Page 59

Don’t be controlled, Cody. Always be the one in control.My mother’s voice whispers in my ear.
I wonder if she’d have been proud.
I wonder if this is the life she imagined for me when she drilled those words into my head.
All the money in the world… and no one to share it with.
My door swings open and Vargas barges in with his hands up like a criminal at a drug bust. I set my empty glass on the desk, turning slowly.
“Have a seat.” I gesture to the chair.
“I’ll stay out of throwing distance.” Vargas indicates the doorway where he’s hunkering away from me.
“Are you unhappy with your job here, Vargas?” I lean against the edge of my desk and cross my ankles. “Is there something you’d like to tell me?”
“My instructions were to find a solution by the end of the day.”
“I hear Belle’s Beauty is opening a branch in Europe. They could use a new manager.”
“If you’d get over yourself for five minutes—”
“Get over myself?” My eyebrows arch.
A heavy sigh falls out of him. “You know what I meant.”
“I know you brought a bag of hormones in a wheelchair to the foundation and told me I was a dad.”
“He’s a kid with a health condition and you’re the one who gets to save him. You’re welcome.”
“What does he need saving from? He’s Romeo with a pacemaker. Let love conquer all.”
“Thisis how we change the narrative.”
“Are you insane?” I snap, my brows tightening. “I barely have time toeatevery day. I don’t have time for a kid.”
“Foster kid.”
“Same freaking difference.”
“Besides he’s sixteen, not six. There’s a lot less micro-managing. A lot less confusion. He doesn’t expect anything from you. He knows what the deal is.”
“Oh? So you negotiated with a teenager and think things will go according to plan? Damn, Vargas.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “We’re not that desperate that we need to hire sick kids from hospitals.”
“It’s a mutually beneficial exchange. The kid’s mom died and his dad is in the wind. He needs money for a mounting pile of medical expenses. You need armor from the bad press.” Vargas lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug. “He gets a heart. And so do you. Everyone lovesAnnie.”
“And I’m supposed to be Daddy Warbucks?” I tug at the hair on my scalp. “Are you trying to make me bald before my time?”
“Mr. Clean is bald and he’s a hit with the ladies.”
I shoot him a dirty look.
“It’s a good plan. You need Joel for the press and…” he eyes me carefully, “it won’t hurt your chances with Clarissa.”
“Careful,” I growl.
“This morning, when you said you’d do anything to have her, did you mean it?”
I glower. Vargas is damn good at his job and he knows me too well. A deadly combination when his powers for evil are turned on me.