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I raised an eyebrow. ‘To which I wasn’t invited?’
‘It was agreed it would be best if you weren’t involved. Besides, you were tagged on social media with the caption that read “Just Done Being Banged.” I thought you needed your sleep before this meeting.’
‘I was on the phone to an intractable Russian oligarch until three a.m. this morning. Trust me, I had no energy after that to bang anyone.’
‘But you realise there’s a pattern that supports these allegations, don’t you?’ she insisted.
For the first time in for ever I couldn’t hold the gaze of the only person who meant a damn to me. Spiking my fingers through my hair, I paced to the window.
I was pretty sure I knew who’d posted the fake news, and if I hadn’t dumped Mischa last week over her many flaws, I’d do it all over again, just for her insane Instagram obsession.
With a sigh, I faced Aunt Flo. ‘So you had the meeting. And you all agreed to this...rancid little attempt at blackmail?’
Her lips pursed. ‘I’m your greatest ally, Gideon. You know that. But even I’ve noticed that you’ve...regressed a little lately.’
My teeth ground together and I forced myself to remain silent. It was true I’d made full and frequent use of the handful of exclusive gentlemen’s clubs I patronised. And so what if I didn’t date the same woman for more than a handful of weeks and that each sexual encounter left me a little more jaded than the last? Didn’t someone marginally profound suggest that the best way to get over mediocre sex was to fuck someone else?
I grimaced inwardly at the hollow echo of the reminder, ruthlessly suppressing the voice that suggested the bandage I’d slapped over the gashing wound of betrayal was in serious risk of failing.
‘So they elected you to be the bearer of this momentous news?’
She cracked her first smile since entering my office. ‘I was tempted to send one of your uncles just to see what colourful name you’d come up with this time. I believe last time it was a giraffe’s arse?’
I shrugged. ‘Uncle Conrad shouldn’t have walked into my office without knocking. He embarrassed the hell out of the Aston Martin saleswoman. It wasn’t my fault she chose to make her presentation minus a substantial amount of her clothes.’
Aunt Flo shook her head as we shared a grin. After a moment she sobered up. ‘I love you, dear boy. Enough to let you know things are serious this time. There are whispers of board members banding together to gain enough shares to form a majority. I’ll happily throw in my six per cent behind you but if this becomes a reality, it still won’t be enough.’
‘I can’t believe this tripe. I’ve made them all more money than they’ll ever be able to spend.’
She nodded a little sadly. ‘They’re ungrateful bastards. Every last one of them. But they’re still part of this family. And they’re powerful enough to pack a collective punch if it comes to it. I don’t want to see that happen to you.’
‘So they’re holding my sex life prisoner?’
‘Not your sex life. They just don’t want any unsavoury publicity or social media posts like the one from this morning risking this deal. Get one of those sex-bot things that seem to be the rage nowadays.’
I snorted. ‘No, thanks. If that’s my only choice, I’d rather stay celibate.’
Flo’s carefully plucked eyebrows shot up before she laughed. ‘Be careful what you wish for or the lawyers will put that in the contract.’
I froze. ‘What contract?’
She made a face. ‘They want something binding so you take this seriously. They think thirty days of no adverse publicity ought to do it.’
Sweet Lord, this just got better and better. ‘They’ve got the bloody lawyers involved without even discussing it with me first?’ The realisation shouldn’t have hurt. But it did. Same way what Damian had done continued to drill a gaping hole inside me.
Not for the first time, I wondered why I’d bothered returning home to London. Why I didn’t stay in Singapore, co-managing the hotel construction company I started with my brother, Bryce, eight years ago, instead of merging it with TMG. Everything outside the glass walls of this giant skyscraper that housed The Mortimer Group had gone to shit the moment I took the CEO position.
‘Nelly, wait for me outside,’ I heard Flo murmur. She waited until her assistant left the room before she approached. ‘I’m the last one to be indelicate but I’m going to come right out and say it. You’re in danger of being permanently scarred from what happened three years ago. It’s time to take firmer control of your life, Gideon.’
My fist balled and that tight band of rage around my chest I kept especially for such reminders threatened to suffocate me. ‘I was betrayed by my own flesh and blood, Flo. By the person I trusted the most,’ I gritted out.
She laid a gentle hand on my arm. ‘I know. And while this may sound like an atrocious idea to you right now, taking a step back from the...excess may provide a little clarity.’
She meant well, and yet I couldn’t stop the rancid bitterness that ploughed through me. Nor did I particularly welcome the unspoken accusation. The one that suggested I was repeating past mistakes of parents I barely knew.
‘I’m not like my mother, Flo,’ I bit out tersely. ‘If I suffered from any form of addiction, I wouldn’t turn up at six a.m. every morning and work my bloody arse off for this family.’ I knew my mother’s addiction to the heroin that eventually caused her to drive her Maserati off a cliff in Switzerland ten years ago was another invisible stain on my character. ‘There’s nothing to remedy. But I’ll sign their damn paper if that’s what they want. And when I pull this deal off without hint of a scandal, I expect every last one of them to come crawling to me on their hands and knees to beg my forgiveness.’
‘And I’ll sit by your side and we’ll sip cognac and laugh as they do.’
I couldn’t summon the smile she expected so I just nodded.
‘I’ll tell the lawyers to have the papers ready for you to sign this afternoon. Now, I’d better be on my way. I don’t want to be late for my next appointment.’
Alone in my office, I stood at the window and stared, unseeing, at the view.
What the bloody hell did I just do?
You just agreed to behave for thirty days. Ergo, no partying. No gentlemen’s clubs. No sex.
No finding an avenue—no matter how futile—for the demons that crawled out of the woodwork at night and taunted me with might-have-beens. No distraction from the hell of losing the person I’d once believed was my best friend to an act of betrayal that still hollowed me out in the dead of night. My fist clenched as memories raked raw pain over me.
I hoped to God my impending suffering was worth it or someone’s head would roll.
CHAPTER ONE (#u469a0aea-d91f-5e68-a275-6186f3f5355b)
Leonie. Two weeks later
NO MAN WAS worth it.
I slammed the phone down, and then got even more annoyed that I’d lost my cool. For three days I’d jumped through every hoop imaginable and some I’d never thought even invented.
Granted, if I succeeded, this would be the sale of a lifetime. My fifteen per cent stake in this deal would double my already-impressive bank account but, more important, put me squarely on the map in a place where arrogant billionaires with egos the size of small countries lounged on every corner.
Hell, I could even relocate to another sun-drenched locale. One that didn’t hold the ravaging memories this place did.
I glanced out of my office window and was greeted by the stunning marina a good percentage of the world’s population believed was the gateway to paradise. Most people would give a piece of their souls for this.
Not me.
To me, this would always be ground zero of the worst moment of my life. The most humiliating, too. Definitely the most heartbreaking—
I wasn’t ashamed to admit part of my reason for wanting this deal over and done with was the shattered heart bit. I’d used my work to patch myself together and lately I’d become aware that I might have missed a few vital pieces in my repair job, like a broken leg that hadn’t been set properly.
It supported you by keeping you alive, breathing, reasoning, but toss in more challenging things like trust and emotional investment and, heaven forbid, taking another chance on happiness, and it withered and shrank, its acute flaws lighting with the dire warnings of its impending malfunction.
It was too late to salvage the pieces of my heart that betrayal had rotted away, but it wasn’t too late to hit the reset button on the rest of my life.
If only this damn client would play ball.
I sighed and let my gaze drift over the horizon.
The Côte d’Azur in June was living up to its hype where the cloudless blue sky, dazzling sunlight, sparkling ocean and blinding bling were concerned, at least. In the marina, multimillion-pound yachts bobbed smugly in the midmorning heat.
With almost undeniable compulsion, my gaze shifted left beyond the marina wall to the superyacht moored a quarter of a mile away in deeper waters.
La Sirène.
My biggest and riskiest investment to date.
Larger than all of the other boats currently moored, it was a sight to behold. Every client who’d attended the boat show a week ago had rhapsodised over it.
Fresh off the tram lines of the shipping yard in Greece, it was truly breathtaking. The most innovative vessel of its kind with unimaginable luxury to please even the most jaded appetite.
The day I’d received the call that my investment had been accepted, that I was part owner of one of the most breathtaking vessels ever built, was the proudest moment of my life.
But I’d learned to detach myself from falling in love with it. I didn’t get attached to things any more, especially things I was actively attempting to sell.
One by one the stragglers had fallen away until only one remained.
Gideon Mortimer.
A potential client who could be the answer to my achieving next-level status. A client with demands so absurd—
I jumped as the phone rang. I took a beat to calm my pulse before picking up the handset.
‘Branson Sales and Leasing, Leonora Branson speak—’
‘You hung up. I wasn’t done talking, Miss Branson,’ interrupted the deeply masculine, very arrogant voice.
Despite my irritation, the sheer sexiness of his voice sent a decadent shiver over my skin. I turned my back on the view and tried to ignore the sensation.
‘I got tired of being on hold after ten minutes.’
He made a sound as if he was grinding his teeth. ‘It was for less than five minutes and I believe my assistant told you I might have to take a call I’d been waiting for all day. Maybe you need a refresher course on the basics of customer service?’
Maybe you need a refresher course on how to be a human being.
In the six years since I defiantly started my own business on the southern French coast, I’d dealt with clients with egos of all shapes and sizes and heard enough outrageous demands to last a lifetime. Gideon Mortimer’s requests came within the top five per cent.
‘The yacht has a crew of twenty-five. That’s more than adequate to provide the service you need. As for your other requests, the captain also has a helicopter licence, twenty years’ flying experience under his belt and can fly you anywhere you need to go from the vessel.’
‘I’m bringing my most important client on board to finalise a business deal I’ve been trying to close for the best part of a year. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.’
‘And nothing, within my purview and the terms and conditions I sent to your assistant, will. All your demands...within reason, will be met.’
‘“We provide a three-sixty-degree service of excellence, one hundred per cent of the time.” Isn’t that your slogan?’
‘Yes, and the crew you need are ready to be allocated to you should you wish to lease the yacht. That includes three extra staff from my Monte Carlo office. Any more and I’ll have to shut that office down for the summer.’
‘Then do it.’
‘No, I won’t. You’re a potential valued client, but you’re not my only client. As a businessman you’ll understand that I can’t place my eggs in one basket. And frankly, the staffing ratio you’re asking for is excessive so if you’re not willing to budge on that, then we’ve come full circle.’
‘As a businesswoman, you should know that sometimes success hinges on making that one bold decision that could turn a crucial tide in your favour.’
I allowed myself a small smile at the irony. Gideon Mortimer had no idea how much I’d risked to be a part of the consortium that had built the yacht. How much he himself was crucial to achieving my next goal. ‘Trust me, I do. But from where I’m standing, I’m not sure you’re that tide bringer.’ Right now, he was more like a pain in my ass, albeit a very sexy-sounding one.
Silence greeted my response.
Had I been too bold? I might not be the biggest dog in the yard but I hadn’t let that stop me from barking long and loud when I needed to.
I mentally shrugged. If Gideon Mortimer wanted to take his business elsewhere, it’d be a blow, but it wouldn’t kill my plans for the future. It’d just delay it a little.
That stony ache beneath my breastbone rubbed hard, as if reminding me of its existence. I breathed through it.
‘A bold move, insulting a potential client,’ he said, but there was a hint of amusement in his voice.
‘I believe in playing a straight bat. If that’s too offensive for you, I’ve given your assistant the names of much larger firms who could cater to what you want.’ Those firms believed in landing their business no matter what it took. I didn’t.
‘It’s not my assistant’s job to sell the yacht to me. It’s yours. Shouldn’t you be bending over backwards to please me? Or are you inflexible?’
‘I’m flexible in every way that counts. I was a junior athletics gymnast before I went to university and I have three medals to show for it, two of which are gold.’
‘And how long ago was that?’ he mused. ‘Thirty? Forty years? You’ve obviously grown rusty.’
My fingers tightened around the handset as I counted to ten. I’d let a personal detail slip. My number-one rule of business was to keep my emotions out of it. That included not letting clients rile me.
‘I can fly in the special smoked salmon you requested so it’s ready for you each morning. Same goes for the caviar from Iceland and the tuna from Norway. Any other culinary requests will be catered for, you have my word. And...I can stretch the crew to twenty-seven if you really need it. It would involve taking more members of staff from Monaco but with some clever balancing, I could make it work.’
‘My client is bringing a large entourage, possibly his extended family. So might I. That’s why we’re hiring a twenty-cabin vessel. Three weeks is a long time on a boat. We’ll all require various forms of entertainment. A crew of twenty-seven at full capacity would be a stretch. On top of that, I believe you told my assistant the captain is the only one who knows the vessel inside and out. I’ll need an experienced member of crew who is not the captain—since I believe he’ll be otherwise occupied actually piloting the boat—to answer any questions my client will have about the yacht. This is your golden opportunity to turn a lease into a sale. I may be in the market for the right yacht. My client has two and is looking for a third. Does that register at all?’
‘Of course,’ I said through gritted teeth. ‘Every crew member is given a tutorial on the boat.’
‘Really? And how long was this tutorial?’
I felt heat rise up my neck. ‘Sixty minutes.’
He didn’t respond for a long time. ‘For a five-hundred-foot, five-deck yacht?’ Disbelief rang through his voice. ‘Do you want this commission, Miss Branson?’
I bit the inside of my cheek until my eyes watered. With every atom of my being I wanted to say no. I’d sunk all my capital into this vessel in the hope of making a once-in-a-lifetime sale that would be an answer to all my dreams. But the rental Gideon Mortimer was dangling in front of me, with the possibility of an extension, would also bring in a considerable injection of cash, enough for me to expand my business.
To do that, I needed men like Gideon Mortimer. ‘I want your business.’
‘Then find a way for us to both get what we want.’
I took a breath. ‘Fine. You’ll hear from me by five p.m. today.’
‘Wonderful. And please bear in mind that if you don’t call me back, I’ll remember it for a very long time.’ The line went dead.
