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Chapter Eight
For eighteen months since I’d joined the firm I threw myself into learning as much as I could about my family’s business, and was rewarded when my father promoted me to Vice CEO of the financial division of the company. Knowing him as I did, it had been the validation I’d needed for all the late nights I’d dedicated to the firm in the wake of my break up with Juliette.
“Someone needs to attend the Denver conference next week. We need to be available to quash any false rumors which may surface around our pending merger with Sterling Gratuity Group. It will also appease our shareholders. It’s our responsibility to sniff out new talent for our wealth management projects,” my father added decisively.
“Are you asking me which director is best suited to represent us?”
“No, I’m saying I think you should be that person. After all you’re Vice CEO of this division now. It’ll do us good for them to see young family blood gradually taking over part of our operations.”
“You have this much faith in me?” I asked. I was good at my job, getting better and more comfortable in my senior role in the family business every day, but I still had much to learn. Most days I had been tasked to compete with men with twenty-plus years of experience ahead of me, but my age had sharpened my awareness for sifting out their weaknesses and using those against them.
Knowing my father saw my potential at the top management tier had meant everything to me. When Juliette had left me, I’d been a bit of a mess. She’d refused to let me try to explain or to talk over what had happened. At the beginning I didn’t eat or sleep, I drank too much, and I couldn’t care less about myself. But somehow, I’d still managed to turn up every day, do my job, and do it well.
After Hammer’s yard party, it took me months to realize Juliette and I were completely done. Naïvely, I had believed if we’d gotten to talk and I’d explained myself better she’d have forgiven me, and I would have earned her trust back. My problem was she wouldn’t see me—not even once.
Text, voicemail, and emails had been the only tools I’d had to try and convince her to give me a second chance, but once her voicemails were full, she changed her number and eventually even her emails began to bounce back. I had heard she’d move out of Leon’s place, but he was the last person who would have helped me to find her. The guy hated me.
My final acceptance we were done only came after I’d learned she had cleaned out all traces of her from my place one day while I’d been at work.
With no one to blame but myself, I had no choice but to push through the breakup even though it had hit me very hard. I missed her… missed the possibility of what we could have been to one another, of the life we could have had together, and I felt I’d missed out on my chance for my happily ever after.
After losing her I poured all of my energy into my work, and as a result found I was able to use my frustration and channel this positively. It meant making ruthless risky decisions, which had made tens of millions in extra trading deals for our company, and it earned me a reputation as a force to be reckoned with.
“James, you may have been a late starter, but look how far you’ve come. I believe in you, Son. From what I’ve seen you’re a very clever, methodical man, who does his due diligence, and you’ve never shied away from making difficult expensive decisions in a timely manner. All you lack now is a little more self-belief in the business world. Putting yourself on the line in this way will prove to you that taking over the company is well within your capabilities. I won’t live forever, James.”
Stepping closer, he knocked sharply twice on my large, weathered oak desk and it was the first time in living memory I noticed a small degree of embarrassment, like he’d only realized he had never told he was proud of me.
“Rhea’s putting a portfolio of company statistics together. There will be homework before then and you’ll have time to recap during the flight down to Denver, but you have a week. A few days reading and another few absorbing the key points are all you’ll need to bring you up to speed. That should prep you for most of the questions you may be asked from other delegates attending at the conference.”
While he spoke, I noticed how quickly my father appeared to have aged in the past year and wondered if he had begun to feel his mortality. He had been pushing more responsibility onto me month by month, and the thought I would lose him some day made my heart ache.
“Right, I’ll get on it,” I replied, watching him more intently.
“Networking is important, and after you’ve attended a couple of these domestic events, I think you’ll be ready to dip your toe into some of the larger international ones. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about and Rhea will have your back, you’re a good pairing.”
Rhea Ellison was a beautiful ball-breaker who had become a close ally of mine within the firm. She was smart as fuck with figures and had an epic radar for bullshit. These attributes had certainly given my father’s company an edge.
Although I felt fairly confident in what I knew, having Rhea alongside me when I first joined the company had felt reassuring. She was the brilliant one-time company accountant and now my operational finance manager. She was one of my father’s most valuable human assets and fearless at challenging our competitors when necessary.
By asking me to represent the company at a conference where he knew there would be people who could expose my flaws, my father had acknowledged my worth. In doing so he had also proved himself right in pressing for me to join him. I had taken him up on his offer at a time when I knew I had fucked up at everything else.
I hadn’t expected to thrive on the challenge of my new role in the way that I did. Everyone told me not only was I born to take over from him, but I was the perfect candidate for the job. Before I’d worked with my father, I’d never envisioned any scenario where I’d land in his favor.
Life had been full of twists and turns since my brother’s ex-girlfriend had manipulated me into a fucked-up relationship, but once I’d admitted to her sexual assault, and subsequent blackmail of me, my life had gotten better.
“As Rhea will be taking the place of your personal assistant, she can compile the reports.”
For a second my father looked as if he was lost for something else to say, so I stood to his height from my chair and fastened the top button on my jacket. “It would be an honor to represent the company, thanks, Dad.”
“No more than you deserve, James, you’ve earned it. I’d never send you to be the face of Starling Harriett if I didn’t think you were the best man for the job.” Smiling, he knocked awkwardly on my desk again and that time I saw his gesture as a sign of affection, he’d never been a demonstrative man when it came me. Turning, he walked back toward the door and looked over his shoulder.
“Make sure you take Rhea to dinner, maybe a little dancing as well. All work and no play dulls the senses. I want you sharp when you go toe-to-toe with our adversaries,” he prompted, chuckling to himself. “But don’t cross the line, James, keep your dick in your pants not in Rhea Ellison.”
“Thanks, Dad, I will… and I won’t,” I added quickly, smirking when I saw a frown crease his brow, with my previous reputation as a playboy still fresh in both of our minds.
“All right, no time to lose. I’ll send Rhea up with the files in ten and then you can both get started, no time like the present.”
Watching the door close behind him, I turned and stared out the window at the city skyline, a little dazed at what had happened, and felt thankful for my family. My thoughts turned again to his last comment about not crossing the line.
