King Maker (King Maker 3)
Though I wanted to stand out of defiance, I told myself to do it for Gabe. If I lost everything to whoever was trying to destroy me, my father could save Gabe’s future.
I undid the button on my jacket and took a seat. My father followed suit, but his lawyer remained on his feet.
“The accounting report is in and it appears that several million dollars have been stolen from our accounts. Wires approved by you into accounts for Money Man, LLC, which appears to be owned by you.”
The old man’s lap dog was red in the face when he said, “Have you nothing to say?”
With a shift in my gaze, I glared at the man.
“For what? It’s not likely you’ll believe me.”
“So you’re saying you didn’t do it?” the old man asked.
I faced him and stared him squarely in the eye. “No. But my word means nothing to you, does it, Father?”
The king himself stood to move directly in front of me while leaning on his desk.
“This is important, son. A few million is nothing in the bank account, but it’s a hell of a lot when it comes to our reputation. If we lose that, we will eventually lose everything. If I fire you now, your reputation will forever be tarnished.”
“If,” the lawyer spluttered. “That’s not what we discussed.”
The old man waved him off. “You will most certainly lose everything and you’ll never recover from it. I need your word that I won’t regret standing by you.”
Oh, how the tides had turned. He’d gone from threatening me to now sounding reasonable as if he gave a damn about me.
“This is not advisable,” the lawyer prattled on.
“Leave us,” the old man directed.
“You can’t,” his friend said.
My father stood and glared at the other man. “This is still my company, Charles. You will leave us now.”
After a second of a silent standoff, Charles spun on his heel and stormed out.
My father faced me. “He wants me to sign over the company to him for safe looking after for my heirs. I’ve known the man twenty years and I can’t fully trust him or anyone. But you are my son.”
“So is Connor,” I said, unless he knew something I didn’t.
“And Connor doesn’t want to become King.”
Connor didn’t want to be in control of the company. He’d told me that numerous times.
“You’ve always been the crowned prince, my firstborn, my heir to everything.”
I glared at him. “Yet you never came for me.”
He stood and walked back to the other side of his desk. “I loved your mother. She made a fool of me for leaving after everyone warned me not to marry her. It was pride that made me stay away. I was hurt, angry, and wanted her to come crawling back when she failed. She didn’t.”
“You divorced her and gave her nothing, not even child support, and married someone else.”
He glanced away. “Bad advice. She asked for nothing and I was grateful. She could have taken me for so much more.”
“She isn’t like that.”
“I know,” he said, clinching his fist. “I thought she was fine. She said she wanted nothing from me except you. Connor’s mother said you were better off with her.”
Of course she had. She was still on my list of those who wanted me to fail, and badly.
“Because you would have sent me to boarding school like Connor?”
He gripped the top of his chair. “Sue me. I was a bad father. I can’t take any of that back. But I did this all for you.”
“And Connor.”
“And Connor, but he came later.” He sat again and seemed to age right before my eyes. “I don’t have long on this earth. And I want everything I’ve built to be in the right hands.”
“And whose are those?”
“Yours, dammit.”
“So you believe me?” I asked.
“At first, when you defied my order to come to New York, I was sure you’d send me a fuck-you email, how you got me, blah, blah, blah. At least that’s what some people wanted me to believe. But here you are, back in the States where you could be prosecuted and you aren’t that dumb. So yes, I believe you. If I didn’t, I would have you sign those papers even the board wants signed.”
He eyed the only papers on his nearly spotless desk. I eyed them too, knowing that was probably what Charles had been referring to.
Everything he’d said was the validation I’d craved all my life, yet it wasn’t satisfying. And it didn’t fix our relationship. But maybe…
“I can’t stay in New York.”
“What?” he snapped.
“I have business I must take care of in Scotland. I will be back, but not for some time.”
“Even if I said this was your only shot at heading the company?”
I didn’t have to think. “Yes. You say you built this for me… and Connor. But here you are admitting you can’t trust anyone. How lonely is it at the top, Father, when you have no one to share it with?”