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And this time it actually hit her. But there was no way it could mean what she thought it did. “So you said,” Taylor evaded, buying some time. Seconds ago she had just wanted information, and now she just wanted to disappear, again.
“Preston Corp. needs you, Taylor,” Charlie said softly.
Taylor’s blood pumped, her heart raced, and her breathing raced out of control. “I don’t want it,” she said slowly. She swallowed, trying to banish the sudden dryness in her throat, but it didn’t work. She backed away slowly; she wasn’t even aware she was doing it until she bumped into a swivel chair and was once again trapped.
“Taylor …” Charlie said softly, searching for words.
“You don’t really have a choice,” Todd cut in.
Taylor backed away in another direction, shaking her head, and fell back into the swivel chair she had been bound to in the first place.
“I don’t care who needs what,” she said evenly, feigning indifference, “I want off this plane, now.”
“Taylor, you need to take over the corporation—”
“No!” Taylor shouted as she twisted her body in a jerky circle, searching for an exit.
“Preston Corp needs you—”
“No goddamn way!” she exclaimed, still spinning wildly. Suddenly her eyes found the door. She jumped toward it, eager to fly out into the wind rather than stay in this cabin with these two men.
“Or it will be closed.”
Taylor stopped and closed her eyes.You don’t care,she told herself.You let it go. You moved on. You don’t care, you don’t care, you don’t care.“Where is the board? Have them run it,” she said finally, her back still to them. As much as she wanted to not care, the truth was she did.
“Cedric fired them months ago. There is no one left,” Todd explained.
“Why the hell did he do that?” Taylor exploded and turned back to face Todd, anger pumping through her. She had left knowing the company would be okay because the board was in place. She knew the importance of the company and wanted it still standing despite any stupidity her uncle could bring to it. The members of the board were all strong minds—handpicked by her grandfather before he had gotten too sick—men and women who could handle the corporation and not let Cedric Preston destroy it or the empire her family had spent generations making a solid household name. The corporation was the livelihood for millions of people worldwide. She remembered all the times her grandfather had said what a huge responsibility it was, why it was so important, and it was why he worked so much—so that those people would be okay. Suddenly Taylor felt weighted down with the burden.
“They were trying to rein him in, stop his ridiculous expenditures,” Charlie explained. “Cedric was just buying uncontrollably since your grandfather’s death. In addition, he invested it in visibly bad investments. He spent his entire inheritance and every other dime he could get his hands on. Then when he wanted more, he went to the board, and they denied him further funding. They very intelligently denied him.”
“And he fired them to get more money?” Taylor asked, still in shock.
Charlie nodded grimly. “He got rid of the board and took over everything. He had been taking all the profits from all areas of Preston Corp. for the last six months and diverted it all to himself. Then he just kept buying. Cars, yachts, buildings, homes. Just spending like there was no end.”
“I didn’t hear anything about the board,” Taylor said absentmindedly as she took all the information in, baffled. The press should have been going wild with the information about Cedric just pissing carelessly through a fortune. She had shut herself off from all types of media, hadn’t read the newspaper, watched TV, or checked computers, and she had an older-than-old phone. But she did hear people talk about big news in the coffee shop, and news about Preston Crop. would most likely have reached her that way.
“Cedric was self-indulgent, but he had some intelligence,” Charlie explained. “For instance, he knew to look and see that he could actually fire the trustees before acting impulsively. He also had the forethought to re-up their contracts and have them signed before he put the firing through. He explicitly outlined that they were not to go to the press or they would lose any compensation for their years of service as well as be sued.”
Yes, if a Preston knew anything, it was how to avoid bad press.
“So hire them back,” Taylor insisted. “Hire the board back. Get them to turn it around.”
“It’s not that simple, Taylor.” Charlie said, shaking his head. “Even if the money was available to get all the members back, we need you.”
“Why?” she asked, panicked. “I-I don’t know anything about business or running a corporation. I can’t be any help to—”
“There is a binding decree set out that Preston Corp. must be run by a Preston,” Charlie said wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Taylor felt her eyes bulge. “So change the goddamn decree,” she finally said through her teeth.
“We can’t, Taylor,” Charlie said in a desperate, soft voice, and his shoulders sagged in defeat. His fingers came up and started rubbing his brow, “We’ve tried. It has been reevaluated and signed by each succeeding member that has taken it over, lastly by Cedric. It is binding.”
Unreal, Taylor thought. This could not be happening. “How can a piece of paper be so strong? Huh? How? Rip the fucker up. I cannot and will not run Preston Corporation,” Taylor sneered and turned back to the window, to the twinkling lights below.
“Then the company will be dissolved, everything will be sold, and every employee will be fired,” Charlie said flatly.
Taylor whipped back, her dark curls hitting her face and her glasses sliding down her nose from the motion. “What?” She gasped in disbelief.