CHAPTER 38
Kenzie
It was all so beautiful. Like something from a dream.
My office was more like a suite, with a private bathroom and sitting room complete with a fold-out couch. “You know. In case you ever need to spend a late night—not that I’m saying you should,” Reed joked.
I smiled half-heartedly, trying to absorb the massive change. I felt like I lived in a constant state of jet lag, never quite able to catch up to the situation in front of me. I was always behind, struggling to make sense of everything.
“Do you like it?” Reed asked, smiling like the cat that ate the canary.
I looked out the windows—yet another office with two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows, with just as stunning a view of the city. Only in a different building, in a different part of town.
I turned to him, curious.
“You didn’t just decide to offer me this job today. This office has been vacant for ages, and it didn’t look anything like this when I left, did it?” The windows were freshly washed, the walls freshly painted a warm, soothing shade of green. Brand-new potted trees and plants here and there. The furniture was clearly unused—gleaming, highly polished, not a scratch or mark on anything.
It was all for me.
Reed shrugged as though it meant nothing. “The position was open, and I had the feeling you would come back to your senses once I offered it to you. You’re a smart person. A smart person takes an opportunity like this when it comes their way. They don’t let past grievances or petty disagreements get in the way.”
Petty disagreements! I assumed he had to be referring to Aaron’s resignation letter, because he certainly couldn’t have meant my unhappiness with the way he’d treated me. That wasn’t petty. That was fully warranted.
He’d used me, forced me to do the work of three people just to get a little recognition—very little, if memory served. He still had a way of glossing over the truth of a matter, I noticed. I could only remind myself to be careful around him. He had a way of twisting the truth.
“Don’t flatter me, Reed. What’s the real reason I’m here?”
“You know the real reason. I told you already. Aaron used you to get back at me. I’ve righted the situation. Now you’re back where you belong, better and stronger than ever. And, if I do say so myself, with a better position than my own. All of the perks, not quite all the stress.” He grinned.
Boy, he thought he was so charming. He would have to work a lot harder than that to get back on my good side—then again, he’d never been there in the first place.
I flashed him a tight smile, running my hand over the showroom-new furnishings. He took my silence as all the response he needed. “I’ll have my assistant bring over the contract for you to sign. It’s all ready and waiting.”
I nodded, still mute. I’d never said I would sign anything. He was making assumptions. I wasn’t sure yet what I would do.
Why had he hired me back? Why all the work to get me to agree?
This was a whole new world, one he’d never considered me for in the past. I’d leapfrogged over his pals, who I knew would be pretty pissed at my meteoric rise to fame. I couldn’t wait to see their reactions the next time we met up.
But why? Why now?
The whole thing rang false, orchestrated. I couldn’t be excited or even flattered that he thought highly of me since the timing was a little sketchy. Reed had made a big deal of turning me against Aaron in order to get me back.
Did that mean he was using me just like he’d accused Aaron of doing? Was it all just a great big pissing contest?
Because if so, they were pissing on me.
And I didn’t like it one bit.
I sat down, running my hands over the desk as I had back at Ricardo de Lugo. So much had happened since that day. I felt used up. Jaded. I wondered if I could ever be truly, completely happy with a great opportunity like the ones both men had presented to me. I wasn’t sure if these opportunities were based on my talents or the fact that I happened to know them both.
That possibility turned my stomach.
Still, if they were both using me, Aaron had done it first. He was the one in the wrong. I didn’t know what happened between these two men—they could fight it out on their own, as far as I was concerned—but if he pulled me into it, he was the person I needed to avoid. Reed was only trying to right a wrong.
Only, that wasn’t in Reed’s nature. He wasn’t a do-gooder. He didn’t care about me. He cared about winning, being the best.
Maybe it was time for me to start caring about what was best for me. Men didn’t make business decisions based on their feelings for a person. They thought about what was best for them. What would be the best move for their interests?
I needed to care more about my own interests.
What was best for me?
Easily, the job with Reed. I could only take his word for it when he promised freedom, executive decisions, and the rest. But I’d hold him to it. I would sit as second in command of a massive media empire.
Aaron couldn’t beat that.
It wasn’t a matter of being loyal to Reed or to Aaron. It was all about being loyal to me. I would finally start thinking about Kenzie.
That was why, when Paula brought the contract into my office, I signed it after giving it a once-over. She beamed, clearly overjoyed.
“I’m so proud of you,” she squealed, giving me two thumbs up.
I wished I could be so proud of myself, but I still felt hollow inside. Like I’d just made a devastating mistake.
Why couldn’t I loosen up and enjoy the opportunity that had just fallen into my lap? Mainly because it all felt so sudden, so sneaky.
It might have been what was best for me in the long run—and I would make it that way, looking out for number one from then on—but my principles wouldn’t let me revel in it just yet.
I called Emery, needing her advice. She was at a loss for words by the time I finished speaking. That was hardly helpful.
“So let me get this straight,” she said. “You work at Madison Media Group again?”
I winced at the disbelief in her voice. When she said it like that, it sounded downright ridiculous. “Yes. I just signed the contract.”
“Didn’t you already sign a contract with Aaron?”
“Reed told me he could get me out of it, no problem.”
“And you believe him? This is Reed we’re talking about. Remember? Satan’s number one protégé?”
I snorted. “Yeah, I remember. I don’t know, Em. It’s such a fantastic opportunity. The salary alone!”
She hesitated for a moment. I knew her well enough to know she tried to get the right words together, which meant she seriously disagreed with my decision. “Doesn’t it strike you as more than a bit odd? The man accosts you on the street and the next thing you know, you’re in a new office at the top of the heap? What’s he really after?”
My heart sank. “So you see it, too.”
“Honey, Stevie Wonder could see it. Come on. There’s something else happening. Something neither of them want you to know about.”
I shook my head, refusing to believe it. “Aaron told me everything.”
“Yeah, in his own good time. Come on. Deny it. He probably knew you were close to the truth—maybe he knew Reed was after you, something like that. He thought it best to come clean before Reed did. Even then, he wasn’t totally upfront. He used you, honey. I’m sorry, but that’s just how it looks.”
“I know.”
“And chances are, Reed’s doing the same thing. I hate to put it to you like that, but that’s my opinion after hearing the facts.”
“I know.” My voice seemed to get smaller and smaller. “But I can make this work for me. I can do it, I know I can.”
“Oh, I have no doubt,” Emery agreed. “They’ll both regret fucking with you, girl. You’ll be running that place one day.”
I laughed. “From your mouth to God’s ears.”
“So you’re happy?”
“Professionally? Yes. If a certain protégé of the prince of darkness weren't involved, I’d be flying high.” We both chuckled. “Otherwise, I couldn’t ask for more right now. I really couldn’t. A woman my age in this position? When has that happened? Ever?”
“I don’t know if it ever has. You’re right. I’m proud of you.”
“Even if I didn’t strictly earn the job?” I asked, biting my lip.
“Enough with the self-doubt. You’ll more than earn it going forward, if I know anything about Reed. Or you. I know how hard you work. It’s in your nature.”
She was right. It was my nature to work hard and prove myself. It would never be enough for me to simply coast by in a job. I would bust my ass to make sure everybody knew who was in charge.
I could hardly wait.
After hanging up, only one thing still bothered me. But it was a big thing.
My relationship with Aaron, or what relationship we had left.
What had I done to it? How would he interpret my leaving?
I didn’t have to think hard about that one. He’d see it as the ultimate treachery. He was a man with strong beliefs, where most things were black or white. There were few shades of gray in Aaron’s world.
I sighed fretfully, looking around my new office. As big and beautiful as it was, it wasn’t the same as being with him. I had just signed over my personal life, a relationship I’d started to depend upon.
With a man you couldn’t trust. I needed to remember that. I’d write it on sticky notes and put it up all over my home, my office, and anywhere else I frequented.
I. Couldn’t. Trust. Aaron.
He’d used me. I would have to get over him, just like he would need to get over me. Aaron was a big boy. He could manage it.
Still, it seemed a little too big of a coincidence that in the middle of a game of tug-of-war, all the accusations about Aaron had come to light. What were the odds of those two situations happening at the same time? And they didn’t come out until after Aaron hired me. Did that mean—
No. It couldn’t. Reed wouldn’t stoop that low.
But who else had that kind of power, and an ax to grind against Aaron? Who?
How the hell did I know? The man was a mystery. He might have had enemies anywhere in the world. In the Azores, for all I knew. I was sure his brusque, to-the-point manner hadn’t exactly made him a lot of warm friends in the business world.
It could have been anyone.
But right after he stole me from Reed? It was a little too close a coincidence for me to shrug off, no matter how badly I wanted to.
As I thought it over, an email notification pinged on my new laptop. My second new laptop in under a week—at least I knew the ropes at Madison Media Group. I opened it, wondering what Reed could possibly want from me already.
It wasn’t a work request, or anything work-related at all. He’d forwarded me a breaking news piece, typing “Aren’t you glad you got out when you did?” at the top. I scrolled down to read the article.
My gasp filled the otherwise silent room. Aaron had been arrested less than an hour before. The police had nabbed him while leaving Patrick’s office.
“Oh, my God,” I whispered. It was all too much, a nightmare. And they were so sure the accusations were baseless, easily squashed. Patrick had been too confident, I guessed.
My heart sank, the thought of a man like Aaron in jail almost too much to consider.
And Reed had been so quick to throw it in my face, hadn’t he? Did he have a Google alert set to Aaron’s name or something? How had he found out so quickly? What was his stake in the game?
I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, not when I felt so heartsick.