Devoted: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella (22 page)

For a second he thought she would turn her face up and let him kiss her, let him put everything he was feeling that second into something physical. He wasn’t sure words were enough.

“I can’t believe you.” She stepped away and moved around him.

He followed her back down the hall. “Think about it, Amy. Why would I lie now except that I truly want you? I’ve got nothing left to lose. You have the company we were fighting over. I know you won’t believe me but I told my CEO to let Clannahan go.”

She turned on him. “Is that what you’re trying to say? Now it’s all your doing that I won the contract?”

That had been a trap he’d fallen into. “Not at all. You won that fair and square and I want to hear all about it. I was praying we could celebrate tonight.”

“I’m sure you were. You’ll forgive me if I don’t see you again. I’m leaving the training program and I expect that you will never contact me.”

He reached out for her hand. “Don’t do this, Amy.”

“Get your hand off her right now,” a dark voice said.

“I would do what he says, Flynn. He’s got a gun and he won’t hesitate to use it.” Mitch and Liam O’Donnell were standing in the living room, staring at them. Mitch’s face was tight as though he hadn’t enjoyed what was likely a very tense conversation with O’Donnell.

He’d gotten his brother in trouble, too.

He dropped Amy’s hand, but he couldn’t let her go. “Please stay and talk to me.”

She turned.

When he tried to follow her, he found a massive Irishman in his way.

“Mr. O’Donnell, this is between me and my sub.” He couldn’t let her go. Not like this. Maybe not ever.

Mitch cursed under his breath. “You’ve had your Sanctum membership revoked, Flynn. And Li is here in a professional capacity. He won’t back off. He handles security for Slaten. In this case, he’s acting as Ms. Slaten’s bodyguard.”

“She doesn’t need a bodyguard.” What the hell was happening? How had everything fallen apart in the course of a single afternoon?

“I’ve been lax,” O’Donnell said, his jaw tight. “I’m supposed to protect the company from spies and the head of the company from people who want to use her. I won’t make the same mistake again. Ms. Slaten, have you gotten everything you need?”

She nodded, her eyes cold.

“Then why don’t you wait for me in the lobby?” O’Donnell asked. “I need to make a few things plain to Mr. Adler.”

“Don’t walk away,” he pleaded.

She turned and was in the elevator. The doors closed and she was gone.

He couldn’t breathe. What the fuck had he done?

O’Donnell stared at him. “I need you to understand that if I find you around my employer again, I’ll take ya out meself and I won’t care a damn that you’re Mitch’s brother. Do you have any idea the trouble you’ve caused for him?”

“He didn’t know.” He had to get Mitch out of this.

“Of course I did,” Mitch replied.

“The only reason I’m not pushing to revoke his membership is the fact that he’s also your lawyer,” O’Donnell continued. “We’ve got the clusterfuck of a situation that both you and Amy are clients of McKay-Taggart. Simon and Jesse are your liaisons. We’ll be having a long meeting to try to figure out if we can reasonably keep both Glendale and Slaten as clients after all this fucking mess.”

“Don’t you drop her. Please don’t drop her. I’ll find someone else.” He couldn’t cost her another thing.

O’Donnell was quiet for a minute and then switched his focus to Mitch. “You weren’t kidding, were you?”

Mitch sighed. “I told you this wasn’t about business. I’m pretty sure he’d been burned before and he was scared. He’s in love with her.”

He felt like an idiot standing there between the two older men, but he couldn’t lie. “I do love her. I swear I wasn’t planning on taking her company. I was going to try to give her mine.”

O’Donnell seemed to soften slightly. “So you’re nothing but a dumbass. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”

“Mitch is right. I’ve been stupid. I knew about a week in that she wouldn’t spy on me. My fiancée…I found out she was marrying me for money. She took some work product and sold it to a rival company. I’m sure she intended to do much more of that after the wedding. She had a secret account and a secret lover she funneled money to.”

“Amy’s nothing like that,” O’Donnell pointed out.

“I know that, but I…I don’t know what I was thinking. After a few weeks, I was just fucking scared to tell her because I knew I’d been wrong. I wanted something to give to her to make up for it somehow. And then she told me how much she hated me. The real me, not the one she knew.”

“I doubt that woman could truly hate anyone,” Mitch said with a frown. “I don’t think she hates you now. I think she’s hurt.”

“You’ll have to forgive Mitchell. He’s very good at pointing out the obvious,” O’Donnell said with a shake of his head. “You poor bastard. You screwed up with her. I’ll let Big Tag know you prefer to leave over her if it comes to that. We don’t normally have these kinds of conflicts of interest. You can see why it causes headaches. Look, maybe I was harsh on you but I can’t let you around her if she doesn’t want you there.”

“Her father is coming after her. You have to stop him.” He wasn’t sure of everything that was going on with her father, but he knew her father wanted his place back and it looked like he was going to use Flynn to further that goal.

He couldn’t be the reason she lost her company. Even if he offered her the job at Glendale, it wouldn’t make up for losing Slaten. She’d sacrificed for Slaten.

O’Donnell turned to Mitch. “She’s got her own lawyers working on that, but I think if the bastard calls a vote, she’s going to be short. Unless someone could figure out a way to sway the board. Or perhaps buy up enough stock that they would have a voting share. The way I figure it, she needs two more votes to be safe.”

Mitch frowned. “That could cost millions. I mean millions of dollars and with absolutely no guarantee that she would come back to him. She might see it as the beginnings of a hostile takeover. That is if we could even get one of the board members to sell. Slaten used to have a strict no-sell policy to anyone other than family.”

O’Donnell continued. “Ah, but Amy thought that was a draconian law. She had it taken out of the bylaws along with the morality codes. And she likely wouldn’t see it as a hostile takeover if he signed the stock over to her once he’d voted.”

“You can’t expect him to do that,” Mitch argued. “You’re talking about at least ten million. It could be far more than that to get two freaking board votes. He’s not going to turn around and hand it over.”

“I’ll do it.” He would have to sell the condo. He would fucking have to sell just about everything, but he knew in an instant none of it mattered if he didn’t have her.

God, he had to pray it worked.

The elevator chimed again and he turned to the door as Mitch began to argue against the utterly insane plan. Amy. She was coming back. He could talk to her. He could make her see reason.

Instead, the doors opened and he saw Amy had sicced someone else on him because her brother-in-law entered the room like a bull in search of someone to gore.

Will Daley strode in, still in his scrubs. “You son of a bitch. I swear to god, I’m going to kill you and then I’m going to kill your brother.”

Mitch held his hands up. “He’s going to pay ten million to buy two board seats so Amy doesn’t lose Slaten and then he’s going to sign all the stock over to her.”

Wow. That had gone down fast. It looked like all Mitch had needed to get on board with Flynn spending his entire fortune on the hopes that a girl would like him was his best friend threatening to kill them all.

Will stopped in the middle of the room. “Are you serious?”

At least he might get one of her family members on his side. “Yes, but you can’t tell her because right now she would likely try to block me. She’s angry, but I swear I’m going to get her out of this mess and make sure her father can’t screw with her ever again. I love her.”

“I think you’re right about her blocking you,” Will said with a frown. “I don’t know that she would allow you to save her from drowning right now.” He looked to Mitch. “Is it that bad? Could she lose the company?”

Mitch put a hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “It’s bad, but I think we can accomplish what we need to with one vote.”

“I think it’s worse than it looks on paper,” O’Donnell said with a grimace. “I want him to buy two votes which means he’ll need someone else to vote the second share. I was thinking Mitch, but maybe you want to do it. Bridget already has a vote. She’s the only one we can count on.”

Flynn shook his head. “No. I’ve got someone else in mind. I’ll handle this. I’ll make sure she doesn’t lose Slaten.”

“Are you really going to do this?” Will asked, looking him straight in the eyes.

He had to do it. It would cost him everything he had, but now he realized she was the only thing that mattered. “I’ll put the condo on the market tomorrow, but I’ve heard Simon’s cousin wanted to buy it before I did so I’ll call Michael Malone tonight and see if I can work out a deal.”

He would sell the condo, the cars, anything he had to in order to make sure she was safe.

“I want it in writing that you’ll sign the stock over to her at the end. We’ll work out some way to pay you, but I can’t have you taking over Slaten. If this is some kind of ruse…” Will began.

Flynn shut that shit down. “I don’t want to take over Slaten. I want her to take over Glendale. I’ll sign whatever you want me to sign. Just keep it quiet until I can give her what she needs.”

Will took a deep breath and groaned. “Oh, thank god. Bridget told me I had to come over here and kick some ass or she would, and she’s on bed rest. You’re lucky she’s on bed rest. She wouldn’t have stopped to listen to explanations. You’re an asshole. That was a shit ton of drama. Someone get me a beer.”

Mitch proved he knew where the beer was.

And Flynn prayed it all would work. He was gambling everything but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Of course if they were going to take two board seats, he would need a partner in crime. He could use Mitch, but Amy might see that as a hostile takeover. There was only one man she really trusted. Perhaps if she saw him there, she would trust Flynn, too.

Flynn prepared for what might be the toughest call of his life. Luckily Will had Frankie’s number. It was time for the ex-husband and the man who prayed he would be the future husband to have a long talk about the woman they both loved.

Chapter Nine

Amy felt a little sick at the thought of what she had to do.

“It’s going to be all right,” a voice said over the speaker. Bridget. Her sister sounded calmer than usual. It was odd. Bridget was usually the emotional one. “You have to know that. You’re going to walk in and stare him down and let him know he can’t beat you.”

Their father. He was already in the building. He’d been shown to the boardroom and her security people would ensure he didn’t walk around causing trouble. They were the same security people who would very likely be out of a job in less than an hour.

“I think he already has,” she said hollowly. She wished her sister was here with her and not just talking through the speakerphone. “Someone’s buying up stock. I think Dad bought out our cousins.”

A groan came over the line. “Violet and Meryl? Jeez. That’s a lot of cash for them to get their claws on. Did they blow it all on cocaine and male hookers?”

She had to laugh despite the gravity of the situation. Bridget had an interesting view of their family life. “I believe Violet needs the cash because the IRS finally figured out she hasn’t filed taxes in twelve years, but I’m pretty sure Meryl wants it for her new nineteen-year-old boyfriend. And he probably will buy cocaine with it.”

“I knew there was some blow in there somewhere. And the plastic surgeons of Los Angeles probably had a party when they heard the news.” She could practically see Bridget fist pump. The line went quiet for a moment. “I really do think you’re going to be fine. You’re a fighter and you have people who love you very much.”

Yes, she had her sister and she had Frankie. “I haven’t told him, you know. He has no idea what’s going on.”

“I think Flynn knows,” Bridget replied.

Her whole body tensed. “I wasn’t talking about him. I was talking about Frankie.”

“Oh. Well, yeah. Uhm, I’m sure he doesn’t know.”

Her sister was a freaking horrible liar. Even over the phone. “Damn it, Bridget. Tell me you didn’t call him.”

“I didn’t.” She sounded confident again, that waver in her voice that always told Amy she was lying gone. “I haven’t talked to Frankie since the last time you both came over for dinner. I don’t talk to anyone anymore. I lay around and a small soccer player tries to score goals on my bladder. Bed rest sucks. Will won’t even let me type right now. I’ve watched so much HGTV I’m ready to write a ménage about those damn twins.”

Her sister was good at deflecting. “What’s going on, Bridget?”

There was a pause. “I think you need to give Flynn another chance.”

“What? You were the one who told me to cut his balls off with a rusty pair of scissors, toss them out on the lawn, and watch the birds eat them.” Her sister had a way with words.

Simply hearing Flynn’s name made her heart hurt. She missed him. The last two weeks had gone by in a blur of work and anxiety and way too much crying over that man. She’d done it with her sister. She’d spent more time in Will and Bridget’s guest room than she liked to admit. At first it was because she kind of thought Flynn would show up and try to explain himself again. Then it was because he hadn’t. He didn’t call or text or write her an e-mail. He was gone and that was that.

She thought she would be relieved.

Tears pricked at her eyes, but she wasn’t going to shed them. He was done with her. She was done with him. She would concentrate on Slaten…or finding a new job.

If she lost today, she would go back to California and start over. She would forget the man who’d made her feel safe, the one she could be herself with. She would leave it all behind and she would never let another man in again. Never.