Page 17 of Breaking All The Rules

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence,” I joked before switching gears and getting back to business. I knew that Brent was as busy as I was, and his time wasn’t something that I wasn’t willing to waste.

“Speaking of your conversation, did you have any questions regarding the items she prepared for you?” I asked as I reached over and grabbed my copy. When I looked up, I found Brent giving me an odd look.

“No. Eva was very thorough when she went over the options and explained that the white knight would produce the most favorable outcome at this point. Given that other investors are looking at a hostile takeover, it would make sense to approach them with a gentler option. However, after I attended the wake, there are some new developments that we need to take into consideration before I make a decision.”

A sudden sense of clarity struck me as I remembered her telling me this morning that Brent wanted to discuss something that happened with Karly.

“Eva mentioned that you wanted to speak to me about Karly,” I said, taking note of the change in his posture as I mentioned her name. “I’m guessing she wants to merge Watson Investments with Wallace Financial Holdings?”

He stayed silent, and a subtle nod was the only confirmation that I was on the right path.

“From a business standpoint, it would make sense to merge them. But from a personal...”

“It would be a fucking disaster,” he finished for me.

It was my turn to nod.

From the research I did on Tuesday, I knew that Karly was going to be the decision-maker for Watson since she held themajority of the shares. There was no way to avoid having to deal with Karly. I knew that when I reached out to the two board members with the next highest number of shares and planted the idea of the white knight defense in their heads. I needed them to start discussing it amongst the team and to form a solid wall that Karly couldn’t get around.

“What exactly does Karly want from the deal?”

“She wants us to merge the companies and run them together. As a team,” he gritted out. “I’ve already explained to her that it’s not an option that I’m interested in, but you know Karly, she won’t stop until she gets her way. She scheduled a meeting for us to discuss Watson tomorrow.”

I leaned back against my chair and waited. Something else was weighing on Brent’s mind, and I knew it was more than just Karly wanting to merge the companies. He was a brilliant, powerful man who made strategic, logical business decisions, but something was holding him back.

“So, what’s the real problem?” I asked, pushing him to break free from his trance and look at me.

“There’s a child involved.”

“A child?” I pulled my head back in confusion, my brows furrowed. There hadn’t been any discussion of a child before now. “Whose child?”

“Mine.” His eyes locked onto mine, and I felt the weight of his problems shift to my shoulders. Fuck.

Ten

Eva

Somehow, I made it through the weekend without dying, which sounded overly dramatic, but I had never been that sick before in my life. I had no idea how Kate was feeling and if she had recovered, nor did I know if anyone else had come down with it. I prayed that it was limited to our section of the floor and that since we were so secluded, no one else had caught whatever this was.

Sunday mornings were always my favorite because I would meet up with my two sisters for brunch after a quick morning run. I felt disappointed that I had to miss it this morning—brunch—not the run. My body still felt like a semi-truck had hit it, and I had no intention of moving from the couch now that I had finally gotten comfortable.

The apartment was filled with the smell of burnt toast as I curled up under a blanket and watched a rerun on TV. I had no idea what the show was, but it was in black and white. My hand was too heavy to try to work the remote to change the channel, so I let it be and laughed at the shenanigans that the crazy woman on the screen kept getting into.

I nibbled on the edge of the piece of toast that was the least burnt and hoped I would be able to keep it down. Ethan had taken the liberty of ordering me groceries when I called in again, knowing I wasn’t going to be able to go out and get anything until I got better.

I was frustrated that I had already missed three days of work in my first week there, but it wasn’t like there was anything I could do about it. Even if my stubborn ass tried to go into the office, I wouldn’t have been any help given how delirious I had been with the fever the past couple of days. Thankfully, today, I was officially fever-free and hopefully on the mend.

My cell phone vibrated across the table, giving me an excuse to set down the burnt toast to grab it.

“Hey, Gabi,” I said, pushing myself up on the couch. “Sorry I missed brunch. I’ve been super si—"

“Don’t worry about brunch,” she said dismissively. “We have bigger problems.”

“What’s wrong? Is Mom okay? Did something happen to Dad? Did he have another heart attack?” I threw the blanket off of me, ready to rush out of the house to get to my family, when a wave of dizziness washed over me.

“It’s Lucy.”

“What happened?”

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