The Billionaire’s Tenacious Boss (The Maxfield Brothers Series Book 1) (5 page)

“A piece of the company,” she said through gritted teeth.

He clicked his tongue on his teeth and fiddled with a pen. “You know, Ms. Lopez. I could use a woman like you around here. If the whole company was for sale, I’m sure my board members would be only too happy to support my offer. The Maxfield family would be well off for generations to come, and you’d have a prestigious position in my company. Would you see that in the future?”

Angie stood. He wasn’t the first person to inquire about buying the whole company, but he was certainly the first to try to bribe her. “Duncan Enterprises is not for sale. As I have clearly stated before, we are looking at selling weight that is dragging the organization down. Either you accept the proposition before you, or I will consider your offer void, and move on to another purchaser.”

She grabbed her purse and sent him a cold look. “This is the last chance I give you, Marks. Yes, there is always a small chance that our board votes not to sell. And if that is the case, I will personally deliver an apology for wasting your time. But that is all you will lose, Marks. Time. Stop jerking me around. I won’t be back.”

She kept her shoulders back and her head held high as she walked out.

Once outside the building, she took a deep breath. It always upset her to talk to people like Marks. He had everything growing up, and while he would constantly talk about working hard to get where he was, it had been given to him on a silver platter. And he didn’t even have the decency to be grateful for it.

Stephen was probably no different.

She rolled her eyes when the thought popped into her head. Now was not the time to think about Stephen. Pulling out her phone, she dialed Duncan’s number.

“How did it go?” he growled.

“Are you at the office, Mr. Maxfield,” she asked quietly.

“My whereabouts are none of your business,” he said. “Tell me how the meeting went with Marks.”

“Nothing has changed. He wants to buy the whole company, and now he’s trying to bribe me for it. I think he’s going to hold out until he gets what he wants. We need to drop him and look at other buyers.”

“No. Marks is offering the most money, and I’m not about to give up on him just yet.”

For a moment, Angie felt her heart speed up. Even though she owed Duncan everything, she wasn’t entirely sure how far he was willing to go. “Mr. Maxfield, you’re not considering selling the whole company, are you?”

“It’s my company,” Duncan growled. “And I won’t be intimidated into doing anything that I don’t want to do. Get back to the office before the boys get suspicious. All three of them are there.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Nathan is at the office?”

“Keep an eye on him,” he muttered. “The boy wants the damn company to go green. I’ve got to go.”

She heard the sound of a child in the background before he hung up. What the hell was he doing with a child?

But more importantly, what was Nathan doing in the office?

* * *

“
I
still don’t have
an office,” Stephen grumbled as he perched on Gabe’s desk.

“You’ve been gone for ten years. Why would you have an office?” Gabe said, glaring at his brother. It was perfectly clear to Stephen that he was getting on his brother’s nerves.

“I’m not saying that I need a corner office, but I keep getting kicked out of the conference rooms. Why do you have so many private meetings around here?”

Gabe yanked a folder of papers out from under Stephen’s butt and smoothed out the creases. “They aren’t secret meetings, Stephen. Simply because they don’t want you to sit in on them, doesn’t mean that they’re secret.”

A knock at the door had them both looking up. The door opened and Nathan stuck his head in. “Sorry, um, I don’t seem to have an office,” he said hesitantly.

“It’s okay. Neither do I. Come in. Share Gabe’s office with me,” he said as he patted the space next to him.

“For God’s sakes, do I have to do everything around here?” Gabe grumbled. He reached over and pulled up the phone. “Sarah, can you please find out who is on vacation this week. I’m in need of two temporary office spaces.”

He hung up the phone and glared at them. “You’ll have offices after lunch. Please do not bother me anymore.”

Stephen nodded his head, and Nathan came in and closed the door behind him. “Gabe,” Stephen said quietly. “Before I got kicked out of the conference rooms, I was looking over old reports. You know that the company only started to go into this decline several years ago. So what happened?”

Gabe’s eyes didn’t even move from the computer screen. “I am aware of that.”

He was aware of it? “Okay. Care to answer the last question?”

“Not really,’ Gabe said. Somewhere behind him, the printer started.

Typical Gabe. Always hiding something. “Did you do something? Are you doing something now?” Stephen pushed. “Gabe, I know Duncan can be difficult to work with, but if you’re trying to destroy this company, why would you call us?”

Gabe pushed his chair back and smoothed his tie down. “I think you answered your own question. Excuse me. I have a meeting to attend.”

“The real estate department is special to you,” Stephen said as his brother was about to walk out. “If you cut off Construction and Design you’ll be closer to the CEO position. Would you do that?”

Gabe turned and smiled coldly. “Do you really think I called you here so I could watch you fail? You think I’m that much like Duncan?”

Stephen took a deep breath and watched his brother disappear. Hefting himself off the desk, he immediately went behind it and grabbed the paper out of the printer.

Don’t be an idiot.

Growling, he crumpled it up and threw it in the trashcan. “What are you doing here?” he snapped at Nathan.

“You called me,” Nathan pointed out. “You wanted me here. So I’m here. And now that I’m here, you don’t want me. I don’t think you know what you want, Stephen.”

Stephen went to the trash and retrieved the paper. Smoothing it out, he put it on the desk and stared at it. “Gabe’s not trying to destroy the company. And why would Angie try to destroy the company?”

“Angie? Who is Angie?”

Stephen snorted and looked at his brother. “You really are behind. Come on. Let’s go find another meeting to interrupt while we wait for Gabe to find us some offices.”

“Wait, aren’t you going to tell me who Angie is? That doesn’t seem fair.”

“Didn’t you read the company newsletter?” Stephen teased.

“Newsletter? Wait. There’s a newsletter?”

F
or the rest
of the day, he kept trying to track Angie down, but she seemed to be in and out of the office constantly. Finally, he gave up and went home. As he pulled into the driveway, he saw a familiar car parked next to Duncan’s.

“What the hell…”

He took a moment to try and decipher the situation, but finally he got out of the car. No one greeted him at the front door, but a familiar voice filtered through from the kitchen to the foyer.

“I find it a little strange that Stephen would want us to meet him here, Mr. Maxfield.”

Stephen paused outside the door and cocked his head. Yes, it was strange, and completely untrue.

“He was telling me a few days ago that he didn’t get to see much of his son. With the three-day weekend coming up, I think he wanted an opportunity for Ben to meet his uncles. They’re all here under one roof,” Duncan coughed.

There was a pause. “Well, I’ll admit that it will be nice to take a vacation. But you didn’t have to drive all the way to Ben’s school.”

He did
what
? Stephen saw red as he stepped into the kitchen. “No, he certainly didn’t,” he said coldly.

Stephen’s ex-wife Suzanne and Duncan turned. Suzanne had a warm smile on her face, but Duncan only gave him a smirk. “Stephen! You didn’t tell me that you were back working at Duncan Enterprises!’

“I’m not. I’m the temporary help. Where’s Ben?”

His ex-wife stared at him intently. She must have heard the tension in his voice. “He’s setting up his video games in his room. What’s going on here, Stephen?”

He turned to his father. “That’s an excellent question. What
i
s going on here, Duncan?”

Duncan shrugged. “You said that you wished you could see your son more. It’s a holiday weekend, and Suzanne didn’t have any plans. Don’t you want to see your son?”

“Of course I want to see my son. But you had no business calling Suzanne. You are not part of their lives,” Stephen growled.

“Stephen,” Suzanne hissed.

“Stay out of it,” Stephen snapped at her. Although their split was amicable, part of the reason they didn’t work out was because she never understood why Stephen worked so hard to keep Duncan away from them. He never wanted Ben to grow up knowing that his grandfather was so cold and manipulative. And up until this point, Duncan had never showed an interest in meeting his only grandson.

“Maybe I want things to change between us,” Duncan said easily.

“Just yesterday you were telling me to get out. And now you want my family here? What are you playing at, old man?”

His father only gave him a small smile. “Suzanne, it’s nice to see you again. I’m going to make some phone calls. Stephen will help you get settled in your room. If there is anything you need, let me know.” Shuffling across the polished oak floor, he stopped in front of Stephen. “Do me a favor? Let Lydia know that we have extra company this weekend. And we’ll have one more guest for dinner.”

“One more?” Stephen reached out sharply and grabbed his father’s arm as he tried to walk past. “Who?”

“Angie. I have a meeting with her shortly, and I invited her to stay for dinner. Is that a problem?”

Stephen set his jaw and let his father go. So this was his plan. Clearly Duncan had suspected there was something between his precious Angie and Stephen, and he’d figured he’d invite Stephen’s ex-wife and son along as ‘baggage’ and place a firm wedge between them. Seething, he watched as his father left the kitchen, chuckling to himself.

Suzanne put her hands on her hips and faced him. “What the hell was that?”

“You should know by now how Duncan is. Why, after all this time, did you come running the second he snapped his fingers? He has an agenda, and now you’re a part of it,” Stephen growled as he turned to go up the stairs. At least he could finally see his son.

Reaching out to grab his arm, she pulled him back. “Stephen, I didn’t do this because Duncan asked me to. I did it because Ben misses you. And he could use a little fatherly guidance in his life.”

Stephen stilled. “Why? What happened?”

“Why does something have to happen? He’s your son. There are things that he sometimes doesn’t want to tell his mother. He needs his dad. Although I can’t possibly see why.”

Stephen knew why, but telling Suzanne that she had a tendency to take everything too seriously would only start a fight. “I know Duncan didn’t invite you out of the goodness of his heart, but I’m really glad to see Ben. And you.”

Flashing her a smile, he turned and took the stairs two at a time. He found his son in one of the guest rooms on the second floor. “Hey kiddo!”

“Hey, Dad.” Ben didn’t even look up as he sat on the carpet at the end of the bed and played a racing game on television.

Stephen stared at him. “Can you pause the game long enough to give your old man a hug?”

He could have sworn he saw his kid roll his eyes before hitting the pause button and stretching out his arms. Stephen reached down and embraced him. It had been months since he saw Ben, and he reveled in nuzzling his son’s hair. Of all the things he had done in life, Ben was by far the best. He still remembered the day the little tike was born.

“How is school?”

Ben reached over and picked the remote back up. “Good,” he said with a shrug.

“Just good? Do you like your teacher? Have you made any friends? Have you been sent to the principal’s office yet?” Stephen tried to use a teasing voice to keep things light, but last year Ben decided to bring a snake to show and tell. The teacher was not amused.

“Yup.” Ben suddenly scowled at the television

“Yes, you were sent to the principal’s office?” Stephen demanded. Was Ben getting in trouble in school? Is that why Suzanne had said that Ben needed guidance?

“What? No. It’s all good.” The video game suddenly turned red, and Ben threw down the remote. “Dammit.”

“Ben,” Stephen’s eyes widened. “You don’t use words like that.”

His son didn’t even spare him a glance. “Sorry.” He leaned over and picked up the remote. Soon, his eyes were glued to the television screen again.

“Okay. Dinner will be ready soon. Do you want to shoot some hoops with me before then?”

“Not really.”

Stephen frowned and straightened up. “Okay. I’ll come get you when food’s ready.”

Ben didn’t say anything. Stephen felt a flood of disappointment as he walked out the door. The last time he’d seen his son, Ben had been overjoyed to spend time with him. Now it was as the boy had grown into some hormonal stranger.

But he wasn’t old enough for that.

Stephen was making his way back to the kitchen to speak to Suzanne when he heard Angie’s voice in Duncan’s office. Curious, he paused and took a moment to listen, but her tones were hushed. He only heard a few sentences here and there.

“I gave him an ultimatum. If they don’t give us a decision soon, we’ll have to pull out. Failing to seem hard will only hurt us in the long run.”

There were some more mumbled words before his father finally raised his voice. “I don’t care who it is. I want it done.”

Suddenly, the front door slammed shut.

“Still listening at closed doors?”

Stephen turned to see Nathan in the hallway, an eyebrow raised in surprise. “If I remember correctly, you were the only one who always listening at closed doors,” Stephen reminded his brother, and he moved away to head back to the kitchen.

“I don’t think you’re remembering correctly,” Nathan said dryly as he followed him.

“Right. So that wasn’t you when I brought Judy Mays home that night?”

“I was fourteen. And she was hot.”

Stephen cocked his head and smiled. “Yes. She certainly was.”

“I assume that Gabe is still at work?” Stephen poured himself a glass of water and downed it in one.

Nathan shrugged. “I didn’t see him much for the rest of the day, and he was nowhere to be found when I left. I figured that he’d beat me home, but I guess I was wrong.”

Stephen turned around and watched him carefully. “What did you think of your first day?”

As he expected, Nathan chose his words carefully. “It’s hard to tell. No one was exactly friendly toward me, but then, I haven’t been around in a while. There is a mountain of files to go through before I can pinpoint the issues with the designing aspect of the company. All I can say right now is that the numbers show that it’s not doing well. No one in the department is offering more than paperwork. No one wants to provide an opinion.”

It was obvious that Nathan knew more than he was letting on, but he didn’t want to go into too many details. Stephen opened his mouth to push, but the doors to the study opened and Duncan and Angie walked out and into the kitchen.

“Boys,” Duncan grunted. “Is dinner ready?”

“It looks like Lydia is setting the table now,” Nathan said quietly.

Angie stretched out her hand and walked forward. “Hi. I’m Angie Lopez. I worked for the company when you were here before, but I doubt you’ll remember me.”

Nathan smiled politely and shook her hand. “Nathan Maxfield. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“I’m sure,” she said dryly. She turned to Stephen and nodded her head politely. Just then, Suzanne came downstairs.

“Stephen, I was wondering if…” she stopped dead when she saw Nathan. “Nathan! It’s been way too long since I’ve seen you!”

Stephen shot a wary eye at Angie. She looked at his ex-wife with a casual eye, and for a moment, his mouth went dry. His ex-wife and his current lust in the same room together? This couldn’t be good.

And Duncan knew that it couldn’t be good. As Nathan hugged Suzanne, Stephen cleared his throat. “Angie, this is Suzanne Maxfield, my ex-wife. Suzanne, this is Angie Lopez. She’s the Senior VP at Douglas Enterprises.”

He watched as Angie’s eyes widened and he quietly cursed his father. Suzanne simply smiled and shook her hand. “It’s nice to hear that there’s a woman in charge over there. This family can be a bit of a mess.”

At that moment, Gabe walked in the front door. Suzanne went to greet him, and Stephen slid past the group to the bottom of the staircase. “Ben?”

“What?”

Stephen frowned. He didn’t raise his son to be so rude. “Dinner time. Wash your hands and come down.”

“Right after this game,” his son argued.

Stephen shot an incredulous look at Suzanne, and she smiled apologetically. “Ben, your uncles are here. Come down and meet them.”

“Okay!”

Really? His kid would come down for Nathan and Gabe but not for him? Just what was going on here? Water splashed in the sink upstairs and a few seconds later, Ben bounded down the stairs. He completely bypassed Stephen and went straight to Nathan and Gabe.

Pretending that it didn’t bother him, he ruffled his son’s hair as they all took their seats at the dining table. Grumbling under her breath, Lydia served them dinner.

“How’s school, Ben?” Gabe asked.

Ben wrinkled his nose. “My teacher’s mean, but I’m in class with Joey. He’s my best friend. And Jeremy, the mean kid, left last year, so that’s cool. I get to learn Spanish and some sign language this year!”

“Why didn’t you tell me all of this when I asked?” Stephen asked with narrow eyes.

His kid shrugged. “I was busy.”

He shot a questioning look at Suzanne, and she mouthed that she’d talk to him later about it. It hurt Stephen to know that his son didn’t want to talk to him, but he’d find a way to fix whatever the problem was.

* * *

A
ngie tried
to focus on anything other than Suzanne. The woman was absolute perfection. From her gorgeous looks to her charity work to the way she charmed her family, it was easy to see that Stephen’s ex-wife was flawless. There seemed to be few issues between Stephen and Suzanne, so what in the world got between them? And if they hadn’t been able to make it work, what made her think that she stood a chance of making it work with him.

In a panic, she chastised herself. She didn’t need to be thinking about her and Stephen. She already had way too much on her plate as it is. And hadn’t she already written him off?

Duncan’s eyes practically bore holes into her all night. It was clear that he had orchestrated this whole situation, and that could only mean one thing.

He knew that something had happened between her and Stephen.

Torn between embarrassment and outrage, she avoided his look. On one hand, it was her life: she could see and kiss whomever she damn well pleased, and Duncan Maxfield didn’t have any say in it. On the other hand, it was embarrassing that he knew that she’d fallen so quickly under his son’s spell. She was supposed to be a professional, and she was practically sending goo-goo eyes Stephen’s way. It was as if she was in middle school again.

“You were out of the office quite a bit today,” Stephen broke through her thoughts. She struggled to relax as he and Duncan both watched her. “Working from home?”

“I had some meetings,” she said casually. There was no reason to divulge what those meetings were about.

Stephen, however, didn’t let it go. “Meetings for what?”

“We’ve had an offer from a company in Colorado to buy their property. Today I went to discuss preliminaries, and I arranged for some surveyors to go out and inspect the property. Do you need to know where I ate and when I stopped for coffee as well?” she asked sweetly. Technically, she hadn’t lied, and her misdirection worked. Stephen settled back in his chair while Suzanne glared at him.