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“This is not something the board needs to decide on,” he grit out. “Is there any other business?” Thankfully, there was none, and the meeting adjourned, and the board members left.
“You.” He pointed at his sister. “My office. Now.”
“Certainly, dear brother,” Emersyn said. “Rowan, you’ll need to come with us.”
Rowan, who’d been gathering up her things, bobbled everything and had to set it quickly down on the table. “M-me?”
“Yes, you.”
“We don’t need her for what I have to say.”
“Humor me.” Emersyn crooked a finger in Rowan’s direction.
Gerard might have laughed at Rowan’s “being led to the gallows” face if he weren’t so fucking pissed off. This meeting had gone all sorts of wrong, damn it. He didn’t need spectacles like this happening in front of the board and sure as hell not in front of Silverman.
He strode to his office, not looking to make sure his fellow CEO and his Director of the Global MegaCorp Division followed. He knew they would.
“You drop this bombshell on us, then plan to leave?” Gerard asked as soon as Rowan shut the door quietly behind her. She stood beside the door, clearly ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. An unusual timidity for her.
He couldn’t believe this. His sister was as driven as he was. Why would she drop this bombshell and then disappear?
“You and the board have had my vacation on your calendars for six months now. Besides, you’re the primary brains in this family.”
One eyebrow rose. Emersyn never paid him compliments. What was she up to? There was something to be said for getting her out of here for a couple days. That would give him the freedom to stop wondering about things hidden up her sleeves. Not that he was at all happy about her leaving at this crucial time.
“You can handle this.” When Emersyn paused and held his gaze without blinking, Gerard felt the slightest hint of anxiety. That stare never meant well for him.
“All you need is knowledgeable assistance.” She tapped her lip with a perfectly manicured fingernail and glanced at the ceiling. “I think someone with a fresh perspective would be best.” Gerard saw where she was going with this, but not in time to stop the words from bursting through her sly smile.
“Rowan should help you put this bid together.”
Rowan shifted even further into the corner of his office, as far away as physically possible. Probably smart, since his powder keg was just shy of blowing.
“Me?” she said. “No.” She shook her head. “I can’t do something this big.”
Emersyn waved away Rowan’s protests. “Sure you can.”
“No, she can’t,” Gerard inserted.
“Yes. She’s perfect. She has excellent instincts—you even said so yourself—and her knowledge is top-notch,” Emersyn countered.
Gerard wanted to wipe that satisfied smirk off her face. Leave it to Emersyn to vocalize an offhand and rare compliment he’d made in private. He was going to fucking kill her.
“I suggest,” he said through tight lips, “you and I discuss this between the two of us.”
“I disagree. Rowan has a stake in this conversation.”
“I—I’m fine staying out of the discussion,” Rowan said, inching back toward the door. Smart girl.
Rowan could disappear and not have to deal with the politics and shenanigans of owning a Fortune 500 company. Gerard was more than a little jealous of that. If he didn’t stay mired in the muck, Barrett Investment Group would go under. Even while angry at his sister, he envied her the days off. He’d barely let down his guard in years, and the one time he’d done so had led to the lawsuit now hanging over his wallet.
There was truly no rest for the weary.
Chapter Six
Rowan sat at her desk and bit her nails, a habit she had successfully conquered until now. She’d been thrust into the limelight. And in the worst possible way: fighting against Murdoch Financial, her family’s company. Rowan didn’t lose any sleep over working for Murdoch’s competition. There was a reason she’d taken her mother’s maiden name when she graduated high school. Her father and brother were mercenaries with a large purse to spend from, and they didn’t care who they mowed over in their quest for supremacy.
She didn’t work like that. Never had, never would. Not that she hadn’t tried to change things. She went to work for Murdoch, hoping she could do just that. There was only so much one could do when working an entry level position. Her father and brother’s private joke, though it was couched behind her “need” to learn the company from the ground up. She’d learned quickly that the employees at Murdoch were not treated well and were disenchanted.
