Page 11 of The Tempo of Truth (The Monsters Duet #3)
Winnie
“The board is concerned about optics.”
I looked up from the message Ky sent and lifted my eyebrows at the assistant my Uncle Alistair had been training for me to make the handoff of Halliday Inc.
as painless as possible for everyone involved.
He was an older, African American gentleman, well-versed in corporate culture and hostile company takeovers.
He was meant to be my first line of defense against the antiquated board of directors, as well as my right-hand man when it was time to take the training wheels off and I officially took over the family business.
For now, I had this stone-faced and very thorough assistant, Jeremiah Bryer, and a handful of mentors on standby, ready to teach me everything they knew about their particular function in the company.
“Are they concerned about the optics surrounding the fact that their new CEO is a single mother? Or are they up in arms that a twenty-six-year-old recent college graduate holds the highest number of shares and no longer needs her family to sign off on major decisions?” Now that both my Uncle Win and my resurrected father were married with children, the shares left were divided and spread equally across the next generation—the same with my Uncle Alistair.
Before my last birthday, he was the largest shareholder by far, and every move Halliday Inc.
made required his signature. Now that I was in my mid-twenties, all the shares left to me by my mother and grandmother were in my hands, making me the majority stakeholder.
I no longer needed to run my decisions through the board of directors or my family if I wanted to make significant changes.
I could feel the unease upon my arrival throughout the skyscraper that housed Halliday Inc.
’s headquarters. There were a lot of people in this building worried about how this handover was going to affect their interests.
Jeremiah cleared his throat and tactfully looked down at the tablet he was holding.
It was hard to miss that he was scrolling through the recent articles that captured my reunion with Ky in the park, which were rapidly spinning speculation about our relationship and asking if he was the reason I finally returned home.
Headlines posted he was the father of my son, but that was a far reach since I had yet to confirm or deny Lowe’s parentage.
“All of the above. Everything about you has them frothing at the mouth. However, the news that you might have ties to a known criminal and are actively engaging with someone who has such a problematic past is at the forefront of their concerns. Halliday Inc. is a publicly traded company. More than one board member questioned if you were mature enough to make sacrifices in your personal life so as to not disrupt your professional obligations.”
I rolled my eyes and swiveled the lush leather chair in my new office back and forth with the toe of my shoe. “Did they raise these concerns to my uncles?”
My stoic assistant nodded. “Yes. And the response was what you might imagine. Mr. Halliday threatened to bankrupt any of the subsidiaries that the few detractors are involved with and promised to disrupt their promised dividends. The current CEO told them that anyone who gets in your way or makes things difficult for you for no reason will not see a cent of profit from any of the future projects that are in development. As your uncle is also the president of the board, he can make moves to oust the troublemakers and redistribute their shares as he sees fit. Both your uncles told the board to keep their noses out of your personal life.” He tapped on the tablet with his finger and told me, “The director of our media department is requesting a meeting. She wants to know how you wish to address inquiries surrounding your return and recent events, as well as the flood of interview requests. The director of the company’s PR department would also like to set up a meeting.
He wants to plan your corporate image now that you’re going to be in the public eye so often.
” He caught his breath and finished the barrage of updates with, “Your security team figured out how your arrival information leaked to the press. They were unaware that the company is still being tracked by one of those websites that record the flight data of private jets to track carbon emissions. It’s meant to keep wealthy individuals and corporations accountable for their environmental impact.
Unfortunately, it enables anyone to follow the plane’s location.
Chances are, they weren’t there to capture your return; they just got lucky since you changed your itinerary last minute.
The legal team is trying to get the jet’s information removed, but it’s unlikely. ”
I tapped the screen of my phone and eventually asked Ky where he wanted to meet.
It would be best to plan the introduction somewhere private and away from prying eyes.
Still, any place that fell into that category would involve Ky coming onto my turf and stepping out of his comfort zone, which I knew he wouldn’t do.
Even when he had money from playing football and various endorsements, he lived like he was barely making ends meet.
I wasn’t shocked when he sent the name of a diner located in the neighborhood where he grew up.
It wasn’t too far from my brownstone physically, but it was worlds away economically.
The restaurant was where his mom had waited tables when they lived in the city.
It was also the spot where my grandfather, on my mother’s side of the family, tracked Ky down and started his plan to meddle in my life.
I wondered if there was a hidden message in Ky’s choice of location.
Thinking about it gave me a headache, so I agreed but told him my security detail was going to be present—not so much for my safety—but to ensure nothing and no one could harm Lowe.
Ky sent back a thumbs-up emoji after giving me a time and date.
The conversation stopped there. As always, dealing with him left me feeling both strung too tightly and worn out to the point I wanted to collapse in a heap on my expensive, antique desk.
I shoved my hair out of my face and forced myself to slip back into collected CEO mode.
I was young, but I’d been born into this role and ruthlessly trained for this inevitable takeover since before I could walk.
My Aunt Channing always assured me I didn’t have to run the business if I didn’t want to.
She watched this company and the greed it bred kill my mother.
She told me over and over again that I was allowed to forge my future in whatever way I saw fit.
No one who loved me was going to make me walk in the steps that came before me.
For a short while, when I was studying abroad, I thought I might want to walk away from everything I inherited.
I liked art and design far more than being trapped in a glass prison all day long.
I enjoyed jumping around the globe, chasing the one thing I wanted but could never have—Kyser Kent.
It was fun being a fangirl and pretending that I was like anyone else with an unrequited love for a superstar athlete.
I followed him through his triumphs and caught him when he collapsed in disgrace.
I didn’t take much of anything seriously since it was the first time in my life I wasn’t living with the stigma of being the Halliday heiress.
No one really knew who I was or what family I came from when I was playing pretend.
They treated me the same as all the other international students, and I thrived living with zero expectations placed on me.
I honestly thought I was going to leave the privileged life I’d always had behind for something much simpler and less high-profile.
Everything changed after that night with Ky in Lisbon.
It didn’t take long after I left him there before I realized I was pregnant.
Once I decided to keep the baby and tell my family I planned to raise the child on my own, my priorities shifted.
Even if I didn’t want all the responsibility that came with being a Halliday, or the massive conglomerate that cast a shadow across the entire world, I had to preserve everything for my son.
I wanted him to have the option of taking over the family legacy, the same way my uncles protected that opportunity for me.
Once I knew I was going to be a mother, my wanderlust vanished, and I craved stability.
And Ky. He was never not part of the reason I made the choices I did.
Coming back to the city was inevitable because he was there.
I knew I had to tell him that he was a father. The longer I waited, the more he and Lowe were going to resent me for not telling them the truth and delaying their inevitable meeting.
Part of me fully expected Ky to walk away.
I ignored the small corner of my heart that always wanted to believe the best of him.
The part that still viewed him as a savior.
That tiny piece of me hoped Ky wanted some sort of relationship with his son and prayed he could forgive me for keeping him a secret for so long.