Colton comes up behind me, stopping with a hand on my waist. His eyes bore into Harrison’s. “What’s going on?”
“Sir,” Harrison says, bowing his head as a sign of respect for his new boss. “The board of directors for Carrington Incorporated have requested an urgent meeting with you. I did suggest that a formal meeting with a scheduled time and date was more appropriate, however, they declined my request.”
Colton scoffs and steps out from behind me, raising his chin and squaring his shoulders, looking like the fucking man. “What you mean is that the board of directors, my board of directors decided to welcome themselves uninvited into my home and demand my presence.”
Oh, shit. Shots fired.
“Mr. Carrington,” an older gentleman says, standing second from the left with a pissed off scowl etched across his face. “We have granted you a week of grieving out of respect for your father but enough is enough. You are a child and we need to work out how we’re going to run our business from here on out.”
Colton laughs. “You mean my business.”
Each one of their expressions darken, and it’s damn clear that these old men don’t appreciate having their futures dictated by an eighteen-year-old high school student who may or may not even want anything to do with this business. For all they know, Colton could be intent on running this shit into the ground.
An intense silence follows, none of them willing to step-up and challenge Colton. They clearly have an agenda in mind and from the way Colton casually stands beside me, he was expecting this.
“Alright,” Colton finally says. “We may discuss what is going to happen from here on out. Harrison, please take them through to the formal living area and offer tea or coffee while Oceania prepares the board room.”
The fuck?
Harrison nods again. “Yes, sir.”
With that, he turns on his heel and gestures for the six intimidating men to follow him as Colton waits, watching them go. I remain right by his side until the men are out of sight before turning on him. “Umm … what the fuck was that about?”
Colton turns and starts heading for the stairs and I follow right behind. “How’s that any of your business?”
“Well, you just demanded that I prepare a board room that I didn’t even know you had on a day where I’m not scheduled to work and haven’t had even two seconds of sleep, so yeah, if you want me to move, then you better fill me in on some details.”
Colton reaches the top of the stairs and continues to his bedroom, letting out a heavy sigh. “They’re the board of Carrington Incorporated. Dad’s biggest business. It pulls in almost triple the amount of revenue of any other business in its field.”
“Okay, so what do they want with you?”
“They want to intimidate me to hand over control so they can reallocate the way profits are shared.”
“No shit. So, this is a ploy to line their pockets.”
“Welcome to my world,” he grumbles, pushing through to his bedroom. “But their pockets are already lined. Thanks to my father, their pockets are overflowing but with bastards like that, it’s never enough.”
“You don’t think they just don’t want someone a quarter of their age coming in and fucking everything up?”
Colton stops and steps into his closet, heading for his impressive line of suits while peeling his tank over his head. “Listen up and listen good, Jade. Don’t fucking doubt me. I’m not going to fuck anything up. Believe it or not, I actually know what I’m doing. You don’t grow up with a father like Charles Carrington and not learn how to fuck with a bunch of greedy board members. My father earned this position. Now, are you going to get your ass downstairs and prepare the board room or not? You do work for me, right?”
I scoff and watch as his eyes slice back to mine. “You listen up and you listen good, Carrington,” I say repeating his words back to him. “I worked for your father, not for you. If you expect this shit to continue, then you’re going to have to make it worth my while. You’re not exactly the kind of boss that I’d willingly work under.”
He groans. “What do you want?”
I smirk, leaning against the frame of his closet door, knowing all the cards are in my hands. “I want both mine and mom’s base rates doubled.”
Colton scoffs. “No way. Your mom already receives a high rate.
“And she deserves every cent, wouldn’t you agree? I know you’ve seen how hard she works. She busted her ass for your dad and now she’s doing the same for you. Not to mention that you’ve never once said thank you or even given her a smile.”
Colton pulls a grey suit from the line and my face scrunches at his choice. He lets out a sigh. “Fine. Anything else?”