Chapter 111 111
Sherry grimaced. Sam Haskins had held a seat on the BenTel board of directors longer than anyone, even before Sherry had been born. He was big on propriety and manners. He would never ask Adam to interrupt a meeting unless it were a life-or-death situation.
Adam picked up the phone. “Put the call through.” He tapped his pen on the desk nervously, his forehead creasing. Right then she could see how much things weighed on him. It was the same sort of look her dad had when things at work were a bear. “Sam. What can I do for you?”
His sights darted to Sherry after a few seconds. “So we were right all along.”
What in the world could they be talking about? And did it have something to do with her? Why else would he look at her like that? Adam nodded in agreement, but there was anger in his eyes.
“Yes, of course. Whatever you think is the best course of action, but clearly we have to stop these guys. Now. I’ll clear my schedule and we’ll get on it right away. It’s all hands on deck.” He glanced at his watch. “Yes. I’ll see you in an hour.”
“What’s going on?” she asked, trying to disguise the worry in her voice.
“Your boyfriend? Justin? He’s heading up a secret investment group. They’re the ones buying up BenTel stock.”
Her heart felt as if it didn’t know whether to leap to action or keel over. “What are you talking about? That can’t be right. I just saw him last night.”
I’ve been seeing him every night. This couldn’t be right.
“Justin Covington and a bunch of guys with a lot of money are preparing for a hostile takeover of BenTel. He’s trying to destroy the company our father built, Sherry. He’s trying to destroy our family’s livelihood.”
“That can’t be right.” Her eyes darted all over his office, desperate for some sign that this was all a bad dream. “I’ll go talk to him. Right now. This must be a mistake.”
“It’s not a mistake. Sam has the evidence. And if you were looking for proof that Justin is scum, here it is.”
_______
Sherry had never just shown up at Justin's office. Not once. But here she was, standing in front of his desk after storming in, eyes wild, chest heaving, looking as though she was about to explode. What a relief that he’d put the bag from his shopping earlier in his desk drawer. From the look on Sherry's face, this was not the time to propose marriage.
“I’m going to have to call you back,” he said into the phone, not waiting for a response before he hung up.
“Please tell me it’s not true,” she blurted, a distinct tone of panic in her voice.
Oh, no. His stomach sank as if he’d just swallowed an anvil. “Tell you what’s not true?”
“You and your investment group, Justin. Please tell me it’s not true. Please tell me that Adam got some bad information. Because right now I feel like I’m going to be sick.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His worst nightmare had just come true, but he couldn’t lie to her. He’d already endured the guilt of not coming out with it in the first place, or even better, not starting the endeavor at all. “Please let me explain.”
All color drained from her face. “Oh, my God. It is true.” Her voice was fragile and delicate, as if she’d just been broken in half. It killed him to hear her sound like that and he was responsible. “I can’t even believe this. Did you sleep with me just so you could get information about BenTel? Because Adam thinks you did. Has this whole thing been a big lie?”
“No. Of course not. How could you think that?” He stepped out from behind his desk, but she shunned him with a quick turn of her shoulder. The physical pain of her rejection resonated deep in his body, but he couldn’t deny that he had it coming. “Adam knows about us?”
“Yes, Justin. I went to him this morning to tell him. Do you know why?”
He shook his head. He couldn’t imagine what had finally prompted her to share the thing they’d been hiding all this time.
“Because I hated the sneaking around. I wanted to give us a chance, a real chance. And now I find out that you were trying to destroy my family’s company all along.”
The pain of the betrayal was clear as day on her face. She was shaking like a leaf.
He wanted to pull her into his snug embrace and make everything okay, fix the massive problem he’d created, except he couldn’t. It wouldn’t help anything. He’d messed up, in tragic fashion.
“Will you please sit down so I can explain everything?”
“What could you possibly say that’s going to make me feel any better?”
Again, she was right. “Look. I know now that I shouldn’t have started this, but the reality is that I never in a million years imagined that you and I would become involved the way we have. That came completely out of left field.”
“And it would’ve been so awkward to roll over in bed and whisper in my ear that you were trying to take over the company my dad built from nothing. That definitely would’ve put a damper on the sex, huh?”
Every word out of her mouth drove the knife in his heart a little deeper, but he didn’t dare flinch. He deserved it all. “I went on the counteroffensive. I called my closest friend in the group to try to convince them to back off.”
“So what happened? Why are you guys still trying to do this?”
“We aren’t trying to do anything. They ousted me. Yesterday. They were tired of me pushing so hard to end the BenTel takeover.”
“Does that mean you have no more pull with them? They’re really just going to go ahead and do it without you?” She sighed and stared out the window. “This is getting worse by the minute.”
“They say they’re going to. I don’t really have a way of knowing. Believe me, I’ve been racking my brain, trying to come up with a way to stop them.”
Her jaw tensed. She shook her head. “What was the plan, Justin? Tell me the plan you had before I came along. If you want any chance of redeeming yourself in any way to me, tell me the plan.”