Boardroom Sins. J. Margot Critch

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      He was going to have to learn to control himself if he was going to be anywhere near Rebecca Daniels again. How could he hook up with her on Saturday and go into work Monday clearheaded enough to deal with the fact he had to replace an executive VP thanks to her?

      No. This would never do. He had to act now.

      When Rebecca was completely out of sight, he nodded in recognition to the people who’d joined them on the terrace and headed back inside to the party. He saw his friends, who’d again found each other and taken their place in a small exclusive huddle near the bar. Alex, Rafael, Gabe and Alana watched him approach. They said nothing, but their raised eyebrows spoke volumes even as they each, almost simultaneously, raised their glasses to their lips to hide their smirks. He ordered another soda water from the bar and turned back to them.

      “What?” he asked them.

      They all played clueless for a moment, not answering until Alex finally broke. “Okay, what the hell was that?”

      Brett shrugged. “What was what?”

      Alex rolled his eyes. “Don’t play stupid with us. What were you doing with Rebecca Daniels?”

      “Nothing. We were talking. Just catching up.”

      “Just catching up with her tongue down your throat?” Alana countered.

      “What did you see?” Brett narrowed his eyes.

      Alana’s widened. “What did you do?”

      Brett took in the amused but concerned faces of his friends. “It was nothing. But something came to me. I’ve got an idea.” He turned to Alex. “You know how we were talking about taking Collins/Fischer to the next level?”

      Alex eyed him, his stance wary. “Yeah, what do you have in mind?”

      “We’re going to be number one. And we’re going to do that by dismantling the competition.”

      “Okay... How?”

      “A takeover. I want us to buy out Daniels International.” He let it sink in, aware of the curious and cautious way his friends eyed him.

      “What?” Alex asked him.

      “What aren’t you getting here? They’re a real estate development firm,” Brett said. “So is Collins/Fischer. We’ll initiate a takeover. Buy them out. When we’re successful in taking them out, we’ll move on to the next one, then the next one, until we’re the only game in town.”

      None of his friends looked convinced. They were silent until Alana spoke up first. “Why?” she asked.

      He thought about his answer. He’d been looking for a project, the next business move. He’d always been in this for the long game—to be the only real estate firm in town. He’d been at battle with Daniels International for months, and the company’s profits had been declining for years, partly because of stiff competition from Collins/Fischer. Why not start there? It was a logical procession. But he would be lying if he didn’t admit that there was more to it. His lips pulled downward in a frown, and he let the flames of animosity fuel him. “Now’s the time,” he started. “We’re on the verge of being on top of this city. And isn’t that what we want? Our goal has always been to run this bitch,” he reminded them. “A buyout. We’ll get as many shares as we can.” He looked at Gabe, an equal business partner in The Brotherhood’s operations but also the group’s lawyer. “Think we can get the paperwork by Monday morning?”

      Brett hadn’t even finished his sentence before Gabe had his phone in his hands, most likely writing a message to his assistant to start the work. “By 9:00 a.m.,” he promised before looking up.

      Alex also had his phone out, clearly engaged in getting a takeover bid in order for Monday. He and Alex had worked together, known each other long enough to trust each other fully. All Alex needed was to know Brett thought it was a good idea, a good move for the business, and he was on board. Only Alana eyed him skeptically.

      “What?” he asked her.

      “What’s going on with you?”

      “Nothing. We’re just planning what’s next for the businesses.”

      “But it’s Rebecca,” Alana reminded him. “She was my friend in college, and I spent as much time with her as I did you. You guys have this weird history. I know how you are together.”

      “How we were together,” Brett corrected. “And Rebecca was nothing more than a hookup.” When she eyed him skeptically, he amended his statement. “A hookup nemesis?”

      “Who is this person?” Gabe asked, putting his phone back in his pocket. He hadn’t gone to the same college as they had, having attended Harvard Law, and he hadn’t heard the story. “Old girlfriend?”

      “No,” Brett said, definitive.

      “She was in our undergrad and MBA programs,” Alana explained. “She’s so smart and just as stubborn as Brett, so you know they zeroed in on each other. They rivaled each other to be top of the class in every course. They competed for the best grades and for awards, but despite all the fighting and scornful looks, they hooked up all the time. I don’t quite know how it happened, though.”

      Brett sighed. He knew that Alana and Rebecca had been friends, but he didn’t realize that she’d been privy to all of the dirty details. Well, not all of them, apparently—she didn’t know how it’d all started. One late night in the library before finals, they’d fought over the last private study room in the business library. But the fight hadn’t lasted long before they’d agreed to share it. It had been only a matter of time before he had her lying on the small table of a study room, with his palm over her mouth to keep her from screaming out into the silence of the library, visible to anyone who walked by through the small window in the door.

      From then on, they’d still challenged each other, in class and outside, but they couldn’t stop themselves from giving in to their desires and enjoying private moments in public and semipublic spaces around campus. And that had gone on throughout their MBA program until she’d gone off to New York. “It doesn’t matter how it happened.”

      “Okay, then how is she going to react when she sees the takeover bid on her desk on Monday morning?” Alana asked.

      Brett didn’t want to admit to his friends how much seeing her again had affected him, and how much his own reaction had surprised him. He had to fight the discombobulation that had come from being near her tonight, and even though he could still smell her on his fingers, taste her kiss on his lips, he’d immediately shifted back into business mode. Survival mode. When it came to work, he could overcome any feelings to focus on the business. He’d done it before, and he was goddamn sure he could do it again.

      But he smiled, trying to appear more confident in his resolve than he felt. “It doesn’t matter how she reacts,” he told her. “It’s business.”

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