Kissing the Boss

I stared at Hayden, unable to react. Unable to process. While it felt as if a swarm of bees began stinging every inch of my flesh and my stomach plummeted into my knees, my gaze couldn’t seem to leave my oldest stepbrother. He looked so sure, so tormented by his claim. The man truly, honestly believed what he was saying.

But could I?

Next to me, Brick gushed out all the responses I couldn’t seem to summon. Letting out a harsh laugh, he flopped back noisily in his seat and ran both hands through his hair. “Jesus, I know we joke about that shit all the time, but fuck, bro. This isn’t funny.”

“No, it’s not,” Hayden agreed, tearing his gaze from me to focus on Brick. “Not at all. But it’s true. I found proof. Irrefutable evidence.”

“How?” Ezra was the one to ask.

I looked his way, but again, he was too busy dissecting Hayden with a hard stare to notice me.

“It started a few weeks ago,” Hayden began. “From something Bruno said.”

Shaking his head, Ezra squinted. “Explain.”

Hayden bowed his face once, obliging. “Bruno came into my office to collect the trash, chattering away about all sorts of things as usual, until out of the blue he said, ‘I thought that old lawyer of Arthur’s had passed away.’”

I shook my head, confused, wondering why Uncle Finley was being mentioned. “He did,” I answered. “He died not long after my dad’s funeral.”

Hayden lifted a finger. “See. That’s what I thought too. But Bruno seemed sure he’d heard Lana talking on the phone in her office with him because she referred to the person on the other end of the line as Fin Tin.”

I gasped. Fin Tin was the nickname my father had always affectionately called his lawyer, who, just like Bruno, had basically been like an uncle to me.

Fin Tin was not a common name.

“I never believed Arthur’s last will and testament,” Hayden went on, shaking his head, as he glanced my way. “You were his pride and joy. Compared to what he had, there was just no way he left you so little.”

Brick began to nod. “True,” he agreed. “That was weird.”

“But then we received news of Finley’s death, and I wasn’t sure how to probe the issue until Bruno brought it up. So I did a little digging, this time into Finley himself, until I finally found him.”

My eyes bugged. “Alive?”

“Living in Mexico,” Hayden confirmed. “A millionaire.”

I wasn’t sure how to digest that. My gaze fell across the table without meaning to, and it latched onto Ezra, where he sat with his hands pressed together and set against his mouth. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, his expression was completely unreadable, so I turned back to Hayden.

“Oh my God. What…? How…?”

Hayden’s stare went solemn. “I started to wonder if Lana had paid him off to alter Arthur’s will. I searched her office, in the hopes of finding his original will, or some kind of clue or proof that she’d changed it.”

So that’s why he’d been ransacking her office the night of the Halloween party. It was all starting to make sense now. Horrible, distressing sense.

“But I had no luck there,” he went on. “I went through her condo next. And with a little help from a friend, we hit the jackpot. Not only did we find the original will, but I swear she kept a little treasure trove holding all her sins: proof she’d hired people to murder my father, and take care of the Myrtles, and make Arthur’s death look like natural causes. It was like a serial killer’s brag box or some such sick shit.”

With a shudder, I covered my mouth with both hands and stared sightlessly at the top of the conference room table. A supportive arm wrapped around my shoulders, and I leaned into Brick before clutching his arm, unable to believe this was happening.

Lana had killed my father. She paid someone to take his life.

My father.

She’d taken him away from me.

My vision swum. Brick tugged me even closer until he was straight-up hugging me. I squeezed my eyes closed, pretending this wasn’t happening.

“Your dad left the company to you, Kaitlynn.” Hayden’s soft voice jolted through me until my eyes sprang open. “All of it,” he confirmed.

He held up his hand to show me a thick, folded batch of papers within his grip. My father’s will.

“He didn’t leave any of it to Lana. He must’ve known all along she couldn’t be trusted, because he specifically mentioned she get nothing. My guess is she learned about that little detail and had Fin Tin alter his will so she could take whatever she wanted. She allotted you only enough to keep the fake from looking too suspicious, but she even dipped into the money he originally left Brick and me so we’d get less than what he intended, as well.”

“Bitch,” Brick growled under his breath.

“Then,” Hayden added, “when Arthur turned up dead, I’m guessing Fin Tin realized Lana was behind it, and took off with whatever she’d paid him before she could take him out too. When the police found him, he spilled everything. He had contacted her that day Bruno overheard them because he’d grown brave during his years in Mexico, and he wanted to blackmail her: more money for his continued silence.”

I could only shake my head numbly and stare at Hayden before whispering, “He left the company to me?” When I straightened, Brick let go of me so I could face the facts slamming into me from what felt like all sides.

But the fact was, my dad had loved me all along.

I had been so hurt and secretly upset with him, and the entire time, he’d left JFI in my hands. He’d never stopped loving me. He’d never turned his back on me. He’d remained my dad. Always.

Shame filled me for ever doubting his affection. I had to be the worst daughter ever.

“That doesn’t mean it’s all her company now,” Henry Nash spoke up, jostling me from my guilt.

“Dad,” Ezra hissed, waving him quiet, but Henry shook his head before turning to my lawyers. “Nash Corporation purchased half of Judge Fashions Industry, fair and square. It was a legal, binding agreement we sunk fifty million dollars into. Half of it is still ours.”

“But you purchased it from Lana Judge, who had no legal right to sell it,” Richard stated firmly.

“I don’t fucking care,” Henry roared. “My son loves this place. He’s put all his time and energy—his goddamn soul—into restoring it this past year, pulling it from the brink of bankruptcy. It would be nothing now if not for him. He’s not losing it.”

I glanced toward Ezra, only to find him with his eyes squeezed closed and teeth gritted as if in pain.

I knew his father spoke the truth. He loved working here. Part of his blood, sweat, and toil did and would forever more reside within these walls. He didn’t want to lose it any more than I did. I didn’t think I really wanted him to lose it, either.

But…

Agony coiled through my stomach.

“Fine,” his father blustered, turning to me directly. “So you own at least half of it now. Name your price, girl. We’ll pay whatever you offer.”

Ezra’s eyes shot open, waiting for my answer. But how could he expect me to say anything other than no deal? He knew how much I wanted my company back, too.

It felt like I was staring at a stranger when I looked into his blue eyes. Add that onto the fact that he’d never bothered to tell his father about me, and I’d just found out what I had about my own dad—

He hadn’t had a heart attack at all. He’d been killed, stolen from me so that I was left alone, an orphan under the control of his very murderer.

It was more than I could bear. Grief and anger and helplessness swamped me.

“I can’t deal with this right now,” I said, fumbling out of my chair to get to my feet before I stumbled toward the exit.

“Kaitlynn.” Ezra flew from his own seat and took a step toward me, but I held up a hand and shook my head, warding him away.

I couldn’t deal with him right now either.

I raced into the hall.

It felt as if people were everywhere, clumped into groups, no doubt gossiping about the fact that one of their CEOs had just been dragged away in the back of a police car. They all paused to stare at me, judging, questioning, condemning, demanding. Unable to take all the gawking, I began to run. Blindly.

I found myself back in my old workroom in the basement, sitting in the hard, uncomfortable chair I’d used for six months and wishing I could just go back to then, when I was naïvely determined to work my way to the top, where no one had killed my dad, and my stepmother just despised me instead of hated me so much she wanted me dead.

Hugging myself, I squeezed my eyes closed and bit my lip. But the tears came anyway.

“Hey, kid,” a quiet, concerned voice crooned. “You doing okay?”

I shook my head and sobbed, “No.”

“Yeah, I didn’t figure.” Picking me up, Brick stole my chair so he could settle me on his lap like a small child and hug me to his chest.

I rested my cheek against his shoulder and soaked in all the sympathy he was offering.

“He left the company to me,” I repeated, my chest hollow with shock. “He loved me after all.”

“Of course he did.” Brick stroked my hair methodically. “How could you doubt that?”

I shook my head. “I thought she’d turned him against me. I thought he stopped loving me. I thought… I thought…”

When a sob seized me, Brick murmured quiet, soothing sounds. “Shh. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

But how could this be okay? My dad had been murdered, and all this time I’d been angry with him.

“He must be so disappointed in me,” I whispered. “I doubted him and lost faith in him. He must be watching me from wherever he is, and thinking—”

“Bullshit,” Brick cut in. “He’s looking down at you, and he’s smiling because he’s so fucking proud of the woman you became. And he’s loving you… Always.”

I sniffed and looked up at him. “I can’t believe she took him away.”

Pain shuttered his features. “Neither can I.”

Suddenly, I remembered. “She took your dad too.”

He glanced away, and his throat worked as he swallowed. “Yeah,” he choked out in a raw voice. “Crazy, huh?”

I touched his cheek. “Are you okay?”

After a quick bitter laugh, he said, “Fuck no. This shit is messed all the hell up. I mean, I knew she wasn’t right in the head. She could never be trusted. She’d never been warm and nurturing, but Jesus Christ, she was still my mom. I never expected… This.”

“I’m sorry.”

When he closed his eyes and leaned into my hand, I kissed his cheek. “I’ll make sure you get every penny my dad promised you in his will.”

His eyes shot open and he scowled. “That is the very last thing on my mind right now.”

I shrugged. “But it’s easier for me to think about that than… Everything else.”

“True.” Clearing his throat, he glanced around the dingy workroom that had become significantly dustier since I’d stopped working here. “Why the hell did you come down here, anyway?”

I shrugged. Good question. “It was familiar,” I said. And I’d needed something familiar.

The door opened. Hayden poked his head inside. “There you two are.” He stepped through the doorway and glanced around the room as if he’d never entered it before, which I don’t think he had.

I climbed off Brick and dusted my slacks with my hands, physically putting myself back to rights again because nothing inside me felt right at the moment.

Brick stood as well. “You stay for the entire meeting?” he asked. When Hayden nodded, Brick lifted his eyebrows. “And?”

Hayden’s gaze sought me. He looked concerned. “All the lawyers agreed that Nash Corporation still owns fifty percent, so you won’t be able to own the whole company as your father intended. But the profit Lana made from the transaction goes entirely to you. It’ll be up to you and the Nashes to figure out if either of you wants to buy the other out.”

I hugged myself, thinking of Ezra. Why did he suddenly feel like the enemy? The them? This was so crazy, and bizarre, and messed up. It was just totally and completely wrong.

Seeing the pain on my face, Brick hissed a curse under his breath and ran a hand through his hair. “And how the hell is Lana supposed to pay it back to Kaitlynn from jail?”

Hayden shook his head. “They’ll probably liquidate all her assets and give a lion’s portion of the share to Kaitlynn, as she deserves. They’re hers anyway, despite how much she’s owed from the Nash transaction. All the money Lana’s spent or hoarded since Arthur’s death was his. It rightfully belongs to Kaitlynn.”

That news made my head spin. It was too much to deal with right now. Pressing a hand to my head, I muttered, “I don’t want it.” It had lost my dad his life. “I just want my family’s company. That’s it.”

Brick patted my back. “Well, you got it, kid. Er… At least, half of it.”

I glanced at my two stepbrothers. My family. They’d both just gone through exactly what I’d gone through, but they seemed worried about me. A flare of love and belonging swept through me. It was both wonderful and frightening to know I could rely on them for any kind of support. Needing exactly that right now, I tested the waters by clutching my face between two hands and asking, “What do we do now?”

Hayden blew out a long breath, looking drained, so Brick answered, “Well, you’re going home. You’re going to take a day just to process and let everything soak in. Then, after a long hot bath, maybe some alcohol, and a good night’s sleep, you can figure out all the answers to life’s mysteries in the morning.”

“But—”

“Don’t worry about it today,” Hayden reiterated. “Brick’s right. I think we all need a break for the time being. We can start dealing with the fallout tomorrow.”

And so, I went home.