why?” she asked.
“Just that he didn’t want to mix personal and professional. Which I can understand.”
She rose to her feet. “He employs his three male children. That’s not mixing business and personal?”
I scrubbed my hands over my face. How could I make this okay? “I understand this is frustrating.”
“Frustrating?” she yelled. “Are you kidding me? The guy’s an asshole. He’s trying to ruin my career.”
I hadn’t gotten the impression he was doing anything but being selfish. “Maybe he felt a little uncomfortable because the two of you are estranged.” I thought I’d feel the same. “I’m sure he wasn’t trying to make you look bad.”
Harper laid her hands on my desk, and leaned toward me. “And so what, you just said, ‘yes, sir, thank you, sir? Who cares if I fuck over the girl I’ve been screwing the last few weeks. Who gives a shit about her feelings? As long as I’m still in line for your business, I’ll do anything you say.’ Is that how it went?”
There was real venom in her tone and she was out of line. I’d acted in the best interests of King & Associates and if she was being rational she’d see it. “No, I said that I thought that you were the best person for the job.” Had she expected me to argue with him? Ultimately he was the client. He got to choose his team.
She shook her head. “But you still told him you’d swap me out?”
“Harper, he’s the client. He can choose who he wants working for him.”
She shifted, putting her hand on her hip. “Guess what, asshole? You can choose who you work for, too. Don’t you see? He was testing you. Seeing if he asked you to jump, if you’d ask how high. He’s a piece of shit who’s determined to make me miserable.” She covered her face with her hands and my heart squeezed. Fuck, I hated that she did that to me. I hadn’t done anything wrong. The last thing I wanted to do was upset her. I desperately wanted to go to comfort her, but this was business.
She smoothed down her skirt and pulled back her shoulders. “He asked you to choose between him and me,” she said, her voice quiet. “And you made your decision. So good luck.” She turned and headed to the exit.
I wanted to run after her, make her understand, but she was out of my door before I’d stood up. The last thing I wanted to do was make a scene, escalate the situation. I’d leave early, but instead of going back to Connecticut tonight, I’d go to her place and we could talk.
Chapter 15
Harper
I arrived at Grace’s apartment straight from work, tearstained. On the subway ride over, I’d tried to figure out why I was upset, who I was most upset with—my father or Max. I hadn’t come to any conclusions.
“Do you think he knew?” Grace asked.
I sat on her gray five-thousand-dollar couch in Brooklyn, stroking the velvet arm, which was providing me with some small comfort. Grace handed me a huge glass of red wine and sat.
“What? That my father was testing him?” I asked. Was that what it was? A test? Or a show of power?
I’d left Max’s office, gone straight back to my desk, printed out my resignation, put it into an envelope, and given it to Donna to deliver to Max. I didn’t have a lot of personal items in the office and I’d managed to get them all into my work carryall.
I’d cried all the way to Brooklyn.
“No, do you think your father knew Max King was fucking his daughter?”
I lifted my head. “How could he? And anyway, why would he care?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Fathers are protective over their daughters.”
I snorted. “Yeah well, sperm donors aren’t.” I was pretty sure Charles Jayne hadn’t had a parental instinct in his life.
“I just think it’s a little strange that he accepted the lunch invitation and then didn’t want you working on the account.”
A lot of what Charles Jayne did didn’t add up. He must have known JD Stanley was a big account and if he requested I was dropped from the team it would look bad on me. “He just doesn’t want me anywhere near him.” I dug my fingernail into the pile of the velvet.
Grace took a sip of her wine. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” I asked.
“It just feels like we’re not seeing the whole picture.”
Jesus, since when did Grace give my father the benefit of the