“What kind?”
His nostrils flared. Perhaps he wasn’t used to having to inform his underlings of his preferences. This was going to be fun.
“Brewed coffee. Sugar and cream.” He went back to talking to Marcel. This time he was asking about something involving market reports.
For a split second, I bristled at the dismissive way he was treating me, but then I realized he was trying to break me down, upset me, make me feel like trash. I didn’t have to let him. Moreover, my only commitment to him was to be a PA for two weeks. No one said I had to be a good one. And I was bound and determined to get this man to stop being such a stoic asshole.
I put a fingertip to my chin. “You know they make a crème brûlée latte that’s to die for.”
A little wrinkle appeared between his eyes. “Just the coffee.”
I frowned. “Or what about the Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher? I hear that’s very… refreshing.”
His forehead lines deepened. “Just. The. Coffee.”
I looked at the Starbucks for a minute before turning back. “What about a snack? I can recommend the pumpkin bread. It’s super moist. Has like… pumpkin seeds on the top edge. They kind of taste like pistachios. Wait… maybe they are pistachios. Do you think—”
“We just had lunch. I’m not hungry. Get me the goddamned coffee.”
I put a hand to my chest. “You don’t have to yell. I’m trying to make sure your needs are met. Sir.”
“My needs will be met when you put a fucking coffee in my hand like I asked.”
I wriggled. “Oooh! Coffee. That sounds amazing. I’ll take a salted caramel mocha, please.”
He opened his mouth in surprise.
“With whip,” I added with a big smile. “Thanks, dollface.” I wanted so badly to boop his nose, but I refrained.
Grey kept laser eyes on me. “Marcel, let me call you back. And if you don’t hear back from me in five minutes, meet me at the Midtown North precinct with bail money,” he growled.
As soon as he ended the call, I blew him a kiss. “Just kidding, boss. One boring-ass old man coffee coming right up.” Then I turned on my heel and bolted out of his reach toward the shop.
Thanks to my little coffee fun, Grey decided to send me back to the office instead of taking me along to the meeting with Ian. His exact words were “Get the fuck out of my face and hope I calm the hell down before I get back to the office.”
I couldn’t decide if I was relieved or disappointed, but I dutifully did as he asked. On my way back to the office, my mother called to pressure me into a social event I’d already turned down a million times.
“I can’t leave town right now, Mom,” I said. “I’m being forced to stay on at York, and I’ll probably be working through the weekend.” Oh darn.
“But it’s their fiftieth anniversary, and I know how much Binnie would love to have you there. She’s been begging me, absolutely begging me, to convince you to come. I think there’s a young lady there she has her eye on for you.”
Even more reason not to go to the annual house party. My parents’ friends took great pleasure in trying to matchmake me. At least this year I had an excuse not to go.
She continued when I didn’t answer. “Unless, of course, there’s someone you’d like to bring as your plus-one? That would be delightful also.”
“Sorry. I wish I could, but I can’t,” I lied. “Dad’s counting on me to try and find a way out of this mess we’re in.”
She sighed. “Speaking of that… do you think there’s any way to get my jewelry out of the safe deposit box? I want to take my diamond and emerald set for the formal night event.”
I opened my mouth to ask why she didn’t just go get them herself when I realized the safe deposit box was most likely paid for and owned by York Capital.
“Can’t dad’s secretary get them for you?” I asked.
“They’ve taken her off the account and frozen access to the box.”
I was going to kill Grey Blackwood. Did he honestly think he was going to take my mother’s jewelry too?
Mom continued. “What’s going on over there? Your father won’t tell me anything, but someone from the club said the man who’s stealing the company was that same boy who… who caddied for us that summer.”
We didn’t talk much about “that summer.” We never had. As far as my parents were concerned, a lowly club employee—a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, no less—had taken advantage of me by luring me into a situation I was wholly unprepared for. Even when I’d finally sobered up and tried telling them the truth, they hadn’t listened. They’d assumed I was downplaying it to keep the truth of the matter from causing a scandal.
“His name is Grey, and he’s not stealing the company. His acquisition was completely legal. Uncle Mark sold him his shares.” Although that didn’t mean I wasn’t still hell-bent on finding us a way out of the transaction. “I’ll take care of it,” I promised.
As soon as I got back to the office, I called my father.
My father wasn’t trustworthy in business. I’d learned that early on, so I didn’t take any chances by mentioning Grey’s business to him. But I did want to spend my time alone finding out if there was any way to save York from being lost to us forever. I may not have had much respect for my father, but I loved my mother and sister, my aunts and cousins. York was our legacy. Even if Grey stripped it of most of the best investment assets, it would be worth trying to retain the name and history for my family.
“Where the hell have you been?” my father asked as soon as he answered the call. “I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”
“I was attending to my new daddy,” I said before dropping into a chair in the empty conference room.
“Don’t be flip. What have you learned?”
Unfortunately, I didn’t have good news. “I stayed up last night studying the relevant contracts, stock transactions, and legal issues, and it seems pretty airtight. Did you talk to Uncle Mark?”
He sighed. “He’s ducking my calls. I’m going to have to drive out there and confront him.”
Mark lived out in Danbury, and my father hated battling traffic to visit him. “Unless he was impaired somehow when he signed the paperwork, and I’d find that hard to believe considering the firm he used as witness and notary, then it’s legitimate.”
We already knew the other transaction had been fully aboveboard since my great-uncle Leon had left his shares to his third wife, who’d only married him in the first place for his money. It had been a relief to approve her share sale to a reputable investment firm. At the time, we hadn’t known that firm was in the process of being taken over by Grey Blackwood. He’d used their name and reputation to hide the transaction.
Devious and underhanded but completely legal.
After ending the call with my father, the phone buzzed.
Grey: I need you to pick up my new suit from Brooks Brothers on 6th. Jenny had something come up.
Me: New phone, who dis?
Grey: Do you get beat up a lot?
Me: Sometimes. But I like it.
Grey: Just pick up the damned suit.