ísa’s teenaged stepbrother might’ve only officially been part of Jacqueline’s family for two years, but those two years had had a huge impact on his psyche. “He also admires you beyond any other adult in his life.” The force of Harlow’s worship was a shining glow. “He wants to be you.”
“Harlow’s only seventeen.” Putting down her pen, Jacqueline rose to walk around and brace her hip against the side of her desk, causing ísa to push off the desk and put several feet between them.
She didn’t trust herself not to strangle her mother right now.
“And, quite frankly,” Jacqueline continued, “I can’t see it—the boy is great at making robots and writing code, but running a business requires an entirely different skill set.”
“He can learn.” ísa waved the flat of her hand to cut off Jacqueline’s reply.
Her mother’s eyes narrowed… before a smile curved her lips. “You see? The killer instinct.”
ísa’s hands itched to wrap themselves around Jacqueline’s swanlike neck. “One thing you can’t deny,” she said instead of giving in to her homicidal instincts, “Harlow won the internship fair and square.”
The summer internship at Crafty Corners was hotly contested among high school students—her stepbrother had submitted his application under a pseudonym and done a phone interview so as to avoid any accusations of favoritism. “You chose him as the winning candidate.” Only to reverse her decision once she discovered his real identity.
The one bright spot in all this was that no notifications had been made. Jacqueline hadn’t yet broken Harlow’s hopeful heart.
“I see I’ll have to talk to Ginny again,” her mother responded a little too casually.
“Why?” Instincts spiking to code-red status, ísa folded her arms. “You told her to trust me like she’d trust you.”
Jacqueline’s smile became that of a dragon, full of teeth. “Take on the vice president position and you can do whatever you want with the internship program. Until then, I make the calls, and I have no intention of granting Harlow the position.”
Check and mate.
14
Criminal Acts… and a Well-Deserved Punch to a Smug Face
íSA REALIZED SHE’D BEEN MASTERFULLY played.
This had been Jacqueline’s plan all along. But if there was one thing Jacqueline Rain had done well as a parent, it was to raise a daughter who was no pushover. “Trying to mold me into a cutthroat businesswoman will just leave you with the migraine to end all migraines,” she pointed out without budging from her spot. “I don’t have the head or the desire for it.”
“You have the head,” Jacqueline countered. “I made sure of that. As for the desire, we both know teaching was your rebellion against my lack of maternal instincts.”
ísa rolled her eyes. “Hate to break it to you, Mother, but the world doesn’t revolve around you.”
“Whether it does or not,” Jacqueline said easily, “you only have two options at this point. Take the VP position and appoint Harlow as the intern, or don’t.”
“You’re truly stooping to blackmail using your own stepson?”
That dragonish smile returned. “It’s not blackmail, my dear. After all, I’ll be paying you a rather large sum of money for your services.”
ísa was surprised to realize she could still be taken aback by Jacqueline’s cold-blooded nature. “And you think I’m like you? You think I’d do this to a child of mine?” ísa would love her child with fierce devotion—she’d have to be careful not to love too much, that was her problem.
ísa always loved too deeply, too openly once she let someone into her heart.
“You’re very much like me, ísalind,” Jacqueline said, her smile turning amused. “You might as well admit it. However, since you also inherited my stubbornness and won’t admit anything that might give me a psychological advantage, I’m going to show you.” She straightened. “I want you to see what you’re capable of, what you’re throwing away in your childish rebellion.”
ísa tried to think like a dragon—or like a man with demon-blue eyes and far too much confidence. “Aren’t you worried I’ll sabotage you from the inside?”
“What I’ve built, this company, it’s a family legacy.” Unperturbed, Jacqueline crossed the carpet to ísa. “You’d never do anything to harm that.”
Unfortunately, her mother was right. ísa had too much family loyalty running through her blood to destroy the company out of spite. Especially not when it was Harlow’s dream and might well one day help Catie achieve hers. “There are more senior people in the company.”
“All of whom know this is a family operation—most of them helped train you through your teenage years. They’re all aware the VP position has always been yours.”
That, too, was unfortunately true. ísa had been groomed to be her mother’s successor since childhood.
“So, do we have a deal?” Jacqueline held out her hand. “I’ll give the boy a shot. In return, you take on the VP’s job and do it to the best of your ability.”
“Only for the summer.”
Jacqueline shook her head. “No.”
“That’s my offer, take it or leave it.” Harlow would’ve proven himself by the end of that period, of that ísa was certain—and what Catie needed, Jacqueline would never stint in providing. That was the thing with Jacqueline—she could, at times, have blood full of ice, but she’d also rewritten the rulebook for the entire company after Catie came out of the hospital.
Many corporations talked the talk, but very few put their money where their mouth was. Crafty Corners, in contrast, did not ever operate out of—or hold external events in—any building that wasn’t fully accessible to all. That single change had wide-ranging implications, one of which was that employees weren’t cut off from the internal promotion track by default because they couldn’t physically make it to important briefings or networking opportunities.
Staff also had access to company vehicles modified for use by people with disabilities, with a number specifically adapted for specific individuals who weren’t able to utilize the pool vehicles. It wasn’t unusual to find brail text next to printed text in places like the elevators, and all staff, from front line to senior executives, were expected to learn and understand sign language.
That was only the tip of the iceberg.
Jacqueline had a standing order that issues of access were to be referred straight to her for immediate remediation.
All of that was public knowledge. But what only a handful of people knew was that Jacqueline sponsored a program that helped children and teenagers get back on the educational or training track after they’d lost months, possibly years, in a fight for their very lives.
Maybe all that was why ísa couldn’t just cut the bond between them. Because, despite appearances to the contrary, there was a speck of humanity inside the Dragon—a deeply, deeply hidden speck. Now that same dragon’s eyes glinted with unhidden pride, as if ísa had made her day with her mutinous lack of cooperation.
“Fine. Your VP contract will be for the summer only.”