Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
It wouldn’t surprise me. He’d worked at the company for years. Inherited it from his father and all that. The way Chase was inheriting it from him. I didn’t know what he thought he would accomplish by showing up here.
“Dad, you need to leave,” Chase said.
“No one can make me leave my own property,” he snarled.
“In fact, Arnold,” Joseph began, “we already made you leave. Don’t make us call security to escort you out.”
Arnold shook his head. “After all these years, Joseph, you’re going to turn against me.”
“There are no sides here,” Joseph said. “There is only right and wrong. What you did was wrong, and the company that you claim to love doesn’t stand for it.”
“Think about the women you hurt, Dad,” Ashleigh said, finding her voice. “Think about how they felt when you hurt them and discarded them. Can’t you think of anyone but yourself?”
“All of you just believe these women,” he snarled. “Without any proof. My own flesh and blood crafting stories to get me out of the way.”
Ashleigh flinched at the words hurled at her. I wanted to defend her, defend all the women, but arguing with Arnold was futile. He had no power here. He was exerting himself like he always did. The best thing to do in this situation was nothing. It was useless to deal with him when he was just manic.
“Enough,” Chase said. “You’re through, Dad. You need to leave.”
“You aren’t the CEO here.”
“Maybe not. But neither are you. And the board has already decided to dismiss you based on the sheer volume of allegations.”
“Bullshit.” He pointed his finger at me. “You’re just listening to your Wright. They’re trying to ruin us, and you’re letting them.”
“You will not speak to Harley that way,” he snapped.
“You’re an idiot if you don’t see that she’s trying to tear down everything we’ve built.”
“You’ve already gone down this road, and I threatened to quit before letting you speak to her like that,” he told his father with barely concealed fury in his voice. “I won’t tolerate it anymore.”
“You can fix this, Chase,” his dad said as if he realized his behavior wasn’t getting him anywhere. He stepped forward, pleading with Chase from a new angle. “You can make them see reason. Come on. I’ve always been in your corner. You can be CEO, and I can work where I’ve been this whole time. You aren’t ready to run everything on your own.”
Chase’s face was like stone. “Is that what you believe?”
“You’re brilliant at it. I raised you. I trained you. I know you can do the job, but you still need me. I’ve worked here too long.” His father put on a spectacular show. Owen would have even been proud of the duplicity. “I know I said some things in anger at dinner, but I never wanted you out of the company.”
“And Harley?”
He swallowed, but couldn’t quite suppress his disgust. “I still stand that you can do better.”
“Okay, Dad,” Chase said softly. “Okay, you can have another chance.”
Ashleigh and Joseph looked at him with disbelievingly. A word of protest was already on his sister’s lips. Arnold looked triumphant.
But they hadn’t been looking at Chase when he said it. They didn’t see the way his lips twisted in displeasure. The way his eyes had hardened into gemstones and his resolve set. Arnold should have known it would never be this easy.
So, I wasn’t surprised when Chase continued in a brisk, cutting manner with a dark smile on his lips, “If you apologize to my wife.”
The room went deathly silent.
Arnold’s face slackened in shock. Ashleigh’s eyes darted to my hand, where the black diamond shone in brilliant clarity. Joseph coughed into his hand, as if he’d been about to laugh and covered it at the last minute.
“Wife,” Arnold said flatly.
“That’s right,” Chase said.
“You’re not married.”
“We are,” I said.
I held up my left hand, letting him get a better look at the diamond on my finger. The wedding band beside it. The one he’d slid onto my finger only last night. I’d thought we’d spend the next day lounging around our penthouse honeymoon suite, eating top-quality food, drinking champagne, and enjoying the benefits of the empty ski resort. Instead, we were here.
“Oh my God!” Ashleigh gushed. She rushed forward, throwing her arms around her brother. “Congratulations! When did this happen? Tell me everything!”
Chase laughed and pulled back from his sister. “We eloped yesterday in New Mexico. We went to Holliday Ski.”
“You stayed at my chalet?” Arnold demanded.
“No,” Chase drawled. “We stayed at the resort with Blake.”
“You married a Wright?”
“Yes,” Chase said.
“I’m a Sinclair now,” I said with my chin tipped up. The words I’d uttered to Chase in the car coming back in full force.
Chase smiled. “And I’m a Wright.”
“No,” Arnold said. He shook his head, as if he couldn’t face those words.