Just One Night (The Kingston Family #1) - Carly Phillips Page 0,26
and hoped he didn’t have a stroke midair.
Jordan leaned forward in her seat as much as her seat belt would allow. “What’s wrong?”
Linc raised an eyebrow. “Let’s just say if my father weren’t already dead, I’d dig him up and kill him myself.”
“What?” Aurora let out a squeak and Jordan patted her legs.
“Business problems. Nothing to worry about.” She turned her gaze back to Linc. “What did he do?”
Leaning back in his seat, Linc glanced at the ceiling, trying to stay calm. At the same time, he heard the start of the plane’s engines. “Dear old Dad might have destroyed the entire company.”
Whether or not Kenneth’s actions proved to be severe depended on who his partner was and how reasonable the man would be when it came to getting out of the situation his father had left them in.
“Linc, stay calm. We’ll work things out,” Jordan assured him.
And because she seemed collected, he took his cue from her and did his best to stay the same way.
* * *
Linc brought Aurora to his apartment straight from the plane and got her settled in before announcing he needed to go to the office. He hated leaving her on her first day in a new state where she knew no one, and Jordan had offered to stay with her. But Aurora insisted Jordan go with him to deal with his work emergency. Linc agreed but not before calling Chloe to come over and meet her new sister so Aurora wouldn’t be left alone.
With Aurora taken care of, they headed to the office. Seated in the back of the car with Max driving since he’d picked them up from the airport, Linc filled Jordan in on what Brian, their CEO, had told him.
“And you have no idea who this man is?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Given my father’s deteriorating state, I’m not shocked he would do a deal behind my back. The man was a wild card in his healthy days.”
And things had only gotten worse after Linc came on board and excelled in the business. He had no doubt Kenneth Kingston felt threatened. How far would he have gone to prove himself better than his son?
“But Wallace was supposed to be on top of things,” Linc said.
Jordan frowned. “I’m going to talk to your father’s secretary. If anyone knows what he was up to, it would be Suzanne, and considering you were kind enough to keep her on and give her job security, maybe she’ll open up to me.”
He glanced at her and once again was struck by how vital she was to both his business and to him personally. “Thank you,” he said in a gruff voice. “Jordan, listen. I know things are awkward after–”
She held up a hand. “Nope. We’re back to work and everything is fine.”
In other words, let it go. The problem was, the more he thought about their night together, the less he wanted to pretend they had never happened.
* * *
Jordan woke up early Saturday morning with her weekend fully planned.
Astounding everyone, including Jordan, Linc had asked his mother to let Aurora move into her huge estate. The house had seven bedrooms and plenty of room, not to mention a staff available for every need, but the fact remained, Aurora was Kenneth Kingston’s illegitimate child.
Yet Melly had agreed. Apparently she was too kind a person to take her husband’s sins out on an innocent woman and her unborn baby.
Nervous, Aurora begged Jordan to come with her. Although Chloe planned to meet them there, Aurora felt more connected to Jordan, no doubt because they shared an understanding about how they viewed the world around them and because they’d spent a lot of time together in Florida. Chloe was still new to her and Linc wasn’t female.
Jordan had no problem joining them. When Aurora saw the Kingston Estate, she might very well pass out, and she’d need support.
Aurora was silent on the way to Linc’s mother’s, her few bags loaded in the trunk of the car with Max driving. Linc was on the phone, his frustration growing because they were no closer to discovering who his father had entered into an agreement with. Wallace was MIA.
Nobody had been able to get in touch with him, and from the way this partner’s lawyer had dropped the information without details, obviously the man in question was enjoying his silence. Which left Linc worried about who he was as well as the amount of money on the line.