“Do you truly believe he’d do a better job than me? If so, then I’ll happily step down.”
“Dammit, boy, I don’t want to take this company from you. I just want you to straighten up your act. Do you want the world to know you for business or your exploits?”
He had a point. My recent relationship had caused headlines when the breakup hadn’t gone as I’d expected. The Hollywood starlet had done a tell-all interview about us and how I’d torn her heart to shreds.
She wanted a rich man to finance her projects and lifestyle. Once she got too clingy, I knew it was time to cut the cord. I probably shouldn’t have done it the week before the Oscars, but the last thing I wanted was to give her any more hope.
“If I promise to work on my personal life, will that keep the threats at bay for now?”
Pops looked out the window and then turned his attention to me. “It’s no threat. It’s a fact.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’m retiring in exactly three months, and if by then you haven’t redeemed our company’s reputation, then I won’t have any choice but to give the reins to Jacob.”
Retiring? Was I ready to walk into this building and not see Pops chatting with the staff or reaming me out about something or another?
Before I could respond, he added, “I’m bringing in someone to help you.”
This had me frowning. “As in a nanny to make sure I don’t step out of line?”
“No, as in a fixer.”
The second “fixer” left his lips, I had a vision of eyes the color of melted dark chocolate, gorgeous golden skin, and a face that took a man’s breath away when she smiled. The only thing tarnishing the beauty of Riya Guliani was the second she opened her mouth.
The hell I was going to let her control my life. She hated me and would use this as an opportunity to lord her superiority over me.
“Not happening.”
“You don’t have a choice. Riya is flying in tomorrow to help you with this mess.”
“I don’t need her here. I can fix my own life without her judgmental bullshit.”
“Watch your language when you talk about her.” The immediate anger in Pops’s tone reminded me how much he viewed her as a daughter.
He bragged about her every accomplishment, from her Harvard undergraduate and Stanford law degrees to winning the high-profile Hollywood studio case that had changed the way contracts were offered to actors. There were times I wondered if he loved her more than me.
God, I sounded like a whiny fucking baby.
“Doesn’t she have more important clients to handle? Like A-list celebrities or senators who were caught in compromising positions?”
I probably shouldn’t have added the latter part.
“Riya’s the perfect person to come in. You saw how she helped redeem that actress’s reputation after her relationship with the married producer became public. Now she’s up for some kind of award.”
Yes, I know because you share the news every chance you get.
“I won’t be one of her projects to add to her resume. She can spin someone else’s story.”
“That’s not a choice you have.” Pops’s voice grew hard. “You either fall in line and do what Riya tells you to do or get ready to clean out your office.”
He was actually serious. There was no way my mother would agree to this.
“Does Mom know you’re doing this?”
Pops stood. “She was the one who suggested it.”
I couldn’t help but stare at him in shock.
My own mother wanted Riya to fix me like some fucking media experiment.
“Make your decision, son.” Pops moved to the threshold of my office.
As he’d said, it wasn’t a choice. This company was my life. Yeah, I liked the benefits of the money, but it was the thrill of negotiations and deals that got my blood pumping. Losing Vaughn Transportation would destroy me.
“I’ll do it.”
A relieved smile broke out over his face. “I knew you would see reason. Riya is set to arrive tomorrow afternoon and will meet with you on Wednesday.”
Pops left, closing the door behind him.
I remained behind my desk for a few minutes processing what was happening to my life.
I fucking should have stayed home last night, and none of this mess would have happened. Who was I kidding? I knew it would eventually catch up to me. I’d spent the better part of this year not giving a damn what the world thought of me.
Now I’d have to deal with the fallout of the work-hard, party-harder mantra I lived by.
Clenching my fists, I turned toward the view of the bustling city below me.
Of all the people for Pops to call in, why did it have to be Riya Guliani?
She’d been a thorn in my side since we were teens. The always-perfect daughter of Pops’s best friend. She never stepped a foot out of line and turned her perfection into making sure the fuck-ups of the world got second chances.
Her clients had dubbed her “the fixer.”
Even before her scandal-handling, spin-doctoring career, she’d been a top corporate litigator, never having lost a case.
The fact I knew so much about her pissed me off even more.
I could lie to myself and say it was because we’d grown up together, but the fact was she was the one girl I couldn’t touch, couldn’t want, shouldn’t want. She was bossy, prickly, and a know-it-all.
The last time she’d visited, she’d stuck her nose in the air and all but told me if I didn’t stop my philandering ways, I’d end up hiring her to handle the scandal.
And now she was coming back to New York to fix my life. She would definitely rub this in my face. Albeit, I wasn’t the one who’d hired her.
A thought I should have been ashamed of occurred to me. Riya had said in a recent interview that she loved a challenge and that no one was a hopeless case. Well, she was about to get the challenge of her life.
I wasn’t an idiot. I had to walk the straight and narrow, but I had three months to do it. In the meantime, I was going to make Ms. I’m-better-than-you Guliani earn every penny of the fee she was collecting from my father.
Game. Set. Match.
Chapter Two
Riya
“What was I thinking when I agreed to this?” I muttered to myself as I paced my office overlooking the Central Business District of Los Angeles.
There was no way I could salvage a reputation this bad without consequences to me.
I sighed. That was a total lie. I’d resurrected the careers of countless politicians and celebrities.
The media liked to call me the “the fixer.”
My job was to make my clients so lovable that the public forgot they were actually anything but upstanding citizens.
Yeah, it wasn’t the most glamorous of jobs in Hollywood, but it paid well. So well that I had a suite of offices on the forty-second floor of one of the most coveted towers in LA. Plus, there was never a shortage of clients.
Then why had I taken the job in New York?
That’s right…because I was a sucker and couldn’t say no to the man who stepped into my father’s shoes after he passed away from a heart attack.
As if he knew I was thinking of him, my cell phone buzzed and Damir Vaughn’s name appeared.