A Clandestine Corporate Affair

chapter Fifteen

Nathan was in the conference room with his team going over the final schedule for the television spot that would begin shooting the next day, when a call came in from Adam.

“I need to speak with you,” he told Nathan, and something in his tone said it wasn’t going to be great news. Maybe there had been a development in the investigation.

“Can it wait?” he asked. “We’re almost finished in here.”

“No, it can’t.”

Okay. “I’ll be right in.”

He told his team to finish up without him then took the elevator up to the top floor and walked to Adam’s office, a knot in his gut. He hoped this didn’t have anything to do with Jordan, and that they hadn’t discovered more evidence to incriminate him. Seeing Jordan on Christmas Day, watching him play with Max, had given Nathan hope that he and his brother might repair their damaged relationship. Of course, he still wasn’t sure what had damaged it in the first place. But things didn’t seem as tense now as they used to be.

“Go right on in,” Adam’s secretary said.

Adam sat behind his desk, his chair turned so he was facing the window. He must have heard Nathan come in because without turning he said, “Close the door.” When Nathan did, he said, “Have a seat.”

Nathan did as he was asked. He was a little surprised that Emilio wasn’t there, too. And why wasn’t Adam saying anything? After a minute of silence, Nathan asked, “Am I supposed to guess why I’m here?”

Finally Adam turned to him, face stony. “I’ve had some disturbing news today.”

“From the investigation firm?”

Adam shook his head. “From another source. But it relates to the investigation.”

“Is it about Jordan?”

“No, it’s about you.”

Nathan’s pulse skipped. “Me?”

“I’ve been told that you have ties to Birch Energy. That you have a connection to the owner’s daughter and recently had a meeting with Walter Birch himself. Tell me that they’re wrong.”

Son of a bitch.

It was Jordan. It had to be. This was his idea of a fair fight?

Nathan clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms. If he was going to explode, he couldn’t do it here. And he had no choice but to tell Adam everything. “I did not have a meeting with Walter Birch. We both spent Christmas Day at his daughter’s place.”

Adam’s brows rose. “Why?”

“I’m in a relationship with Ana Birch,” he said. “And we have a son.”

Adam looked truly stunned. “Since when?”

“I only recently found out he’s mine,” Nathan said. “About a month ago. Before that I hadn’t actually seen or talked to Ana in a year and a half.”

“So you weren’t in contact with her at the time of the accident,” Adam said.

“No, I wasn’t.”

Adam looked relieved. “This source didn’t outright say that you were the saboteur, but it was heavily insinuated.”

Thanks Jordan. So much for brotherly devotion. “Don’t think for a second that I don’t know who this ‘source’ is. Besides Walter Birch, my brother is the only other person who knows about my relationship with Ana. He was there on Christmas during this so-called meeting.”

“This person seemed genuinely concerned, Nathan.”

“He’s not. He just wants to win. And apparently he’ll do anything to make it happen. Including making false accusations against his own brother.” And after Nathan had defended him. Well, never again. They were finished. As soon as Nathan was done with Adam, he and his baby brother were going to have a talk. Probably their last.

“How serious is the relationship?” Adam asked.

“We’re planning to get married. But that will in no way diminish my loyalty to Western Oil.”

“I believe that, but convincing the rest of the board won’t be so easy. You can’t deny that there is a clear conflict of interest.”

“Are you telling me that my job is at stake?”

“As long as I’m president, your job is secure. But if the rest of the board finds out it could take you out of the running for the CEO position. In fact, I can almost guarantee it.”

“So what you’re saying is, I’m screwed.”

“I said if the board finds out. I’m not going to tell them, but I also can’t stop anyone from leaking the information.”

“You don’t think the board will see through his attempts to discredit me?”

“In light of the sabotage, I think the board will see it as a legitimate concern. Our first board meeting of the year is next Wednesday. If it comes up, I will do whatever I can to defuse the situation. But I can’t promise anything. All I can tell you is that unless there is proof of a direct violation to the terms of your contract, your current position is safe. And as far as I’m concerned, there’s no basis whatsoever for termination.”

But his chances at the CEO position were basically in the toilet—and even if they weren’t now, Jordan wouldn’t rest until they were.

Nathan left Adam and walked straight to Jordan’s office, his anger mounting every step he took.

“Is my brother in?” he asked Jordan’s very pregnant secretary.

“Yes, but he asked not to be disturbed.”

I’ll bet he did, Nathan thought, walking right past her desk, ignoring her protests, and shoving through the door. Jordan was sitting behind his desk, feet up, talking on the phone. Startled, he jumped to his feet when Nathan barged in.

“Can I call you back?” he said to whoever was on the line, and after he hung up said, “Geez, Nathan, you ever hear of knocking?”

Nathan slammed the door. “You sleazy, back-stabbing son of a bitch.”

Jordan’s brow rose. “Is there a problem?”

“Do not insult my intelligence. Did you honestly think I wouldn’t know it was you who ratted me out? That I’m too stupid to figure it out? This is your idea of a fair fight?”

Jordan shrugged. “The way I look at it, there’s nothing unfair about what I did.”

“And it doesn’t bother you in the least that you just betrayed your own brother?”

He walked casually around his desk, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “This has nothing to do with the fact that we happen to be related. This is business. I’d think you would know the difference.”

Nathan crossed to where his brother stood. “You looked me in the eye and lied to me, Jordan. After all the years I watched out for you, and protected you—”

“Who asked you to?” Jordan growled, so fiercely Nathan actually flinched. “I never needed or wanted your help.”

“You don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself, do you?”

“I’m going to beat you, Nathan. And it has nothing to do with experience, or education, or who’s stronger. The fact of the matter is, I’m not screwing the daughter of our direct competitor, and you are.” He stepped closer, getting in Nathan’s face. “Although from what I’ve read, you’re probably not the only one.”

Before he even knew he’d swung, Nathan’s fist connected solidly with Jordan’s jaw, knocking him back several feet. That was how it was with his temper. It came out of nowhere, blindsiding him. And after he’d spent the better part of his childhood protecting his baby brother, never did he imagine being the one doing the hitting.

Jordan dug a handkerchief out of his suit jacket and pressed it to the corner of his bleeding mouth, but he was smiling. “All that therapy, and you still turned out just like him.”

Jordan’s words sliced through Nathan, cutting to the core. He was right. After all these years, hadn’t he learned that using his fists was never the answer?

Suppose someday Ana really pissed him off? Or Max? Would he lose control and hit them, too? He thought being with Ana had changed him, made him a better man, but he had obviously been wrong. He stormed out of Jordan’s office and walked blindly to the elevator. What kind of man would he be if he put his own child and that child’s mother in danger?

A monster. And that was exactly what he was.

He took the elevator down to the lobby and headed out to the parking lot to his car, so rattled that he barely recalled the trip there as he pulled into Ana’s driveway. He used his key to get inside, but she and Max weren’t there.

Good, it was better that way.

He went to the bedroom, grabbed a duffel bag out of the closet and started stuffing his clothes inside, marveling at just how many of his things he’d managed to bring over in a week’s time.

What the hell had he been thinking?

He was in the bathroom grabbing his toothbrush and razor when Ana appeared in the doorway.

“Hey, what’s with the duffel—” She actually jerked back when she saw his face. “Oh my gosh, you’re white as a sheet. What happened?”

Ana thought for sure that Nathan was going to tell her someone had died.

“I have to leave,” he said.

“Why? Where are you going?”

“Back to my apartment,” he said, and at her confused look added, “Permanently.”

She felt the color drain from her face and her heart plummeted to her toes. “You’re dumping me?”

“Trust me when I say you’re better off without me. You both are.” He pushed past her and walked back into the bedroom, tossing his things into the duffel bag sitting on the bed.

No, this could not be happening. Not again. “Nathan, please, tell me what happened. Did I do something wrong?”

“You didn’t do anything.” He zipped the bag shut. “Jordan ratted me out.”

Damn it. She knew it. She knew they couldn’t trust him. “So you’re leaving me so you can still be CEO?”

“It has nothing to do with work. It’s me. I confronted Jordan, words were exchanged, then I hit him.”

If her brother had betrayed her that way, she would have hit him, too. “It sounds like he deserved it.”

“Violence is never the answer. It’s not safe for you to be around me. Not you and especially not Max.”

“Nathan, that’s ridiculous. It’s one thing to get in a fight that’s unprovoked, to bully someone, but Jordan betrayed you and you lost your temper. You would never do anything to hurt me and Max.”

“Are you sure about that? And is it a chance worth taking?”

“I’m one hundred percent sure.”

“Well, I’m not.” He grabbed the bag and headed out of the room.

She followed him. “No! You are not going to do this to me again, damn it!”

He pulled the front door open and she hurled herself at it, slamming it shut again.

“We need to talk about this, Nathan.”

He gazed down at her, looking tired. Tired and resigned. Just the way he’d looked the last time, and she knew in that instant that he wouldn’t be changing his mind. “There’s nothing to say.”

The ache in her heart was so intense she winced. “You said you wouldn’t hurt me.”

“I thought I’d changed. I was wrong.”

“What about Max? He needs you.”

He shook his head. “He’s better off without me.”

He put his hand on the doorknob, but he wouldn’t look at her. She could stand there blocking the door until hell froze over, but he was still going to leave. He was already long gone. Walking out the door was just a formality now.

She moved away from the door and he pulled it open. He had one foot on the porch when she blurted out, “If you leave, this is it. I’m not giving you another chance. Not with me or Max. Walk out that door and you’re out of his life forever.”

He paused, half in, half out of her life, and a kernel of hope bloomed in her chest. Maybe faced with the reality of losing them permanently would shake some sense into him.

He turned, looked her in the eye, and her heart started to beat wildly.

Please, please don’t do this.

“I’m sorry, Ana,” he said, then he stepped out the door and was gone.

After he left Ana’s condo that night, Nathan drove around for hours. He knew he should go home, but his apartment just wasn’t home any longer. He finally rented a hotel room and slept there, and that was where he’d been staying for the past week. And as for work, he’d been functioning on autopilot.

He missed Ana and Max. He hadn’t even known it was possible to miss someone as much as he missed them. There was a gaping hole in his heart, in his soul, and the essence of who he was, and the desire to live the life he’d worked so hard building, was slowly leaking out. Before long, there would be nothing left but an empty shell. Without them in his life, he felt, what was the point?

He hadn’t talked to his brother since the day of their confrontation, but Wednesday morning Jordan knocked on Nathan’s office door. Nathan should have told him to get lost, but as Jordan had pointed out, this was business. Nothing personal. When they were at the office he had no choice but to talk to him.

“Have you got a minute?” Jordan asked.

Nathan gestured him inside.

“So, the board meeting is this afternoon,” Jordan said, as if Nathan wasn’t already well aware of that fact.

“So it is,” he said.

“You should know that I had planned to go to the board and tell them about you and Ana.”

“I figured as much.”

“Well, I changed my mind. I’m not going to do it.”

“Am I supposed to thank you?”

“No. I just thought you would want to know.”

“It wouldn’t matter now anyway. We split up a week ago.”

He looked truly taken aback. “You split up? Why?”

“What difference does it make?”

“Nathan, if it’s because of what I said—”

“When you insinuated the woman I love is a slut?”

Jordan actually looked remorseful. “I was just trying to ruffle your feathers. I didn’t think you would take me seriously.”

“Then you’ll be relieved to know that it has nothing to do with that.”

“Damn, I’m sorry it didn’t work out. What about Max?”

“I’m not seeing Max either.”

“What? Is she keeping him from you?”

“It was my own choice.”

“Are you crazy? You love that kid. And he adores you. I’ve never seen you so happy.”

“It’s the only way I can keep them safe.”

“From what?”

“Me. Like you said, I’m just like him.”

He rolled his eyes. “Nathan, those were just words said in the heat of the moment. I was trying to piss you off, trying to make you hit me.”

Huh? “You wanted me to hit you?”

“Because I knew it would make you feel lousy when you did. Because…” He drew in a deep breath and blew it out. “Hell, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the enormous chip I’ve been carrying around on my shoulder for the past twenty or so years.”

“You resent me. Jordan, I took—”

“You took care of me, I know. You defended me against the whole damned world. Did it ever occur to you to let me defend myself or, instead of fighting my battles for me, teaching me how to fight them? Maybe I didn’t need you to be my damned savior.”

His words stunned Nathan. All these years he assumed he was doing his brother a favor by protecting him. Had he actually done more harm than good? “I guess, since I was older, I considered it my responsibility to take care of you.”

“Do you have any idea how guilty I used to feel when Dad would whale on you for something I did? After a while I started to resent you for it, for thinking I was too weak to take care of myself. Then it got to the point when I actually enjoyed getting you in trouble, watching you take the knocks for things I did. I wanted you to feel as weak and as small as I did.”

“Jordan, I was only trying to help. I had no idea I was making you feel that way.”

Jordan shrugged. “So, now you know. And this thing with Ana and Max, you don’t want to screw the pooch on this one. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

“I would regret it a lot more if I hurt them.”

“You’re not going to hurt them. Not physically anyway. Over the years I’ve given you a hundred reasons to clean my clock, and look how long it took for you to actually take a swing at me. And the expression on your face afterward…” Jordan laughed and shook his head. “You looked like you backed over a puppy with your car. That alone was worth the sore jaw.”

Nathan grinned for the first time in a week. “I really looked that bad?”

“It was freaking awesome. And it astounds me that after all the years, and all the bullshit, you don’t hate my guts. No matter how hard I push you, how big of a jerk I am, you’re still there for me. If I called you at 3:00 a.m. from some bar, too wasted to drive, and said I needed a ride, you would drop everything and pick me up.” He paused, then said, “Which I guess in a way makes you the weak one, not me.”

“Because if I called you for a ride in the middle of the night…?”

“I’d tell you to call a damn cab, then I’d roll over and go back to sleep.”

No, he wouldn’t. Nathan didn’t know how he knew. He just did. If Jordan didn’t care about him, they wouldn’t be having this conversation. Maybe there was hope for them yet.

“Don’t think this changes anything,” Jordan said. “When it comes to the CEO position I’m going to leave you in the dust. Then I’ll be your boss. Think how much fun that will be.”

“You have to get through me first.”

Jordan grinned, turned and walked out of Nathan’s office.

Nathan sat there for a minute, a little stunned, trying to process what had just happened, what had been resolved, and trying to figure out what it meant, but it felt as if the walls were closing in on him. He needed to get out of here. He needed fresh air, a chance to clear his head and really think.

He grabbed his coat and headed out of his office, telling his secretary to cancel all his appointments and that he would be back later that day.

Maybe. The truth was, he didn’t know where he was going or how long he would be there. The way he was feeling, he could get in the car, pick a direction and never look back.

Instead, after driving in circles for a while, he found himself in the last place he’d ever expected to be. His father’s house.