says he’s going to go with me, but I wouldn’t blame him for staying here. I have no doubt that after a few weeks, Susan will lose interest in the fact that she doesn’t have the ability to run this company and she’ll give it to him to manage.
“Dad?” Laurent calls a moment later.
He’s turned to me, his face unreadable. Nodding my head once, I give him silent permission to go ahead with whatever he has to say.
“I’m still with you. Just know that.”
“You’ll be staying?” I ask, keeping my voice low.
He clears his throat. “Yeah. I want to be here in case anyone else stays. I want to make sure the company doesn’t disintegrate.”
Pride fills me. This is the man that I raised and I couldn’t be prouder of him if I tried in this moment. Reaching behind Tennessee, I clap him on the shoulder.
“Proud of you,” I say.
I can think the words all day long, but that doesn’t mean shit if I don’t tell him. He grins, looking so much like the little boy I remember in that moment. Giving his shoulder another squeeze, I wink then turn toward the door and slip my hand beneath the table, gripping Tennessee’s thigh in a quick squeeze.
Inhaling a deep breath, I close my eyes for a moment when I hear a commotion. I know without a doubt that Susan has arrived. It’s not that I’m not looking forward to this, because I truly am, I just don’t know if one is ever really ready to give up the company that they started from scratch. The company that they worked their whole lives for, even if it is only in name.
Tennessee places her palm on the back of my hand and her fingers curl around me, squeezing gently as Susan waltzes into the room as if the paperwork is recorded and she solely owns the building already.
TENNESSEE
One word can describe the meeting today. One word and one word only: ugly. The look on Susan’s face when Landry announced his new company, LoneSTAR Investment Bank—if looks could kill, he’d have died right next to me in an instant.
I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not, but the look of hope on everyone’s faces when Landry announced his new company made me proud. They want to work for him, not just because his company is amazing, but because he is amazing too.
Landry asks everyone who would like to go with him to submit their desire in writing and informs them that he will send a company-wide announcement out in just a few hours. Everyone leaves, except Susan, Bash, Landry, me, and Laurent.
Susan is sitting at the end of the table, a place that Landry no doubt purposely left open for her. I watch as she slams her palms down on the table, she narrows her eyes on him, then shifts her anger over to me.
“You little bitch,” she sneers. “This was all your idea, wasn’t it?”
“Susan,” Landry warns.
“Fuck off, Dry,” she snaps. “You just had to do this, didn’t you? Was it your young pussy that talked him into this? Maybe you gave him your ass? I’m just so fucking curious.”
“Susan,” Landry growls as he jumps to his feet. “That’s quite enough of that. You got what you wanted, now get the fuck out. This building isn’t yours for a couple more days.”
Her narrowed gaze turns to Landry, and I hold my breath. Her words should have offended me, but they didn’t. She has already decided what kind of woman I am, which is fine. I know that I’m not what she thinks, but she is exactly how I think of her.
“You fucking asshole. You’ll hear from my lawyer and if you think that I won’t sue your ass, I most definitely will.”
Bash chuckles. “You can try, Susan. But trust me when I say that the agreement you so hastily signed, its ironclad. You will lose. All you wanted was the building and the name, and that is exactly what you’re getting.”
Susan presses her lips together and I think if a person’s head could explode, hers would do just that right about now. Inhaling a deep breath, I close my eyes and wait for whatever is about to come, because I have a feeling Susan is about to say some really nasty shit.
“Mom, I’ll stay on here with you, get this place up and running. Not everyone is going to leave, we can build this company up together,” Laurent states.
Turning my