Cameron's Contract (12 page)

I turned and stared at the board members
trickling out.

My hands fisted with tension and I walked briskly back toward them. “Ladies, gentlemen, we’ve not quite finished.”

They ignored me and headed off, talking amongst each other, their arrogance raw and uncompromising.

Stunned, I watched them go.

Henry appeared in a panic and pulled me back inside the conference room.

“
What just happened?” I said.

Henry shut the door. “We lost them, Cameron.”

A wave of panic came over me. “How?”

Dad neared us and rested his hand on my shoulder. “They changed their mind on the vote.”

My mouth went dry. “We had them.”

Dad brought his phone to his ear. “They just delivered the news.”

I stared at Henry, trying to read if I’d been too heavy handed, too arrogant to see I’d turned them off the deal. “What happened, Henry?”

“
We don’t know.” He gestured to Dad’s phone. “Who is it?”

Dad strolled over to the window to take the call.

His conversation was brisk, his tone defeated.

Dad hung up and turned to us. “That was Doug Malt’s wife.”

“
What did she say?” asked Henry.

“
Doug’s wife discreetly mentioned—” Dad steadied himself on the back of a chair— “It’s the kind of blackmail they can’t fight.”

“
Blackmail?” The word burned my throat. “They threatened to leak her husband’s condition to the press?”

“
If that’s what they’ve got on her,” said Henry, “imagine what they have on the others.”

Dad turned to me, his expression worn.

I swallowed hard, but this lump in my throat was destined to remain.

“I’ll sign the contract this afternoon,” said Dad. “Get legal to complete it.”

Henry looked devastated.

“I’m sorry, boys.” Dad turned and faced the glass.

CHAPTER 18

DAD STARED DEAD ahead, his words flowing like acid poured onto my heart. “‘
A
leader has the right to be beaten, but never the right to be surprised.’”
 

He’d quoted Napoleon Bonaparte.

That truth rang in my ears.

And Adrian Herron was on the fucking loose.

I should have followed Dad when he left the conference room, but my feet wouldn’t move.

Henry had already left.

The view of the city was vast and sweeping, and now I knew it had always been a threat in waiting, a warning I’d lied to myself that I had what it took to pull this off.

Swim backwards.

The words found me again in the loneliest place I’d ever stood. Our competitors had used the kind of tactics assembled in a dirty bomb—

Quick, ugly, and final.

Richard’s voice boomed from my phone. “Cameron? Are you there?”

I stared down at my cell, realizing I’d dialed his number.

“
Cam?”  

“
Where are you?” I said.

“
Driving. Needed to clear my head.”

“
Skydiving?”   

“
On my way to the pick up now.”

“
Be careful.”

“
Always. You need to join me. Though it sounds like you’ve got your own adrenaline junkie moves going on.”

“That trick you pulled on my shares.”  

“When I tripled them?”

“I need you to do it again.”

Silence screamed loudly on the other end.

I whispered, “Quadruple it.”

My thoughts carried me to the first time I’d met Richard at Terry’s Tavern back at Harvard. He’d looked so young, so intense, nursing his Corona in that private leather seated enclave. His broodiness attracted attention and at the same time kept away those threatened by his looks and obvious wealth.

I wished I could go back to those days at Harvard and start over.

Maybe even choose business instead…

I remembered Richard’s nose stuck in Geoffrey Chaucer’s
The House of Fame
, while he took bites out of a burger…

I’d approached him. “Mind if I join you?”

“Actually I do.” He’d raised his book. “I’m at a good part.”

“Great book. It’s about truth.”

“I don’t suck dick.”

“Charming, Mr. Sheppard.” I’d eased in and sat opposite.

“Can I help you with something?”

“I’m here to guide you to a place where you can safely spank your very own submissive and not get thrown out of Harvard.”  

He pushed his plate aside and wiped his hands on the napkin.

“Your lover is friends with my ex,” I told him.

“Excuse me?”

“Things went a little awry the other night with Megan, apparently.”

“This is kind of private.”

The waiter hurried over to our table since the bar was empty. Only a few locals sipping beer here and there. The young man was like so many other students who were also closing in on their finals. Those dark circles under his eyes were a result of burning the midnight oil.

I pointed to Richard’s burger. “Another one of those, please.”

Richard’s back straightened defensively.

“A glass of red, perhaps.” Though on pursuing the wine list, I changed my mind. “Actually, make that champagne.”

“With a burger?” Richard scoffed.

I’d handed the waiter the wine menu back. “Extra chilled.”

Richard looked over at him. “Another Corona.”

“Sure.” Our waiter headed off.

“Shouldn’t that be biology?” I gestured to Richard’s book.

“You seem to know an awful lot about me.”

“It’s a small place.”

“Bullshit. Listen, pretty boy, I’ve already told your other cult members I don’t do frat houses.”

“Sounds like you’re a popular man.”

“Did Megan send you to talk to me?”

I raised a brow. “No, but she did share you’re into kink.”

“You her brother?”

“No. I’m here as your friend.” I beamed at him, amused.

He shook his head, amused by his own bad boy front and obviously taken by my ability to disarm with a smile.

“I’m offering you the chance of a lifetime, Sheppard,” I said. “I’m inviting you to D'envoûtement.”

“Enthrall?”

I smiled at his translation.

His gaze swept the bar. “Does that place really exist?”

“It does.”

“Catch?”

“You end it with Megan.”

“Why?”

“She can’t give you what you want and both of you are going to get hurt.”

“I like her.”

“Tell her you’re over.”

“You want her?”

I gave him the glare his question deserved.

“All I did was spank her,” he said.

“Did she deserve it?”

His frown deepened.

“I’m going to give you your very own submissive,” I said. “One who knows how to please a master and will enter subspace when you spank her. Not cry like Megan did because she’s not into your kink.”

“She cried?”

“Yes.”

“Now I feel like a shit.” He took a swig of beer. “She told me she liked it.”

“Girls lie.”

“How much?”

“For membership?” I shook my head. “All we ask is that you spoil your sub. You keep your mouth shut. You answer to me.”

“Sounds like it’s your club?”

Our waiter placed that tall glass of champagne in front of me and I watched him walk away. “Am I drinking to our new member?”

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Cameron Cole.”

“Of Cole Tea?”

“Yes.”

“Heard you’re not studying business? Bet that’s a disappointment to your dad.”

“Neither are you.” I took a sip of champagne.

“Looks like we have something in common.”

“Same predilection. I can help you.”

“Why?”

“It’s what I do.”

“What? Seek out perverted bastards and offer them a safe place to practice their fucked-up fuckery?”

“Actually I was referring to your squeamishness in the lab. You’re failing your first semester because you couldn’t handle dissecting Mr. Pukesville.” The name he’d given his cadaver. He didn’t need to know how I knew that.

Richard visibly paled.

“I can help you with that too,” I said.

His gaze narrowed. “You can shove both offers right up your ass.”

I slid the card with D’envoûtement’s address across the table. “Tomorrow. Eight sharp. Black tie.”

I left him staring down at the card.

“Cole, you don’t want your burger?” he called after me.

I turned and looked back at him. “I ordered it for Megan.”

He’d looked aghast.

Over the years, it wouldn’t be the last time Richard had stared at me like that. Richard Booth Sheppard, one of the most incredible friends I’d ever had.  

“Cameron?” His voice brought me back to the present.

The scent of Balik salmon, caviar, and coffee lingered, along with the staleness of a meeting long over.

From behind the glass, I could see Dad talking to one of his secretaries. His gaze met mine and he gave a thin smile with a sharp nod of reassurance.

He wanted me to know he was okay.

Inside he was dying.

I cursed Shay for interrupting, believing that perhaps, just perhaps, I could have turned them around. I really thought I had them. Their expressions and body language had proved their conflict.

Had some of them been willing to throw themselves on their swords and ride out the blackmail? Stay loyal?

“Richard,” I said. “Do your thing.”

“Maybe you need a more experienced broker?”

“You’re the best there is.”

“I don’t know, Cam.”

“No regrets.”

“Promise.”

“Of course.”

The line wavered in and out and his voice broke up.  

“Richard, are you there?”

“As soon as I get home I’ll get on it.”  

“Pull over and buy from your phone.”

“…don’t like the sound of this, Cole. You sound a little…”

Uncertain was the word he was reaching for.

I drew back on the doubt in my tone. “Make this happen.”

“You’re really putting this kind of pressure on me?”

“I’m carrying this, Richard.”  

“Don’t blame me if this goes tits up.”

“If you pull this off—”

“It’s impossible. You do realize that?”

“What one man can do another can do.”

I’d heard that somewhere and truly believed it.

“What do I get out of it?” he said.

“Other than the generous commission?”

“Yeah?”

“Name it. Anything.”

“For reals, player?”

He made me smile, and God I needed that right now. “You have my word.”

“Mia,” he said. “I want her back. If I pull this off, she’s mine.”

A chill washed over me.

“There’s this shiny new stock coming out of Silicon Valley,” he continued as though he’d not just threatened to cut out my heart. “An Asian company called Destiny-Horizon. It’s skyrocketing. Want me to go for it?”

I spun round and faced the window.

“
So we have a deal, Cameron?”

My mouth dry. “Richard.”

The call dropped.

The line went dead.

I redialed and it went to voicemail.

Staring at my phone, I reran over our conversation, feeling as though I’d not been present. It was a surreal out of body experience.

What the fuck had just happened?

I stared out at t
he panoramic view and it made me feel so small, so useless.
 

Out of control.

Men had worked tirelessly building those skyscrapers, waterways, and bridges in a true testimony of what we were capable of—the confidence to create breathtaking monuments, each brick a landmark of determination never to give up.

A statement of unyielding power.

All I had to do was remember to breathe.

Do what had to be done.

CHAPTER 19

THE ELEVATOR ASCENDED.

A smooth ride toward the penthouse.

I’d moved Mia and I to my parent’s Manhattan Tempest Tower, right up there on the 98th story. We needed to find a place with no distractions and take advantage of this privacy.

My sleepless nights might end in a place with no memories.

I was only half aware of the view of Central Park. The mid-morning sun reflected off the glass, causing me to squint and shield my eyes. These luxury suites were just another piece of real estate my parents owned.

Their penthouse was lavishly decorated by my mother’s designer, and I cringed at the impending blast of color that was imminent. Leaning on the wall to support this sudden weakness, fatigue soaked into my bones and drenched my thoughts with futility.

The door flung open and Mia leaped onto me, wrapping her legs around my waist and hugging me. Her joy provided a stark contrast to my stunned state.