Page 36 of The Tempo of Truth
I knew exactly why Oliver was suddenly trying to beat my door down.Honestly, I expected him to be waiting at the front door when we opened.
I didn’t stand up when the irate man stormed into my office.I kept the pen in my hand, spinning it between my fingers to show I was completely unbothered by his posturing.
“I’m busy.What brings you here without an appointment, Oliver?”My voice was icy even to my ears.There was no way the man standing across from me could miss the frost.
“Are you behind the sudden rush for a safety and security inspection on every Byrd hotel and resort?All our establishments are in chaos at the moment.We have to cancel reservations left and right to bring our older properties up to code.We’re losing millions of dollars every day.This is sabotage, Winnie.And it’s not in anyone’s best interest.”
I smiled slightly, but there was no warmth in the gesture, and I was sure he could see the deeply rooted disgust in my judgmental gaze.“Once the merger goes through, the reputation of your hotels will directly reflect on the Halliday name.I don’t see anything wrong with making sure that the product we’re about to acquire is worth the amount of money we’re sinking into it.Your organization should have done a thorough upgrade of all your properties before approaching us to do business.”
I watched Oliver grind his teeth together as he scowled at me.“Alistair never initiated a top-to-bottom assessment when he initiated the merger.If he wanted us to upgrade our properties, that should have been on the table during negotiations.Some of those buildings are from the turn of the century.Bringing them up to modern code is going to cost a fortune.”
I tapped my chin with the end of the pen and told him, “My uncle initiated the merger, but I’m the one who is going to close the deal.I have full discretion when it comes to signing off on the final terms agreement.If your side doesn’t want to follow through with the suggested renovations, I have no problem tabling the cooperation and going in a different direction.”
Oliver stepped forward and slapped his palms onto my desk.Frustration poured off him in waves, and I could see the barely contained anger in his eyes.I knew sending safety inspectors to his properties was going to rile up their side of the deal.His board of directors was already up in arms that mine would effectively absorb their company.Of course, they wouldn’t abide losing a shit ton of money before getting paid for the transfer.At this point, they were hardly gaining anything in the merger because the investigation and refurbishment were going to bleed them dry.
Oliver swore and glared at me even harder.“This is a big mistake, Winnie.If you tank this deal for personal reasons, no one in the industry will ever take you seriously.If you let this merger fall apart, the failure will haunt you for your entire career.”
I sighed while looking at the time on my phone.“Funny that it’smypersonal reasons that’ll be looked down upon and not yours.”I dropped the pen in my hand and leaned forward until I was standing behind the desk, bending over slightly with my hands on the top.“If you keep going after Ky, me purposely setting you back a few months and forcing your company to open the vault are going to be the least of your worries.If you don’t leave my family alone, I will destroy yours.”
Oliver’s frown deepened.“What are you talking about?I’ve never interacted with your son’s father.”He couldn’t even bring himself to use Ky’s name, which I found very irritating.
“Don’t play dumb, Oliver.Even if you didn’t set Ky up in the park, you didn’t stop whoever it was within your ranks.If the plan to tie Ky up in a murder charge had worked, I would’ve dragged all of you to hell right alongside him.”I sniffed slightly and didn’t bother to hide my disgust.“I’m insulted that no one from your side was worried about my retaliation.I know you wouldn’t make these sorts of moves if you were still dealing with my uncle.I’m sick and tired of being underestimated.”I picked up my phone and gestured to the door.“That’s all the time I have for you today.I have another engagement.Let me know once your operations are back to being functional, and we can finalize the takeover.”
Oliver stared at me for a tense moment.He seemed stuck in one spot and didn’t move until I came around the desk.I was focused on messaging Alistair to tell him I was on my way to the underground garage.
“Let go of me!”I snapped as Oliver grabbed my arm and pulled me to face him.He loomed over me, his eyes furious and his chest heaving in aggravation.I tried to shake myself free, but he just tightened his hold.
“Do you think I’m a fool, Winnie?”His fingers dug into my skin, and his entitlement nearly choked me.“I know you only agreed to see me outside of our business cooperation to divert attention away from that worthless soccer player.No one gets to use me like that.Do you have any idea how lucky you are that I paid attention to you and didn’t mind courting you?Aside from your name, what do you have to offer?You’re a single mother.We both know you never turn down dessert, or stepped into a gym.Your family history reads like a horror novel, and that’s not even mentioning the mental illness that’s been passed down.The only thing you bring to the table is an inheritance.You have no right to think you’re some sort of prize.”
Since he wouldn’t release me, I kicked him in the shin with the toe of my heel and wrenched my arm free.I backed into my desk and reached for the intercom and called for Jeremiah and Helio.Once Oliver heard me mention my head of security’s name, he seemed to snap out of the aggressive haze he’d gotten caught up in.He watched me rub the bruise forming on my arm and had enough wherewithal to appear regretful.
“Winnie…” He stepped toward me, but I bolted to put my heavy desk between us.He dragged a hand down his face and apologized.“I’m sorry.None of my actions just now were appropriate.I just have so much riding on the deal going through.It’s making me crazy.If someone from my family was directly involved in trying to set your son’s father up, I promise to handle it appropriately.My hands are tied if it was a board member I have no sway with.Surely you understand that?”
The office door was practically thrown open, and my assistant and Helio rushed in.Hearing the last of Oliver’s words, my head of security scoffed.“Don’t worry about digging the mastermind out.My team is already working on it.The kid who died in the park has a family, and they deserve justice.They’re itching to go public with all the details, and Byrd Enterprises won’t escape the public scrutiny unscathed.Your total disregard for human life is disgusting, and it’s going to be a PR nightmare for your company once the news breaks.”
Oliver looked at Helio with narrowed eyes.Seeing that he clearly overstayed his welcome, he headed to the door.“I won’t be looked down upon by someone who can’t even afford one of my ties.”
He stormed out of the office in a huff, leaving Helio shaking his head.He made a tsk sound and muttered, “That tie is ugly as hell.I wouldn’t spend a dime on it even if I could afford it.”
Jeremiah snickered and stepped forward to touch the angry mark on my arm.“Are you okay?I can’t believe he grabbed you hard enough to leave a mark.”
I snorted.“I can.”It was all because I was a woman.No one would ever dare touch Win or Alistair in such a way.“But I won’t let him get close enough to grab me again.”
Helio grunted.“Do you want me to give him a not-so-friendly warning to back off?”
I shook my head.“Stay focused on bringing down whoever set up that scene in the park.Dragging them in front of the press will have a bigger impact and let their side know we won’t stand for intimidation or dirty tactics.”
Jeremiah handed me my blazer and quietly reminded me, “You’re supposed to be meeting your uncle.If you don’t want Mr.DeVere or Mr.Halliday involved in this matter, you probably need to keep covered up until the mark fades.”
I slipped the blazer on and made sure the sleeves were situated over the spot where I knew a nasty bruise was bound to appear.“Good call.If I can’t handle the Byrds on my own, I might as well step down from my position now.”I glanced at Helio and told him, “I won’t meet with Oliver alone again.Make sure to have someone from your team available whenever he’s on the schedule.”
Helio nodded, and Jeremiah mentioned, “I won’t let anyone who shows up for an off-the-books meeting be alone with you again.I could tell he was off with how insistent he was, so I let him see you.What happened was my fault for not being attentive enough.”
“Stop it.The only one in the wrong here is Oliver.No one is taking the blame just to make others more comfortable on my watch.”
Seeing that I was now the one who was late, I rushed to the parking garage and forced myself to focus on the task at hand so Alistair wouldn’t get suspicious and ask questions I didn’t want to answer.I must’ve done a good job pretending everything was fine because the site visit went off without a hitch, and I even managed to make my way through a vibrant and noisy happy hour with my uncle and his wife without giving away how rattled I was after Oliver’s visit.My Aunt Bellamy was my role model in a totally different way than my Aunt Channing was.She was what an ideal leader should be.She fought her way to the top, battling sexism and ridiculous expectations.She was so valued that my Uncle Win wasted no effort in recruiting her back to America from the other side of the world where my grandmother had banished her because she was too intimidated by the younger woman’s talent and presence.If my uncle hadn’t been at the table, I would’ve asked her how she dealt with constantly being devalued and underestimated.She must’ve been able to tell I had something on my mind because she made it a point to set a date for just the two of us to get together.
When I left the bar, I decided to stop by the gym since it was only a couple of blocks away.The location was bound to get gentrified in the coming years.I could tell by how close it was to the trendy bar and the location of the planned high-rise I’d just toured.If Lev could hold on, he might be looking at a huge payout when the developers moved in.
