Page 91 of Duke's Daring Bookworm
That surprised me, but I wasn’t going to complain. Icould kill two birds with one well-aimed stone.
“It’s like he’s begging me to destroy him.” I put Tink on speaker and looked up everything I had on the company, finding his info buried in the corporate structure. He was a small, beady eyed guy with a poorly concealed receding hairline. Lily must have been truly desperate, and he was definitely foolish for not immediately falling to her feet and worshiping the ground she walked on.
“I thought you might like that. There’s more. He was embezzling money from the company. I’ve got his accounts now. He wasn’t even very good at it, barely had anything.”
I kicked my feet up on my coffee table, littered now with tea cups and books. In a way, I had this guy to thank for my current blissful state. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have Lily, but he still needed to pay for the harm he caused, and I had no problem delivering his punishment.
“Send me the embezzlement information and then dox him. Let the world know who exactly was in charge when that ad ran and any other dirty little secrets he’s hiding. I’ll play my part in revealing the embezzlement. He’s well and truly fucked.”
It shouldn’t feel this good to destroy a man’s life—like justice and a primal satisfaction all rolled into one, but he made Lily cry and doubt her worth. No one fucked with Lily. No one.
I hung up with Tink, and soon enough, the messages started rolling in from concerned investors and board members. I slipped my CEO mask back on, letting it settle to deal with the fallout.
Epilogue
TWO YEARS LATER
The house buzzed with activity as I pulled up to it. Grandpa gave up his ghost almost two years ago. He’d been sicker than he let on, and passed not long after he officially handed the reins of the company over to me.
I missed him, but after he passed I had sold off most of his outlandish properties to reinvest the money into Pennington Industries, preventing layoffs and expanding our green tech division. It was a solution that made everyone happy. The board got to seem like the hero without giving anything up, and I didn’t have to maintain a lifestyle I didn’t actually enjoy.
In the intervening two years, I’ve completely overhauled the family mansion, one of the few properties we didn’t sell. Lily thought I’d made an off-hand comment that day we walked up these steps to the ball, but I hadn’t been able to get the idea out of my head. I put it in a trust as soon asI inherited it, ensuring that future generations could enjoy the beauty we created here.
The Lily Jameson Community Center opened on a quiet, sunny spring afternoon with a garden party and demonstrations of the variety of classes we would offer. So unlike the loud, ostentatious parties this property used to host. Lily shined that day. As much as she argued she wasn’t a hostess, she glowed at the more sedate party, clearly in her element, buzzing around, ensuring everything ran smoothly.
“Duke! Good, I need you for a class,” Charles said as he saw me walking the grounds. A gaggle of children sat in a wiggly, lopsided semi-circle as he kneeled at the front, elbows deep in mud.
“What on earth is this?” I asked, laughing as I approached the class.
“We’re learning about worms!” A small boy called out, jumping on his knees, eager to join the fun.
“Oh, man. Worms are the best. Too bad I have to find Ms. Lily.”
“No, don’t leave me here. Jess is supposed to be teaching this class, but then there was some soap emergency. What the hell is a soap emergency?” He looked panicked. “Dude, don’t leave me here.”
“Hell is a bad word,” a prim-looking girl said.
“Dammit,” Charles said, as half the kids mimicked him. “Iraq—I’m good. Kids—no, I don’t know what I’m doing!”
I passed Jessica on my way into the house. She hid just behind a potted plant with her hand over her mouth and her phone recording Charles covered in mud and overwhelmed with the kids. Those two were a menace to society, and I was glad to know them.
I took the back stairs to the top floor, one Lily claimedfor her offices after she left the museum. I’d offered to hire anyone she needed to run the place, and she accepted, but still insisted that if her name was on the building, she wanted to make sure it was done right.
Her door was ajar, and she sat at the ornate writing desk she salvaged from one of the many previously unused rooms. God, she looked gorgeous sitting there, a pen stuck in her messy hair, loose pants and one of my t-shirts draping over her frame.
“Lunch time,” I said as I let myself in. I held up the bag I’d been carrying, chicken nuggets and fries tucked alongside my burger. She jumped when I spoke, but a bright smile lit her face when she saw me.
“Already? I’ve been going over the summer class proposals for next year. There’s so many. I don’t know how I’m going to choose.” She pushed out of her chair and walked up to me, kissing me thoroughly before taking the bag of food, and curling up on the small couch I insisted she have, just for such occasions.
“Tell me about them.” I sat next to her and stole one of her fries, biting it right from her hand.
“Duke.” She laughed and smacked my arm. I’ll never get used to that laugh or how easily she came into my arms, all thoughts of food forgotten as I tasted her.
“Right,” she said, a little breathless when she finally pulled back. “What were we talking about?”
“Summer camp next year.” I pulled her close to me and fed her fries as she talked.
“One group wants to set up obstacle courses on the grounds. Dad will have a say about it, but how cool would that be?”
