Chosen for Power (Women of Power, #1) (13 page)

“Don’t feel bad, dear. Elle doesn’t ask for help. She didn’t ask for it eight years ago, and she’s not going to ask for it now. I may be a tough old broad, but I’m not in my eighties anymore. I can't be there for her like I've done in the past. She needs you now. She needs your love and unwavering support to make sure she comes out of the trench she’s put herself in.”

“Tell me everything I need to know,” Drake ordered, his face set in sheer determination.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Drake walked Shirley to the elevator an hour later. His mind was reeling with what had been going on for the past weeks. Why hadn’t Elle told him about the identity theft?
Because relationships need work
, he thought. It’s not enough to passively be there for her. They needed to talk—more than just a “how was your day?” before landing in bed together. Sure, sex was important, but he wasn’t with her for that reason. He was with her because their hearts were connected. And when the woman he loved was in pain, he should have put in the effort to find out why.

No wonder she looked exhausted last night. She was fighting for her company and now someone was out for her identity. Drake motioned Phillip into the office as he passed by his desk. Drake would watch the situation to see if he needed to buy up some shares of Titan Industries. The sooner Elle put this to rest, the better. He wouldn’t tell her what he was doing. In fact, he hoped she’d never learn of it and that he’d never need to buy the stock to help her. It was just a contingency in case it looked like they would pursue diluting the stock.

“Phillip, after you have that stock ordered, clear my schedule for the rest of the afternoon.”

Drake grabbed his coat and headed for the elevator. Shirley was right; he should have known something was going on. He had Phillip's report on Chord and Titan Industries sitting on his desk, but he’d been so caught up in work that he hadn’t followed through on his vow to help take them down. He made a mental note to send his investigator to the bank as well. He just hoped Mallory played nice. But if it was to help Elle, he was sure she would.

Damn it! When he noticed how tired she was, he should have found out why. It was one thing to be excited about his project, but quite another to ignore what was going on in her life. It wasn’t just him anymore. He was part of an
us
now and he intended to never forget that again.

Elle’s eyes burned as she tried to read the report in front of her. The meeting with Bellerose was tonight and she needed to read all the financials on the company beforehand. Allegra had been right: it was a good company to invest in. The trouble was she was using a lot of their capital to beat Titan Industries at their own game.

She pulled up Simpson Steel’s records and ran her irritated eyes over the numbers. If they could collect the second payment on the new project Bree was working on, then they could afford a good-sized deposit on Bellerose. She’d already talked to Mr. Burger who had been more than happy to set up a business loan for the rest.

Rubbing her eyes, she looked back at the numbers and waited for them to come into focus. After Monday, this thing with Chord would be over and she could work at paying them off with capital from Titan. Mallory purchased her shares a couple days ago and Finn, yesterday. Jessica was meeting with a broker at that moment and purchasing hers.

During her research she found out both Simpson Global and Titan Industries shared a number of shareholders who were more than happy to tell Elle they disapproved of Titan hiring Chord McAlister and would eagerly vote in favor of the takeover. After all, Elle had proven to them over the years she could make them money, and lots of it. That was how she found out Chord was presenting his final plan of attack for Simpson Global on Monday at eight in the morning. She had set up a vote of Simpson Global shareholders that afternoon. He thought he had the Simpson shareholders in his pocket and was ready to call a vote.

“Elle.”

Her head shot up and she realized she’d dozed off. She didn’t know for how long, but, since she was still holding the financial reports in her hand, it couldn’t have been too long.

“Drake,” she said as she smiled. Elle wanted nothing more than to crawl into his arms at that moment. He had a way of making her forget everything else that was going on and leave her feeling loved and safe.

“You should have told me about Titan trying to force the buyout and about the identify theft. I called Mallory and our investigators are working with the bank. But more than that, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Elle.”

“Sorry about what?” Elle’s mind was still foggy. Investigators? Titan?

“I’m sorry I haven’t been here for you. I thought you were just working hard. But then I find out you’re in the middle of a hostile takeover while someone is out there pretending to be you. I should have been by your side.”

Elle shook her head trying to clear the cobwebs. “It’s okay. It’s just business.”

“You’re my business, Elle. You come first. Please, tell me what I can do.”

“Nothing. That’s the thing. There’s nothing you can do. I have to take him down. I have to deal with all this.”

“Not alone you don’t. You’re exhausted. Let me take you home and put you to bed. We’ll tackle this in the morning, together. Always together from now on.”

Elle sighed. It sounded lovely. It just wasn’t possible. “It’s okay. You have your own company with your own problems.”

“And successes. We just completed a program that will change the landscape of criminal investigations. We’re a couple, we need to start sharing our ups
and
our downs. Come on, let me take you home and you can tell me everything that is going on.”

“I can’t. I’m sorry. I have all these things to get done today." Elle gestured to the folders and pink memo slips that covered her desk. "And I have a meeting tonight. Allegra has a major deal that will really bring Simpson Fashions into a whole new sphere. Besides getting all this done, I have to read this report and develop a plan of action for the purchase of it.”

“Who is she looking at buying? Shouldn’t she be handling it?”

“Bellerose. Owned by David Bell and Josh Rose. And no, I handle all negotiations. She’s brought it this far and now I’ll take it from here. Then she picks it back up once everything is signed on the dotted line. I’ve found it keeps relationships between them and their subsidiaries cleaner. When the VPs start working with the previous owners, there is no tension. They negotiated with me, not Bree or Allegra, and won’t hold them responsible for any tense negotiating.”

“How long until the meeting?”

“Five hours, why?”

“Elle, do you trust me?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then find an empty office and study the report. Take your notes, write down the strengths and weaknesses, and do whatever it is that you need to focus on. Let me take care of everything that comes up for the next four hours and help you with what I can to clear your desk. I wrapped up my government contract and the team is working on smaller projects. I’m not needed this afternoon. Let me help you. If it can wait, it’ll be sitting on the desk waiting for you. If it’s time-sensitive, I’ll handle it.” Elle started to protest but Drake held up his hand. “If I need you, I’ll come get you. I promise. But you need to ace this meeting tonight.”

Elle sat still staring at Drake. She didn’t really know what to say. Part of her mind tugged her toward the couch in the empty office next door. She could sit down and really study Bellerose without any interruptions. Let him help you, her mind whispered. But she’d never left anyone else in charge of Simpson Global before, even for just a couple hours.
Do you trust me?
Drake had asked. She didn’t need to think about it any more. She had her answer.

“Okay.” Elle felt secure in her decision. She was so tired and it would be a huge relief to spend whatever energy she had on her acquisition. She did trust him and he'd take care of her, her family, and her company as if they were his own.

Drake crossed the room and she looked up into his blue eyes and saw his love for her. “Come here, sweetheart,” he whispered.

As Drake’s arms came around her, a pleasured sigh escaped. He was so warm, so strong, so sure of himself. It gave her the confidence to let him help her while she focused on Bellerose.

Drake walked Elle down the hall as Jessica stood with wide eyes at the display of affection. He nudged the empty office door open with his foot and crossed to the leather couch. Elle was already half asleep, her face buried in his shoulder.

“Are you sure you can focus enough to work?”

“Yes. You just smell really good and are so warm,” Elle sighed.

“Okay, I know exactly what you need. You’ve heard of carb loading, right? Well, we’re going to caffeine load enough to get you through your meeting.” Drake turned to Jessica standing in the doorway. “Think you can help with that, Jessica?”

“Sure do. We’ll start slow, an espresso, and work our way up to a triple.” Jessica shot them a grin and hurried off down the hall. Drake reached for Elle. His fingers traced the curve of her cheek as he pushed a loose piece of hair behind her ear.

“Anything particular you want me to start on?” Drake asked.

“So, you’re my assistant for the day? You'll do whatever I tell you to?” Elle asked in a seductive voice.

“Anything and everything,” Drake’s low voice rumbled.

“Then fix my computer network,” Elle purred before they both dissolved in laughter.

“Here you go! One espresso with a chocolate cupcake as a side,” Jessica called out as she sailed into the room looking confused as Drake and Elle tried to stop laughing.

“Thank you.” Elle said as she took some deep breaths and turned back to Drake. “I think I’m too  exhausted to be funny, but thank you for helping me today. Jessica, take Drake to my office and let him handle all of the little things for a few hours.”

“Handle?”

“That’s right. Drake will be handling some of the business today while I work on the Bellerose deal. Your job is to keep me stocked with caffeine and help Drake as much as you can when I don't need you for this deal,” Elle smiled. Her assistant was amazing at finding out interesting tidbits for her.

“You’re a good friend, Jessica. Thank you for any help you can give me,” Drake said sincerely. “But, now we have some work to do.”

Jessica stared up at him as if he were from Mars, but then shook her head and got her game face on. “Let’s do it.”

Drake walked back into Elle’s office and sat down behind her desk. “What can I do to help Elle?”

“Bree dropped this off for review,” Jessica said as she placed a folder on the desk. “And these are all housekeeping issues that need to be handled.”

Drake stared at the memo sheets as Jessica gave him a challenging look. “She does all this in a day?”

“Yes siree. And I have some things here to go over,” Shirley said as she pushed her way into the office. “Good to see you came to your senses. Now, leave those reports here, Jess, and put all calls, emails, everything through. Mr. Charles is going to do some real work for once.”

Drake felt a smile spread across his face as Shirley took a seat across the desk from him.

“Okay then. I have a stack of calls for you. I’ll bring them in.”

Shirley smiled at him and Drake felt like a hero. There was no greater feeling than helping the woman you love. He ran his own company; how hard could it be to run Elle’s for a couple hours?

*     *     *

Drake was on the verge of tears. He was man enough to admit that. He was going to cry. He ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up in all directions. It had only been three hours and he’d done more than he’d done at Drake Charles Enterprises for the last week. How did Elle do it? He was reading reports on steel production, shipping, building, and summarizing them for Elle to read later. He’d returned phone calls to every department under the sun within Simpson Global. He’d talked to accounting, legal, and human resources . . . at least he aced the call with the tech department.

Somehow Elle was able to handle rapid-fire questions from Bree, Allegra, and Jessica all while reading reports, talking with banks, and negotiating deals. Then came the report from Reid on the casinos in Europe and his plans for expansion. Who knew Reid had a brain? He was just like Phillip. So easy-going you’d forget they were some of the smartest people he knew. But one conclusion he came to easily was Elle really needed another vice president to handle all the financial institutions so she could focus on orchestrating each arm of Simpson Global.

“Elle, I was thinking about this morning . . . Whoa, you’re not Elle.” Drake hung up the phone with purchasing and looked up at Finn.

“No, I’m not. What about this morning?” Drake had never experienced jealousy before. It was a new feeling. He didn’t particularly like it, but the thought of waking up alone this morning while Elle was with another man twisted something inside of him.

“Um, nothing to worry about. Where’s Elle?” Finn asked.

“Working on the Bellerose deal. What were you doing this morning with Elle?” Finn didn’t miss the hardness to his voice.

“After working out together this morning, I heard her talking on the phone in the car about something and had an idea I wanted to run by her,” Finn told him vaguely.

“What do you mean, working out together?”

Finn suddenly narrowed his eyes. “Look, Mr. Charles, I don’t know what you’re doing here, but I think I’ll talk to Elle. If she’s not telling you things, then that’s enough for me to know to keep my mouth shut.”