Mr. Arrogant: A Billionaire Romance (16 page)

“You lied to me.” He stated flatly, his eyes piercing his son’s.

“I’m not sure what you think I lied to you about, but there’s something else that you and I need to discuss. You’ve caused quite a big problem for me, and I have to tell you, I really don’t appreciate it.” Jonathon returned, his back straight and his chin lifted.

Phillip leveled his gaze at his son. He acted as though he had not heard a word of what his son said to him. “I asked you if you were sleeping with that new girl of yours and you told me that you weren’t.”

Jonathon sighed and looked away from his father. “Are we really back to this?” he asked impatiently, furrowing his brow.

“We are back to this because you lied to me, and because the fact that you are screwing yet another one of the women you hired. Those indiscretions of yours have come to an end, and I mean today!” Phillip said to him sharply.

Jonathon took a deep breath. “Okay, fine. It’s true, Naomi and I have begun an affair, but she means more to me than any of the other women I’ve had. She’s not just a fling, father, and I fully intend to keep seeing her and being with her. I care a great deal about her.”

Phillip stared solemnly at his son and shook his head. “You will not see her again, and in fact, she is going to be moved to another department, so you won’t see her at all, anyway. I will make sure of that.” His father leaned forward and looked at him squarely.

“You are going to marry Susan Grayson.” Phillip said calmly.

Jonathon’s eyes flashed dark with anger and he leaned forward toward his father. “That’s the other thing we need to talk about. I saw that announcement in the newspaper. How dare you publish something like that! I’m not in love with her, I’m not engaged to her, I’m not going to date her, and I’m sure as hell never going to marry her! I’ve had days of damage control to clean up since you published that! I can’t believe you did that! What on earth did you do that for?” he shot at his father, grinding his teeth when the words stopped coming but the emotion was still fierce in him.

His father sat back a little and looked as if he might be humoring an errant boy. “I’m glad that you saw the announcement. Perhaps that will show you just how serious this is. That, and what I’m about to tell you.”

He rested his back against the back of the cushioned chair and smiled subtly at his son, speaking in a calm voice. “You are going to give Susan an engagement ring today. She has already chosen it.” He pulled open the top drawer of his desk and lifted a ring box from the drawer. He flipped the lid back and exposed a massive diamond engagement ring inside it. Then he reached forward and set the little baby blue box on the desk before his son.

“You will give that ring to her today, and you will ask her to marry you. Then you will set a date for the wedding within the next three months, and then you will never see that secretary of yours again. She will be working for another department by morning. If you ever attempt to see her, and believe me when I say that I am watching the two of you closely, I will fire her and make certain that she is unable to find a job in this city again. If you care about her at all, you will not jeopardize her future with your own sinful lust. You will do all of this exactly as I have said, or you will lose your inheritance, and I do mean all of it. Everything will be gone, including your job at this company, and you will be left without a cent.” His father looked enormously pleased with himself, as if he had thought and planned so meticulously that he had covered every base and there was no way that Jonathon could get out of it.

Jonathon stared at him in horror. “You can’t be serious.” He said in a strained voice. Fury, confusion, frustration, disbelief, and panic were raging through every part of him as he tried to wrap his head around everything that his father had told him.

His father leaned far forward and locked his eyes on Jonathon’s. “I could not be more serious.”

Jonathon glared hotly at his father, his brows low and tight, his lips thin, and his voice as sharp as a razor. “You will not force me to marry her! I don’t want her! How dare you try to do something like this to me!”

Phillip didn’t flinch. “I am securing your future. As your father it is my duty to make sure that you don’t make foolish decisions, and I promise you that every word of what I said to you is absolutely serious. I won’t see you throw your future or the future of this company away. You will marry Susan, and you will never see Naomi again, or I will personally wreck Naomi’s entire career and future, and you will be left with nothing! Do you understand me? I am doing this for your own good!”

Jonathon jumped to his feet and slammed both of his fists down on his father’s desk. “You will not force me to do this! I am not some puppet that you can control! It will not happen!”

His father rose to his full height, standing a few inches taller than his son. He met his son’s stance and glare and his voice grew thunderous. “You will do it, and you will do it today, or I will disinherit you today, fire you immediately, and destroy Naomi’s whole life before this afternoon is over! You are the only one who can stop that from happening. You are the one who gets to make the choice. You will do as I have told you to do, or you will suffer the harshest and most immediate consequences and you will not suffer them alone!”

Jonathon’s heart nearly stopped in his chest as he stared into his father’s eyes. He knew that the old man was as serious as he had ever seen him. He knew that there was no way out of it for him. He could not be disinherited or lose his home, but he discovered in the furthest reaches of his heart that he could not bear to cost Naomi the rest of her life.

They had talked so many times about her parents and what her parents had sacrificed to give her the life that she had. He had admired them tremendously for doing what they had for her. He had admired her for all the hard work she had done over the years to get where she was. He had not had to work for anything, and the sacrifices that she made and that were made for her were not lost on him.

They were all the more precious to him because he hadn’t worked for anything, it had all been handed to him, and he knew the difference. There was no pride in his own accomplishment of position in life, there was only a sense of right and entitlement that he didn’t like, but that he knew came with the silver spoon that had been in his mouth since the beginning.

He realized as he stood there before his father that he was going to have to make a choice on the spot and that the choice he made was going to affect many lives, and that the most important of those lives, at least to him, was Naomi’s. He knew his father was serious about firing him and disinheriting him. He had some money put away, and he would be able to live out his own life in a much more humble manner, and perhaps he might even be able to start his own company if his father didn’t destroy every connection he needed to do it. But he could not risk his father destroying what Naomi and her parents had worked so tirelessly for all of their lives. The gift of it was precious and fine; delicate and beautiful, and it could not be tossed away because of him.

He would not cost her everything in her life just for the chance to have her, and he didn’t know if she would even want to be with him, once she found out that his choice to keep her had cost her everything.

He was trapped and there was no way around it. His father had been so prepared that Jonathon was facing a checkmate. There was no way around it.

Jonathon dropped his head and closed his eyes, unable to face the man who had singlehandedly destroyed his every happiness and his life in one deft move. He swallowed hard and held back the bitterness in him that threatened to surface. He knew that if it did surface, he would regret his words and his actions, and they might cost him everything.

Without saying a word, he picked up the little baby blue box on the desk and snapped the lid shut on it, tucking it into his jacket pocket. He turned away from his father and squared his shoulders, lifting his chin with what little remnants of dignity that he had left in him, and then he began to walk toward the door of his father’s office.

“Jonathon.” His father called out to him. “Not so fast.” He said coolly. “You have guests in the executive lounge next door.”

Two hours later, every employee in the company was gathered in the great foyer of the skyscraper, and none of them knew what they were there for. Marble floors and walls glowed with lights and beamed elegance everywhere. There was a dual staircase at the far end of the foyer; two matching sets of stairs that went up adjacent to one another, connecting at their pinnacle and creating a landing with a beautifully carved marble barrister all along the edge of it.

The massive crowd of employees knew that there was about to be a big announcement, as they could see a few people working on a microphone and sound system on the landing at the top of the staircase. Two huge arrangements of white flowers were brought in and set on either end of the barrister, giving an air of natural beauty to the cold hard stone.

Naomi stood near the base of the stairs, looking curiously at the people milling and talking all around her. Several of them had come to her to ask her what it was that was happening, and what might be being announced, but she had to tell them that she had no idea what it might be, and she was just as in the dark about the situation as any of the rest of them were.

A staff of waiters was walking through the crowd passing out champagne to everyone who wanted it. One waiter came to Naomi and offered her a flute of it with a smile, and she took it from him and held it, looking at the tiny golden bubbles as they rose jubilantly to the surface.

She knew that it must be big news to go to all of the fuss that was happening around her. She hadn’t been with the company long, but she had heard other employees who had been there for decades mentioning that they had never seen an undertaking such as they were experiencing that afternoon.

She looked around for Jonathon, wondering where he was and if he was still talking with his father. They were exceedingly careful about their interactions together in public, especially in front of anyone with the company, but she was his assistant, and it would not seem out of place for her to have been at his side during whatever announcement was about to take place.

She checked her phone and saw no message there or in her email. Frowning, she put her phone back in her pocket and looked around the room again. It was a fair bet that everyone who worked for the company in any capacity was there that afternoon. As she gazed at all of the people gathered, she wondered why there hadn’t been an earlier announcement about the event.

It was a huge undertaking in almost no time at all. Every employee had been hard at work when word came down from Phillip Cross himself that every employee was to gather in the foyer that very afternoon for an announcement. It was sudden and unexplained, and the mystery had made most of the crowd excited, though some of them were anxious and worried.

Naomi searched for Jonathon, eyeing the elevators and doors, waiting for him to arrive, but there was no sign of him. She frowned, hoping he would make it down before everything started. Thinking that she would see him at any moment, she stopped one of the waiters and got a second glass of champagne to give to Jonathon when he arrived. She knew that he would go straight to her, and they would listen to the announcement together.

The hum of conversation seemed to grow louder until at last Phillip Cross walked out from one of the doors set at the ends of the landing. He waved and smiled as he made his way to the microphone. At his side was Vincent Grayson.

Naomi frowned at the sight of Vincent. She wondered what he was doing there. She knew that the two old men were best friends, but Vincent did not have his hands in Cross Corp, and he ought not to have been present for a business announcement.

The two men reached the microphone and Phillip took it in his hand.

“Hello to all of you, and good afternoon!” he said with a broad grin. Naomi lowered one brow as she studied him. She had never seen him smile so genuinely before. She glanced around her furtively for a sign of Jonathon, but she could not see him anywhere and she hoped that he hadn’t gotten trapped at the back of the room, unable to get to her.

“Thank you all for taking a much deserved break from your busy days! I have an announcement to share with you that brings my heart, and the heart of my dear friend Vincent Grayson here, great joy, and we are so pleased to be able to share it with you.” He nodded and smiled, as did Vincent, and two waiters appeared at their sides and handed each of them a glass of champagne.

Phillip took the glass and then looked back at the sea of employees before him. “Does everyone have champagne? Good.” He nodded and smiled again. “This is the happiest announcement that this company has ever made, and it is my honor to have all of you present here for it. It is a red letter day, and one that will not be matched for a long time to come.”

Naomi looked around her again, beginning to worry about where Jonathon was. Her eyes searched through the endless array of heads surrounding her, but there was no sign of him. She sighed in frustration and looked back up at Phillip and Vincent.

“Friends and colleagues, it is our absolute delight and privilege to introduce to you two people who mean the whole world to us. Please welcome our very own Jonathon Cross and Miss Susan Grayson.” He said grandly as he turned toward the door he had come through minutes before, lifting his hand in an act of presentation.