Alpha Male Incorporated: Take Control (4 page)

“So, when Dad ultimately got better and decided to retire and leave the business to me, I felt trapped, which is why I hooked up with Pebbles and got involved with the gambling. I couldn’t handle all of the responsibility that I had never wanted in the first place.

“While I was at rehab, I learned that I couldn’t live my life for anyone else but myself. When I was released the first thing I did was see Dad in Florida without telling anyone. We talked about a lot of things that did involve the hedge fund. Eventually, while I was there, I finally told him I wanted to sell our business to another company.

“Of course, he was upset with me at first. But, after he calmed down and truly listened to me, Dad understood what I was telling him. He only wanted both of us to be happy and do what we wanted with our lives. He doesn’t want either one of us to get lost in making money like he did while we were growing up. He still believes it’s the reason Mom left us and married another man.

“Raya, I’ve found my passion and it’s way past time you found yours. Honestly, I can’t believe this is what you want to wake up and do every day of your life.”

She was fed up with everyone trying to tell her what to do. It was her life to do what she wanted. She wasn’t a child anymore. She was a grown woman who could make her own decisions. Actually, she had been making a lot of good decisions for a while.

“You don’t know anything about my dreams because you stopped talking to me when I confronted you about your gambling problems. Clients started leaving the hedge fund and it went down because
you
stole money from it. I saved your ass by putting it right with money I’d earned from other jobs. If you hadn’t focused on yourself so much you would have known I
never
wanted to do anything but be the CEO of the company. Yet, Daddy passed me over and gave the reins to you.”

Cedric actually looked at her with a guilty expression. “Sis, I’m sorry I really didn’t know how much it meant to you. I would have never signed those papers. Can I do anything else to help you?” he asked, sincerity in his voice. “I want for us to build a stronger brother and sister relationship. I know we had some sibling rivalry when we were growing up because of Dad’s favoritism towards me, but we are older now. I think we can form something good if you let us.”

Finally!
Raya thought. She might actually get some useful information from her brother after all.

“Yes, tell me the name of the man you’ve been working with all of these months. I feel like I’m fighting the invisible man. I try to find something out about the person and I keep coming up empty. Give me something to work with.”

Standing up, her brother looked down at her. “I don’t know why you keep asking me about this guy because you know him,” he said matter-of-factly.

“What do you mean, I know him?” Raya blurted out, shocked. She knew of no one in her past that wanted anything to do with their business. “How do I know him? Is he an ex-acquaintance of mine or something?”

Her brother shook his head. “The guy who offered me money for the company is related to Sahara’s husband,” Cedric answered, watching her closely.

“Are you talking about Zander?” she questioned. “He already has a successful security business. Why would he want a hedge fund? I don’t think he’s a numbers guy, anyway.”

“No, that’s not his name. He’s tall, maybe around six-feet five inches, with dark brown hair. He was wearing a tailor-made suit that I guess cost probably more than all of the clothes in my closet.”

Something clicked in Raya’s mind as it slowly dawned on her who Cedric was describing. Thorsten Irizarry, the pain in her ass who didn’t know how to leave her alone. She still didn’t figure out why he kept insisting on more than one occasion that she wasn’t giving him a fair chance.

They
needed
to know each better, yet his smug attitude was so off-putting that she couldn’t even be alone with him in the same room for longer than a few minutes.

Raya had wondered why Thorsten, of all people, was interested in keeping in touch with her. They barely knew each other. For a while now, she sensed Sahara had been keeping something important from her, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

Could this be it
?

Maybe Sahara knew about this and didn’t know how to tell her. If so, she was hurt her best friend couldn’t be honest with her. They had been friends too long to keep a secret this huge from her.

“Is his name Thorsten Irizarry?” she demanded.

“Yes, that’s him,” her brother answered. “I’d only talked with him a few times on the phone and then twice in person. He gave me such a good deal that I wasn’t interested in talking with anyone else after him.”

“God, I can’t believe he did this. Wait until I see him,” Raya snapped, gathering up all of her paperwork. She shoved it back into her black satchel which she slipped over her shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Cedric asked, watching her closely. “You aren’t about to do something that you shouldn’t, are you?”

“I need to pay a visit to someone and have a very long talk with him. Maybe seeing me in person will finally get it through Mr. Irizarry’s thick skull to leave me the hell alone.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Won’t Sahara get upset with you for getting into another fight with one of her family members? Besides, he’s willing to give us a lot of money for our failing business,” Cedric pointed out. “You keep acting like we don’t need the money, but we do. When are you going to admit it?”

Pushing her glasses up her nose with her index finger, she glared at her brother. “No, we won’t need a dime from Thorsten Irizarry. Furthermore, Sahara and I are best friends. She will understand why I’m so upset. I can’t have someone like him looking over my shoulder every day.”

“When are you going to focus on something else besides work? Don’t spend all of your time doing this. Why don’t you find a guy like Sahara did and get married? You’re beautiful. I know there’s a lonely man out there who will deal with your craziness.”

Raya stopped, then gave Cedric a look. “Stop trying to be a matchmaker for me. I hated when Dad used to do it, so don’t step into his shoes.”

“All I’m saying is why don’t you take care of yourself more? Isn’t it past time you got a boyfriend or something? You spend way too much time by yourself except when you’re around Sahara. Get out and have fun while you’re still young enough to do it. I’m going to be out of town for a few months to work on a new movie set. I hope when I come back home you will have things worked out with Thorsten Irizarry. You can’t keep fighting this losing battle.” Her brother gave her a hard look of his own, then turned on his heel.

Following Cedric out of the room, Raya wondered why he was trying to give her advice about her love life. It was a little late for him to act like a concerned big brother. She knew what she was doing when it came to Thorsten.

During their other encounters, Thorsten might have blown her off with a quick compliment and sexy wink, but those days were over. She was going to make her nemesis understand that she couldn’t be bought. no matter how much money he tossed in her direction. If anyone was going to bring the business back from the edge of the cliff, it was going to be
her
and not him
.
The last time she checked, the last name August was on the front door, not Irizarry!

After driving to Alpha Male Incorporated, Raya stormed down the long hallway in search of Thorsten Irizarry. She counted to ten more than once to keep her temper in check. She didn’t want to be all riled up before she laid eyes on him. She wanted to have a clear head so she could tell him everything she had been keeping to herself for months.

How dare he make a play for her corporation right under her nose? What kind of man was he? Is this the way he ran his company?

God, how could she ever trust someone who smiled in her face one minute and then in the next shoved a knife in her back? Well, she wasn’t going to stand for it. She wondered if Jax and Zander knew that Thorsten had created a bogus company to steal hers away.

If they were clueless, she was going to give them a rude awakening today. Thorsten wasn’t going to keep bothering her with texts, phone calls, or emails. She wasn’t anything to him, so why he kept asking her out on dates didn’t make any sense. They were never going to do anything with each other,
ever
!

She had only laid eyes on Thorsten a few times in passing. Hell, he wasn’t anything special for her to remember or even have feelings for. The sooner he got the message through his thick skull, the faster she could be finished with this entire situation.

Raya hadn’t shown him any kind of interest. She wasn’t against a man being confident in his abilities, but he took it to an entirely different level. She wouldn’t look at him twice if he was the only man left at the bar after last call.

Turning the corner, she made a beeline for Thorsten’s office when a voice spoke behind her, stopping Raya in her tracks.

“Hello, beautiful Raya. I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away from me any longer.”

Pivoting, Raya faced the man she had come all this way to see.
Lord
, she did have to give Thorsten credit. He knew how to wear clothes that set off his muscular frame. His jet black suit molded his muscular body perfectly, like it had been custom made. It definitely wasn’t off the rack. Seeing a well-dressed man always turned her on—too bad the sight of Thorsten turned her off.

“Yes, I came here to see you, Mr. Irizarry, but it’s not for the reasons you are thinking,” she replied.

Walking back towards him, Raya closed some of the distance, but not enough for him to touch her. If Thorsten wanted a woman to stroke his inflated ego, he would have to find another female to do it.

“I don’t believe you. I think you got my last phone call. You are here to accept my invitation to dinner,” Thorsten told her with a hint of arrogance in his voice. “What time should I pick you up for our date?”

Raya couldn’t believe he was actually asking her out with a straight face. Especially after the way he had been trying to steal what was hers.

“I didn’t drive all the way across town to accept anything from you. I’m here for a totally different reason,” she answered. “I know who you are because my brother finally told me the truth.

“How dare you smile in my face while trying to make a deal with Cedric behind my back? What kind of person are you?” she demanded. “I thought you were a lot of things, but never a liar. Stay away from my business and my brother. He might be a follower, but I’m not. You aren’t going to steal it from me. I have worked too hard to bring it back to where it is.”

“Sweetheart, you’re getting upset too easily over nothing,” he said, smiling down at her. “I’m only trying to help you. We both know that you don’t have many investors left in your company. So why don’t you just sign the paperwork I gave your brother? I can turn it back into the success it used to be when your father had it. Let me prove to you how good I am in and out of the boardroom.”

Raya was stunned by Thorsten’s statement. His condescending attitude almost left her speechless. How did any female with a working brain find anything about him appealing?

“I haven’t, nor will I, ever ask you to do anything for me, Mr. Irizarry. Why don’t you take all of this showboating and do it for another woman who wants it? I know I don’t,” she answered, trying to hold on to her rapidly slipping temper.

“Baby, why are you fighting me so hard on this?” Thorsten asked. “I can see in your eyes how much you want to take it. Just do it. I’m only trying to help you out. How can you be so upset with me over nothing? I swear you won’t regret it.” He stepped closer and his hand reached out to touch her, but she brushed it away.

“Don’t touch me!” Raya snapped.

“Raya, I want to touch you because you’re my—”

“Thorsten, that is enough,” a stern voice raged out in the hallway. “It’s time for you to leave Raya alone. I swear we heard you two arguing all the way back in the employee lounge.”

Spinning around, Raya spotted Jax standing behind her with Zander at his left. She couldn’t get over how big the Irizzary men were. All three men stood way over six feet, four inches with muscles in places that she never thought possible.

She liked Jax well enough, but she wouldn’t consider them buddies. He was a little too much for her with his ‘do-as-I-say’ attitude. However, as long as he treated her best friend Sahara with love and respect they wouldn’t have a problem with each other. Yet, she found it so strange vampires were real and not make believe, like she was raised to believe as a kid.

Not only Sahara’s life changed when Jax came into it, because she had to keep his secret about being a vampire. Honestly, if she did try telling someone Jax was a vampire who would really believe her? They would look at her like she was out of her mind. She loved Sahara way too much to ever break her confidence.

“Jax, you’re going to continue hearing me arguing with Thorsten,” Raya stated. “If your cousin doesn’t stop trying to steal my company, I’m going to be at Alpha Male Incorporated more than usual. I’ve told him to leave me alone, but he’s hard-headed and doesn’t know how to listen.”

Jax and Zander looked away from her and shared an odd look before gazing back in her direction. Lord only knew what that was about. The Irizarry men were excellent at keeping secrets until a person was a part of their immediate family, which she wasn’t. She wouldn’t ever have the ability to know what they were thinking.

“I have to agree with you. Thorsten does find it hard to listen when someone tells him something. I thought I was the only person he ignored,” Jax said, staring at her. “How about you go back to work and let us have a talk with him? Maybe Zander or I will be able to get through to him.”

Glancing away from Jax, Raya looked over at Thorsten. Of course, he winked at her like all of this was just a game.
God, does he ever know how to quit
? He was just too pushy for her.

“I don’t know,” she said, hesitating. “If he hasn’t done it before why would he listen to you now?”