Chapter 40

Kasey

“You’re looking much better,” Nicole smiled across the table at her best friend.

“I told you I would pull myself together,” she allowed a half smile to grow before taking a sip of her margarita. It was one of their regular girl lunches to catch up on all that had happened over the past week.

“Kasey, you don’t have to pretend to be strong for me. It’s only been two weeks, and I know you cared about him a lot.”

Silence grew between them as Kasey tried to find the right words. As usual, Nicole was right, she did really like Jay and she wanted things to be different between them, but his actions revealed his true intentions. More than anything, she was happy she hadn’t fallen any harder, because in just that short time, she was almost head over heels about him.

“It was all just for business, Nicole. I got played, forgetting how cutthroat the industry can be. Jay is a shark, just like Renee, it’s something I should get used to. This is the big leagues.”

It was the only explanation Kasey could come up with, and the story she’d repeated to herself to make sense of Jay’s actions. He had to want her solely for what she could add to Passions Publishing, using the ploy of a relationship as a carrot to dangle in her face.

“Well, for someone so in touch with business, he sure is falling behind to Renee. And no offense, but she doesn’t seem half as competent as him.”

“We did see an uptick in the romance department,” Kasey nodded, reaching across the table for a tortilla chip.

“No, I mean the acquisition.” Nicole looked to Kasey incredulously.

“What acquisition?” she asked, absentmindedly.

“I wondered why you hadn’t told me. Don’t tell me you didn’t know. Renee just bought one of Jay’s publishing houses.” Nicole’s eyes widened with shock. “Maybe you’re right, I should get in the publishing industry, because you’re asleep at the wheel!”

“No, I didn’t hear anything about that. I’ll have to ask Renee when I get back to the office,” Kasey said, as nonchalantly as possible, but Nicole’s revelation made the rest of their lunch torturous. Every ten seconds, Kasey looked at her watch, trying to find the best time to get back to the office.

She had to know every detail about the deal and what it entailed. How on earth had Renee managed to buy a piece of Passions Publishing? She knew how much Jay cared about his business, and doubted he’d leave any loopholes for someone as shady as Renee to get in the backdoor.

“How about you just go back to the office, because you’re not paying any attention to me anyway,” Nicole teased, before finishing her margarita.

“Sorry, I just can’t wrap my mind around how that deal could have gone down without me knowing anything about it.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re still caught up on the one that got away,” Nicole smiled innocently.

“He didn’t get away, Nicole, he was a dirt bag.”

“How could you know that if you didn’t even hear his side of the story?”

Throughout the two weeks, Nicole had been more understanding and empathetic towards Jay than Kasey liked.

According to her best friend, Jay’s behavior didn’t add up to someone who wasn’t genuinely interested. Nicole felt that Kasey’s business theory was all bullshit. If Jay was only concerned with her re-joining the Passions team, he was smart enough to know he should have removed himself from the deal—maybe having his partner approach her with a proposition that gave her stock in the company, or something equally as lucrative.

“There’s nothing to hear, Nicole.” Kasey was done hearing her wild theories about how Jay loved her and only made a mistake. She wasn’t in the mood for fairy tales, so she gave her best friend a hug and left for the office.

It had been a while since she visited Rockwell Publishing in the afternoon, preferring to schedule her meetings in the morning so she could work from home in the evenings. There was a lot going on—people moving furniture, and a legal team meeting in the large conference room.

“What’s going on?” Kasey asked a receptionist, who seemed to be overwhelmed with calls.

“It’s about the acquisition. Everyone is going crazy!”

Bypassing her own office, Kasey went straight to Renee’s to figure out what was going on. She was on the phone when Kasey arrived, but she rushed the person off the line, waving Kasey in as she said her goodbyes.

“The woman of the hour! How are you, sweetheart?” Renee cheerily came around her desk, wrapping her arms around Kasey in one of her now infamous yet still awkward hugs.

“What is going on, Renee?”

“By now you’ve heard the news. We’ve got one of Jay’s prized publishing houses! It’s all happening! And this is just the beginning. We’re going to bury them!” She said before clenching her teeth together tightly.

“How did you manage that?” Kasey asked, still in disbelief.

“He didn’t tell you? He’s even sneakier than me,” Renee huffed, shaking her head.

“Who didn’t tell me what?”

“Jay made a deal with me. He wanted you back at Passions so bad that he agreed to give me one of his publishing houses in exchange for you.” She grinned like the Cheshire cat as she revealed the truth.

“Are you serious?” Kasey yelped.

“Don’t worry, my darling. There’s no way I’ll actually hand you over, you’re my golden goose.” She squeezed her arms tightly around Kasey’s shoulders before releasing her and walking behind her desk.

“He’ll be mad, but he’ll get over it. He should’ve known I would never do a fair deal with an enemy,” she shrugged and sat in her seat just as her phone rang. She held up a finger indicating she needed a moment, but Kasey dismissed herself, walking back to her office in a daze.

Jay had sacrificed one of his publishing houses just to get her back to Passions? The realization hit her like a ton of bricks, as Nicole’s words replayed in her mind. That didn’t make sense if Jay’s sole purpose for courting her was to increase his profits.

He had chopped his business just to get close to her, and now Renee was going to make sure he got nothing in the deal. Guilt and remorse washed over her and she sat at her desk, forcing herself to take a deep breath so that she could think straight.

There had to be something she could do. Maybe it was too late to stop the deal, but she needed to talk to Jay and understand why he would do something like this. He loved his companies. If he was willing to give one up just for Kasey, what did that mean about how he felt about her?

The thoughts clouded her mind, and she was certain that Jay was serious about their relationship —it was more than a business deal. He had gotten in bed with Renee to win her back and there was no way he could come out of the deal unscathed.

Rubbing her temples, Kasey brainstormed options, knowing that she couldn’t just sit still and allow Jay to be taken advantage of, but she didn’t know how she could stop him when Renee was already acting on the ridiculous agreement.