Egotistically Yours by Hayley Faiman

Chapter Thirty-One

LAURENT

Sittingacross from my father’s desk, I slip him my phone with the unforgettable images that I found last night. I guess if Bethie and I have to have them burned into our brains, he should too. He snorts, then slides my phone back to me across the desk.

“Well then, I think you could have told me that instead of showing it, don’t you?” he asks.

Shrugging a shoulder, I grin. “I don’t think you get the full effect until you see it for yourself.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “Okay, so what do you want to do with that information?” he asks.

I watch my father for a moment. He’s the most calm-mannered, intelligent businessman that I know. If anyone would have a suggestion, it’s definitely him.

“I’m not sure what to do with this. I’ve had a feeling that something was off for a while now. Not just the cheating on his wife. Then there’s this, but then there’s also his wife too,” I mutter.

“What about her?”

Wiping my palms against my pants, I inhale a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “She showed up to my office yesterday. Kind of barged her way inside,” I say.

“Do I want to know what happened?” he asks.

Pressing my lips together, I narrow my eyes on him. I should get pissed the fuck off that he would even ask me that, but my father knows me and he knows that out of all of his children, I am most like Susan than anyone else.

“Nothing happened, but it could have, she offered,” I explain. “But before she came to my office, she made nice with Bethie and took her out to lunch, as a friend.”

My dad leans back in his chair, chuckling. “With friends like that who needs enemies,” he mutters.

“Exactly. Cody is the same way, if Bethie gave him even a hint, I have no doubt he’d be all over her. I don’t want to make a bad name for myself, this is business too and I’m just getting started.”

My dad nods his head, then he presses his lips together, his gaze searching mine. “You’ve got a tough situation there. I don’t envy you. But you need to decide if his personal life affects business or not. Then there’s the morality of it all. If he’s not who you want to associate with, you’re associated in business. Is that separate or is it combined?”

He makes it sound so easy, but it’s not. It’s fucking stressful as shit. If I fuck this up, it could end my already unstable career. If I don’t walk away, it could possibly end my relationship, because

I have no doubt that Cody and Melody will not stop until they get what they want, whatever the fuck that is, I have no idea.

“If ending this with him backfires and I lose the loose hold that I have on AIB?” I ask.

My father levels me with a gaze. “That’s going to fuck with a lot of people’s livelihoods, isn’t it?” he asks.

“It is.”

“All you can do is go with your gut, Laurent. I am here for you every step of the way. I’m not telling you to go against your moral code, but you need more clients. You need backups, you cannot put all your eggs in one basket. And at the end of the day, you have to think about this, do you know all of your clients as well as you know him? Do you ever truly know anyone?”

Clearing my throat, I nod my head once and then let out a sigh. “I have three meetings today. I’m done fucking around. Completely done. But, Dad?”

He grins across his desk at me, obviously seeing the debate that I’m wrestling with. Then he clears his throat.

“Well, you know that I’m always here for you, any time that you need me. I want this to work for you, though. I think you’re ready for this. It’s your time, son, and I know that you can do it and thrive. There is no backup plan.”

Swallowing hard, I shake my head once. “There isn’t?”

His eyes twinkle and he shrugs a shoulder, looking directly at me, holding my gaze with his. “If you go into situations, into business with the thought of always having something to fall back on, of always having a safety net, then I don’t think you’d be as tenacious as you need to be.”

There’s a moment of silence where we watch one another and then my lips curve up into a small smile. “I never lose,” I state.

“No, you don’t,” he confirms.

“I won’t allow it, not in life and certainly not in business. And not to someone like Cody.”

“So what will you do?” he asks.

Pressing my lips together, I roll them a few times before I speak. “I’m going to get some more clients, big ones. I’m going to get this company off of the back burner, and I’m going to make some goddamn money.”

My dad chuckles. “You sound exactly like me when I was your age and struggling.”

My eyes focus on his and my gaze doesn’t waver. I continue to watch him for a moment, then I inhale a deep breath and let it out, letting out all of the fucking drama and stress. But I don’t dismiss my dad, or try to end the meeting.

Instead, I switch it to something else, because I wanted to talk to him about more than one of my issues. Apparently, I’m a ball of fucking drama right now. I’ve never had much shit going on in my personal life, mainly because I never did relationships, so the only drama I’ve ever had is my parents, and if I didn’t like what was going on, I just walked away.

I can’t just walk away anymore.

“Mom called me from prison,” I announce. My dad’s brows rise and he stares at me, unmoving and unspeaking.

“And?” he asks when I don’t immediately continue.

“She wants Bethie and Tucker gone. Wants me with someone more my status. Wants a lot of things for a woman sitting in prison.”

“Sounds about right,” my dad grinds out.

“What do I do?” I ask.

Then, I explain to him about the man who has been following her and who threatened her. I need to be able to do something, I can’t just sit around and wait for whoever this fuck is to hurt Bethie, to hurt my son.

My dad leans back in his seat, his eyes never leaving mine, but I can see his mind working. I can tell that there is a plan that he is attempting to work through in his head, I just don’t know what it is, and it doesn’t surprise me, because I never know what he’s thinking.

He clears his throat, then leans forward. “She can’t be alone,” he announces.

I want to laugh in his face and say, no shit, but I don’t. He licks his lips and shakes his head a couple of times before he speaks.

“I don’t know what to do. The police? But then what? We don’t know who this is and if I know your mother, this will not be traceable.”

“It won’t,” I agree. “Bethie can’t hide forever.”

“No, she can’t.” There is a long pause, then he stands and walks over to his window, looking out at the cityscape. “Let me do some digging. See what I can find out. Until we know more, you need to drop her off and pick her up from here. I’ll hire another guard for the front desk and another for the day care. I don’t want Tucker or Holden in danger.”

Relief slides throughout my entire body. “Okay.” I nod. “What can I do?” I ask.

He turns his head and looks back at me from over his shoulder. “Protect your family at all costs, Laurent. I taught you well enough, did I not?”

“You did,” I agree.

“Then be the man that I know you can be.”

“Without a doubt, I will.”

“Good.”

With somewhat of a plan in place, I leave my father’s office and head back down to the reception counter where Bethie is stationed. I never wished for her to be in her own little closed off office more in my entire goddamn life.

She looks nervous as I approach, her head is down and her hands are fidgeting. Then, she lifts her head and all of that nervousness melts away as a smile slowly curves up on her lips.

“Laurent,” she sighs.

Nodding my head once, I extend my arm and cup her cheek. Sliding my thumb along her bottom lip, I trace the move, my eyes sliding across my thumb’s path. She licks her lip, then watches me and I can tell she’s silently asking me if everything is okay, without actually saying the words aloud, probably too scared of the outcome.

“I’m going to handle it, baby. My dad will have some extra security down here for a while and I will be picking you up and dropping you off until further notice.”

She starts to shake her head but I arch a brow, daring her to question me further. She doesn’t. Instead, she inhales a deep breath, then lets it out slowly.

“Are you sure?” she asks. “I know that you work a lot of hours.”

I snort. “I work my own hours, and if something happens, I can bring work home with me. It’s not the end of the world if I have to work from my home office a few hours here and there.”

“I don’t want to be a burden, Laurent,” she murmurs.

Pressing my lips together, I stare at her for a good long moment and wonder if this is what I’ve done to her? Have I made her so fucking afraid, so goddamn untrusting of me that she really thinks I wouldn’t come and get her from work, or that I would be angry about it?

“Baby,” I mutter. “You’re my woman. Tucker is my son. It’s my responsibility not only to take care of you, but to protect you, too. So, I will be here just after five and we’ll grab some dinner, then head home.”

Thankfully, she doesn’t argue anymore. Instead, she nods her head once and her gaze connects to mine.

“Okay,” she whispers.

Leaning over her counter, I touch my mouth to hers. “Okay,” I breathe against her mouth. “I’ll see you soon,” I rasp.

Sliding my tongue along her bottom lip, I straighten, then give her a smile and a wink. “Don’t get into any trouble today,” I say with a chuckle.

Her eyes widen and she shakes her head. “You know me better than that,” she calls out.

Laughing, I shrug a shoulder. “I do, which is why I said it.”

I don’t give her an opportunity to respond, instead, I walk out of the front door, my hand shoved in my pocket to take out my phone. Then I quickly look something up on my Safari app. Touching the contact phone number, I walk toward my car, ordering Bethie lunch, an iced coffee, and a pastry to be delivered at lunchtime.

It won’t make up for the fact that some fuck is after her, but it will help keep her inside of the building and hopefully bring a smile to her face. Sliding into the front seat of my car, I head to work, glad that my office is only a few blocks away from this one.

It doesn’t take me long to arrive at my building. I head upstairs and cringe at Zara posted behind her desk. Then I really take her in. She’s wearing double the makeup she normally does and her top is so low cut that I fear a nipple may pop out at any given moment.

“Laurent,” she purrs as soon as I’m close.

I dip my chin, but I don’t stop walking toward my office door, slipping inside, I turn around and lock it. I am so goddamn confused, this isn’t like the Zara that I hired, the Zara that has worked for me for almost a year. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but this is all crazy and I feel like I’m living in an alternate universe.