Entangled With The Heiress
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Richard smirked, as if pleased Rhett had taken his direction, but Patricia snapped, “Don’t call her that. I will never acknowledge that woman’s so-called marriage to my nephew. Ever.”
She might not, but that didn’t mean the law wouldn’t. Rhett didn’t bother making the distinction. That was their lawyer’s job.
“Regardless, our meeting was quite satisfactory. I don’t foresee any problems with proceeding.”
Satisfied smiles appeared on Richard’s and Patricia’s faces. As much as the Hyatts’ obvious greed for their deceased nephew’s estate left a bad taste in Rhett’s mouth, he couldn’t deny their suspicions had basis in reality. Trinity Romero had become Trinity Hyatt a mere week before her new husband had died in a helicopter crash, taking her from a lowly administrator at one of her husband’s charities to a very wealthy widow. A claim her new family was already protesting in court. She did have a handwritten copy of his new will, but her lawyer insisted the official copy had been with her husband in the helicopter he’d died in on his way to his lawyer’s office.
Convenient.
“I knew you were the man for the job,” Richard was saying. “Our lawyer knew exactly who to turn to. A man like you will make her putty in your hands in a week—”
“Maybe less,” his wife murmured, eyeing Rhett in a most unladylike way over the rim of her wineglass.
Richard ignored her. “You’ll get the truth from her, then we will have evidence for our court case. Anything to put this whole debacle behind us.”
“Remember, I cannot guarantee that time frame, Mr. Hyatt.”
Richard’s ham-handed slap on the back left Rhett uncomfortable but he knew better than to show it. Clients were never happy if you gave any hint of not trusting them.
The pat was accompanied by a hearty, “I have full faith in you, my man. And it seems like others are starting to get on board.”
Rhett knew what Richard was referring to, as anyone in his position should, but still asked, “Meaning?”
“Apparently New Orleans’ resident gossip blogger, one of those anonymous channels that dishes all the dirt, has started digging into Trinity’s secrets. That should help our cause,” he said with an overly loud guffaw. “Our lawyer will send you a link before the meeting tomorrow.”
Again, Rhett didn’t let on that he knew about the gossip column. He was nothing if not thorough. No single thing was left to chance. Rhett had seen the alert just as soon as the post had gone live. NOLA Secrets & Scandals was exceedingly popular in the city and gaining ground across the South. In less than three months, the Instagram page connected with the blog had gained over 100,000 followers. It had caught on not just with gossipmongers, but within the upper classes, who relished knowing and spreading the secret tidbits the blogger exposed.
Rhett shifted a little in his jacket, for once wishing he’d sent his partner, Chris, instead of taking this job himself. But Chris had his hands full with a case involving a gigolo trying to swindle an elderly woman out of her fortune; Chris’s job was to seduce the old lady right out from under him so her children would ultimately receive their rightful inheritance.
On the surface, what their company did sounded down and dirty, but it really wasn’t. They might whisper a few sweet words or hold someone a little closer than publicly proper, but there was a line that was never crossed. A line that Rhett had never wanted to cross. After all, he’d had enough betrayal in his life without deliberately putting himself into a situation that could only have a bad ending.
They were coming down to the wire on that case, but Rhett couldn’t wait for Chris to wrap it up. Oh, Rhett could certainly do this job. Trinity’s beauty eased any hardship caused by her gauche in-laws. Just the thought of the hunt, the subtle maneuvers required to ferret out the information he needed to undermine any claim she had on the Hyatt estate set his blood pumping.
He just had to ignore the other things about Trinity that made his heart pound.
As his new clients eased off with a casual wave and a not-so-subtle wink, Rhett indulged in the barest sip of his whiskey. He casually zeroed in on the very spot where Trinity was standing. He’d known the moment she’d reentered the museum’s grand ballroom. His brain had registered every glance she’d thrown his way, no matter how much she’d tried to hide it. So he let the distaste he’d felt for his clients’ motives show momentarily on his face. He wanted her to see that he’d met her in-laws and didn’t care for them that much.
He could almost feel her curiosity and concern across the space between them.
Now he let himself make eye contact, then he lifted his glass in her direction, catching her wide-eyed surprise as he acknowledged a connection neither of them had put into words. Regardless of what her in-laws might say, what society might whisper or what his own conscience might condemn, getting to know each other was going to be a very sure pleasure.
Two
Trinity tried not to be alarmed by the number of people seated around the table at the emergency board meeting of Hyatt Heights, Inc. It looked like a world peace negotiation instead of a business meeting.
There were the lawyers: stone-faced as they set up their laptops. There were the businessmen: some familiar and friendly faces, some not so much. Then there were Richard and his wife, Patricia, whose faces had never been friendly in all the years she’d known them.
They’d never pretended to love Michael, though he was their only nephew. Instead they’d spent all their time complaining to him about Hyatt Heights losing money and the waste of running Maison de Jardin. The home for abused women and children had become Michael’s life passion after his parents had been killed in a car accident in his midtwenties.
That was when Michael’s unlikely friendship with Trinity had started. They’d both been dealing with the repercussions of losing their families, though in different ways. Trinity as a victim of violence who found shelter with her mother at Maison de Jardin. Michael as the rescuer who took them in and gave them hope and a future. It had led to a lifetime connection that had shaped her entire world.
Trinity forced her thoughts back to the present, rather than let herself get lost in the bittersweet memories of her best friend. Despite the comfort they gave her, she somehow knew she needed all her focus on the here and now. People didn’t just call an emergency board meeting for any old reason, right?
Those darn posts… They had to have something to do with it.
“Doing okay, Trinity?” Bill LeBlanc asked from her right side.
She gave him a small smile, grateful to have the one other person who had known her husband as well as she had by her side through all of this. An old-fashioned Southern lawyer in his ever-present vest and bowtie, Bill looked right at home amid the arched windows and wainscoting of the boardroom at Hyatt House, the private mansion from which Michael Hyatt had run his business and charitable foundation. Bill’s only regret was that, as Michael’s lawyer, he hadn’t been able to finalize the will before Michael’s death. But he was doing all that he could to help Trinity honor his client and friend’s wishes.
“I feel completely unprepared,” she said low, not wanting anyone else in the room to overhear. There were a few people here who would jump on any weakness like sharks scenting blood in the water.
What she needed was a strategy. Being perceived as a strong leader by the board of Hyatt Heights was essential. If she inherited Michael’s position, she would be CEO of the corporation, and a majority shareholder, but still needed the board on her side to put through the initiatives and decisions that could be supported by the other shareholders.
An injunction had created a temporary board director to serve in Michael’s place during the court case, while Trinity still handled Michael’s other businesses and whatever tasks the temporary board director asked of her. So she and Richard were “auditioning” while the case was ongoing. If she didn’t prove her worth, Trinity could still lose the CEO position, though the shares would remain hers through inheritance.
Which would make carrying out Michael’s wishes even harder. The two board meetings she’d attended since her husband’s death had included talking points and presentations and charts that Bill had briefed her on before they’d arrived.
Not today. There’d been no preparation, no warnings. Trinity knew on an intellectual level that she needed to focus on getting through this without hinting how much she was out of her depth. She was a smart woman, but her crash course in billion-dollar businesses over the last two months had been steep.
Plus, her sleep last night had been repeatedly interrupted by the image of bright gray-green eyes that left her restless and needy in a way she’d never felt before. A way she was definitely not comfortable with.
“It will be fine,” Bill assured her as the meeting was called to order.
Richard Hyatt sat with his wife and lawyer at an angle across from Trinity and Bill, which should have been enough to put her out of their line of sight. Still she shifted in discomfort as she noticed the couple’s gazes trained in her direction. What trouble were they stirring up now?
She had to wonder what influence Richard had used with the temporary board director to get everyone to show up for this. He acted as if winning the case for Michael’s inheritance was a done deal and he’d already been elevated to CEO, instead of still being only a member of the board.
“This meeting at my request to the chair was called with some urgency to address issues brought to my awareness this morning,” Richard said, taking to his feet as if to assert his superiority over the others around the table. “How many of you have seen this?”
He clicked a button on the remote in his hand, which caused a portion of the back wall to slide down. The large screen behind it was already on, displaying a photo of Trinity. She could easily read the headline on the screen.
Suspicious Widow Fights for Control
of Hyatt Estate
Trinity couldn’t hold in a gasp, though she would have given anything not to react after Richard smirked in her direction.
But he didn’t stop there. “I told the board you’d be bad for business, but they wouldn’t listen.”
His words were lost in the cacophony of voices as board members asserted their opinions. They clicked on the keyboards before them on the table’s highly polished surface. He’d gotten his point across, and that was all that mattered.
Trinity pressed her shaking fingers together. The headline and blog post were only the beginning of the ugliness. There were also photos. The series of pictures included one of her at the funeral, one from the charity event the night before looking particularly standoffish, and a picture of her marriage certificate. She tuned out the noise around her as she read the short captions and comments.
They included vague claims about how unfit Trinity was, simply because she’d never been part of New Orleans’s upper crust and ran a charity for a living. There were specific details about her short marriage to Michael and a link to documentation about the court case filed by Richard and Patricia, all under the hashtag #NOLASecrets. A few Black Widow comments thrown in didn’t sit well with her either.
“Where is this from?” Bill’s sharp voice jolted her from her absorption. She’d assumed he knew about the rumors making the social media rounds.
“That new gossip blogger who’s all the rage at the moment,” Patricia said. “Everyone who is anyone is following her blog and other social media.” Her eye roll was almost comical.
Another board member interrupted, his voice sounding panicky. “It’s only a matter of time before this hits other news sites. NOLA Secrets & Scandals is really making waves.”
“It already has,” Richard said, his voice calm. There was an ominous glint of satisfaction in his gaze as he trained it once again on Trinity. “Our stock has already begun to drop.”
There was a flurry of rustling as phones were pulled from pockets and briefcases. Those with laptops began furiously clicking. The murmurs grew louder as the board members confirmed for themselves what Richard had said.
Bill scoffed, looking up from his own phone. “We have no idea whether this was caused by that hatchet piece. The stock is barely down from yesterday.”
“Mark my words, it’s going to fall, and fall fast,” Richard assured him. “I mean, look at this post.” He clicked on a link in the sidebar. The headline read, “Suspicious Marriage Threatens Local Jobs.” Then the next line, “And it’s all her fault.”
Trinity allowed herself to blink slowly once, twice, before saying, “I thought you said it was the blogger’s fault.”
“There wouldn’t even be a post if it wasn’t for you. Obviously, they agree it’s your fault, too.”
“You don’t even know who wrote this,” Trinity argued, though she knew it was futile.
“The public doesn’t care, little girl. Shareholders just read the news and start dumping their stock. Prices go down. People lose jobs.”
Bill interrupted with, “This isn’t news. It’s rumors. Once the truth comes out in court—”
“When?” Richard demanded. “In a year? Two years? How much damage will be done in that amount of time?”
Trinity’s heart picked up speed.
That’s when Richard and Patricia’s lawyer saw an opening. “Let’s not forget that if the stock drops, you might all be booted off the board.”
Larry Pelegrine, one of the men who had been kind enough to answer Trinity’s questions over the last six weeks, spoke up. “Now, we can’t allow this to get out of hand. Not because of how it might affect any one of us individually,” he said with gentlemanly emphasis, without directly pointing out the crass slant of the lawyer’s words, “but because of the thousands of people who work for the Hyatt companies. They have families to support. Families that need groceries and health insurance and—”
“We get it,” Patricia said, her voice turning snide. “We need to help people…and ourselves.”
How in the world could the other board members not see just how focused Richard and Patricia Hyatt were on bettering themselves, without caring about the effect of their actions on others? Or that their selfishness was the exact opposite of Michael’s vision for his companies and charitable foundation?
Larry leaned forward. “Look, as much as I hate to say it, the reality is that if the company’s valuation goes down, people will lose their jobs. And that valuation is partially reliant on how the outside world views the company, regardless of the truth.”
The rest of the board members nodded and muttered to each other. Bill cast a sympathetic glance in Trinity’s direction. She pressed her palms against her thighs beneath the protection of the table’s edge. She and Bill and even Larry had worked hard to promote her abilities and skills to the rest of the board for the last six weeks. After all, she’d single-handedly run Maison de Jardin for Michael since she was twenty-three. It wasn’t a small operation, by any stretch of the imagination, though it was miniscule compared to the entire Hyatt Heights operation.
She could feel the understanding and support they’d been working so hard to cultivate slowly sinking out from underneath her like sand beneath a wave on the beach. Once the court case was settled, the winner would own the largest portion of the company and would most likely be the CEO, giving them the most sway with the board. She needed them to believe in her, so she could use her power for the things Michael would have wanted. Richard had his own seat, but no true power if he didn’t inherit Michael’s estate.
One voice rose above the rest. “We have to do something.”
Trinity was bombarded with questions and comments from all sides. She slowly drew in a breath, trying to think amid the chaos.
“I think this will help everyone see what I mean,” Richard said.
This time he clicked to display a file. At first when Trinity looked at the handout, the figures and columns jumbled before her eyes; then, she started to sort through the data. She could see Bill doing the same out of her peripheral vision. The negative projections on how their workforce and revenue would be impacted by the bad press hit Trinity hard.
No matter how much she told herself that this wasn’t her fault, that what had simply started as a favor to her best friend had gotten completely out of control with his unexpected death, it didn’t make her feel any less responsible for what could happen to innocent people along the way.
Patricia drove the nail in harder. “That’s an estimated five thousand people with families in New Orleans alone who will end up unemployed.”
A city in desperate need of jobs. Trinity knew that.
“You don’t know that,” Bill asserted, a little of his spirit reappearing.
The woman didn’t seem to care about a little thing like facts…or decorum. She leaned forward, hands planted squarely on the table, and looked Trinity directly in the eye. “That means they’re gonna need all the charity they can get. You know, the same kind your clients receive over at Maison,” she said, a snide twist to her voice. “That’s something your brain can actually grasp, right?”
Trinity felt herself withdraw from the unexpected attack, but forced herself to hold completely still. It was the only coping mechanism she had. If she held still, no one could see her, no one could take a swipe at her. Or in this case, gather any more evidence to use against her.
She forced her voice to stay steady as she said, “The last thing I want is for families to lose their income.”
“They will as long as you hang this board up with your court case.”
Trinity raised a brow in disbelief. “I’m not the one who initiated the case.”
“That’s not how the press sees it.” Richard nodded toward the screen .
Larry stood up, his height and girth commanding attention. “Let’s focus here. We need to do something about this before it gets to be a huge problem. The issue here is the need to sway public opinion in such a way that it will reassure our investors and raise stock prices.” He sighed. “I believe I’ve got an idea.”
His glance in her direction was almost apologetic. “Even before this bad press, I looked into a business consultant to help you. Now I realize hiring him might reassure our investors that our corporation is not simply being run by someone completely inexperienced.”
Bill grunted, but Trinity laid a hand on his arm. Let everyone think she was inexperienced. She was, to a certain extent, though years spent talking aspects of his business through with Michael had taught her some very valuable things. Not that she’d expected to ever have to use that knowledge. But now that he was gone, she was more than grateful.
“That sounds like an interesting proposition,” she said instead of rejecting the proposal outright.
“He’s here, actually. He was in town and I asked if he would meet with you,” Larry said.
That took her back a little bit, but at least it expedited things.
“Here?” Richard asked, his voice booming in the room. “Let’s bring him in.”
Trinity winced. How lovely—another businessman to “fix” the problem of her inexperience. Even if she won the case against the people trying to take her inheritance away, consultants like this would be telling her what to do.
The room went oddly quiet as Larry stepped out into the hallway. Trinity felt a sick kind of anticipation build inside her. Logic said if this consultant could help, it would be a good thing for a lot of people. Fear said he could end up being just one more person to criticize her after analyzing her every move.
The door opened and Larry stepped back inside with another man following close behind.
Trinity took one look into the gray-green eyes she’d never expected to see again and wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole.
Rhett saw the surprise in Trinity’s eyes as he walked into the room but didn’t experience the usual thrill he felt as the game started in earnest.
Angry tones and placating words swirled around the periphery of his awareness. Still Rhett couldn’t tear his gaze from the wide-eyed woman seated halfway up the table. Her slender elegance seemed out of place amid the stout men in power suits who filled the room. Today her wealth of dark hair was pulled back from the fine cheekbones, making Rhett wish to see it loose and tumbling in waves around her shoulders as it had last night at the museum.
Today her expression was more guarded. He sensed the hard barrier she’d placed between herself and those she surely saw as adversaries, giving her the calm, blank stare of a sphinx. Where had she learned to do that? Or did it come naturally to her? Was it always her reaction to the men surrounding her?
Or had he truly caught her in an unguarded moment the night before, a time when she’d been alone with her thoughts and unprepared to defend herself against her enemies?
Rhett wasn’t sure, but the question came from somewhere deep inside of him. It wasn’t just curiosity about information that would help him do his job. No, this was a bone-deep desire to solve the mystery in front of him. Would he be satisfied with exposing her as a liar? Or would finding evidence of her less-than-stellar character leave him with a bad taste in his mouth for once?
Because Rhett wasn’t just good at what he did. He was exceptional. He had yet to complete a case without finding something to prove his client’s suspicions valid. This one would end the same…even if the chase was much more interesting.
As Larry introduced Rhett to the board, Trinity blinked, slowly, almost deliberately, then turned her gaze toward the man seated beside her. Her lawyer, Rhett remembered now from his files. Something about her breaking eye contact with him finally jump-started his adrenaline.
“I don’t see how this will help,” Bill complained. “Why would his presence sway public opinion at all? It just looks like a PR move, which will hardly be reassuring.”
“He has a proven track record of inspiring confidence in investors,” Larry countered. Rhett had met the man earlier this morning, when Richard and Patricia had filled Larry in on Rhett’s secret assignment. “We tell the media and our shareholders that we’re addressing the concerns of our employees and making sure the business is in the best possible hands.”
Protests rose around the room once more; the group sounded more like unruly schoolchildren than business professionals. Only Trinity sat quietly in the midst of the chaos.
It didn’t take long for Rhett to reach his limit. He gave the black tabletop before him a firm smack. Once the room quieted and he had the full attention of those around him, he asked in a firm tone, “Do you want to make the best of this situation or lose everything you helped Michael Hyatt work so hard to build?”
The room went utterly still as Rhett deliberately moved his gaze from one man to the next. Even the background hum of the air conditioner seemed to subside. Then his attention fell on Trinity.
Her gaze was trained solely on him; she ignored everyone else. Something about her attention shook his control for a moment.
Startled at her reaction, he deliberately pulled his mental barriers back in place, then moved effortlessly into the spiel he had prepared to convince the board of his usefulness to their present dilemma. His cover story as a business consultant rolled smoothly off his tongue.
A brief discussion ensued, one Trinity continued to follow with that sphinxlike expression on her face. He knew she was soaking it all in, but she showed very little reaction to his pitch. Until the end.