Page 37 of Midnight’s Queen (Stroke of Midnight #3)

The elevator opened and Portia stepped into the lobby on her floor. Her assistant barely looked up, her attention split between Portia and her computer. She could tell by the faraway look in her eyes that the other woman was jacked directly into the system.

“Any messages?” Portia asked.

“Um. No.” Melanie flicked her gaze up to Portia’s briefly. Then she added, “But Mr. Tremaine is waiting in your office.”

Portia blinked as she tried to process that. She stared at Melanie, a deep anger building inside. “He’s waiting in my office,” she repeated, frost edging her words.

“Well, yeah. He didn’t have an appointment and I tried to stop him. Then he said he was your father and you wouldn’t mind.” Melanie shrugged and Portia’s blood boiled.

Forcing herself to breathe—because the other option would be much messier—Portia asked, “When have I ever allowed someone to wait in my office?”

“Um, never?”

Portia glared at her. “Exactly.”

“But he’s your father,” Melanie whined. “What was I supposed to do?”

Portia leaned close and made sure their eyes met. “I don’t care if it’s my dead husband come back to life, don’t ever let someone into my office without my permission again.”

Eyes wide, Melanie nodded.

Satisfied that the other woman looked sufficiently intimidated, Portia straightened and stepped back. Invoking Tommy like that made her feel queasy. He, on the other hand, would have thought it was hilarious.

“How long has he been in there?”

“Twenty minutes?”

Portia gritted her teeth when Melanie phrased it as a question. As soon as she had time, she was finding a new assistant.

When Melanie reached for the button that opened Portia’s office door remotely, Portia stopped her with a look. “Don’t,” she ground out. She wanted her father to have as little warning as possible, to have the best chance of catching him doing something stupid.

Keeping her steps light, she approached her office door with a gut-churning mix of rage, fear, and dread. She took a deep breath, pushed the door open and strode through.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t in time to see her father in a panicked attempt to back away from her computer or struggling to close a desk drawer. Instead, he stood at the windows, staring down at the city.

Oh well, it had been a long shot. Phillip Tremaine had held power for years and, given all the secrets that had come out, he’d known how to not get caught.

Tamping down nerves and the unwelcome feeling that she was stepping into the past, into her father’s office, Portia let the doors close behind her and entered the room with confidence. She had to take control of their encounter from the beginning.

“Good morning, Father. I heard you were waiting for me.” She made a show of removing her jacket and hanging it up.

Angled just enough to watch her father from the corner of her eye, she studied her computer. It was awake, so he’d probably tried to access it. No matter. Ash had locked it down so it would only work for her.

She took her seat and logged on, for all intents and purposes ignoring her father, though she could watch his reflection in the other windows.

Of course, he probably knew that trick as well.

“Good morning.” Hands in his pockets, trying so hard to look casual, he circled the room until he stood in front of her. Was he pretending to be relaxed or pretending to be frail?

It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be taken in by his games and manipulations. “What can I do for you?”

He took the seat she hadn’t offered. “We need to continue our discussion from last night.”

Portia tilted her head and studied him for a long moment. “No.”

His sharp inhale was music to her ears. She’d never told him no before. Always expected to say “Yes, Father,” she found her newfound freedom intoxicating.

“How dare you?” he countered and she barely managed to not roll her eyes.

“Oh, I know this game. The next line is ‘Do you know who I am?’” She spoke in a mocking tone, not intending to mimic him accurately.

His cheeks reddened and his hands clenched.

Oh, she liked this. Before he could respond, she spoke again. “You’re Phillip Tremaine and you’ve been missing, presumed dead, for months. So, I think before we have any conversations you want to have, you need to answer my questions. Where have you been?”

She hadn’t spent much time looking for him. She’d barely been keeping her head above water as she swam through her grief. The newsies had looked for him, publishing new speculations each week for a few months before interest had dried up. Killian had tasked Tremaine Security personnel with the search, but no one had ever discovered what had happened or where the blood in his office had come from. Portia, like everyone else, had assumed that someone, probably his murderous assistant, had killed him.

“It doesn’t matter where I’ve been. All that matters is that I’ve returned and that I’ll be taking my company back.” He stared at her silently, waiting for her reaction.

Portia laughed, cold and cruel, just as he’d taught her. “No. You won’t. The Tremaine Corporation is mine. All legal and everything.” Her lawyers had ensured that.

“Silly child,” he said with a mocking laugh. “I was never really sure you should inherit the company, Portia. Your attitude proves me right.”

“My attitude? You’re the one waltzing back in here like nothing has changed. Why don’t you go back to whatever hole you crawled out of?” Cold anger burned through her.

He wasn’t taking her company. The Solveigs weren’t taking her company. Aleks had been right. She was the head of the corporation and she needed to step up.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” His voice practically vibrated with fury. “My name is on the building.”

“So is mine.” Portia gave him her shark smile. The one she’d learned from spending years at his side.

The look he shot her was so full of disdain that she was transported back to childhood. Those times when she got an A-minus, and he berated her for not getting an A. “You don’t understand what’s going on here, do you?” Condescension dripped from his voice.

“I do, actually. I’m running my company. Making decisions for my business.” She stared into blue eyes just like hers. “There’s nothing for you here.”

His laugh would make a super villain proud. “I have friends,” he warned.

“So do I,” Portia snapped.

His brows rose in interest.

Crap. She shouldn’t have said that. She didn’t need him poking into her business. “I think it’s best that you go back to wherever you were,” she told her father, feeling incredibly sick as she spoke but fighting to hide it as she faced him down. The man had encouraged and belittled her in equal measures. Her feelings for him were complicated in the extreme, but nothing good would come of him running the Tremaine Corporation again. She knew that in her soul.

“This isn’t over, Portia. You’ll regret this little rebellion of yours.” He stalked across the office and through the doors without a backward glance.

She clenched her hands into fists, trying to stop the shaking. She’d stood up to her father in the past, but only ever about small things. It had never gone well.

Exhaling in a slow steady stream, she tried to control her racing pulse. She’d let him get under her skin.

The warning about his friends concerned her. It wasn’t a surprise—she’d been trying to uncover his cronies since the day she took over, but the stakes were even higher now.

She’d known fighting her father would be a huge undertaking, but it almost felt more daunting than just taking over the damn company in the first place.

Looking around her office, she was struck by a wave of paranoia. Had her father bugged it?

She opened her phone and messaged Ash.

How would I sweep my office for bugs?

Staring at the phone, she willed him to respond. Would he ignore her because of her earlier call?

Why do you ask?

My assistant let my father wait in my office. Alone.

Shit.

Yeah, that summed it up. She typed again. I don’t know that he did anything, but I don’t know that he didn’t either.

I have the information on Vyne. I’ll be by in a couple of hours and can sweep for you.

A couple of hours? She hated the thought of waiting that long, but she didn’t know who else she could trust with it right now.

Okay.