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“Appreciate you,” he said as he stood and leaned forward to disconnect the line.
There was a high probability there had never been a more perfect example of the phraseyou could hear a pin dropthan the silence that followed. Greyson braced one arm beneath the other, covering his mouth as he stared at the conference phone.
It lingered for far longer than comfortable, everyone having evidently said their piece before we called Stacy. Greyson was the one to finally blow out a harsh breath and declare, “I will,of course, be stepping down until the internal investigation confirms my innocence.”
A throat cleared from the enormous flatscreen mounted on the wall where the four out-of-state directors stared back at us. Emmaline and Ellington, Greyson’s cousins, were together in one frame, looking uncharacteristically rattled. Like an advertisement for their mother’s Norwegian bloodline, the siblings bore matching blond hair and blue eyes. It was only the subtle golden undertone in their fair skin that hinted that any trace of Hart had snuck through their genetics. Their concern was the kindest emotion on the screen—the others sharing some kind of skeptical anger, evidently directed at Greyson. I couldn’t blame them, of course. Their asses were all on the line today.
It was the baby of the empire to raise her voice. “I believe that’s preemptive, Greyson. Prepare for that, but I don’t think you should bow down until allegations are leveled, and perhaps not until they’re presented with proper evidence.”
“It would be protocol?—”
“To suspend you in the face of proper charges, yes, but I agree with Emmaline,” Ellington cut Greyson’s protest off. “We have the advantage of starting the investigation now, but that doesn’t mean you need to bow out for some baseless?—”
“He could interfere,” snapped Malachi, the chief of HR. “This is an unfortunate formality that we need to adhere to so Reggie can assure stockholders we’ve been thorough if and when the allegations come to light.”
“Right, but him running away looks guilty,” Ellington argued.
“It looks pragmatic,” Reggie countered on the tail of a pained sigh. “Fearless leader or not, he is the one being questioned and, therefore, the one who should cooperate with any investigation.”
Greyson’s eyes met mine for the briefest flash, like he was attempting to communicate silently. The bastard was in luck, though, because whatever it was he had buried in his personalsystem, I hadn’t been able to touch it. Suspicious? Yes. Expected from someone of his caliber? Also, yes. As for my intuition? I didn’t think whatever files he had beyond company borders were any of my business. As long as he wasn’t siphoning off the company, I didn’t give a shit what kind of trouble he got into in his off hours.
“I have nothing to hide from you—this company is our legacy. Trust me when I tell you, death would be more appealing than betraying what we’ve built here. If me lying low is what this ship needs to endure the storm coming, that’s what I’ll do,” he stated matter-of-factly.
Unable to believe the fact that I was about to aid the man who had given me gray hairs before thirty, I cleared my throat. “I think lying low is a poor strategy, given the baseless accusations. I think the company has to follow the expected protocol to ensure both shareholders and the public that we’re doing our due diligence and that we don’t have a corrupt king leading this empire, but Greyson should do anything but lie low.”
“With all due respect, Ms. Rhodes, we should defer to someone more experienced,” Reggie interjected, glaring at me like his eyes could tell me toshut upwhen his surroundings didn’t permit it.
“I’d quite like to hear her finish,” Tiffany countered, a soft smile playing on her lips as she glanced between me and Greyson, who gave me one curt nod of approval.
Clearing my throat, I continued. “Lying low screams, ‘Something is wrong.’ Continuing on with your life—making public appearances on behalf ofHart Investmentsor your favorite charities and entertaining the press with exclusive interviews because you need their supportnowmore than ever—will encourage the public to see you as innocent.”
“Just carry on, business as usual?” Ollie asked.
“Outside the office?” I clarified. When he nodded, I did the same. “Yes. As for the family,” I looked at Ollie before glancing quickly between the surviving Harts, starting with Emmaline and Ellington, then to Reggie, and then his wife, Vivienne, before finishing my thought. “Being seen with them on personal time will be just as invaluable because it tells the public they don’t believe the accusations and trust you implicitly.”
“I agree,” Tiffany declared, a subtle, smug smile on her face as she studied Greyson. Something unspoken passed between them before she looked back at me expectantly.
“Then why is he stepping down?” Emmaline pressed.
“Valid question,” I said, hoping to encourage her to keep throwing her voice out there. “It’s temporary. The internal investigation is just to CYA, as is his brief vacation from corporate life. From there, we all turn our attention to a multi-layered press tour to shine a light on the real Greyson Hart.”
“Oh, he’lllovethat,” Ollie muttered sarcastically from behind the fist he was propped against. Greyson shot him a glare as Ellington snorted on screen.
“He doesn’t have to do much,” I added, suppressing a smile at his expense. “I already have our girls ghostwriting stackable content we can send to our trusted media contacts.”
A sense of bewilderment filled the room as everyone turned their attention to me as if they had never bothered to notice my presence in the corner before today. Only Greyson, Ollie, Emma, and Ellington looked nonplussed as Greyson held a hand out in my direction as if to say, ‘I told you so.’
Swallowing, I added, “Oliver, would you be comfortable with us featuring Greyson at one of Mattie’s events?”
“Of course,” Ollie answered, nodding like I shouldn’t have even asked.
Simultaneously, Greyson barked, “Absolutely not.” When Oliver’s and my eyes snapped to him, brows arched, he cleared his throat. “I’m not exploiting a child to protect my image.”
“She’s a Hart,” Ollie hedged gently. “Her birthright puts her in the spotlight, no matter what, Grey. She’s destined to be loved and loathed at the whims of the press, and they already run her name through the tabloids. At least this would be a narrative we could control.”
Remaining silent, I looked between the two brothers as Greyson wet his lips before insisting, “No. I’m not comfortable putting her in their crosshairs.”
I nodded, knowing him well enough to recognize when a fight was lost. “That’s fine. I have a half a dozen other angles already in the works.”