Page 119 of Sold to Her Enemy

“Taking your frustrations out on poor florists?” My father says.

“What frustrations?” I rub my face.

My cell phone chirps with an incoming call, but I ignore it.

“You might find this hard to believe, but your sister has been a source of aggravation for me over the years.”

“Ava has nothing to do with this.”

“No?” My father takes the seat in front of my desk and crosses his heel at his foot.

“No,” I say.

But it’s not true.

If Ava hadn’t given that sound bite to a reporter, and the media hadn’t tracked Mckenna down, I wouldn’t be yelling at florists.

When she didn’t come back out of Club Lust that night, I knew I blew it.

We’re in an impossible situation because I can’t guarantee that I can forgive what her parents did. But I love her. I’ve been absolutely miserable without her these past three months.

“You’re working too hard.”

“Only ninety hours last week.”

“Adrian, you gotta stop this.”

“Stop what? Working? That’s what you trained me to do.”

“And I shouldn’t have!” My father thumps the desk with his closed fist. I meet his eyes for the first time.

“Dad, I know I’m off my game. I’ll get over it.”

“I don’t think you’ll get over Mckenna. I don’t think you should.”

His words send my heart beating madly out of my chest. “What do you mean?”

“Adrian, when you took over, I was relieved. I thought you handled the situation perfectly. It gave me a reason to…hide in the sand.”

“No, it’s what I was supposed to do. It was my duty to protect your legacy.”

My father shakes his head. “I refused to deal with a mess, and I let you take it off my shoulders, and that was unfair.”

“It’s what needs to be done! You don’t trust me?” My head spins, wondering what my father is talking about and where he’s going with this.

“Adrian, you have proven yourself to be a capable and smart CEO. I trust you. The problem is, I shouldn’t have given up my responsibilities. Davis Moran is a friend. Without his scientific brain, we wouldn’t have a successful company. But when I heard he was selling our secrets to the mob, I shut down. I couldn’t process it.”

“Dad, that’s completely understandable! It’s hard when one of your oldest friends betrays you.”

Dad holds up his hand, as if he’s stopping traffic. “Your mother tried to get me to listen, to intervene before it got to that point, but it was easier to blame Davis and let you handle it than to realize that I needed to retire.”

“You wouldn’t have had to if Davis hadn’t sold you out.”

“Adrian, I’ve needed to retire for the last five years. I need to take better care of my health and take your mother on that cruise. I owe her that. One fuzzy video is not proof of Davis selling to the mob.”

“It’s more than that. It’s money missing.”

“Which our accountants haven’t found yet. Take a look at this.” My father passes me a flash drive.

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