Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Sabrina didn’t make it into the office as early as she wanted or expected. Not sleeping with her guys had, as she’d suspected, thrown off her schedule and she’d spent far too many hours tossing and turning. As a result, by the time the alarm went off in the morning, she couldn’t peel her eyes open, let alone pull herself from the bed.

When the pounding on the front door occurred, however, she took one bleary-eyed look at the alarm and bolted out of bed in a flash. The mad dash to the door had her heart racing in a panic, and when she threw it open, she didn’t spare a glance at the person standing in wait on the other side, expecting it to be one of the brothers.

“I slept through the alarm,” she explained as she hurried back to her bedroom and started stripping out of her pajamas and into a hastily selected outfit that she’d pulled from the closet.

As she raced through her morning routine, she called out, “I hope you brought coffee. I’m barely functional today. I didn’t get much sleep last night because you weren’t here.” She huffed a laugh, but no response from her visitor came.

“I’m sorry if I worried you. It wasn’t intentional.” She applied her mascara with a little more care than she’d ripped the brush through her hair and yanked it into a topknot, secured with bobby pins and a gallon of hairspray.

A quick look in the mirror and she decided to call it good enough. She wasn’t out to impress the masses. Just the four most important men in her life: her father and her lovers.

Sabrina slipped her feet into a pair of wedge heels to match her black on black knee-length pencil skirt and blouse and grabbed her clutch from the top of her dresser. She was wrist-deep in the small billfold in search of the tinted pink lip gloss she kept in there, on her way toward the main living area, when her guest finally spoke up.

“I hope you don’t make this a habit, but from the sound of it, you do.”

Sabrina startled to a standstill at the rough timber of her father’s voice. “Daddy! What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at the office.”

“That’s what I thought too.” His round cheeks were ruddy and his crystal blue eyes intense. Standing sentinel beside the kitchen counter with his stocky arms folded across his barrel chest, he looked every bit the formidable man she’d grown up with. She could count on one hand the number of times she’d caused that look, always careful not to raise his ire, and this time was just as unnerving. Whatever she’d done to piss her father off, it was lost on her.

Feeling like a little kid about to be taken to task, Sabrina took slow steps toward him, stopping a few feet short and bracing herself against the counter’s edge. “I overslept. It’s not a habit, but it was a rough night.”

“So I gathered,” he grunted. “You’re seeing someone?”

She sucked in a breath, her voice mousey when she admitted, “Kind of.”

“Kind of? He sleeps over enough to interrupt your sleep when he’s not here. I’d call that more than ‘kind of.’”

“We haven’t been seeing each other very long, but it’s getting serious.”

He raised a speculative brow. “You know how I feel about whirlwind relationships.”

They never lasted. She knew the spiel, and Sabrina didn’t care to hear it again. She knew all the drawbacks and was choosing to ignore them in favor of the benefits. This was a good thing. She was determined to make it so.

“It’s my life,” she stated plainly and without inflection. She didn’t want to get into an argument, especially considering his health concerns.

“Fine.” He raised his hands out in front of him, calling for peace. “As long as it’s not one of those Hargreaves boys.”

Swallowing hard, Sabrina withheld commentary. At least she knew what side of the fence he stood on. God forbid their relationship did end up going the long haul, learning the truth would give her father an aneurism for sure. Good thing she’d put that picture she’d printed last night in her bedroom and not the living room.

“Anyway… I hope you didn’t come all this way just to scold me for not showing up to the office before everyone else.” Just because he’d always made a habit of being the first one in and turning on the lights didn’t make it a requirement for her.

“Partially,” he admitted. “You know how I feel about being prompt.”

“I’m always prompt and on time. That’s never been an issue.” Already, Sabrina was regretting his decision to come home. His visit was a glaring reminder of how overbearing her father was and how critical he could be of her life and her choices.

Noticing her discomfort, he said, “Look, pumpkin, I didn’t come here to criticize. When I didn’t see you at the office, I took care of a few things and then decided to swing by and pick you up.”

“You did?” Was it wrong that she immediately worried just what he’d done at the office and if he’d screwed up anything? While they both worked toward the common goal of the good of the company, they had a very different approach to doing it.

“I thought it would be good for employee morale if we showed up together.”

Of course, it was always about keeping up appearances. Just like her clothes, her apartment, and the school she went to. Even the position she held in the company, but that was her goal in life. What it looked like to others didn’t hold much weight to her. She was well aware that many thought she’d only gained the position because she was a daddy’s girl rather than actually possessing the qualifications.

“Sure. Good idea.” Her deflated emotions were showing, and she didn’t care. Sometimes, it was more exhausting to try to hide it all away than to just let it all hang out. This was her father. He’d hurt her feelings, and she wasn’t going to put on airs for him just to spare his feelings.

“Why do I get the impression you’re not happy about that?”

“It’s not that, Daddy.” She huffed and bit her tongue to keep from saying something that would only cause problems. Instead, she checked the time on her phone. “We should go. It’s getting late.”

“Right. I have coffee waiting in the car.”

Now that was something that she could look forward to. Not only did she need a solid dose of caffeine, it was always a treat to travel in the lap of luxury. She’d grown so accustomed to being driven around by Ubers and cabs or just plain walking to get where she needed to go, that having a car waiting at her fingertips was an unexpected treat.

Especially when it came in the form of a luxury BMW outfitted with all the latest tech imaginable.

Her father lectured her the entire drive to the office, while Sabrina merely listened with half an ear and sipped her coffee. It was too early in the morning to deal with this level of crap, and she wasn’t in the mood. With every minute that passed alone with him, her mood grew sourer. By the time they arrived and he parked in the spot that was always reserved for him, no matter how long he’d been away, and reminded everyone that he could pop back up any moment, Sabrina was in a terrible mood.

The last thing she was fit for was human consumption. The best thing would be for her to turn around and return home and to her bed for a do-over, but that just wasn’t an option.

They rode the elevator together, suffered through numerous delays created by nosey people who had to meet and greet the infamous Jonathan Colloway, founder of one of the most successful businesses in the city. Altogether, it took them an astounding and frustrating fifteen minutes to make it to tenth floor of the building.

Where the accolades began again.

It seemed everyone and their mother was out in droves this morning, as if word of his arrival had hit the streets and everyone had to meet him, shake his hand, and have him kiss their babies.

Well, maybe it wasn’t going quite that far, but Sabrina wouldn’t have been surprised. She was embarrassed for them, practically tripping over themselves for a moment of access. In reality, they probably weren’t as excited to meet him as they were hoping that some of his wealth and luck would rub off.

Once they finally made it to her office, Sabrina paused just inside the door, staring at her space.

“Did you clean?”

“I told you I came in and you weren’t here. But your mess was. Didn’t I always tell you that a clean workspace was a productive one?”

Ah yes, the lectures never stopped. She’d always had the tidiest bedroom and house in the neighborhood growing up, and now she was expected to do the same at work. To be fair, she’d only relaxed on the practice after he’d left, but that was only in cases where she was too tired to bother at the end of the day. The janitor always took care of the general stuff, like changing out the garbage, but no one but her ever touched her desk and anything inside of it.

At that moment, she was thankful that she didn’t stow away any deep, dark secrets there because surely, her father would have found them and the lecture would have been about something entirely different.

Leaving the question hanging, she approached her desk and sat down in the luxurious leather chair on rollers and used the underside of the desktop to pull herself in.

“So, what’s on the agenda today? Are you hanging out a while?” Please say no. She already knew the answer, of course.

“Yes, I will be. There are several things I intend to address, with this office and the clients scheduled to come in later, namely your ten o’clock.”

Sabrina’s brows furrowed as she flipped through her mental itinerary. “Mr. Hargreaves?” Whatever did he need to speak to him for? Hargreaves had been a virtually silent partner thus far, choosing his sons to take his place and monitor progress while helping keep their name alive and relevant. As far as she knew, he was merely popping in for a rundown on the latest and then he’d be on his way. Golfing, if she recalled.

“Yes.” Her father’s tone was grave, and it sent a nervous chill skittering down her spine. What was it with his preoccupation with the man? Ever since his comment about them, she’d been on edge. Now, she was even more so.

“Care to elaborate?”

“If you want more details, then you’ll show up and learn along with everyone else.”

Sabrina’s hackles rose, as did she. Flattening her hands on the desk, she looked him square in the eyes. “Daddy, I know your name is the one on the front of the building, but I run this business now, and I don’t appreciate you coming in here and taking over whenever it suits you. It’s a slap in the face.”

“Excuse me?” His rounded shoulders pushed back, making him appear like a formidable wall. She almost shrank back, but at the last second held her ground.

“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I feel disrespected. Have I not been doing a good job of running things since you’ve been gone?”

“Yes, you have.” There was a pause, in which she could sense the “but” coming, and she held her breath. “Then I heard some things, and now I’m not so sure.”

“Some things? Would these things happen to be what you called me about before?”

“They are.”

“And I told you they were baseless.”

“And then I showed up at your apartment today to find out you’ve been seeing someone and never said anything, and I’m sorry, pumpkin, but the timing is too convenient. Especially after I spoke with a few of my constituents, trusted constituents at that, and got proof.”

“What are you talking about?” Her nerves ratcheted higher. There was no way in hell there was proof of anything. They’d been so careful.

“Pumpkin, I’m not mad at you. I want you to know that. I’m upset at the situation.”

Sabrina clamped her mouth shut and ground her molars. She didn’t have all of the details, and despite wanting to go on the defensive, she wasn’t about to say anything incriminating. Yet. She wanted this so-called proof.

Her father waved a dismissive hand. “Like I said, we’ll address this at the meeting. Until then, don’t run off half-cocked. And please trust me when I say that this is far more complicated than you can imagine.”

“I don’t like the cryptic crap, Daddy. I’d rather you just spill it here and now rather than let this…whatever this is, fester between us.” Meet the bull head-on, as he used to say. Her father had always been full of wisdom, but today, he was letting her down.

“I don’t mean to be that way, but like I said, trust me. There’s far more at play here than you know. I’ll see you in the boardroom at ten o’ clock. Until then, please be careful…and…” He paused, mulling over his words. “Do me a favor and stay the hell away from those Hargreaves boys.”

He turned and was gone before she could ask him what the hell he’d meant by that. Stay away from them? Why? She couldn’t fathom a solid reason that would make him distrust them in any way…except…

Well, that cinched it. Putting together everything he’d said, everything he’d alluded to, it was obvious that her father had put the pieces together and figured out that she’d lied. He knew all about their relationship, and he planned to confront them, today, as a group.