this from me,” Lucy said. Her dark eyes glittered with anger as she looked at him. “The company is moving.”
Righteous indignation filled Nathan’s chest. He didn’t like being told
what to do.
“No.” Nathan shook his head. “It’s not. I choose what happens with this company, not you. You don’t dictate what I do with my company.”
Lucy sighed. “I didn’t want to have to do this, Nathan. I don’t want to have this fight with you, but you aren’t seeing reason.”
She stood up and crossed the room. Despite the fact that she was a good head shorter than him, she managed to look down at him.
He was ready to destroy her. She was as good as fired for this. This was unacceptable to him. How dare Lucy usurp him like this? Fury began to vibrate in his chest, steam heating in his ears.
“I will go to the board with this.” Lucy spoke softly, but without hesitation. “I will tell them how this mess happened. You are already on shaky ground with them for RentTech. They will destroy you for this. You will lose everything.”
It was like being hit with a bucket of cold water. The fire in his belly vanished immediately. She wasn’t bluffing and she was going for the jugular.