Chapter Two
Vivien found herself in her father’s office, more by rote than anything else. Her stomach churned when she realized she still knew how to get there after all these years. Damn it. She stopped for a moment and stared at the cracked leather of the chair behind the desk. This chair had to be older than she was. Her mom had bought it for Jed as an office-warming present on the day he started Monroe Tech. Everything else about the office fit the sleek, modern lines of the renovated building, but not this chair.
She remembered running for the chance to spin in the chair when Mom brought her to visit Jed. He’d give her a twirl, then steal a kiss from Mom while Vivien giggled like mad.
Tears burned again, but she blinked them back. Blinking couldn’t fill the aching hole in her chest, though.
Nostalgia.
That’s all it was.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled her smartphone out of her pocket and opened the first of what she knew would be many memos she made today. Get a new desk chair. Carefully, she sat down, doing her best to touch as little of the chair as possible. It struck her that everything on the desk was exactly as her dad must have left it the night he died.
Never one for organization, the deeper into a project he got, the messier his desk became. One or two secretaries had come close to losing their jobs when they’d tried to clean up after him. A sign of genius, he’d always claimed. A sign of distraction and unprofessionalism, in her opinion.
She searched through the papers, trying to locate the phone. She needed to call the assistant in to clean up this mess. With a growl of frustration, she stood and went out to the front reception area where a quintessentially geeky young man, who looked like he descended from a melting pot of nationalities, sat at the assistant’s desk. He’d introduced himself as Josh Orfanos. At the sight of Vivien, the young man jumped, blinking up at her from behind bangs two weeks past needing a trim. “Ms. Monroe. Is there something I can h-help you with?”
“I need you to find some time today to organize all of this,” she said. “Who is my first meeting?”
Josh pulled out his smartphone and clicked around on it for a moment. “Your uncle asked to stop by when you get a second free, and it looks like Liam Hale just sent a request for some time with you.”
Vivien’s pulse increased a little as she remembered the effect he’d had on her when she’d first seen him. Her friends in the fashion industry would call his casual sexiness “geek chic.” Her little sister obviously favored him, as had her father. She got the impression from reading between the lines of Jed’s emails that Liam was the son he never had, the oldest child he always wanted. Normally, that would be enough points against him for her to write him off, but his quiet patience during their first meeting, mixed with a bone-deep sexual appeal, intrigued her more than she’d care to admit.
“Tell my uncle I’ll see him now, but have Liam here within the next twenty minutes. I’ll want to meet with all of the different department heads within the next day or so. Get that set up as soon as possible.” It would be rude if she didn’t meet with her uncle, but she didn’t want to be alone with him for long. It didn’t take a genius to know that he’d been pissed that she hadn’t nominated him for CEO straightaway. They’d been close when she was younger—he’d been the one to help her get into Stanford’s business school—but she doubted she’d get a warm welcome now.
“Yes, ma’am.” She half expected the kid to bow as he backed out of the room.
It took her a few minutes to get the desk organized in a way that didn’t drive her up a wall. Pens in a cup, paperclips on a magnetized box at one corner of the desk, the original MT video game action figures she vaguely remembered playing with as a kid neatly piled in a cardboard carton she found behind one of the two boxy, leather sofas on one side of the expansive office. There. It might always be her father’s company, but she at least claimed the desk as her territory.
“Vivien, dear.” Richard let himself in without knocking. “I must say I’m surprised by your decision to stay.”
“You asked me to come,” Vivien said, taking a seat at the desk. “In fact, you bullied and cajoled my boss into letting me take family leave to come down here. Why are you surprised?”
Richard kept a polished, benign half smile on his face, the expression she’d seen him use countless times with business associates when she was younger. “I thought your dedication to your career would prevent you from staying here for any length of time. I expected you’d want to call for a vote at the meeting today. I assure you, I’m perfectly capable of stepping in to run the company in your stead.”
“Really.” She raised an eyebrow, studying her uncle for the first time. He hadn’t changed a bit in the ten years since she’d last seen him, although her trained eye spotted the telltale signs of plastic surgery around his eyes and mouth. He had balls, she’d give him that, thinking that he could get her to go along with his plans as if she were still a naive teenager desperate for attention. “While I appreciate your…enthusiasm, Uncle Richard, I don’t make business decisions lightly. I want to assess the state of the company before I decide what is the best course of action. Jed left the company to me for a reason.”
“Now, sweetheart, surely you can see that I’m the best choice. I’ve been with this company since before you were born,” Richard said smoothly.
Sweetheart. That’s what he used to call her when he thought she was being unreasonable. A knot formed in her stomach, but she didn’t let it show. She recognized his tactics; men had been using them against her for years. The “don’t worry your pretty little head” routine had become old hat. It just felt wrong when it was her own family member. Out of everyone, Richard should know just how capable she was. He’d practically groomed her to be an executive from the time she was fourteen, yet here he was, treating her the same way other men did when they saw a woman walk into a boardroom.
She jumped a little as a hollow knock echoed through the stillness of the office. Liam stood on the other side of the door, his expression as neutral as it had been during the board meeting. Saved by the hot geek. “As I said, I need some time to study all the angles. I’m sure we’ll talk again later. I believe my next meeting is here.”
Richard and Liam exchanged wary glances as the younger man held the door open for her arrogant uncle. She couldn’t imagine two more different people trying to advise her on what to do with her father’s company. If a man like Liam walked into one of her meetings in New York, he’d be laughed out of the room or labeled as a Silicon Valley slacker. Something about him kept her from making the same dismissive decision. Maybe it was the steady blue eyes gazing at her from behind the dark-framed glasses. Maybe it was the way many of the board members looked to him for cues during the meeting. Or maybe it was the way he’d intuitively known how to talk to her during her minor freak-out earlier.
God, how long had it been since she’d been attracted to a guy? Months. Since she’d first met her ex. Between her breakup and her work, she’d barely had a chance to breathe, let alone pay attention to men. And now, when getting out of here as fast as possible should be her focus, all of her lady parts were standing at attention because of some nerd?
Trying to keep her rebellious libido in check, she waved Liam in. “Liam. Glad you could meet with me on such short notice.”
He offered his hand to shake hers, and the second his fingers closed around hers, another jolt went through her, this one stronger and more disconcerting. Attraction, pure and simple.
“I wanted a chance to discuss those problems I mentioned before you got buried under some of the other projects going on around here. From what your dad and Greer have told me, video games aren’t your forte.” His words stung, but he softened the blow with a smile.
She motioned for him to take a seat on one of the chrome-and-leather visitors’ chairs opposite her. “That’s an understatement. But I know enough to muddle through for the short time I’m here.”
And I don’t want to learn more than I have to. Vivien left the rest of that sentiment unsaid, but it hung between them, their stares locked.
She could almost hear the air between them sizzling, like the soundtrack to one of her favorite cooking shows. She was the first one to look away. She needed him to get to the point and get out. The less time she spent alone with Liam Hale the better. She didn’t want to give herself any more time than necessary as the sole focus of intense, blue eyes that his oddly sexy glasses did nothing to dampen.
“So, what are these mythical problems you thought I needed to stay behind for?”
“Ah, there’s the Monroe side of you.” Liam leaned back in his chair, stretching his long legs out in front of him until they almost brushed hers under the desk. “Go straight for the KO. No test moves.”
“Comparisons like that won’t get you far,” she warned. Her phone vibrated insistently. A text from Simon, her boss. With practiced speed, she tapped out a response to him before returning her attention to Liam. “I have a million things to do today. So? The problems?”
He sent an annoyed glare at her phone before speaking. “I’m not sure how much Jed’s told you about company business in the last few months. Did he mention anything about hiring a new head of security? A guy named Eli Williams?”
Eli Williams…Eli Williams… “Oh! Eli. Right. The bodyguard I recommended, the former SEAL. We met a few months ago when he did some work for my company in Saudi Arabia.”
“He and I have been working together, assessing MT and the various security aspects involved with it. He knows his stuff. His military background and his experience working with naval intelligence on cyberattacks are exactly what we need right now.” On the surface, Liam remained relaxed, nonchalant. Only the tightening of his jaw and the air of a watchful predator gave away his intent to test her.
“Why now? I would think my father would have kept the company up-to-date on current security protocols, especially if he’s been doing things like eliminating desk phones and developing new video screens.”
Liam’s body stiffened at the implied insult. “Your dad was a brilliant man, but practicalities weren’t his top priority. Up until a few months ago, he was focused on other projects. Eli’s finished his review, and on a surface level, there are a few minor things that can have a big impact on the accessibility of the building and the high-profile departments.”
She listened as he outlined a plan for coded access cards to enter company property, the building, and each office after business hours. He spouted off cost estimates without hesitation, which impressed her more than she’d care to admit, as did his comprehension of the more nuanced facets of the company she’d forgotten about over the years. He not only looked like a nerd; he was a true-blue, dyed-in-the-wool brainiac. No wonder her dad loved him.
“Everything with computer network security is at least up-to-date, I hope.” Vivien crossed her legs, wishing she’d worn a skirt suit or at least something with more movement than what she thought of as The Power Suit. She only wore it when she wanted to make a statement; she hadn’t thought about the having-to-wear-it-all-day part of the equation.
“Well, mostly.” Liam winced, sitting up a little straighter in his chair, refusing to meet her eyes. “The basics are there, but Eli and I found an outside computer forensics group to run diagnostics on the firewalls. It was…not great. We—well, we think someone’s already compromised our systems—like, a lot.”
Vivien frowned. Her phone vibrated again, but she ignored it. “What are you talking about?”
Liam rubbed the back of his neck. “Part of my job is to keep up with the rest of the industry. What they’re releasing and when. I’ve noticed a pattern. Another company’s releasing games freakishly similar to ours within weeks of our release without any buildup or notice.”
“Isn’t that typical in this industry? Trends with a million and five games about zombies or dystopian warfare coming out within a few months.” She couldn’t believe she knew what the hell dystopian warfare was, but apparently, she’d paid more attention to her father’s sporadic emails than she realized.
“Yes and no. Usually, there’s a few months of lead time to see if an idea catches on before the copycats start hitting the market. These have come out within three to four weeks, and the topics haven’t been predicted blockbusters by the rest of the industry—we’re talking things like historical action-adventure starring literary characters from Dickens and Austen, and a kids’ geography game disguised as a spy adventure. Since it takes months to develop a game from start to finish, they had to have known what was coming out before we made any announcements.”
Realization set in for Vivien, along with a sense of dread. She’d thought he’d been exaggerating when he said there were problems. “So someone’s been stealing MT’s concepts. And you think it could be through hacking?”
“Maybe. It’s hard to know for sure right now,” Liam admitted. “The network security expert we contacted is willing to develop stronger security protocols for us. It’ll cost a pretty penny, but given the popularity of the games and the MT brand value, I don’t know that there’s much choice. It’s only a matter of time before they’re outpacing us and getting their games out first.”
“Making MT look like the copycats.” She massaged her temple, wishing for a boatload of aspirin to stop the pain from the dozens of thoughts ricocheting through her brain. “Damn it. This is a mess.”
“You might say that.” Liam shifted uncomfortably, clearly holding something back. “Which is why your dad started the ball rolling by bringing in Eli.”
“So it’s an inside job.” Vivien turned in the creaky chair, facing the wall of glass that looked out over the Dallas skyline. “How do I know you’re not the leak? Out of anyone, you probably know the game concepts best after all.”
She started to apologize almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth. This was what she did when she found a guy she couldn’t get a handle on. She provoked any interesting men she met and pissed them off to keep them at a distance.
She could have sworn she heard him growl. “Jed was like a father to me. Do you honestly think I’d do that to him?”
Turning back around, the waves of emotion rolling off Liam nearly knocked her out of her chair. But something about hearing him claim her father as his own pricked at the temper she’d kept in check all day.
“How the hell should I know? He was my father, and we barely spoke. Jed’s idea of family was always distorted by his obsession with this damn company.”
“He built this company for his family. Besides you and Greer, it was his family. And I love this company as much as he does.”
“Did,” Vivien corrected, her stomach dropping a little as the unwanted grief hit her again. She braced her hands on the desk, rising to her feet to stare him down.
“And he didn’t build this company for his family. At least not for me or my mom. While she was dying, he was spending every minute he could here instead of at home. It only got worse after she died. He built it for himself, so the geeky poor kid could show the world how great he was. You, Greer, his fans, you all idolize him for putting his heart and soul into this place. But it’s just a building. A company. A place where money is made and spent. It’s not a family.”
“To Jed it was. He built this place from nothing, and he made it a safe place for people like him to be who they were. He saw every employee as a member of his family. Why the hell do you think he tried so hard to get you to come back here?” Liam challenged, mimicking her pose, his face inches from hers. The warmth of his breath brushed across her skin as he spoke, sending a pulse of delicious desire through her blood. “Did you ever think that maybe he left you the company so you and Greer could still have a family, even after he was gone? That he saw this as a chance for you to be here for your sister, for you two to have a real chance at a relationship?
“You’re all she’s got left, whether you like it or not. At the end of the day, you’re both scared and lost, and you need family now, more than ever.”
Vivien leaned closer, grinding her teeth. She hated that he was right, that he saw through her. “My relationship with my sister is none of your business.”
He opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut. They continued to glare at each other over the desk, locked in a battle of wills. At one point, his gaze flickered down to her lips—or maybe her cleavage? It was hard to tell—and she thought he might kiss her.
She straightened abruptly, bracing her hands on her hips. “Now, if that’s all, I have a lot to do and only a little time to do it.”
“What about the security? We need the CEO’s go-ahead before we can start,” Liam ground out, clearly as annoyed with her as she was with him.
“Run the checks, but let the department heads know what you’re doing. Transparency has been one of the cornerstones of this company, and I don’t want to change that anytime soon.”
There was a hint of respect in his eyes as he gave her a terse nod. With a last assessing look, Liam strode out of her office, giving her a tantalizing view of his backside as he went. She was woman enough to admit that he had a very, very fine ass that put decidedly unprofessional thoughts in her head.
A sneaking feeling tugged at Vivien as she settled back in her chair. There was something going on here, and she’d been tossed into the middle. Liam Hale infuriated the hell out of her with his accusations and his presumptions about her family.
Still, he couldn’t be discounted as a candidate to take over Jed’s position. At least she could trust he wasn’t the one behind the game problem. Cut from the same cloth as Jed, he’d probably been more disgusted by someone stealing their game concepts than anyone in the company. She’d come into this deal thinking she knew exactly what course of action to take: assess the company, review potential candidates, then turn the company over to her uncle until Greer was ready to run the place.
After meeting Liam, it was apparent she was going to need to make the most out of every minute of the two weeks she was in town to make a solid recommendation to the board. Then, she would walk away and not look back.
…
Vivien knocked on the front door of her childhood home an hour later than she’d initially planned. She’d meant to make it back in time for dinner, but just as she’d prepared to leave, Josh had stopped her with a pile of papers he’d discovered in the debris of her father’s desk that needed immediate attention. The day had gotten off to a rough start, but by the end, she might have gained some traction. She’d spent most of the day going back and forth about whether or not she would stay at Haven or not. Her sister expected her to, but she couldn’t shake how surreal it was to be standing here, on the porch with the majestic white colonnades tinged blue in the Texas twilight.
“You’re late.” Greer’s expression didn’t give anything away. “And this is your home, why are you knocking like a stranger?”
Annoyance prickled up Vivien’s spine. They’d only seen each other briefly earlier, but this was the first time she’d been alone with her sister since the day she left for college. “This hasn’t been my home for over ten years. And I’m sorry I’m late. Things took longer than expected at the office.”
Poker face in place, her sister stepped aside and motioned her in. The house had barely changed since the last time Vivien was here, which didn’t surprise her in the least. Aside from a new coat of paint here or there, or a reupholstered couch, nothing at Haven had changed since her mother died twenty-one years ago. Jed had built Haven for his love and refused to let any of it change from the dream house she’d always wanted. Time stood still here, like Vivien would look around the corner and find her mom curled up on the couch with a book, their old dog, Gadget, snuggled up beside her.
“Mrs. H made your favorite lasagna. She wanted to see you, but she needed to get home to sit with her grandkids. Your old room’s all ready for you. And some flowers arrived for you about an hour ago, but I didn’t look at the card.”
Greer didn’t wait for Vivien to follow her, her willowy legs covered by baggy pajama pants, decorated with video game characters from one of MT’s popular kids’ games. Vivien winced at the mention of lasagna; when you had hips like hers and no time to go to the gym, you avoided carbs and cheese. And who the hell would send her flowers? Well—she knew who, but she hoped it wasn’t him.
“I’m not hungry,” she said as they entered the kitchen. “I thought I might go straight to bed.”
Even if she had been hungry, the memories seeping from every corner of the house would have killed her appetite. Some good, yes—those before her eighth birthday when Mom staged an American Girl tea party for all her friends—but most were lonely and painful. Memories of nights she spent as a little girl, waiting for Daddy to come home and notice something besides Greer and video games. If she had to be here, she at least wanted to retreat to her room.
Greer snorted. “Bullshit. You probably haven’t had more than a PowerBar all day. Sit down and eat something. It won’t kill you to share a meal with your little sister.”
At first, Vivien bristled under her sister’s ire, but then a sharp pang of guilt hit her. She’d never known what to do with her sister. She defaulted to childish resentment whenever Greer was mentioned, but now she couldn’t muster up that resentment. The truth was, she missed her sister at times. Missed what they could have had. “Sorry. I’m…not used to this. I haven’t had a roommate since college. Normally, I just grab a salad or Lean Cuisine for dinner and try to catch up on the shows stacked up in my DVR.”
Greer didn’t say a word as she served up two steaming platefuls of food, the scent of garlic permeating the air, mixing with the thick tension between the sisters. Vivien sat at the breakfast bar scrolling through her emails, marking ones to respond to first thing in the morning, wishing she could change into more comfortable clothes.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Greer’s long, dark ponytail swing with each movement, trying to remember the last meal she’d shared with her sister. Greer couldn’t have been more than ten. Their paternal grandmother, who’d stepped in to help raise them after their mother’s death, always insisted whichever family members were home eat dinner together, no matter what. That sometimes meant Vivien sitting sullenly at one end of the table and her father brooding at the other end, while Gran and Greer tried to keep up a cheerful conversation.
After setting a thick stoneware plate in front of Vivien, along with a glass of water, Greer took the other stool, curling her legs underneath her body and hunching over her plate. “So how was your first day?”
“Fine. Productive, I suppose.” Vivien set her phone down and picked at the lasagna, pushing aside a good deal of the melted cheese. She couldn’t be positive, but she was pretty sure this one small slice of lasagna had more cheese on it than she’d consumed in the last two years combined.
Greer took a drink from her water, studying Vivien out of the corner of her eye. “Did you mean what you said in your email? That you would have come home for the funeral if you could have?”
Vivien chewed a small bite of perfectly cooked pasta and sauce, biting back an appreciative groan. No matter how many recipes (and there weren’t many she’d had time to master) she tried out in her fancy kitchen in New York, they couldn’t begin to rival Mrs. H’s cooking. “I…honestly, I don’t know, Gigi. Probably. I hated the idea of you having to take care of the funeral on your own, but I was in the middle of meetings that were make-or-break for my firm.”
“You missed one hell of a party,” Greer said after a few moments. “Liam found a letter Dad drafted, outlining how he wanted it to go. Shiner and Wild Turkey at the bar, big-ass barbecue spread, and the Beatles and ZZ Top on the stereo.”
Vivien sniffed. “Sounds about right. He used to blast ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ when Mom would declare it was cleaning day. It drove her nuts, but before the song was half-way over he’d have her dancing with him.”
“Really? I just remember him playing it when I’d go with him to the office,” Greer said. “Wish I could have seen them like that.”
The mutual grief hovered between them, neither sister saying anything.
“So you’re seriously only planning to be home for two weeks?” The accusation in her sister’s voice stung at first as it broke the moment of peace between them, but soon Vivien bristled right back. She’d already taken crap from Liam about this today; she didn’t need it from her baby sister, too.
“This is not my home, Greer. My life is in New York.” Vivien dropped her fork with a satisfying clank. “The only reason I’m here is because Jed left me no choice. I have clients and associates depending on me, and I can’t afford to be away too long. I’m already jeopardizing my chance at partner by coming here.”
Greer tossed her napkin onto the breakfast bar, anger rolling off her in waves. “Is that all you care about? Your stupid job? News flash, Viv, you have an entire company, our goddamn family legacy depending on you! Those people in New York and London and wherever the hell else you’re always flying off to aren’t your family. I am. The people at MT are. What about your obligation to your family? Huh? Where does that factor into your grand plans? Let me guess. It doesn’t. You want to run and abandon everything to Uncle Richard and forget all about us.”
Hopping off her stool, Vivien slowly made her way around to the sink. She opened the cabinet the trash can was housed in and scraped her lasagna into a bin marked “compost” before rinsing off her plate. Deep, deliberate breaths helped her maintain her equilibrium and cool. She’d perfected the tactic over the negotiating table with some of the most sexist men in the world, yet her baby sister had her almost losing her temper.
“I should go find a hotel to stay at. It’s clear me staying here isn’t going to work for either of us.” Yes, a step back. That’s exactly what she needed. Space between her and the black hole of family commitments. Easier to get in and out of town if she didn’t have to worry about getting sucked into her little sister’s life.
Coward, Liam’s voice whispered in her head. She’s your only family.
Greer slammed her hand down on the counter, a gesture that was pure Jed. “Damn it, Vivi. I have never asked you for anything. I haven’t said a word every freaking time you blew off Christmas or sent a lame card and expensive gift for my birthday instead of acting like a big sister.
“This house is too empty and too quiet without Dad here. If you’re going to leave me in the dust again, the least you can do is stay here as long as you’re in town.”
Guilt hit Vivien again, sharpened by the tears shining through Greer’s hard glare. She didn’t like to think about what her little sister’s life had been like in the years since Vivien left for college. It was easier to compartmentalize and close off anything associated with her life in Texas, including her sister, otherwise the pain would eat away at her.
With the age difference, they’d never been close, but Greer was one of the last ties Vivien had to their mother. It was hard at first, but a clean break was better all around. All she and Jed had done—when he wasn’t ignoring her—was argue and fight and push each other to the limits of sanity. He never understood her, and she didn’t want to even begin to try to understand him.
Greer always ended up caught in the middle, for better or worse, the reason they’d lost the one person who tied them together. An innocent casualty in the never-ending war of the Monroes, Greer tried to get along with everyone, to please everyone—which usually served to piss Vivien off more. Jed had favored his younger daughter, with her love of video games and knack for art, and her desire to make Daddy happy, which made it that much harder for Vivien to connect with Greer.
“Fine. I’ll stay.” She tugged on the hem of her jacket, avoiding Greer’s gaze. “But only until I clean up the mess Jed left behind.”
Without waiting for Greer’s response, Vivien made her way up the grand staircase, her Louboutins clicking sharply against the wood floors.
Inside her room, she closed the door, resting her back against it. Emotions pelted her, one after another. Too many ghosts here. Too many memories and should-have-beens and pain.
She trailed her hand over the old dresser, grief hitting her as she saw the picture of her mother was still where she’d hung it so many years ago.
One day, she was studying herself in the mirror with all the vanity of a twelve-year-old. The day before, her grandmother had given her a photograph of Clara that she found when cleaning out the master bedroom closet, a picture of Clara as a teenager smiling brightly up at the camera. Vivien placed the picture on the wall beside her mirror and she finally saw it. Her father couldn’t look at her because all he saw was Clara. Her stomach still twisted into painful knots, remembering how the man she used to think hung the moon had pushed her away because she looked like the woman they both desperately missed.
As tears stung her eyes, the flowers Greer mentioned earlier taunted Vivien from the whitewashed dresser—a rich bouquet of perfectly red roses. Trust him to go for flashy and cliché, rather than thoughtful. Goddamn it. Why couldn’t he accept they were over? That she wasn’t going to accept him back into her bed simply because he tried to buy her affection? Snatching the flowers up, she threw them in the bathroom trash can. Gasping for breath that wouldn’t come through the anger, frustration and—to her surprise—grief, she stared into the mirror, feeling twelve years old again.
There really was no place like home.