Page 17 of Chosen By a Billionaire (Rags to Romance #24)

When the last guest finally left the penthouse and Harrison’s servants retired for the evening in their quarters downstairs, Harrison and Jayda retired in the living room.

Jayda was seated on the edge of the sofa, her legs folded and flapping, while Harrison sat back on the sofa, his legs spread wide open.

He had his usual evening headache, and was tired on top of it.

Harrison looked at her. At her elegant neck. At her sophistication despite her background. She impressed him tonight. “Enjoyed it?” he asked her.

“ Enjoyed it ?” He had to be kidding. “No!” she said so forcefully that he laughed. “Not even the food,” she added, which made him laugh more.

“Understood,” he said in agreement.

But Jayda knew there was more to it than just that dinner party. “But I don’t understand it,” she said. “What’s this all about? And what about the second part of it? You said there was a second part.”

Harrison exhaled. This was the part he was going to hate. “There is.”

She turned sideways, to be able to see him. “What is it?”

“I don’t know how much you know about me.”

“I don’t know anything about you except that your name is Harrison, which I don’t know is your first name or your last name, and that you own this penthouse. At least I think you own it. I also know you work in the Bainbridge building.”

“Harrison is my first name,” he said, “and you’re correct. I do own this penthouse. I also own the Bainbridge building. I own Bainbridge Capital Trust.”

Jayda was floored. “You own the building? The whole building?”

“Yes. My name is Harrison Arthur Bainbridge the Fourth. Sound familiar?”

“You’re a Bainbridge?”

“Yes.”

“And you own the Bainbridge building?”

He smiled. “Yes.”

“But that’s amazing. That name is like the Rockefeller Center or Carnegie Hall. Or rich people like that. And you own it?”

“Yes.”

Jayda was beyond floored. “I know that building so well. I ride by it all the time. I had no idea you owned it. I mean, I knew you were rich. You live at The Shalimar and in the richest apartment in the whole building. So I knew you had to be rich. But owning that whole building means you’re another level of rich. ”

Harrison was amused that she seemed more impressed by the fact that he owned the Bainbridge building than that he was a Bainbridge himself.

Which only added to her innocence to him.

“Yes, I’m another level of rich, that is true.

But my father, Harrison Arthur Bainbridge the Third, is far richer. He owns Bainbridge Oil.”

Another shocker for Jayda. “That’s like ExxonMobil Oil, isn’t it?”

“Number two behind ExxonMobil, yes.”

“Wow,” was all Jayda could say.

Harrison could see her shock all over her easy-to-read face. “Too much to hear?” he asked her.

“You would think it would be,” she said. But then she looked at him. “But it’s not. I mean, to me rich is rich. You and your father are on another level of rich, I understand that now, but it’s not bothering me like I would have thought it would.”

Harrison smiled. He loved how honest she was. “I’m pleased to hear that,” he said. “Because that brings me to the second part of this experiment.”

Jayda braced herself. “What is it?” she asked him.

“My father is retiring from Bainbridge Oil and will turn over his entire empire to either me or my brother. The reason he’s retiring is because he’s also very ill.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry to hear that.”

It seemed so genuine to Harrison, unlike the others in his circles who said it to him, that it touched him.

“Thank you. But because he’s ill, he’s decided to retire.

He has a decision to make. I am the oldest son, and I have a younger brother named Felix.

Normally, the family fortune is passed down to the oldest son.

That is how my father became the owner of Bainbridge Oil and his father before that.

But my father, who has never played by the rules, feels I’m a bit lacking and it’s no longer obvious that I will inherit the bulk of his estate. ”

He could tell that Jayda didn’t know where on earth this was headed, but she continued to listen.

“I have been informed, by numerous credible sources, that the reason my father has decided to give my younger brother a chance, is because I am not married, have no prospects for marriage, and is, to him, unsettled. He wants a family man to be in charge of his assets.”

Now Jayda was getting nervous. “What does any of that have to do with me?”

“My brother and I have been summoned to his estate in Kennebunkport in Maine, and we’re slated to arrive next Thursday evening.

It’s my father’s retirement bash. I have been advised that if I’m engaged by next Thursday and show up with my fiancée on my arm, then that can tip the scale back into my favor. ”

Jayda was floored. “What are you saying? Are you saying that. . . That you want me to pretend to be your fiancée?”

Again, she was quick. He liked that. “Yes, Jayda. That’s what I’m saying.”

Jayda was frowned. “But I can’t do that. I can’t lie to a dying man about something that important just so you can get richer than you already are.”

“I appreciate your candor,” Harrison said, “and I wish it was as simple as me getting richer. But there’s more to it than that.

My company is on the line. If I don’t get my hands on my father’s company, which will automatically increase my stock because it will show that my father has complete confidence in me to hand over the reins of power to the second-largest oil and gas company in the world. ”

“And if he doesn’t leave it to you?”

“Then BCT, my company, will more than likely be declaring bankruptcy in a matter of months, and tens of thousands of employees will have to be laid off.”

That number hit Jayda hard. “Does your father know the state your company is in?"

Another smart question, Harrison thought.

“No, he doesn’t. We haven’t released our last quarter numbers yet.

We have another month to go before that’s required.

But it will fall far short of expectations, which will be a major blow.

But when release time arrives and if my father hasn’t publicly agreed to leave Bainbridge Oil to me, then my stock will tank so significantly that there will be no way for us to recover.

I’ll be out of business, or at least at the mercy of the courts, within very little time after that. ”

Jayda sat there. She could feel his anguish, and could see the stress in his eyes. But he could tell she was concerned.

“Can I say something honestly?”

Her response was exactly what he wanted from her. “Please.”

Jayda didn’t know how he was going to take it, but she said it anyway. “Why would your father leave his company to you when you can’t even manage your own company?”

“ Ouch ,” he said with a smile. “Now that cut deep.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s how I feel.”

He nodded. “A reasonable feeling.” Then he frowned.

“I wish it was mismanagement. Then I could fire myself and hire a better person to take over the reins. But nothing has been mismanaged in my corporation. It’s the nature of the business.

Bainbridge Capital Trust, in case you don’t realize, deals primarily in venture capitalism. Ever hear of that?”

“That’s like when you prey on small businesses in trouble and take them over?” she asked him.

He smiled, but nodded. “I wouldn’t call it preying on them, but yes, that’s a part of it. We take over struggling businesses, reinvigorate them, and then sell them at a much higher price.”

“Like people that flip houses.”

“Something like that, yes. But we also invest in startups that could go big, or bust. The problem we’ve run into is the recession.

We purchased the businesses at a low price, yes.

But now that the recession is so widespread, hitting almost all sectors, but especially the business sector, we find ourselves with businesses that are worth even less than we paid for them.

And almost all of the startups we’ve invested in are bust. Now we have an enormous surplus of businesses and nowhere to unload them.

At least not at a profit. Which means we are running deep in the red. ”

“But y’all didn’t see it coming?” Jayda asked.

“The forecast was for a minor recession, and we priced every business we purchased with that forecast in mind plus or minus a couple deviations from that forecast. But the forecast was wrong. Dead wrong. The recession is far deeper than most analysts predicted. We aren’t the only ones in my line of work struggling.

We’re all stuck with bad investments we can’t unload.

And when you consider how big BCT is, that’s a load to unload. ”

Jayda understood. She looked at him. “But why would you taking over Bainbridge Oil help your company?”

“Because it will show that my father has complete confidence in my ability to manage it. Which will lift my profile, which will in turn lift my company. Yes, we will run in the red for a few cycles, but the markets will know that we will come out of those cycles and I will have the capital to take the hit should all remain the same, or the recession deepens. Both companies will succeed if I take over Bainbridge Oil.”

“But if your brother takes over?”

“Then I’m doomed, to be blunt with you. There’s no way I can recover. I’ll be liquidating assets just to stay afloat. Which is a fancy word for bankruptcy.”

“Companies have come back from bankruptcy.”

“Not my kind of company. It involves risk at its core. If the risk doesn’t pan out within an allotted time frame, then all I have is a lot of dead debt. That’s why immediate action will be necessary.”

“You’ll be broke then?” she asked.

Harrison stared at her. Broke was a relative term. She might have meant penniless, which would be absurd. He would still be a very rich man. But that was his business. “Something like that,” he said to her.

“And if your company goes under, I’ll be out of a job,” she said.

He liked the practical way she was looking at the situation. “Yes. That’s the truth.”

Jayda exhaled and frowned at the same time. “This is a lot,” she said. “If I pretend to be your fiancée, I’ll feel like a fraud.”

“Yes, you might feel that way. Or you’ll be helping both of us out of a jam,” said Harrison. “Because once my father turns over his company to me, it’s done. It can’t be undone. And people break off engagements all the time.”

Then he exhaled. “It’s not the ideal situation, no, it’s not. But sometimes the ends do justify the means, Jayda.”

He could tell she still didn’t like it, but she was a sensible girl. “What will I have to do?” she asked him.

“Play the role of my fiancée. We’ll leave New York Thursday afternoon. We’re due at my father’s estate for dinner that same night. At which time I’ll introduce you to him and my brother.”

“Not your mother?”

“She passed away nearly seven years ago.”

“Oh I’m so sorry.”

Another heartfelt sorry. “Thank you,” Harrison said. “My father will probably ask you several questions, of course. But I’m certain you can handle them. And after that we’ll see. Nothing is guaranteed.”

“Your father may hate me and leave his fortune to your brother because you chose me.”

“He might,” said Harrison, “but I rather doubt that.”

“He’s not a racist?”

“I’ve never seen any indication of it. Quite the opposite.”

Jayda didn’t know what he meant by that, but it didn’t matter. Nobody’s a racist until that group shows up in their homes or inner circles. Then the knives tend to come out.

But Harrison was right. She wouldn’t like it, but she could handle it. And her job, her career, her future was on the line too.

“It’s not something I want to do,” she said, “but I feel it’s the right thing to do for you and me. And those tens of thousands of people that will lose their jobs if this doesn’t work.”

Harrison knew she was the right one. “You summed it up correctly. And thank you for helping me.”

“I’m helping myself too. That’s more the reason why I’m doing it. If there was no good job for me at the end of this, I would leave you high and dry. I’m not gonna lie.”

Harrison laughed out loud. “Thanks a lot!”

Jayda smiled too. “I’m just keeping it real. Just keeping it real.”

His smile left, and he stared at her. “And that’s exactly what I want you to do. Be yourself. Dress the way you normally dress. Talk the way you normally talk.”

“Or your father will see right through me?”

Harrison nodded. “Yes he will. And so will I. And I rather have the real you than a fake you.”

“Didn’t you see me at dinner? I don’t know how to be fake even when it’ll help me.” Then she scrunched up her face. “I just hope I know how to pretend.”

Harrison stared at her. Then made up his mind. He stood up and extended his hand to her. “It’ll be a start if you stay the night with me,” he said.

Jayda looked at his hand and then looked up at him. “How is that supposed to help?”

“We need to be more familiar with each other. If you know what I mean.”

Her entire body went hot when he said those words. She’d already proven she was attracted to this man. He’d already proven he was attracted to her. But would it really help them later, or just now?

“I promise not to touch you that way,” he said. “But I’m tired, I have a slight headache. I need to rest.”

She didn’t believe for a second that he would keep his hands off of her that way , but that, to her own shock, wasn’t a deal breaker for her anyway.

He turned her on unlike any man had in a long time.

Kenny turned her on, but only in the bedroom.

This man turned her on in ways she couldn’t even explain.

And the idea of being with him didn’t upset her at all.

And maybe he was right: They needed to be more familiar with each other.

She took his hand again.

He led her to his staircase, placed his hand on her lower back, and led her to his bedroom.

Even she knew when they entered those double doors, and he closed those doors behind them, that there was no turning back now.