I text Seth to meet me at the office and then slide my phone back into my pocket, revving the engine. “This is going to work. I promise you, brother. We’re a few short weeks from the end.”
I pull us out of the parking spot, eager to get to work and address the legality and strategy behind this plan. Even more eager to close the book on Martina and start a real life with Emily. In fact, by the time I pull us into the office parking garage only a few minutes away, I’ve decided it’s time to look for a ring. But while I’m thinking of new beginnings for myself and Emily, Derek is brooding, and once I park in my reserved spot, he makes no attempt to exit the car. “Teresa says I’m a target for Adrian and Ramon because of her,” he says. “Not because of our business dealings.”
“She’s the sister and daughter of a drug lord,” I say. “We can remove you from her brother’s business, but I’m not sure how dating her ends well. Pops should have never sent that directive and you should never have gone.”
He looks at me. “She’s not like her family. She’s good in a way I don’t deserve, and that’s just it. Eventually she’ll figure that out, and then Adrian or Ramon will decide that I should pay for hurting her. I’ll be dead.”
“No,” I say, rejecting that idea. “There’s a way to get you out of this.”
“Really? I’m listening.”
“Give me time. We’ll figure it out.”
“In other words, your claim that I could be with her was at my own risk.”
“We’re Brandons. She’s a Martina. We can’t change the blood running through our veins. I’ll negotiate your safety in the deal.”
“How?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
He reaches under the seat and lifts the gun. “And I’ll buy those bullets.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SHANE
The minute Derek and I walk into Brandon Enterprises, he cuts right toward his office, and I cut left toward Emily’s, finding her desk empty and my father’s door open, his office dark. It’s then that I feel the punch of his absence, and when I turn around and Emily is standing in her private lobby area in front of me, I grab her, cup her head, and kiss her. It’s not until I force my mouth from hers that I realize Jessica is standing next to her.
“I take it this is going to be a closed-office kind of day,” she comments dryly. “Should I leave now?”
“It’s actually going to be a busy work day,” I say, releasing Emily. “I have some detailed contract work for us to attack with urgency.”
“Oh, my favorite,” she adds. “Are we talking one Snickers bar kind of detail or a box of chocolate survival kit?”
“Survival kit.”
“Got it,” she says. “Headed to my desk to break open the emergency drawer.” She disappears down the hall, and Emily flattens her hand on my chest, her eyes meeting mine, understanding in their depths. “I hate the empty office too. It bothers me every time I walk around the corner, but he’ll be back and barking orders at me in no time.”
She tries to sound convinced, but she fails, and deep in my gut, which never fails me, I’m not sure he’ll ever come home. “Any problems this morning?” I ask as her intercom buzzes.
“It’s been smooth sailing here,” she says, moving behind her desk and punching the intercom button while I sit on the edge facing her.
“There’s a delivery for Brandon Senior that ended up in the copy center,” the receptionist says over the intercom. “Do you want me to get it on my break?”
“No,” Emily says. “I’ll grab some coffee in a few and get it.” She releases the intercom button and refocuses on me. “How’s that plan of yours going?”
I give her a quick summary of my morning. “Wow,” she says when I’m done, sitting down in her chair. “So Ramon is gone?”
“Not yet,” I say. “But soon. And Seth and Nick’s team will make sure it really happens.”
“But for how long?”
“I’ll negotiate that when I negotiate the sale of the pharmaceutical brand.”
“Yes,” she says. “About that.” She tilts her head to study me. “Are you sure you want to do that? The pharmaceutical brand is your baby.”
“That became our hell,” I say. “I can’t get this deal negotiated fast enough.”
“How fast do you think?”
“Once I have proof Mike is coming after us, which he says will be by Monday. I plan to be prepared for sooner.”
“This is good news then, right?”
“It’s a reason for optimism,” I say. “And we’ll know quickly how this is going to roll out. We should have the details hashed out two weeks from now.”
“Won’t we lose a lot of income when we shed the pharmaceutical brand?” she asks, radiating toward the same concern Derek had expressed when I’d told him.
“We’ll leave the deal with cash to transition the business.”
Her eyes light up. “Is this a good time then to talk about the fashion brand again?” She slides a file across the desk. “This is the one I think we need to buy. But it’s rather urgent we act now. The analyst just told me this morning that it’s undervalued, but that could change if we give another buyer time to weigh in.”
I pick up the file. “Does this include an official evaluation?”
“It does. And mine, which is a detailed plan for making it our own successful brand. It’s all there.”
“Then I’ll take a look and we’ll talk about it over dinner.” I stand, and so does she. “How about room service? Just the two of us, and we’ll put everything else on hold. And tomorrow we’ll get up and run together.”
“I’d like that very much.”
I give her a quick kiss and head down the hallway to turn toward my office, finding Derek’s secretary’s desk empty. Turning left, I halt at the sight of him standing at Jessica’s desk. “Did you just call me ‘Jessica’?” Jessica asks him, her voice radiating exaggerated disbelief.
“That is your name, right?” Derek asks.
“But you never call me by my name.”
He arches a brow. “And you call me by mine?”
“Of course I do,” she says. “You just wouldn’t like the name I’ve taken the liberty to choose for you.”
“In other words, I should go back to calling you ‘bitch.’”
She nods. “Yes, please. I’m much more comfortable with that from you. Now that we’ve solved that, what did you need?”
“A new secretary.”
“I thought you liked yours? As in really like her.”
Derek scowls. “Can you coordinate with HR or not?”
“She can,” I say, closing the space between them and me.
Jessica looks at me and then at him. “I can. What happened to your old one?”
“Moved her to another department,” he says, avoiding eye contact with me and walking to his office, where he shuts the door.
“Why are you frowning?” Jessica asks the moment we’re officially alone.
Because despite my chat with Derek in the car, my brother just made a move to prove his loyalty to a drug cartel’s princess, but I don’t say that. “Send Seth to my office when he gets here,” I say, walking in that direction.
“I hate when you ignore my questions,” she calls after me.