Hayden

I exhaled, trying to beat back the panic pushing through my veins. I straightened out the Financial Times and read the feature again in more detail. It was all about the performance of private companies and how success was so closely tied to their leadership. The article went on to detail companies that had gone belly up when their CEO left or retired. Phoenix Holdings was highlighted as being at risk as their CEO and owner was coming up for retirement.

This article couldn’t have come at a worse time. Negotiations between us were tense. We were in the stage where I asked lots of probing questions, and because the CEO was the major shareholder, he wasn’t used to it.

But it was all information I needed in order for me to complete the acquisition. However much I wanted Phoenix, I wasn’t going to buy it blind.

Part of me wondered if Phoenix were responsible for the article. It was bound to get people sniffing around. And the CEO would know I’d see it. Whether or not it was planned, it increased the pressure on me to get this deal done.

I leaned back in my chair and picked up my satellite phone.

“I need you to do something for me,” I said the second Landon picked up.

“Nice to hear from you, Hayden. How am I? Fine, thank you very much. Work is good.”

Sarcasm was my brother’s primary skill.

“Like you have time for social niceties any more than I do.”

“True. What can I do for you?” he asked.

“I want to know if Cannon and Phoenix have a connection.” I went on to explain the article.

“I don’t get it. You think Phoenix had something to do with the article being in the paper?”

“I happen to know that Cannon have strong links with the Financial Times. They could have fed the article to them easily.”

“But if Cannon knew Phoenix was on the market, wouldn’t they be making their move already?”

My mind was whirring with reasons why Cannon might want me to buy Phoenix. “Not if they’re setting a trap for me.” I opened the drawer in my desk and dropped the pink newspaper inside. “This article might be designed to attract other buyers and put pressure on me to sign before I’ve done my due diligence. I want to make sure every rock is overturned and I’ve seen every skeleton in every closet. I won’t be rushed into signing this deal.”

“Are you sure you’re not being paranoid?” he asked. “You need to be focusing on getting your deal done and the leak in your office.”

“I don’t want to do this deal if it’s not right.”

“So focus on getting your due diligence done before it can get thrown off track. Don’t borrow trouble.”

Was that what I was doing? Getting distracted by my own conspiracy theories? Maybe. The thought of someone working for Cannon in the business I’d built, someone trying to destroy me from the inside, wasn’t any easier just because I wasn’t in the office.

“Okay, you have a point. I just want this leaker found,” I said.

“From what my team on the ground tell me, no one’s tracked you to Saint Tropez. And I’ve not seen anything unusual back in London, no phone calls from your senior team to any Cannon numbers and no meetings between them either. They’re not making it easy for us. But we’ll figure it out.”

Landon and I hadn’t discussed the personal connection between our family and Cannon. But we both understood what was at stake. We’d experienced the aftereffects of the destruction of our father’s business, so we knew what they were capable of.

“If my digging doesn’t work, we’ll have to try to draw them out—we can brainstorm some ideas in a few days if I don’t find something before then.”

“Hang on,” I said as someone knocked on my office door. Who the fuck was bothering me? No one other than Avery was supposed to be down here.

I rounded the desk and swung open the door, coming face-to-face with Avery’s big brown eyes.

She glanced at the phone I was clutching in my hand. “Sorry, I just brought you some fresh coffee as you seemed to want to be back at your desk so quickly and I know how you like a lot of coffee in the morning.” She lifted up a cup of coffee, which was just what I needed in the absence of a slug of whiskey.

I took the saucer out of her hand and our eyes locked for a second. She really noticed everything. I prided myself on reading people, on building relationships and by remembering small things about people I met throughout my career, but this woman could give me a run for my money. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” Whether she knew it or not, the times I saw this woman were fast becoming the most enjoyable parts of my day.

“My pleasure,” Avery said and then shook her head slightly.

I was pretty sure I caught a slight blush in Miss Professional’s cheeks. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but that didn’t stop me wondering what her real pleasures were.

I lifted my eyebrows and grinned at her and she shut her eyes almost as if she were trying to regain her composure. Then without another word she turned and I watched her and her fantastic arse climb the stairs.

My brother calling my name caught my attention and I lifted the phone to my ear. “Sorry, it was just—”

“Someone catering to your every need? Must be tough.”

I shut the door, put the coffee on my desk and collapsed back in my chair. “I’d prefer to be back in the office, making deals, but you’re right, if I’ve got to disappear, there are worse places to be.” Just having Avery around was like breathing pure oxygen, adding color to my otherwise taxing days. If she weren’t so bloody professional, I’d have had her bent over my desk by now but she was better than that. Worth more than a quick fuck. She was the kind of woman I’d have to take my time with.

“And you’re dealing with the lawyers okay?” Landon interrupted my train of thought. “Annie said the drop went well yesterday.”

“Yeah. I spent the night working through the documents—thanks for arranging that.”

“No problem. You’re paying me.”

“I am?” I chuckled.

Landon rarely talked about money, but the fact that he’d paid cash for his penthouse in Kensington told me business was booming for him.

“It’s not like we’re family or anything. You’ll get my bill at the end of this.”

“You better be worth it.”

“I’ll remind you of this conversation when you sign the Phoenix deal.”

“If you’re sending me a bill anyway, can you dig a bit deeper into the crew here? I just want to make sure everything thoroughly checks out.” What I wanted was more information about Avery. What drove her to be so good at what she did? What had made her become a yachtie and not go to university? I’d seen glimpses of the Avery underneath the professional façade, and I wanted to know more.

“I’ve done thorough checks—there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Do me a favor and the next time we do a drop, give me everything you can find on Avery Walker.”

“The chief stewardess?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Is something making you suspicious?”

Only the fact that I trusted her and didn’t know why. Wanted to fuck her but hadn’t made a move. It was weird. Not like me. “Nothing I’m ready to share. Just an instinct.”

“Okay. I’ll do some follow-up work on her.”

“Now, get out of here—I’ve got to go and catch some rays.” I hung up and grabbed my laptop. Sunbathing and relaxation was the last thing I needed, but I found I quite enjoyed my interactions with Avery and so working from the main deck, knowing she would pass by intermittently tending to my every need, wasn’t an opportunity I was going to pass up.