“No?” I push off the bookshelf and stalk across the room until I reach the desk, flatten my palms on the top, and lean forward. “Since when you know me to bullshit, Ember?”
“Never. I have zero doubts that you would blow away the closest things I can call family right in front of me. But that’s not enough to make me indenture myself to you and this fucking organization for the rest of my life just to be used up and eventually discarded. No, been there, done that. Have the dead mother and impulse control disorder to show for it.”
She removes the cap from the pen and starts writing.
“Here’s what I’m proposing—No marriage. We’ll remain engaged for a year. At the end of that time, I’m free to leave House of Cross with my mother’s trust and my share of the inheritance my father left me in his will—you keep my voting shares and all stocks in HoC. I want nothing to do with the fashion house or the organization. You can also keep the formula to Glass Slipper, but I continue to receive a thirty percent share of all profit from it. I will retain the formula to HEA for a year after I leave. If, once that period concludes, you honor your end of the contract, I will release the HEA formula to you, with me receiving the same percentage of profit as Glass Slipper. Do you accept these terms?”
“Fuck no.” Straightening, I hold my hand out for the pen, which she hands over, mugging me. I cross a line through thefirst condition. “No to the yearlong engagement and no marriage. We’re marrying, and there’s no negotiating on that. Your father made it clear that the head of Cross had to marry, and he had the heads of our allies there to sign a document attesting to his wishes.”
“Yes, the document you failed to mention yesterday when I asked you why there had to be a marriage. The document I discovered existed along with your brother tonight at the dinner table,” she sneers.
“Yeah, that one,” I say, unrepentant. If she expects remorse from me, she’s in for a long-ass wait. If I’d told Ember about it, that would’ve been leverage. I’m not in the business of handing my adversaries the advantage. And make no mistake, she’s my adversary. “And the month is also nonnegotiable. I announced that tonight and to change it now would weaken my new position with Cross allies, and I refuse to do that so early in my leadership. It’s happening, Ember. Wrap your mind around it.”
She stares at the paper several moments, then finally lifts her head, pinning me with a honeyed glare.
“Fine, but for a time limit. I’m serious about not spending my life in a loveless, hostile prison. Did the document say anything about not being able to divorce?”
I want to lie to her. It’s on the tip of my tongue to do just that—
“No.”
Relief washes over her face, and she nods. “Okay, then. We marry, but after three years, I’m able to receive a divorce, and you don’t contest it.”
Shit, I’m already contesting it. I’m already refusing to let her go, imagining locking her away, holding her hostage until she capitulates and realizes she can’t go. She doesn’twantto go.
I inhale a deep breath, then deliberately exhale, looking away from her. Only when the dull roar and thoughts of marital kidnapping swirling in my head are under control do I return my attention to her.
“Yeah, I agree.” I focus on the next item on her list. “I already offered you the trust and the portion of the estate Marcus left to you. The thirty-four percent is also yo—”
She shakes her head so hard, her curls whip around her face. “No, I said what I said. I don’t want any parts of HoC. They’re yours. Hell, they weren’t really mine anyway since Marcus made sure I didn’t have voting control,” she says, bitterness coating her tone.
Though Marcus’s decision granted me more power, I can still admit it was a mark-ass move. Especially for a so-called father to his daughter.
“If that’s what you want, I can’t do anything but respect it. As far as Glass Slipper, fifteen percent of the profits.”
Her head jerks back, and she barks out a laugh. “The fuck? That’s all me. You lucky I’m not asking for fifty since you wouldn’t have shit to sell or have a delivery system if it weren’t for me. Thirty.”
“Twenty.”
“Thirty.”
“Twenty-five.”
“Thirty.”
A reluctant smile tugs at the corner of my mind. I was willing to give that thirty percent to her all along; I was just curious to see how hard she’d fight for it. This is Ember though. I should’ve known.
“As far as HEA, that’s still in the works for HoC,” I continue, circling the last item on her list. “As far as I know, it’s still not perfected. How close are you to having it distribution-ready? Because that affects our discussion on it.”
“I’m close. It tested well with our focus group, but there are some things I want to fine-tune. I’m saying another two weeks. Three at the most.”
“Okay.” The woman was a fucking beast at what she did. “Here’s my counter with HEA. You retain the formula for three months after you leave.” She frowns, parting her lips to argue,but I shake my head, stopping her. “Let me finish. In those three months, we would be dependent on you to still supervise the cooking of the drug, which means you’d continue to have a foot in the company even after you’ve officially walked away from it. I can’t have that. We’ll be divorced. You’ll no longer work here. But you’ll still have access to Cross facilities? Personnel? To sensitive information? Nah, that’s not good business, and it puts you in a dangerous position as well. So, three months, and in exchange, you receive thirty-five percent of the profits from HEA.”
She contemplates my suggestion, and after a long pause, she dips her chin.
“You have a deal.” Turning the paper around, she slides it across the desk. “Put those changes down, then sign the bottom.”
I blink.