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“What is your concern?” she asked, confused.
“The capricious lifestyle that has resulted in your unacceptable and notorious reputation.”
“You want me to come work for AIH?” she asked with zero enthusiasm and even less belief.
The last time the issue of Archer International Holdings had come up, her father had made it clear he no longer harbored dreams of her one day taking over.
His harsh bark of laughter was all the answer she needed. “Absolutely not.”
“You want me to get a job somewhere else?” She could do that.
She preferred using her education as a volunteer teacher’s aide, but if it would help her relationship with her father, she would get a paying job—which hopefully wouldn’t conflict with her volunteering schedule.
More derisive laughter fell from her father’s lips. “Do you really think any reputable charity or business would hire you right now?”
Heat climbed up her neck, ending in a very rare blush. She’d become adept at hiding her emotions, even suppressing her blushes of embarrassment a long time ago.
But suddenly, she realized that if it did become known that Madison Archer was Maddie Grace, the school might be forced to disallow Maddie’s volunteering. All because a man she’d thought was a friend had turned out to be a lying, manipulative, opportunistic user.
“He wants you to get married,” Vik informed her, no indication in his tone or demeanor that he was joking.
Her father did not jump in with a denial, either.
For the first time, she looked around the room to see how the other occupants were reacting. Her father’s media fixer and PA were both busy on their tablets, ignoring the conversation now, or giving a pretty good pretense of doing so.
One of his managers was looking at her with the type of speculation that left Madison feeling dirty, but the fact he had the articles about her spread out in front of him could have something to do with that, too.
The other manager was reading through the paperwork and the man who Maddie did not know was looking at her father, his expression assessing.
Vik’s expression was enigmatic as always.
She met her father’s gaze again, finding nothing there but implacable resolve. “You want me to get married.”
“Yes.”
“Who?” she asked, unhappily certain she already had an inkling.
“One of these four men.” Her father indicated Vik, the two other managers and the man she did not know. “You know Viktor, of course, and I am sure you remember Steven Whitley.” Jeremy nodded toward a manager she was fairly certain had been divorced once already and was nearly twice her age.
Maddie found herself acknowledging both men with a tip of her own head in some bizarre ritual of polite behavior. Or maybe it was just the situation that was so bizarre.
He indicated the manager whose look had given her the willies. “Brian Jones.”
His expression was benign now, almost pitying.
“I thought you were engaged,” she said, her voice almost as tight as her throat. But that couldn’t be helped.
Hadn’t Maddie met his fiancée at the last Christmas party?
“Are you?” her father asked, annoyance clear in his tone. “Miss Priest?”
His PA looked up from her tablet with a frown. “Yes, sir?”
“Jones is engaged.”
“Is he?” Miss Priest didn’t sound concerned. “He is not married.”
“But I will be.” Brian stood. “I don’t believe I’ll be needed for the rest of this meeting, if you’ll excuse me, sir?”
“Did you read the contract?” her father demanded.
“I did.”
“And you are still leaving?”
“Yes, sir.”
A measure of respect shone in her father’s eyes even as he frowned. “Then go.” He nodded toward the stranger on the other side of Maddie as if the introductions had not been interrupted by the defection of one of his candidates. “Maxwell Black, CEO of BIT.”
Maxwell smiled at her, magnetism that might actually rival Vik’s exuding from him. “Hello, Madison. It’s good to see you again.”
He wasn’t overtly sexual, but there was a vibe to him that made Maddie wrap her arms protectively around herself. This man carried power around him the same way Vik did, but with a predatory edge she hadn’t experienced from her father’s heir apparent.
Then, she’d never been his business rival.
“I don’t believe we’ve met?” She forced her arms to fall to her sides.
“I saw you at the Red Ball last February.”
She remembered going to the charity event that raised money for research into heart disease, but she didn’t remember seeing him.
“I would have remembered.”
“I’m glad to hear you say so.” His teeth flashed in a blinding white smile. “But I meant what I said. I saw you there. We were not introduced.”
“Oh.”
Her father cleared his throat in that disapproving way he had, but if he expected Maddie to say it was a pleasure to meet the man—under these circumstances—he didn’t know her very well.
But then that had been her problem most of her life, hadn’t it?
CHAPTER TWO
THE MORNING HAD GONE according to Viktor’s plans so far, but the spark of temper in Madison’s brilliant blue eyes threatened to derail it.
If Jeremy had evinced even one iota of the concern Viktor knew the older man felt for his daughter’s current predicament, she would be reacting very differently. But then if father and daughter got along perfectly, or even very well, Viktor’s own plans would by necessity be very different.
“You know, I never even entertained the fantasy that you called me to help me, to take my side for once, to protect me because I mattered to you.” The beautiful redhead offered the emotionally laden words in a flat tone Viktor almost envied.
She would be one hell of a poker player.
She was lying, though. Madison wouldn’t have shown up if she didn’t think her father would help her.
“You never were a child taken with fairy tales,” Jeremy said.
Viktor could have reined in the older man’s prideful idiocy, but that wouldn’t further his own agenda. However, he felt an unexpected pang of guilt at Madison’s barely there flinch and flash of pain in the azure depths of her eyes.
She recovered quickly, her expression smooth—almost bored. “No, that was always Mom’s department. She lived under the fallacy that you cared about us. I know better.”
It was Jeremy’s turn to flinch and he wasn’t as fast at hiding his reaction as his daughter, but then he had to be in shock. Madison didn’t go for the jugular like that. In fact, in all the arguments between the tycoon and his daughter Viktor had been privy to, he’d never heard Madison use her mother’s memory against her father before.
No triumph at the emotional bloodletting showed on Madison’s porcelain features.
Instead, she looked like she wanted nothing more than to get up and walk away. The fact she stayed in her seat was proof the heiress might be criminally flagrant in her personal life, but she wasn’t stupid.
She knew her father well enough to be aware that Jeremy’s arsenal of threats wasn’t empty.
“You have five minutes.” Madison’s words verified she did indeed realize her father had more encouragement to lay on the table, but also that she had little patience in waiting to find out what it was.
Color washed over Jeremy’s face. “Excuse me?”
“She wants the other two prongs to the pitchfork,” Viktor informed his boss.
Jeremy’s scowl said he knew that’s what she’d meant, but he didn’t like the time limit or implied ultimatum that Madison would get up and leave if it wasn’t met.
“Pitchfork?” Black asked.
Viktor could have answered, but he didn’t. Giving Maxwell Black any kind of information wasn’t on his agenda for the day. Viktor had ignored the presence of the other candidates at the table as superfluous, and planned to continue to do so.
Madison wasn’t so reticent. “Jeremy never enters a fight he isn’t sure he can win. To that end, he stacks the deck. He’ll have three scenarios in the offing, none of which will I want to eventuate.”
“You call your father by his first name?” Black asked.
Madison flicked a meaning-laden glance in the tycoon’s direction. “As he pointed out, I’m the not the one in the family to wallow in sentimental fantasy.”
What she didn’t say was that until that morning, Madison had called Jeremy Archer Father and sometimes even Dad. That she would no longer do so could be taken from her words as a given.
No question that the company president had seriously messed up in his approach to his daughter.
Viktor might have suggested the current course to protect AIH’s interests and future, but he would not have blindsided Madison with it during a meeting with strangers.
He’d been angry when he realized Jeremy hadn’t even bothered to brief his daughter about the meeting’s agenda before her arrival. She might be flighty and prone to inauspicious, risky behavior, but she deserved more respect than that.
Viktor had no doubts that Jeremy would ultimately get what he wanted, not least of which because Viktor would make it happen.
However he had a nascent suspicion that the personal cost for that success might be higher for Jeremy than the president of Archer International Holdings anticipated.
Madison flicked a glance at the Cartier watch on her wrist. “Your time starts now, Jeremy.”
“Golden Chances Charter School.”
“What about it?” Madison asked with caution, the barest crack in her calm facade finally showing.
“Over the last three years, you have donated tens of thousands of dollars from your Madison Trust income to school improvements and projects.”
“I am aware.”
But Viktor hadn’t been. He began to wonder what else he didn’t know about Madison.
Jeremy’s eyes, the only feature truly like his daughter’s, reflected subtle triumph. “The school’s zoning is under scrutiny.”
“It wasn’t as of yesterday.”
“Things change.”
“I see.” Madison glanced pointedly down at her watch.
“Are you pretending that does not matter to you?”
“No. You have two more minutes.”
Viktor was impressed. Madison would have done a better job negotiating a recent deal with a Japanese conglomerate than the project manager they’d sent to Asia.
Jeremy frowned. “Ramona Grayson.”
“What about her?”
Viktor would be crossing his legs protectively if that tone and look had been directed at him.
“Her father is a drunk,” Jeremy pointed out with well-known derision toward a man Madison had made no bones about considering a second father.
“And mine is a conscienceless bastard. I guess we both lost in the masculine parent lottery, though given a choice I’d pick Harry Grayson. His emotions might be pickled with alcohol, but at least he has them.”
Viktor had seen Madison angry. He’d seen her hurt, embarrassed and even seriously disappointed. He had never seen her this coldly furious.
The Madison that Viktor had known for ten years was in no way reflected in the harshly dismissive woman in front of them.
Despite the implication of her words, she loved her father. In the past, she hadn’t been able to hide her need for his attention and approval. Her mistake had always been how she went about getting it.
She’d followed in her mother’s footsteps, not realizing Jeremy Archer had been too traumatized by the loss of his wife to want to see her audacious nature reflected in their only child.
“Do you think Ramona sees it that way?” Jeremy asked. “Or perhaps she would prefer a father not lost in a bottle.”
Madison shrugged. “It’s not something we discuss.”
“Nevertheless, the destruction of her father’s business, followed by him losing everything to bankruptcy, would hurt her a great deal. Don’t you think?”
Madison pulled her phone from her purse with an almost negligent move belied by the blue fire in her gaze. “You have exactly fifteen seconds to take that tactic for coercion off the table.”
“Or what?”
“Ten.”
And for the first time in Viktor’s memory, infallible businessman Jeremy Archer made a mistake in negotiating. He silently called his daughter’s bluff.
He believed that because she had no interest in business, Madison was not capable of the same level of ruthlessness as he was.
Viktor knew from personal experience that just because a parent and child lived very different lives, it did not mean that they shared no common personality traits.
Madison pressed her phone to her ear.
“Don’t,” Viktor said.
Madison just shook her head. “I’m sorry, Viktor.”
There would be only one reason for her to apologize to him. Whatever she had planned would have a detrimental effect on AIH and, by default, Viktor’s job and livelihood.
The possible implications were still firming in his brain as she made contact with the lawyer in charge of the Madison Trust. “Hello, Mr. Bellingham. I need you to draw some papers up for me. I’m texting you the instructions now.”
Seconds later the lawyer’s agitated tones came through her phone.
Madison listened for a moment in silence and then replied. “Yes, he knows. He’s sitting right here. In fact, he’s the one who put this in motion.”
The fact the unflappable Bellingham was still speaking loudly enough for Viktor to almost make out his words said something about the nature of Madison’s instructions.
“I am absolutely certain, and Mr. Bellingham? If your firm wishes to keep the Madison Trust as a client in sixty-five days when it falls under my control, I suggest you have those papers ready for me to sign when I stop by your office later this afternoon.”
Another spate of conversation, this time quieter.
“Thank you, Mr. Bellingham.”
Madison tucked her phone back into her purse and faced her father, her expression daring him to ask what she’d done.
Jeremy remained stubbornly silent, or maybe he was in too much shock to react. He had to realize the likely content of those papers, or maybe he didn’t.
Maybe Jeremy Archer was under the mistaken impression that Archer International Holdings was important enough to his daughter that she would not do what Viktor was almost positive she had done.
“What do the papers say?” Viktor asked, unwilling to make decisions based on assumptions.
“As you know, because of the financial deal Grandfather Madison made with Jeremy upon his marriage to my mother, the Madison Trust holds twenty-five percent of the privately held shares in Archer International Holdings.”
“Those shares are your heritage,” Jeremy said.
“Romi is my friend.”
“So you gave her some of your shares?” Viktor asked with no real hope it could be that simple.
“If Mr. Grayson’s company is under threat from AIH or any company remotely affiliated with it, at one minute past midnight on my twenty-fifth birthday, all of those shares will be signed over to Harry Grayson personally. Not his company.”
“You cannot do that!”
“I can.” Madison looked more like her father in that moment than at any other time Viktor had known her.
“And if his company is not under threat?” Viktor asked, suspecting that Jeremy’s calling his daughter’s threat had precipitated some kind of permanent action on her part.
“Half of my shares will be signed over to Romi.”
Jeremy stood up, his face flushing with color, his eyes narrowed in fury. “You will not sign those papers.”
“I will.” Conversely, Madison relaxed back into her chair. “You had your chance to take my friend’s happiness off the table as a negotiating point, but you refused to take it.”
“That’s insane,” Steven Whitley said, speaking up for the first time since his introduction to Madison. “Even half of your shares are valued at tens of millions.”
“Romi won’t have to worry about her drunk of a father ruining her life, will she?” Madison asked her father, as if he’d been the one to bring up the point of the shares’ value.
Jeremy slammed his hand on the table. “I am not ruining your life, Madison, you’ve done a fair job of that yourself.”
“No, I haven’t, but I don’t expect you to believe me.”
“You are not giving away twelve and a half percent of my company!”
Viktor didn’t know if Jeremy realized he’d just effectively taken the third prong of his threats off the table. No way was he going to allow Harry Grayson Sr. to own twenty-five percent of AIH.
Jeremy and Madison were too much alike. Both would go to extreme measures for what was most important to them. The problem was that while Madison was very important to Jeremy, she did not believe it and Jeremy was willfully blind to what Madison needed from him.
Beyond that Archer International Holdings came first with Jeremy, and the people she cared about came first with Madison. Right now, those two priorities were in direct conflict.
Things were going to go completely pear-shaped if Viktor didn’t take control.
“Sit down, Jeremy,” Viktor instructed the older man in a tone that was respectful, but firm.
With a glare for his daughter, Jeremy returned to his seat.
“This meeting has derailed and I believe it is time to regroup.”
Jeremy nodded.
Viktor stood and straightened his suit jacket before walking around the table and offering his hand to Madison. “Come with me.”
“What are you doing, Viktor?” Jeremy asked, his expression considering.
The man knew that AIH sat near the top of Viktor’s priority list, too. The company was the conduit for his own plans and no chance was he starting over because of the father-daughter issues of its owner.
“Madison and I have some things to discuss.”
Steven frowned at him. “You are not the only candidate, you know. This contract was offered to four of us.”
“I am the only one who matters.”
An infinitesimal quirk of his boss’s mouth said he knew that was true, but he said, “I believe that is up to Madison.”
The lady in question made a sound of disparagement. “Right. If the decision is mine to make, I assume it’s to be from the men you included in this meeting. One of whom was already engaged, another is old enough to be my father with a history of failed marriages and the other a complete stranger. And then there is Viktor.”
“Maxwell Black is a man worth knowing.”
While it might be true, Viktor didn’t appreciate Jeremy pointing it out. Two half-Russian boys, raised to appreciate a culture not fully American, Maxwell and Viktor had grown up together, their families close, their goals similar.
Friends of a sort, but too alike for comfort, both men were determined to make their mark on the world, to be at the top of the food chain.
Because of the different paths they took to dominant positions in the business world, Viktor’s and Maxwell’s interests had not conflicted before today.
Thankfully, Madison didn’t look impressed by her father’s words.
She shifted so she could make eye contact with the CEO of BIT. “Mr. Black, do not be fooled by Jeremy’s mistaken ignorance. Those articles are lies made up by a man I believed was my friend. Perry and I never had any sort of sexual relationship, much less a BDSM one.”
The pain underlying her measured tones prompted Viktor to make some plans in regard Perry Timwater.
“I believe you.” Maxwell’s assurance proved he was every bit as intelligent as Viktor had always known him to be.
Madison relaxed infinitesimally. “Good.”
“Regardless of the reason for our meeting, I would like to get to know you, Miss Archer.” Maxwell, damn his hide, smiled charmingly at Madison. “You seem like an interesting person.”
She inclined her head. “Thank you, but—”
“Don’t dismiss the possibility of our compatibility out of hand,” Maxwell interrupted her with another of his lady-killer smiles. “I bet I could teach you to like some of the things you’ve been accused of needing.”
Madison’s gasp said she was shocked by Maxwell’s words.
Whether the words themselves or where he chose to speak them, Viktor didn’t know and it didn’t matter. He wasn’t surprised. Maxwell played to his strengths and exploited the weakness of others.
Turning the lurid headlines into something forbidden but potentially exciting was a solid tactic for handling the current situation and the humiliation Madison had to be experiencing. Though she’d done nothing to let it show.
Unfortunately for Maxwell, Viktor wasn’t going to let the ploy succeed.
Nothing was standing between Viktor and control of AIH. Not even Madison herself, but particularly not Maxwell Black.
Clearly upset with Maxwell’s words, Jeremy made a sound of protest.
Before the older man could say anything Viktor was in front of Black, blocking his line of sight with Madison. “That is not something you are going to discuss here, or with Madison at all.”
“You think not?” Black challenged back.
“I know not.”
“I don’t need your protection, Viktor,” Madison said quietly from behind him.
He turned to face her, but didn’t move so Black would have to stand and sidestep to see her. “Nevertheless, you have it.”
She shook her head, whether in denial, or frustration, he didn’t know.
“I’m nowhere near taking him up on his offer. I’m pretty sure even the mildest form of that kind of relationship requires trust and I don’t have any. Not for men, particularly men with the same priorities as Jeremy Archer. Businessmen.”
She made the word sound like a slur.
Viktor didn’t believe her regardless. Madison trusted him. She always had; even if she no longer realized it.
And while Maxwell’s words hadn’t surprised him, Madison’s willingness to meet them head-on did. But then maybe it shouldn’t have. She’d already shown her willingness to stand against her father.
Maxwell got up, his pose too damned relaxed for Viktor’s liking. Even less did he like the way the other man moved around him to face Madison. “I see.”
“Good.”
“Nothing in the contract states we must share a bedroom.”
Madison’s eyes flared with...was it interest?
Viktor cursed under his breath. “In order to receive the shares stipulated, Madison and her husband must provide an heir for Archer International Holdings.”
Madison gasped, anger shimmering around her like electric currents.
Before she could say anything, Maxwell shrugged. “There is always artificial insemination.”
“While we live two entirely separate lives?” Madison asked in a tone Viktor recognized, but from the reaction of both Maxwell and her father, they did not.
Jeremy puffed up with renewed anger while the other Russian-American nodded with smug complacency. “Exactly.”
“We would be married in name only?” she asked, the disgust levels rising enough that the others should have recognized them.
They didn’t.
“No.” Viktor was done with the verbal games.
Madison gave him a look like she was questioning his right to make the pronouncement.
“That sort of relationship would be too uncertain for the health of Archer International Holdings,” Viktor pointed out.
Disappointment dulled the blue of Madison’s azure gaze, but she masked the emotion almost immediately. Viktor cursed silently.
Her father, however, nodded vigorously. “Precisely.”
“I think your daughter has already proven she is more than capable of her own decisions.” Maxwell’s admiration was annoyingly apparent.
“I won’t sign the contract,” Jeremy said in implacable tones.
The BIT CEO didn’t look worried.
Madison’s features had gone smooth with a lack of emotion once again as she stared at her father. “You believe I would agree to that kind of marriage?”
For once Jeremy seemed incapable of speech, perhaps realizing finally how little interest Madison would ever have in such a cold-blooded bargain.