He forced a casual smile. “That’s because I don’t need anything. When I do, you’ll be the first I call.” In another life, if things had been different, maybe he and Gemma would have been the perfect couple they portrayed.
“Lex, I notice, you know. The nightmares. The fact that you talk, sometimes shout in your sleep. I notice.”
Fuck. What dark and slithering secret had his brain released when he’d been too out of it to control himself?
“What do I say in my sleep?” He cocked his head and tried for a look that was humored and indifferent. “Am I calling out Giselle Bunchen’s name? Because that’s entirely possible.”
Gemma flattened her lips. “You never really say anything I can understand, but that’s not the point. I love you, so I worry.” She slid her gaze away. “Maybe you can talk to Xander.”
He gritted his teeth. He was not going to call his brother. That was the last person he could talk to about any of this shit. He worked hard to school his expression. “I appreciate the concern. Honestly, I do. But you have nothing to worry about. Now get some sleep.”
Instead of heading for the kitchen, he headed back for the bedroom—he didn’t want her watching him too closely. She thought she wanted to know his secrets, but the darkness inside him would change how she looked at him forever. She wouldn’t love a killer.
In the morning, Lex was still foggy from lack of sleep, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have work to do.
“Are you two sure you want to sell this company? With venture capital funding, you can expand the lifestyle brand of Take Back the Night.” Annabel Smith, their solicitor, asked Nick and Lex carefully.
They glanced at each other briefly before they both nodded.
Lex spoke first. “Nick and I have given this a good deal of thought. We want to eventually become the venture capitalists for small scrappy companies like this and prepare them either for sale, like we’re doing, or to go public. A lot of people out there have great ideas but don’t know how to follow through. We’ve figured out how. We might do another small company again and sell that to make sure our feet are well and properly sodden, but we’re selling.”
Nick added, “We want to strike while the iron’s hot. Before someone else comes and tries to copy it with something subpar. First to market is key.”
She nodded. “And Toshino, Inc. is banking on that with their purchase. But their team has asked again if you won’t both stay on to run it and lend your names to increase the value.”
“That’s a nonstarter,” Lex said.
Nick agreed. “Look, Annabelle, we’ve both worked hard to distance ourselves from our pasts. My name might tarnish the brand. While this is meant to be an app for the want-to-be jetsetter, Take Back the Night is still aiming for the elite kind of clientele. That’s the whole point. If you start attaching the name Wexler to it, you’ll get every low level sleaze ball from here to Dubai who wants to party with the big boys. Our business clients bank on the exclusivity and the class. They won’t be thrilled with riff raff joining up. And unfortunately, the Wexler name comes with riff raff.”
She sighed and swished her red hair over her shoulder. “Any way to change your mind, Lex? The Chase name screams luxury. Hell, even royalty. We’ve already taken the steps to protect you from your father’s corporate raiding.”
Lex might have different reasons than Nick for keeping his anonymity, but he was still not lending his name. “Sorry, Annabelle, no can do. Even if we do manage to keep the sale quiet until it’s final, when my father does find out, he’s going to make attempts to block it. To try to claim it for CET. I want to be as separate from him as humanly possible.”
She shook her head, no doubt lamenting the loss of additional commission if she’d garnered them a bigger deal. “Very well. Toshino, Inc. is presenting this as their offer.” She slid the paperwork in their direction. “It’s understandably smaller because of the removed brand recognition. But it should make the two of you happy.”
The offer was in the ballpark of what Lex had expected. And it meant he could tell his father to shove it. “That’s fair.”
“That’s a lot of fucking zeros,” Nick mumbled.
“Well, you fronted the initial capital so you should know the valuation,” Lex said.
Nick’s eyes bugged. “Yeah, mate, but it’s one thing to know theoretically what it’s worth. It’s another, entirely, to see that number put down in front of you.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “To be honest, Lex, I thought you were full of bollocks.”
Lex laughed. “So you sunk your money into something you thought was bullshit?”
“More like I sunk it because you told me to. I have faith in you, but I couldn’t see what you could see. But fuck, mate. I see it now.”
Lex wasn’t sure if he should laugh or sucker punch him. “Well, thank you for the glowing endorsement.” He turned his attention to Annabel. “Are they still insisting I sit as CEO?”
She nodded. “Yes, you’ll see it in line 4 section A. You’re to sit as CEO for a term no shorter than six months following the sale of the company. At the end of that term, they will pay you a generous severance.” Her smile grew broader. “Between now and then, as long as you two don’t receive any undue negative press, you’ll be golden.”
Lex barely heard what she said the rest of the meeting. All he knew was his freedom was so close he could taste it.
50
It’s not exactly like I ran away from home.
Abbie burrowed deeper under the covers. Packing up all her things and leaving DC behind for London was the right move. Wasn't it?
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand once again, and she dragged the duvet cover over her head. Maybe if she blocked out the sound, along with the rare English sunlight, her nightmare would all go away and she could return to her happy dream state.
The phone buzzed again, insistent that she look at it.
No.
It could be her mother, one of her sisters, or maybe her father. Worse, it could be Evan. Her stomach rolled at the memory of the last time she’d seen him. The way he’d looked at her. What she’d done.
Her brain involuntarily returned to that night. After she’d made her phone calls, she cleaned up and packed while she waited for the locksmith. She fired a quick letter of acceptance off to London, and she planned. She had one goal: be out of the damn house before Evan came back. She’d never packed so quickly in her entire life. She’d left instructions with her sister about what to do about her apartment and car, and she’d been on a plane to London. Thousands of miles from Evan and her old life.
Her phone buzzed again.
“Damn it.” She snaked a hand out from under her duvet, and chilly air greeted her flesh. She fumbled around for the side table, eventually banging her wrist on the corner. Ouch. If that wasn't an omen, she didn’t know what was.
When her fingers closed around the phone, she dragged it in with her. “Okay, world, what the hell do you want from me?” She mumbled.
Three text messages. Fantastic.
The first was from her mother.