Page 57 of Bitter Heat

“No!” Colette surged to her feet. “He thinks I can’t handle it, but I can! I just need more time.”

Jasmine followed her sister who paced with her hands over her mouth as if she was going to be sick.

“Colette, calm down. This can’t be good for the baby.”

“Lyle would tell us to bow out, and I can’t do that.” Colette put her hands on her shoulders. “I know I have no right to ask, but he won’t speak to either of us. We’ve called his office, tried to make appointments… Today, I sat in the waiting room. I said I would take any time he had, but he refused to see me.”

“She came home two hours ago,” Ariana said, voice uncharacteristically tight.

The thought of Colette, pregnant and desperate, sitting in the waiting room all day heated her blood. That fucker. What game was he playing?

“I don’t know what else to do, Minnie. Could you talk to him?” Colette asked.

Jasmine opened her mouth, closed it, and then said, “I have no sway over him. I don’t even know if he’ll talk to me.” And she had blocked his number.

“You were married to him,” Ariana said as she put an arm around Colette and led her back to the couch. “You saw him in Colorado. That counts for something.”

Not to him.

“Did he say anything about this the last time you saw him?” Colette asked as she rubbed shaking her hands over her stomach.

“No.” He hadn’t said a damn thing. All of this had been set in motion while they were at the cabin, she was sure of it. Even as he was fucking her, he was planning to go after her family. Her stomach rocked with shame and fury. She thought she was the one using him when it was the other way around. Again. He managed to get another pound of flesh from her, and she allowed it. Her throat itched with the need to roar in frustration. He was always one step ahead of her, always pulling the strings…

“I don’t know what he plans for Hennessy & Co. I don’t know how he convinced the other partners to sell. I don’t know what’s going on. We can’t lose control of our own company,” Colette said anxiously, scooting forward until she was on the edge of her seat. “Dad entrusted me with it. He believed I could handle it, and I…”

She smacked her chest as her face crumpled into one of abject helplessness. Roth had shattered Colette’s confidence and was in the process of breaking her spirit.

“I can do this,” Colette said fiercely. “I know I was an idiot. My pride got in the way. This company is everything to me. It’s my life, our children’s birthright. I can’t—I can’t lose this.”

She stroked Colette’s hair back as her throat closed up. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? This is my fault.”

No, the blame lay on her shoulders. The only reason Roth was targeting Hennessy & Co was because of her. Maximus destroyed Roth’s businesses in the hopes of showing her that Roth was using her for her name. But Roth hadn’t given in and had gone overseas to rebuild his wealth to come back and ruin them.

The way her sisters were staring at her made her heart gallop in her chest. They were looking at her for help. They thought she could fix this, that she could somehow alter his course but… Roth might desire her, but nothing came before business. She had learned that lesson five years ago. If he cared for her, he wouldn’t go after her family, he wouldn’t have gotten a vasectomy, and he wouldn’t have left her behind. He had done all of those things and more. But there was one thing he hadn’t factored in.

“I can buy the shares back,” she decided.

It took her less than thirty seconds to make up her mind. She might not be involved with Hennessy & Co, but it was her family’s legacy. Knowing how much her family had poured into it, knowing that it was recognized and respected worldwide, she would sacrifice just as much as her sisters to protect and maintain it, even giving up the millions she had inherited a month ago.

Colette jerked. “That’s not why we asked you here, Minnie. Just talk to him. We want to negotiate with him.”

If he wanted to negotiate with her sisters, he would have done so. He wanted them at his feet.

“Just get him to meet with us, Minnie,” Ariana urged.

She rubbed her throbbing temples. “I can try.”

Colette dropped her face in her hands. “This is all my fault.”

“It’s not.” The pressure Colette was under to yield amazing results would drive anyone insane. The fact she was a woman in a male-dominated field and also the daughter of a legend didn’t help matters. She had no doubt Colette would recover… if Roth didn’t destroy her first.

Jasmine looked around the empty penthouse. “Where is everybody?”

“Rami and Lyle are traveling. I have a nanny with the kids,” Ariana said.

“Does Lyle know about your money troubles?” she asked as delicately as possible.

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