Chapter five

Kai

I was surprised to see Fletcher at my parents' dining table, but I kept my face blank.

I knew exactly what this was. My father had invited him to unnerve me. He wanted me to sit across from the man I had bought a company from and squirm, and, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing it work.

The funny part was that my father couldn't stand Fletcher. He just happened to be very good at pretending he did, and Fletcher, bless him, never noticed. He shook the man's hand and smiled at him like they were the oldest of friends.

"I have missed hanging out with you, my old friend." Fletcher grinned. 

My father gave him one of his fake smiles. "Me too." 

So while the two of them talked, I pretended not to hear. I stared at my plate and cut my food into smaller and smaller pieces. My father didn't even glance my way. That was fine. I didn't need him to.

Fletcher told my father everything. How he had sold his company, how ready he was for retirement, how it was the best decision he had ever made. He said he trusted me, and it wasn't like he had a child to inherit the company anyway. My father nodded along like it was the most fascinating thing he had ever heard.

Then Fletcher moved on to the board.

"Some of them didn't like my decision at all," he said with a laugh. "And my lawyer wasn't on board either, but I have no doubt Kai will win her over. She's a brilliant woman, you see, her name is..."

"Fletcher." I cut in before the name could leave his mouth. "Didn't you say you wanted to tell my father about your plans for retirement?"

He blinked at me, then lit up and started on a whole new story. I let out a breath I had been holding.

That was close. My heart was still pounding, and I hated that Fletcher could still do that to me.

No one in my family supported my decision to buy Equinox. If they found out I would be working closely with Nicole, they would be put off, and then there would be questions I had no intention of answering.

The only two people who knew about the fake pregnancy were me and my sister, but my father already didn't think much of our housekeepers, or the former ones. It would not go well if he knew one of them was now running around as my lawyer.

I glanced at Evelyn. She was looking right at me. She knew exactly what I was thinking. She always did. I looked away first.

Fletcher ended up leaving before lunch was even over. He said his goodbyes, patted my shoulder, and walked out like he hadn't just almost blown up my entire day.

The door had barely closed behind him when my father's smile disappeared.

"Is this the kind of person you want to do business with?" he asked. "Is this who you have chosen over your own family?"

"Father..."

"A man who signs away his entire company over a vacation. And you thought that was a good idea." He shook his head. "Do you even know what you've bought? Debts and lawsuits, Kai."

"I know exactly what I bought."

"I am disappointed in you."

There it was. I had been waiting for it since the moment I walked in, and I still felt it land in my chest like it was the first time.

He stood up and left the dining room angrily, his footsteps echoing down the hall. My mother got up right after him.

"Let me go and calm him down," she said. She didn't even look at me. Then she was gone as well.

Of course. She always went to calm him down.

Evelyn pushed her chair back and stood. She didn't look angry, just tired.

"Don't make him angrier, Kai," she said. "Just listen to him for once."

She left too.

That left me and Jen. She slid her hand over mine, and I almost flinched before I remembered she wasn't the one I needed to be on guard against.

"You know how your family is," she said softly.

"I know." And I did. I had known my whole life.

She stayed there a few seconds longer, then glanced at her phone and stood. "I have a nail appointment. I'll see you later. I'm sorry," she added, and I think she meant it.

She left. I sat there alone at that long table, in a house I hated, with a meal I had barely touched.

Then I got up and left too.

.

.

.

I went straight to my penthouse. No portraits, no staff, nothing that belonged to my father. The second I got in, I took off my clothes and stepped into the shower, hoping the hot water would wash today off me.

It didn't.

Because the second I closed my eyes, all I could see was Nicole. Standing up in the middle of that conference room with her hands shaking and her eyes blazing, looking at me like I was the worst person she had ever met.

Like I was the one who had done something to her.

I braced my hand on the tiles and let the water run down my back.

What the hell did she have to be angry about? I was the one who should be angry. I was the one she had deceived. She had looked me in the eye, told me she was pregnant, and then taken a hundred thousand dollars from my sister to keep her mouth shut. She was nineteen. She knew exactly what she was doing. And she had the nerve to look at me like that.

I turned off the water harder than I needed to.

I was done. I wasn't going to waste another minute thinking about her. It was my company now, and I didn't have to put up with a lawyer who walked out of meetings and glared at me like I owed her something.

So I would just change the legal team. I would bring in my own people, lawyers I trusted, and fire her. She could take her files and her attitude and get the hell out of Equinox.

I just didn't want to be anywhere near her. That was all.

It should have felt like a relief. It didn't.

I got out of the shower and got dressed. I picked up my laptop, dropped onto the couch, and opened my emails, already planning exactly how I was going to write the termination.

Then I saw it.

An email from Nicole Smith.