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Back then he thought he had more time to make everything right.
And now?
Five years had passed and the guilt was still palpable.
“I knew your father well, Alek,” Huntsman said, reaching up with his free hand to firmly pat his shoulder. “You have already made him proud.”
Alek’s smile was slight but genuine. “He threw me in the deep end and I had no choice but to sink or swim,” he said with a chuckle.
Kwame Ansah had been determined to have his way, even in death.
Alek had to make the difficult choice of accepting the position as cochief executive officer of ADG or having all his father’s shares in the conglomerate sold, with the proceeds donated to various charities. That would leave not only Alek but the rest of his family without an inheritance. His father had to have known he would never lose the family’s legacy and financial security. Stubborn old man.
Kwame Ansah was relentless, and in the end, he had been right. Per his father’s request he had spent the last five years training inside the company in preparation to run it. He spent considerable time within every branch of the ADG learning about it from the ground floor up. He took to it all like a fish to water. He soared, driven by a desire to make his father proud, but also pure determination to thrive and win—traits he inherited from his sire.
For so long, his stubbornness to pave his own path in life had blinded him to the innate skill and tenacity his father had seen in him all the while.
Now he was prepared to take the Ansah Dalmount Group even further.
Well, along with Alessandra, he conceded, sliding one hand into the pocket of his tailored slacks and taking another sip as he shook his head.
The news that his father’s business partner had left his shares of their billion-dollar conglomerate to his daughter had yet to sit well with him. Their power in the company was equal. Each inherited 49 percent of the shares, with the board of directors left with 2 percent of the shares to decide on a stalemate between them.
Alek felt that was inevitable.
They were completely driven.
With their fathers as both business associates and close friends, Alek had known Alessandra since childhood. Ever since they were small, Alek had found Alessandra’s quiet nature off-putting. She was never friendly and seemed afraid of her own shadow. As teenagers, they were never in the same circle of friends or schools but saw each other at social functions. She was decidedly awkward and found with her head in a book more times than not. He had little patience for the mousy little introvert and was glad their time in each other’s presence became nonexistent with age.
He frowned at the memory of her during their first meeting with the board of directors of ADG. Slender and petite with a head full of massive curls that dwarfed her face. Her petite figure swamped in the shirt and pants she wore. Oversize, ill-adjusted spectacles that she continuously pushed up on her nose. Nervously biting at her bottom lip. Looking confused, lost and unaware that she was completely out of her element.
He expressed his discontent with her appointment as co-CEO, so much so that the board readily agreed to his request to do his training in their London offices while Alessandra remained in New York. That was the last time he saw Miss Alessandra Dalmount.
And all of that would change tomorrow.
Everything would change tomorrow.
Alek released a heavy breath.
“It is not your last walk to the electric chair, sir,” Huntsman said, taking the now-empty snifter from him to cross the polished floor to refill it.
Alek reached up to run his long fingers across his close-shaven head. It wasn’t the move that Huntsman spoke of and they both knew it. It was not a “what” but a “whom.”
Alessandra Dalmount.
He accepted the snifter Huntsman pressed into his hand. “What in the world was Frances thinking?” he muttered darkly, his brow furrowing as he gripped the nightcap so hard that a lesser material would have crushed in his grasp.
“Ah, the eternal question,” Huntsman said softly, his tone amused.
“I will not sit back and let her destroy everything our fathers worked so hard to build,” Alek said sharply, turning in his spot to face the older man.
Huntsman smoothed his hands over his vest before clasping his hands together behind his back and rapping his heels together. “And yet the firm still stands strong after five years of her working there,” he said smoothly, his face almost unreadable.
“But she gains forty-nine percent control tomorrow—”
“As do you, sir,” Huntsman reminded him.
“Yes, but I know what the hell I’m doing!” Alek snapped.
Ding-dong.
“Plans, sir?” Huntsman asked drily.
“Damn,” Alek swore, dropping his head so low that his chin almost touched his chest.
He’d forgotten the beautiful woman he’d met after a business lunch out on the cigar terrace of the Boisdale of Belgravia earlier that day. It had been hard not to notice one of the few women enjoying the decidedly masculine Scottish decor, particularly her handling of the long and thick cigar in her mouth as she boldly met his stare from across the terrace. She’d made an invite back to his apartment for a nightcap completely undeniable.
He’d since forgotten all about her.
Huntsman waited patiently as Alek looked down into his drink and then toward the door before looking back at his drink again. Whatever desire he had to bed the woman had waned. He couldn’t remember her name and could only vaguely recall her beauty. “Have my driver take her home and offer her my apologies,” Alek said before tipping his head back to finish his drink.
Huntsman immediately turned to do as he was bid.
Alek wasn’t proud of treating the woman like a disposable convenience. It wasn’t usually his character, but he would not be good company for her or anyone else that night. His thoughts were centered on one thing and one thing alone: how to convince Alessandra Dalmount to willingly step down from her position at ADG.
For him, that was all that mattered.
* * *
Alessandra Dalmount leaned back in her leather executive chair and crossed her legs in the pin-striped pencil skirt she wore as she coolly eyed the junior executives sitting in the leather club chairs across from her at the conference room table. The two young men glanced at each other and shifted nervously in their seats as her silence filled the air.
As she continued to study them, Alessandra took the moment to ponder how hard she had to fight to prove her worth in the last five years. She was proud to finally be so respected within the company that her silence after the presentation of a business proposal elicited subtle anxiety. In the early days of stepping into the role her father had bequeathed her, Alessandra had been nervous, fidgety and apologetic. She had felt so unsure in her role. So unworthy. So judged.
Well, no more.
“As you all know, the expansion of ADG into the shipping industry has been of the utmost importance to me for the last year,” she began. “I expect some resistance.”
From Alek Ansah.
She forced a stiff smile and nearly snapped the pen she held in half from her tightened grasp as she shifted in her seat. She forced herself to do a mental five count as her employees watched her.
Get it together, Alessandra.
“I expect my team to gather the information and analytics I need on the list of firms I am suggesting the company acquire. I will make some notations and corrections to the report and get them back to you this evening,” she said, forcing her shoulders to relax as she stood up on her sling-back Fendi heels and gave each man a hard stare. “I expect the amended reports back to me before the end of the week, sans the little loopholes I’ve already discovered after a two-minute cursory perusal.”
“But, Ms. Dalmount...” one of them said.
“That is all,” Alessandra said firmly, dismissing them as she turned to look out the window at the Empire State Building among the sprawling landscape of Midtown Manhattan.
As her staff members quietly took their leave, her focus on the neighboring high-rise buildings blurred. She pursed her lips and released a breath meant to calm her nerves. It didn’t work.
Today she would assume her share of the responsibility in running one of the largest conglomerates in the country. She had the last five years to prepare, but in this moment, she felt as if that time had flown by so quickly.
And in truth she felt completely overwhelmed.
Alessandra unclasped the locket she wore on a long chain around her neck and stroked her thumb against the wedding photo of her parents nestled there. They both were lost to her. Her mother, Olivia, died when Alessandra was young, and her father had loved his wife so deeply that he never remarried. She could only find solace that her parents had reunited in heaven.
I miss you, Daddy.
As always, the thought of her father dying in such a tragic way weakened her knees. She closed her eyes as a wave of sadness and grief hit her, causing her to wince. Will the pain ever dull?
Not enough time had passed to properly grieve the death of a parent. In the space of a week, she lost her father, attended the funeral and then learned during his will reading that it was his wish for her to take over his position as a chief executive officer of the Ansah Dalmount Group. She’d wanted nothing more than to return to their family estate and bury her head under the dozen pillows on her bed so that she could sleep and pretend the week had never happened.
But that wasn’t to be.
Alessandra had been completely moved and surprised by her father’s faith in her, but her fear of it all had come with a quickness. Although she had previously graduated with a bachelor’s in English, Alessandra’s life had been all about her volunteer work for various charities. With one stroke of his pen, Frances Dalmount had solidified his daughter as one of the most wealthy and powerful women in the world. And now the day had arrived for her to take the reins.
Father, what have you gotten me into?
Alessandra closed the locket but kept it pressed in her hand.
Back then the last thing she wanted was the responsibility of taking over the family empire. She had hardly ever bothered herself with her father’s business affairs. She was his only child, and although he loved and spoiled her immensely, she had always known he would have preferred a son to raise in the ways of business. She had never held ill will about that.
And she never assumed he would expect so much of her.
Alessandra squeezed the bridge of her nose as she turned and walked along the length of the table to leave the modern and stylish conference room. Closing the glass door behind herself, she began walked down the hall to the right to her corner office, but stopped midway with a soft curving of her crimson-painted lips. Instead she turned and walked down the opposite end of the hall to the elevator. As the wood-paneled doors opened, she stepped on and pressed the button to go to the top floor of the twenty-five-story building.
She couldn’t lie; there was excitement blended with her fear.
The last five years she worked hard to form herself into a successful businesswoman. Between the fifty-to sixty-hour weeks she put in working in various departments to garner a firsthand knowledge of the business, to returning to college to earn her Master of Business Administration from Columbia University, to reshaping her image and bolstering her confidence, Alessandra went above and beyond to prove herself to the naysayers. It was clear that many people questioned her father’s decision to have her inherit his shares of ADG—she even questioned it herself.
Pain over her father’s death, anger about being openly scorned because she was a woman and a desire to win motivated Alessandra.
And she had thrived. She surprised the board members and her peers. She took pride in that. Alessandra had given up so much to live up to what her father expected of her. So very much.
The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors slid open, revealing the wide reception area. To her left was a sandalwood station beneath the backlit brass letters ADG on the wall, and to the right sat a modern sofa with sleek lines. Her eyes quickly landed directly across from her on the ornate double doors of the palatial boardroom. She smoothed her hands down her hips and stiffened her spine as she walked off the elevator.
ADG owned the entire commercial building, leasing out all but the top four floors with the penthouse reserved just for the expansive offices of the two CEOs.
That morning when she arrived, she learned one of those offices was now hers.
The receptionist, a tall redhead with glasses, rose to her feet. “Good morning, Ms. Dalmount,” she said with a warm smile.
Alessandra fought her natural inclination to return the smile and instead gave her a polite nod as she passed her to enter the wide hall. She paused and turned to look back at the hall to the right of the elevator, which led to the other office now belonging to Alek Ansah.
Her heart pounded and she nervously bit the gloss from her lips. Is he in there?
It had been five years since she’d seen him in person, and the last time would be hard to ever forget. Her father’s attorney had announced, “Alessandra Dalmount and Alek Ansah, as the newly appointed majority owners of ADG, you will both be primed within the company to take over the running of the conglomerate—together.”
Behind her spectacles she had looked to Alek. He had barely spared her a glance when he first entered the office and took the seat across from her, but his dark eyes were locked and loaded on her. His square and handsome chiseled features had been unreadable, but his eyes told the story: he was not happy with having her as his equal.
Their fathers had been competitors before becoming business partners and eventually best friends. Alessandra had known Alek since they were children, although they encountered each other more as teenagers. As they moved into adulthood, she watched the surly teen grow into an arrogant and cocky man. His demeanor toward her had always been decidedly brooding, but bordered on hostile when he discovered they would run ADG together.
It’s been five years; does he feel the same?
She fought the urge to ask Emily if he was in fact in his office. The board meeting was tomorrow morning and she would undoubtedly see him then. Alessandra flipped her straight hair over her shoulder as she arched a brow and released a heavy breath. If he was still unwilling to accept her role in the company, then, like their offices, they would remain at opposite ends. The choice is his to make.
Sighing, she continued down the hall, her heels echoing against the marble floor. The glass door leading into the outer office automatically opened upon her approach. Unger Rawlings, her executive assistant, instantly rose to his feet and grabbed his iPad, but she held up her hand and softly shook her head to prevent him from following her through the open double doors into her office. “I’m fine for now, Unger,” she assured him.
“Yes, ma’am.”
He had been her right-hand man and dedicated employee since her first day at ADG. The tall and slender young man, who was just a little younger than her thirty years, knew all too well of her priorities. She could think of no one else to serve as her assistant, even if there had been a push for someone with more experience and qualifications. His professionalism and loyalty were significant to her.
“Actually, you can go to lunch, Unger,” she said.
“Would you like anything?” he asked.
She shook her head.
It was solace that she sought.
Alessandra paused in the doorway and took in the nearly 360-degree view of Manhattan through the three glass curtain walls of her office. The open floor plan was breathtakingly beautiful and sleek with over three thousand square feet, twenty-foot ceilings with skylights, private spa bath, small kitchen, exercise room, lounge area with a grand fireplace, library and an outdoor terrace. All was stylishly designed in luxury, but it wasn’t the grandeur of the space that caused her to pause.
Although the office had been updated and remodeled in the last five years, to her it was still her father’s space and he was gone.
“Deep thoughts?”
Alessandra froze. She didn’t need to see the face that matched the seductive, masculine voice. It had been years, but she knew it well. Hating the feeling of nervous anxiety that plagued her as his return became imminent, she stiffened her spine and prayed her makeup and hair were still flawless. Keep it cool.
“Welcome back, Alek,” she said coolly, slowly walking the length of the polished hardwood floors to reach her large desk. She turned to face him, leaning back against the edge of her desk and crossing her ankles.
There he stood in the open doorway in a designer suit and handmade shoes, looking every bit the man of power. Polished. Stylish. Tall, truly dark and unapologetically handsome. Black hair cut low, dark eyes, bronzed brown complexion. His groomed beard emphasized his high cheekbones and square jawline. He stood right at six feet tall with a strong, athletic build that his tailored suit couldn’t hide.
Alessandra’s eyes missed nothing, not even the small scar on his cheek that added a dangerous edge to his style. She had always considered him a fine-looking man, but the years made him more rugged...more handsome.
Sexy. Too damn sexy.
Alessandra had heard of and seen Alek’s personal life in the press, but the photos of him and his rotation of beautiful dates had not prepared her for all of him in person. Her facade was cool as she hid her pounding heart and racing pulse. Alek Ansah was pure, raw sex appeal.
Well, I’ll be damned.
“Alessandra,” he said, his voice deep and rich with that British accent.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom.
Alessandra’s heart betrayed her. She ignored the almost deafening pounding as she eyed him strolling into her office. He came over to stand at her window, his coal-black eyes locked on some spot in the distance. He had the kind of stride that hinted at his sexual prowess.
She looked back over her shoulder. Her eyes caressed his profile. Sexy arrogant bully.
