Chapter Five
How To Be Ruthless, Lesson One
Charlotte stormed out of the office. That man! Talk about ruthless! He had just informed her he was going to pay her to hang on his arm and then send her on her way when he was done. He was seriously a prize asshole, just like his father. The epitome of the rich business man who can do whatever he wants and damn the consequences. The way he’d loomed over her. She’d almost thought he was going to kiss her! She pushed away the thought that she wanted him to, that she might even have leaned into him. That was ludicrous. He was totally not her type, all domineering and business first. Nothing mattered except the money, as far as he was concerned.
But you did as he told you to, whispered a tiny treacherous voice in her mind. And maybe she had, yes. But she only played along with him to get her own way. Access to his father’s house for a whole weekend; how could she resist that? Especially since she knew he’d moved all his business archives into his home. What an odd thing to do, she thought. Did the man have something to hide? She hoped so. She would love to be the one to find out.
She fought off a twinge of guilt. Snooping around his files was not really her style, not to mention illegal. But if she was invited in, well, then he brought it on himself, didn’t he? She hadn’t asked to be dragged to the family mansion for a weekend. Jordan Lovett had asked her. Jordan had insisted, in fact, refusing to take no for an answer.
She’d had enough of being the good girl. Her father was living proof of where that got you: her parents were barely getting by. She was doing her best to help them out but it was tough. Meanwhile, Lovett Industries was worth a fortune. If they went public, George Lovett would probably end up one of the richest men on earth. Her dad had set the original company up, working long hours throughout her childhood with his “partner”, George Lovett. Then once success was in reach, Lovett had pushed Dad out, claiming he was holding them back, and taken over the company without even a golden handshake. Now, her parents couldn’t afford the mortgage on the house they’d lived in for thirty years and Dad was a broken man. This was why Charlotte wanted to be ruthless. Charlotte needed to be ruthless. R was for ruthless and revenge and retaliation and righting wrongs. She would prove to the world that her father deserved better. The tattoo was only the first step.
Charlotte went straight to Josephine’s Coffee. Not that she had any intention of working at this time of night. She ordered a double chocolate chip latte with caramel syrup. It probably had enough calories to feed a small village but she felt she’d earned it. She had fully intended to walk into Jordan Lovett’s office and hand him his money back, with a short lecture on how stupid he was to assume. He’d apologize for thinking she was... whoever it was that he thought she was. Then she’d laugh and walk away. She’d decided her plan of working for him was not going to work, was never going to work. Especially not if she kept falling to pieces every time he looked at her. He had a way of really looking at her, not just a glance but as if he was drinking her in. It made her brain freeze up. Fine, it was a non-starter.
Except instead of turning him down and laughing in his face, she’d kept the cash and agreed to take $5,000 more! And be his date for the weekend. She still couldn’t get over it: famous playboy Jordan Lovett, paying for female company. She could probably make more than $5,000 by selling that to the tabloids. She couldn’t help but wonder why. He was tall, good looking and charming. When she thought about how quickly he pulled her towards him as if they were going to dance, her heart raced a bit faster. If he could do that to her, his sworn enemy, then she couldn’t imagine he had any problem getting women to do whatever he damn well wanted. Something flared in her at the thought. Jealousy? She certainly didn’t wish for this. A fling was the last thing she wanted, let alone with some rich guy used to getting his own way. No thanks.
Her iPhone trembled. She answered without looking at caller-ID, there was only one person who would call after working hours. Which reminded her, she should pick up a burner phone to use for the weekend. She didn’t want the Lovetts to be able to track her down. “Hi Mom.”
“Hi honey! You aren’t still working, are you? I just called to remind you Rebecca’s birthday party is on Saturday afternoon.”
“Oh.” Rebecca was her 9-year-old neice and the light of the family’s life. Her brother hadn’t done much right but he turned out to be the one with the family-rearing genes. Not like Charlotte. “Um, I have some work on.”
“On a Saturday? Surely you can spare an hour for the child. Come over and have a slice of cake, at least.”
She rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know, Mom. I have a weekend job on, like security detail type thing.” She winced at the white lie but if she told her mother the truth, she’d go ballistic. Time enough for that if she found anything.
“You work too hard. It’s not good for you. When are you going to find a man and settle down? You aren’t getting any younger, you know.”
“Oh, Mom.” She bit her tongue to keep from remarking that the money she was making this weekend was going to pay for her parent’s mortgage and get her caught up on the rent. Mom didn’t think women should concern themselves with finances and Dad didn’t like to worry her. Yet another reason why Charlotte would rather be self-reliant and single than in a relationship where she was expected not to worry about such things like keeping a roof over their heads. She was never going to give up her freedom to be with some man who thought she needed looking after. Especially some rich businessman who bullied everyone into doing what he wanted.
She shook Jordan out of her head. No, definitely not, why was she even thinking about him? She was just over-excited by the idea of a clandestine job. This went way beyond private investigator and completely into spy territory. She definitely wasn’t still remembering that moment when he almost kissed her. Definitely not.