Page 16 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two
“I know,” Melissa says, pulling her phone from her back pocket. “That’s why I’ve got you set up to meet him at tomorrow’s gala,” she says distractedly.
I smile.
“Excellent, Melissa.” Her eyes snap up at that, a genuine smile crossing her face.
Damn. When was the last time I gave her any recognition for her hard work? I’ve got to do better.
I take a centering breath as we move from the fourth to the fifth floor.
“What are the other two action items?” I add, facing her and giving her my attention.
“Uh,” she says, a confused look crossing her face before she collects herself.
“Zane and the legal department are down at the Keystone offices as we speak, which…leads to the third thing.” The way she grimaces lets me know I’m not gonna like what she tells me next.
“What is it?” I grind out.
“There’s…another bid on Keystone, one brought in by Kenyon Braxton. It’s one of his college buddies.”
I blink at her, and it takes until the elevator doors slide open for me to digest what the hell she’s just said to me.
“The CEO brought in another deal? Provide more details, please,” I say, walking out of the elevator when the doors start to close.
The glass doors separating Wednesday Designs from the elevator landing are within reach, but I stop Melissa before she can open them.
She blows out a breath.
“They haven’t reached out to us to tell us this, but I…have it on good authority that this is happening. I looked into it myself,” she says, spinning the iPad around for me to see. I grab it and scroll through the reports marked CONFIDENTIAL at the top.
I shake my head, hoping to shake off the confusion.
“Wait. How did you get these?” I ask, but Melissa quickly shrugs it off.
“Don’t worry about that,” she rushes. “What’s important is there was an unofficial bid put in two days ago. That’s why the meetings and the other reports we’ve requested have been delayed.”
Sweat blooms on my spine, and I force myself to keep standing, rather than collapsing into a puddle, like I want to.
“They have half a billion ofmymoney in their bank accounts. They think they can fuck around now?” I seethe, feeling overheated and slightly dizzy.
Get it together, Shae.
Melissa’s phone beeps, and she looks at that screen again.
“Fuck,” she grumbles, and I know she must be particularly upset, because she rarely curses, much less drops an F-bomb.
“What happened?” I ask, pressing the skin between my eyebrows.
“Zane,” she says with a sigh.
Pulling off my blazer, I say, “Let me guess. He couldn’t make any headway?”
Because, of course not.
“No,” Melissa grinds out. “The CEO refused to see them.” Melissa holds her hand out for her iPad, and I pass it over.
Balancing the tablet and her phone, she says, “I’ll figure this out, Ms.Rivers. I promise I’ll find a solution.”
And as she squares her shoulders, I know she will go to the ends of the Earth to find a way to the other side of this.
