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“I even spent the last hour going through the files Vivian has here,” she continues. “I’m trying to learn all I can about the company.”
“That’s great. Thanks for being proactive.”
I head into my office, half surprised when she follows me in. “Do I have messages or something?”
“Oh, no. I actually had a question for you about one of the files. Some kind of buyout.”
I sit down, moving my mouse to wake up my computer. “What?”
“It had to do with Montague Media.”
“Oh, that.”
She cautiously takes a seat on the other side of my desk. “Why do you say it like that? From what I could tell, it seemed like a good idea.”
I look up, her smile blinding in its intensity. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something about it that’s… off. Am I seeing things? “Well, Dad killed it because of the owner, Greg.”
She blinks, the edges of her mouth dropping. “What happened?”
“Basically, he’s shady as hell. Dad put a P.I. on him and found out he was stealing from his company, that he was in major debt to some mafia, and that’s why he wanted to sell the company so bad. And why he forced his daughter to marry into the family and try to leverage our name to keep himself safe.”
The color slowly drains from her face, and she whispers, “He did what?”
I tilt my head, studying her. It’s almost like she’s taking the news personally. “Are you okay?”
She shakes her head, seeming to come back to herself as pink blossoms in her cheeks. “Oh, sorry. I just had no idea someone could be so… deceitful.”
I shrug. “You see it more often than you’d like in big business.”
She fiddles with the edge of her too-large sleeve, looking down at her lap. “But that’s separate from buying the company, right? There had to be a reason your dad wanted to buy it to begin with.”
I fold my hands together, contemplating her words. “I honestly don’t know why he was hellbent on getting it to begin with. I could ask Archer about it, I guess.”
“Maybe you should still consider it. If the company is solid, look into reopening the merger.”
I take a closer study of her, but she won’t meet my eye. “Why are you so interested?”
Her eyes flick up and away again, so quickly I almost miss it. “I… just wanted to get familiar with the business. Show you I’m learning. So I can help you out.”
“I have advisors for that. You don’t have to worry about it. It’s not part of your job duties.”
She stands, twisting her hands together in front of her, cheeks pinkening. “Right. Sorry.”
“No need to be sorry. It’s always good to show initiative.”
She smiles before seeing herself out, but it doesn’t quite seem to reach her eyes.
What was all that about?
The answer hits me, and I almost smack my head at what an idiot I am. She was trying to prove herself after I chastised her earlier, and I shot her down again. Great timing.
But I don’t have any interest in doing business with Greg Montague. Not even taking into account his poor decision to siphon money from his company by creating a whole fake department and pocketing the salaries, Archer strongly implied he didn’t treat Serena too well either. We don’t need the company that badly that he should benefit from it.
But Emma had no way of knowing that. She was only trying to help.
And maybe now that we’ve got all the awkwardness out of the way, it’ll be smooth sailing.
Now to just figure out everything else.