ROMANCING HER PROTECTOR (16 page)

Then other times he was as evasive as a slick politician. “Just do your best, all right? I’ve got

enough to worry about at work. I don’t need to be worrying about you, too.”

DeAndre looked at his mother as she stopped at the red light. “You still gonna sell

Destiny, though?”

“Part of it, yeah,” Shay said as a stormy look clouded her eyes. “I’ve got to get a

partner or go into receivership. Into bankruptcy. I have no choice at this point.”

“But you’ll maintain controlling interest, right?”

Shay smiled. DeAndre was, deep down, a very intelligent kid. But his street thug

wannabe fascination kept all of that well hidden. “Hell yeah, I’ll maintain control. It’s my

magazine. I just need some help. I meet with all interested parties this morning. That’s why I

can’t be late ,” she said as she pulled off and began driving again. That meeting, like

everything else in her life lately, was something she’d just as soon not think about right now.

She pulled in front of DeAndre’s high school, dropped him off, and then pulled away.

She looked through her rearview as DeAndre turned to head into the school. Only she wasn’t

looking just to see him off, she was looking for the signs. Because whenever he planned to

skip school, he always slowed his walk, constantly looked to make sure his mother’s SUV was

leaving, and he’d occasionally look over his left shoulder in the direction of the school’s

entrance gate. Unfortunately for Shay, who didn’t have that kind of time this morning, all of

the signs were there.

Although she was already late for her meeting, and was pushing it, she drove around the

corner, as if she was leaving, but then quickly doubled-back. When she arrived once again

through the school’s entrance gate, she saw that son of hers standing at the curb getting into

the low-riding old bubba Chevy that belonged to his idol, Burma.

Shay slung her SUV in park, got out, and ran up to the Chevy, slinging open the door

just as DeAndre was closing it.

“Get out,” she ordered her son.

DeAndre, terrified and embarrassed, leaned his head back. Burma and his boys, all big

and beefy, laughed.

“Didn’t you hear me, boy?” Shay said to DeAndre.

“You heard her, Dre,” Burma said, attempting to suppress his laughter. “You don’t

wanna disobey mama.”

They laughed again.

“Very funny,” DeAndre said angrily, but he got out of the car.

“Check you later, Bro,” Burma said as he and his boys sped off.

Shay looked at her son. His ability to disappoint her sometimes scared her. “Let’s go,”

she said as she personally escorted him into the high school. Then she went to the Dean’s

office, put them on notice that DeAndre Cooper was up to his old tricks again and that she was

to be notified, not at the end of the day, but immediately, if he missed any one of his classes.

All school officials knew Shay well, because she stayed completely involved, and therefore

none hesitated in their agreement to monitor her son for the entire school day.

Now Shay was seriously late, and had to floor it to get across town before all of the

parties interested in investing in Destiny, gave up, too.

***

across the country with a readership, in its heyday, that once topped half a million. But

staggering economic times had caused that readership to be cut nearly in half, and now Destiny

was hanging on by a slender thread, in the red and still bleeding. A partner was necessary, or

Shay’s beloved publication would most definitely meet its end.

Fantasia “Tasia’ Mondale, her assistant with clipboard in hand, and Fantasia’s assistant,

Linda, were waiting for her as soon as she entered the doors of the small, two story building.

“You’re so beyond fashionably late,” Tasia said and Shay couldn’t agree more.

“I know. Talk to me.”

Tasia handed her a file as they headed up the side stairs. “Nine interested parties

showed up.”

“Nine? Wow,” Shay said, impressed.

“However,” Tasia added, “one has cleared the field.”

Shay looked at her assistant, who had been with her since the beginning of Destiny a

decade ago. “What do you mean one cleared the field?”

“As soon as everybody else saw that this guy was interested,” Linda chimed in, “the

rest just threw up their hands and left.”

This made no sense to Shay. “Who would carry that kind of authority that nobody

would even stick around to make their pitch? The terms I set forth for partnership in Destiny,

I least I think, were very good.”

“I know,” Tasia said. “But I understand why they left, too.”

“Who is it, Tazz?” Shay was dying to know.

“DSI,” Tasia said proudly and Shay, stunned witless, stopped walking, causing Linda to

bump into her.

“Did you say DSI?”

“Yes!” Tasia was smiling now. “Driscoll Systems, Inc. Can you believe it, girl? Why

they would be interested in our small company is a mystery to me. But a wonderful mystery.

I mean, the capital they can put into this place. We could expand beyond the east coast, go

completely national, go global. The possibilities, Shay, are endless!”

But Shay wasn’t listening anymore. All she heard was the name. DSI. Driscoll

Systems, Inc. As in Matty Driscoll. As in the man who broke her heart. As in the father of

her son, the father that she had told her son was dead, now alive, and in her conference room.

She was in trouble.

ELEVEN

Matty Driscoll stood at the window inside the upstairs conference room and stared down at

the busy city streets. Two of his assistants, Paul Rice and Gwen Belcher, were seated at the

small conference table awaiting the magazine’s owner. They were also on their cell phones

handling other business while they waited. For Matty, it was enough to wait.

When one of his managers first approached him with the Destiny Magazine case, he

was ready to pass without comment. It wasn’t the kind of company he invested in. It was too

small, not a big enough profit margin in the best case scenario, not expansive enough to

increase its market attractiveness when or if they decided to sell.

But when the name of the company’s owner was mentioned, Matty nearly lost his

balance.
Shay Cooper
, he almost found himself saying, as if he didn’t hear right the first time.

But he didn’t go there. He maintained his cool and, to the shock of the manager, agreed to

look into it himself.

The door to the conference room opened, and Shay, Tasia, and Linda stepped inside.

Shay was determined to keep it together, walking in as professionally detached as she could

manage. But when she saw Matty, even with his back to her, looking out of that window, her

knees almost buckled. How in the world, she wondered, was she going to handle this?

Matty didn’t turn around immediately on hearing the opening of the door. He, instead,

waited, and exhaled, before turning around. His assistants had stood and they were all shaking

hands, when Matty turned around. He was thrown, not just by seeing Shay again after all of

these years, but by how exhausted she looked. She still had that pretty, innocent face and that

body he had come to know so well, but her sparkle was gone, that hope mixed with

puzzlement he used to see in those big, brown eyes of hers was nowhere to be seen. Now she

looked drained, overworked, burdened.

“And Miss Cooper,” Paul said, as Matty began coming toward the table, “this is Mr.

Driscoll, our boss.”

Shay turned slowly in his direction, plastered on the biggest smile she could manage,

and extended her hand. “Mr. Driscoll, hi,” she said.

Matty took her hand and shook it, but he was in no mood for make-believe. The pain,

of having to leave her, of the life he was forced to lead after her, of seeing her business in

tatters and herself from the looks of her, was still too much. “You’re late,” he said matter-of-

factly.

Although Matty had unintentionally squeezed her hand too tightly, Shay pulled it away

with little resistance from him. “I know,” she said, surprised by how easily he could keep it

together. Did he even remember her? It had, after all, been sixteen years. “I do hope you

weren’t waiting too long. Please have a seat.”

To her displeasure, Matty sat at the head of the table, as if he, not she, was running

this. And it was that move alone that woke her back up. He was the one who had broken her

heart, he was the one who had left her for another woman, why in the world should she be the

one to be all nervous? She got real, and sat in the chair flanking the head of the table, with her

assistants seated beside her. Paul and Gwen sat across from her.

“This is the deal,” Paul said, all of the papers, undoubtedly her entire business history,

in front of him. “We think Destiny shows some promise. Not a lot of promise, mind, but

enough to get our attention. And we may just be willing to put an offer on the table.”

“The offer is already on the table,” Shay said boldly. “I retain sixty-five percent

controlling interest.”

Paul smiled. “Miss Cooper, the key to success here is reasonableness. Your bargaining

position is hardly what we would call, in any circumstance, favorable.”

“Despite what you perceive to be my weak bargaining position, the offer still stands. I

retain sixty-five percent, you will get thirty-five percent.”

“Not going to happen,” Matty spoke up and everybody looked at him. “This company

of yours has been bleeding money for five straight years.”

Shay’s heart began to pound. She was amazed at how cold he seemed, this man who

used to make love to her so tenderly, who used to hold her so tightly. “I know that,” she said,

trying to keep it together too. “I don’t need you or anybody else to remind me of what my

company has been doing. I’ve been here while it’s been doing it.”

Paul started to respond, Matty usually sat back and allowed him to be his mouthpiece,

but not this time. “You’ve been here, yes,” Matty said, “but what have you been doing to

staunch the bleed? According to our reports, you haven’t fired anyone, you haven’t

downsized your overhead, you haven’t even changed your magazine’s philosophy to

strengthen readership again.”

His last comment made Shay jump defensive. The magazine’s philosophy was her

philosophy and questioning that, it seemed to her, was a direct attack on her. “I have no

intentions of changing Destiny’s philosophy,” she said, her face a mask of irritation. “I mean,

what’s up with that? It’s our no-holds-barred, unapologetically liberal bent that keeps our

readers coming back, why would we change our philosophy? I mean, who does that?”

“Magazines in trouble,” Matty said. “That’s who. And whether you want to admit it

or not, Miss Cooper, Destiny Magazine is in trouble. Serious trouble.”

“Again you tell me what I already know.”

Matty liked her spunk. All of these years and her undoubted struggles hadn’t taken that

away from her. But she still pricked at his heart. “All right,” he said, “let me tell you what

you don’t know. Nobody, not one reputable company, would be willing to take on this mess

of an organization based on the terms you offer. And I mean not one company.”

“Then make me a counter offer, and if I don’t find your terms as offensive as you find

mine, then perhaps we can deal. Otherwise, nice seeing you, have a wonderful life, goodbye.”

Shay’s heart was hammering when she said those words, but she was determined not to

let him rile her.

Matty’s heart dropped, on hearing those words, especially if she meant them. Would

she do that? Would she see him again and then go on with her life? He knew he couldn’t.

But he also knew that he was the one who hurt her, not the other way around.

He stood to his feet. When in doubt, was always his motto, stretch it out. “I’m afraid I

have to run,” he said. His rising caused everybody else in the room, except Shay, to also

stand. “We’ll need to meet over dinner to discuss this further. I’ll pick you up at, say, eight?”

Shays stood this time. The idea of having dinner with Matty wasn’t something she

would be comfortable with. “I’m not sure If I’m available tonight. This is very short notice.”

“Understood. But our window of opportunity is short. I have other business here in

Philadelphia that’ll keep me around for a few days, but I would like to reach some agreement if

possible. Can you move some things around and meet with me tonight?”

She felt as if she was caught between a rock and a hard place, but Destiny was in