Page 24 of Merging with the Billionaire

“Not all of them, but definitely the ones that happened to me while I was in college. If it had just been words, it would have been one thing, but you tried to get me kicked out of school when you and your friends tried to frame me for cheating.”

Roger eyes grew wide with shock. “That wasn’t me. I didn’t even know that happened.”

“Right, you had no idea,” Conrad mocked.

“Contrary to what you might think, I wasn’t aware of everything my friends were doing. They probably didn’t tell me because they knew I wouldn’t have approved. It’s one thing to tease a guy or make fun of him, but it’s a whole other to resort to ruining someone’s life.”

“You shouldn’t have been involved in any of it,” Tiffany defended. “You’re lucky you’re a different person now, Roger, because I wouldn’t want to be around you, let alone work with you, if you still behaved like that.”

“I’m telling you, I didn’t have anything to do with them framing you.” Giving Conrad a sympathetic look, he added, “I’m sorry that happened.”

Conrad nodded. “I guess that makes me a little gladder I came here to warn you.” Looking over at Tiffany, he added, “The real reason I came though, was that I wanted to make it right for you, Tiffany. I’ve grown to respect you over our time of working together, and it was the reason that I started dragging my feet with the takeover. I stopped responding to most of Daniel’s emails or calls, hoping to delay his plans until I could figure out a way to stop him.”

“Why should we trust anything you have to say?” Roger questioned. “You could be saying all of this to get us to trust you so you could take us down from the inside.”

“I could have done that weeks ago,” Conrad pointed out.

“It’s true,” Tiffany defended, though part of her knew she wanted it to be true because she still cared for Conrad. “He didn’t have to come here and warn us. If he wanted to, he could have destroyed us, or simply sat back and watched the company go under. Instead, he’s here offering to help us.”

“I want to make it right, for the both of you. I was wrong to get involved in Daniel Maddox’s schemes.”

“Don’t think this means I’ve forgiven you and I won’t be watching you,” Roger warned.

“I wouldn’t expect any less, but I’ll do whatever I can to minimize the damage.”

“What do you suggest, then?” Roger inquired with reservation in his voice.

“I have a plan,” Conrad said, pulling out another stack of papers. “We’re going to expose Daniel to the board, unveil Boswell Energy and the new solar division to the world, and make you the poster family for clean energy.”

9

Two weeks had passedand the crisis at Boswell Oil—now Boswell Energy—was averted. The plan that Conrad revealed to the siblings did its job, removing Daniel from the company and effectively excluding him from getting a position with any other company, salvaging the siblings’ and company’s reputation, and establishing Boswell Energy as the newest force in the industry.

As an added side benefit, Conrad had been working closely with Tiffany, allowing them to casually joke and flirt with each other. Though they hadn’t kissed, Conrad could see Tiffany was comfortable with him again. What was more unexpected was that Roger wasn’t hostile towards him anymore. He wouldn’t go as far as to say they were friends, but they were definitely not enemies any longer.

“I think by the end of the month, everything will be ready for the first shipment of the solar technology,” Tiffany beamed with pride from her chair behind her desk. “I can’t believe how quickly we got this back on track.”

“That’s because we’re a great team,” Conrad recognized, as he reached out and placed his hand on the top of hers from across the desk. “There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you.”

“What’s that?” Tiffany set down her pen and gave him her full attention.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner with me tonight.”

“Conrad, I don’t know if it’s a good idea…”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Conrad argued with a grin. “We’re great together when it comes to business. I think we can be even better together if we throw in some romance.”

“I just worry what people will think. I don’t want—”

“What if I promise to take you where no one will recognize us? We won’t have the pressure of performing for anyone. It can just be us.”

Tiffany looked as if she was debating her response. “If you can guarantee that no one at the company will know about it, I suppose one dinner couldn’t hurt anything.”

“Good, I’ll pick you up later today at three.”

“Why so early?”

“After all we’ve been through, we deserve as much time off as we want. I figure a couple of hours out of our workday isn’t too much to give up for a fun date.”

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