Page 39 of The Heiress

But it sure seemed that way…

He turned away from the water and threw himself onto the lounger. “Are you having fun? You’ve been very quiet today.”

I gulped down some water. “I’m having fun. Just thinking a lot is all.”About your body and the way it makes me feel like I have electricity running under the surface of my skin.

“Don’t think so much you forget toenjoyit.”

I shook it off and joined Jace for some snorkeling. The water here was lighter and bluer than it was back home. Also deeper. Instead of gliding just above sand dollars and starfish, conchs and a dozen other kinds of shells, there was lots of water and the bottom far below. More dolphins swam past, a barracuda or two cut through the water a few dozen yards away, and the occasional nurse shark. By the time we returned to the yacht I was exhausted but also buzzing with excitement.

“I love being in the water.” I chugged another water and began rinsing off my gear, but one of the crew ran over and insisted I stop, shooing us over to the table of snacks they set out.

“It’s refreshing,” Jace agreed. “I feel invigorated which is weird because I also feel like I could take a nice long nap.” He selected a perfect pink shrimp and dipped it in the cocktail sauce. There was another bottle of champagne sitting on ice with flutes beside it.

“This is ridiculous,” I laughed. “Absurd. We’re on a privateyachteating and drinking our way through thousands of dollars’ worth of food and drinks. What is happening?”

Jace tilted an oyster into his mouth and swallowed. “Do you want the easy answer or the hard one?”

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged his wide shoulders. “This is just for fun, right? Perks of insane wealth.”

“Or?”

He popped the champagne and poured. “Or a payoff. Take the money and run back to your nice quiet life. No questions asked.”

This was the easy part, wasn’t it? A large sum of money with no strings attached. Just...enjoy your life. Don’t worry about bills or how much it might cost to go on that trip. Buy the car and the house and send the imaginary future children to the best schools and give them trust funds. Retire whenever with peace and security.

Live like this.

“You think Georgia wants me out of the Roark Corp picture?”

We sipped and ate while Jace didn’t quite make eye contact with me. “Do you want that? To work for her?”

“No.” That was an easy answer. I had zero desire to live the life she led. It was stressful and boring.

“Can I be your financial advisor for a minute? Give you some unsolicited off the record advice?”

I got the feeling he’d been waiting for the chance to say something based on the way he kept fidgeting. “Go ahead.”

“Right now you’re a variable on her chessboard. You have a vested interest in her companies, seats on her boards. Will you sell those off? Cash them out? Give your votes to her? Or will you pretend Victoria still doesn’t exist and let Georgia go on as she always has?”

Fuck, I didn’t know the answers to any of those questions. “What should I do?”

“Sam, we’re talking aboutbillionsof dollars. With a B.”

My mouth opened and closed a few times. I wanted to say something but my mind had gone completely blank. Technically I understood the size of Roark Corp and Georgia’s wealth, but in the abstract, black and white, ones and zeros kind of way. I hadn’t let myself conceive of it as real money.

“I get it,” he kept talking, “you’re not driven by money the way a lot of people are. The way Georgia is. You’re probably thinking if it’s that much trouble, why don’t I just disappear and pretend none of this ever happened? Am I right?”

“Well...yeah.” I didn’t see the problem with that.

“Roark is the second most profitable company in the country right now, but it also has the largest workforce. And in two years it will probably be the most profitable. Georgia alone made $50 billion dollars this year. Fifty. Billion. Sam...you can’t reasonably decide what to do with the information you have right now. If you make a choice out of gut instinct or fear, you’ll look back years from now and regret it.”

“No.” The word erupted out of me. “No, that’s not who I am. I don’t care about the money. I’m happy with who I am and I’ll be happy again, even knowing about all this.” I might be seeing Jace in a new way that was pleasant, but I didn’t like what he was saying one bit.

“Think of it another way,” he said quieter. Softer. “One of the most powerful entities on the planet, the one you said yourself is mistreating its factory workers, underpaying its female employees, discriminating, destroying fragile habitats...all those bad things you told me about? You could stop them.”

I think my heart stopped. I definitely blinked a few times as Jace went into and out of focus. Maybe my blood pressure had just gone through the roof. “I’m sorry. What?”

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