Page 25 of Earned Husband

“Oh really? I didn’t notice.” I rose, catching the pinched smile Ashanti sent my way as I strode toward her husband. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get this smoothed over. I’m sure your father is a reasonable man.”

Khaled and Ashanti both started laughing, which chipped away at my confidence a bit. This hadn’t been the best start to a business meeting, but the only way out now was through.

“Just show me where he is,” I said, shaking my head.

Khaled led me down the hall and I followed him through the house until we ended up in a sparsely furnished office that wasobviously being used more as Gabrielle’s crafting room than a study. Basel looked completely out of place against the wash of white furniture and quilting supplies, but his stormy expression said everything.

He sat behind a rickety looking desk that was absolutely covered in scraps of fabric, colored paper, and knitting needles, but not even the crafting stuff softened the look of him. His bushy, graying eyebrows were knitted tightly together and he folded his arms over his chest, eyeing me closely with his glittering black gaze tracking my movement across the room. I kept my chin up and my shoulders back. The man could shoot me the stink eye all he wanted. I knew how to stay composed in a high stakes meeting.

Did the guy expect an apology? For almost kissing his twenty-nine-year-old daughter?Heshould be apologizing tomefor interrupting a nice moment.

Khaled stepped into the room with us and closed the door behind himself. I turned to face Basel directly, refusing to be intimidated despite the fact that he was built like a linebacker and was worth more than the GDP of most developing countries. Combined.

Instead of apologizing when I hadn’t done anything wrong, I chose a different tack. “Nice to meet you, sir. I didn’t know you were into quilting.”

Khaled made a strangled noise behind, although I couldn’t tell if it was suppressed laughter or shock. His father arched an eyebrow at me but was otherwise a blank mask.

“What do you want for your future, Colin?” he asked, surprising the crap out of me. “Are you happy as CFO or do you have larger aspirations?”

“I love my job and I’m exceptional at what I do,” I said without skipping a beat or breaking the staring contest we seemed to have entered into. “Thayer Steelworks has taken somehits, I’ll admit that, but it remains a strong competitor in the manufacturing industry and my sister and I are working hard to restore the company’s reputation to its former glory. I don’t believe there’s any larger aspiration than securing the financial well-being of a company that was a pioneer and a leader of its industry and has always been known for its innovative practices.”

He paused for a moment to simply nod thoughtfully in response. “Do you think Thayer has another hundred years of prosperity left in it? You can downplay it all you want, but those hits you mentioned had a significant impact on the company itself as well as public perception of it. Your father might be out of the picture, but the damage he dealt very much remains.”

“That’s true,” I admitted, not afraid to confront the facts.

If we were going to go into business together, I couldn’t pretend like none of this history mattered, and besides, I preferred to be upfront with potential partners. It saved everyone a lot of grief further down the line if everything was clear from the start.

“What we’re focused on, however, is not the past,” I said firmly. “It’s the future. Under my sister’s leadership, we’ve repaired a lot of old relationships, and thanks to the Westwoods’ support, we’re even expanding into industries we haven’t formerly been involved with. So, to answer your question, we don’t only have another hundred years of prosperity in us, sir. We have as many years as there are generations of our family to continue what we’re building.”

Basel’s pitch-black gaze moved from one of my eyes to the other, but once again, he didn’t comment on or respond to the answer I’d given. “What about you? Personally, I mean. It’s common knowledge that your father’s assets were seized, but a man builds wealth of his own rather than only relying on what his father leaves behind.”

“I agree,” I said, knowing full well that he was edging toward the conversation I’d subconsciously known was coming since that moment on the yacht. “I’m able to provide for myself, I have some money set aside, and I have a thorough investment portfolio. All of which I’ve accumulated for myself and with no help from my father or his assets. So if you’re asking if I’m up to my eyeballs in dept or if I’ve simply been sitting around, waiting for my trust fund to be returned, the answer is a very firm no.”

Finally, a flicker of something passed behind Basel’s eyes. I couldn’t quite determine what it was, but at least it hadn’t been disapproval. “That’s good news. Khaled said you were smart. So far, you are proving that my son’s judgment of your character is correct as well.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“There’s a contract being negotiated,” he said, leaning forward and watching me a little closer again. “Alex Westwood has been working on it tirelessly behind the scenes.”

And until right now, Deja and I have been left in the dark, which is bullshit,but since I’d already figured it out, the news itself didn’t come as a shock. “Yes, sir. I’m aware.”

“You are?” He arched a dark eyebrow at me. “I was told we would all talk together.”

“We will. No one has brought me into the loop regarding the terms of the contract or anything like that. I simply deduced from some of the things people have been saying to me.”

He nodded slowly, taking me at my word, which I appreciated. When he finally focused on me again, I could tell that we were now about to get into the actual reason for him asking me to meet.

“GlobalStar would like to make a deal with Thayer Steelworks,” he said. “It was in the works before your father was arrested and it would be monumental for both companies.”

“I’m not sure a steel manufacturing company and a chemical company have any business together,” I said honestly. “Regardless of what my father believed, the logistics alone would be difficult and the financial data points?—”

Basel didn’t wait for me to finish before he leaned forward and hit me with the hard truth. “Your family has been embroiled in scandal for years, Colin. A merger with GlobalStar would be a lifeline you’ve yet to have access to.”

“The scandal will be behind us before long,” I argued. “As I mentioned before, we’re looking to the future.”

“Yes, you did mention that, but I’m caught up on the current proceedings. Part of your immediate future is yet another trial that will air all that old dirty laundry again. Do you honestly think that Thayer Steelworks can survive your father’s eventual release from prison with only Westwood and Sons backing you?”

Aggravation rolled through me like a wave, my patience with him finally starting to run out. I’d been honest, level-headed, and polite so far, but at this point, I was unsure if I was being held against my will and Basel Saad had no business poking around the effects of my father’s release from prison.