The Forgotten One (The Heirs #2)

Chapter Fourteen

Two black SUVs with private drivers drove them to Stone Enterprises the next morning.

Max drove with Alex while Chase and Piper took the other car.

Max had given Sarah all she needed the night before, then drove back home with a truckload of new clothes. He dropped into bed, more tired than he expected to be, and fell right to sleep.

By the time he was dressed and on the road again the next morning, he was kicking himself for not taking Chase up on the offer to spend the night at his house.

The weekend would be his. He looked forward to the solitude.

“Why are we taking these cars again?” Max asked Alex.

She looked up from the Starfield report she was going over and said, “Because the desire to run over the paparazzi will take physical restraint at some point, and our drivers are gifted at avoiding that kind of scandal.”

If the man in the black suit and dark glasses heard Alex, he didn’t so much as flinch.

“You went through this when Aaron died?”

“We did. And we learned. Chase went to his place; I went to mine. Neither one of us had a moment of rest.”

“I hope you’re overreacting,” Max said.

“Me too.”

Alex picked up her phone for the fifth time on the ride in. “Looks like your reporter is staying by her word.”

“I thought she would.”

Max caught sight of the headquarters of Stone Enterprises for the first time.

He’d never had a need to step foot into any building like this one. And here he was, walking into something he owned.

The driver stopped at the front entrance.

Chase’s car pulled in behind.

“You ready?” Alex asked.

Max offered a single nod. “Let’s do this.”

The driver opened the door.

Max climbed out and extended a hand to Alex.

She wore red.

A blazer and matching skirt that went past her knees. Heels that were just high enough but not over the top for an office. Her hair was slicked back in a simple ponytail that fell down her back.

Chase held the door open for them as they passed through the glass doors.

It was eight thirty, and the lobby was relatively quiet.

Max took in the Stone name over the large reception desk. Backlit gold letters shouted who owned the place.

Chase approached the man behind the desk. “Good morning, Malcom.”

“Good morning, Mr. Stone. Ms. Stone.”

“Do you have that badge I requested?”

“Yes, sir.” Malcom reached into a desk and removed a plastic badge, then handed it over.

Chase turned and gave it to Max.

“Thank you.”

The four of them then walked through a sensor that turned green and made a noise as they made their way to the elevators.

Once alone in the elevator, Chase pressed his badge against a sensor and chose the highest floor.

“You own the place—why do you need a badge?” Max asked once the door closed. It wasn’t like the business manufactured top-secret shit.

“Nine eleven,” Piper answered.

“Excuse me?” What did the World Trade Center have to do with Stone Enterprises?

“We always need to know who is in the building at any given time.”

Damn. “That’s practical. Morbid, but practical.”

The elevator stopped on the fifth floor.

The person stepping in had her face buried in her phone.

She glanced up, saw who was inside, and instantly put her phone away. “Uhm, good morning.”

Chase smiled.

Alex nodded.

“Good morning, Lynn,” Piper greeted.

Then crickets ... until poor Lynn got off on the seventh floor and scrambled out of sight.

“Is everyone always that nervous around you guys?”

“We’re not usually huddled together like this,” Piper said.

“I blame Alex. Everyone is scared of her,” Chase teased.

“That’s not true,” Alex defended herself.

The doors opened on the executive floor, and Chase leaned closer to Max. “It’s completely true.”

Alex was three paces ahead of them. “I heard that.”

Max laughed.

“Good morning, Ms. Stone. Mr. Stone ... Piper.” That was from the runway model at the reception desk.

Max followed them as they took a direct route to their office.

Employees everywhere looked up as they walked by. Most said good morning; a few acted too busy to notice them.

A middle-aged man walked out of an office as they were passing. “I was starting to wonder if you were going to miss your own meeting,” he said to them.

“You should know me better than that by now,” Alex said.

He nodded without humor. “Stuart is already in the conference room. Is there a reason for his presence?”

Piper continued down the hall, leaving them behind.

“There is” was all Alex offered.

The man looked directly at Max.

“Max, this is Floyd Gatlin. Our vice president.”

This is Floyd.

The man did look a bit shady.

Max shook his hand anyway. “Max Smith.”

“A pleasure,” Floyd said with an unvoiced question that hung in the air.

“If you’ll excuse us.” Alex didn’t wait for Floyd’s approval and simply turned away.

Chase patted the other man’s shoulder. “We’ll see you at the meeting.”

A few seconds later, Max found himself in Alex’s office, the door shut behind them.

“Only one introduction,” Alex said. “That’s not bad considering the board is making their way up here.”

“You know Floyd is on the phone as we speak,”

Piper moved behind Alex’s desk and picked up the phone. “Hey, Julia. I need to know whoever Floyd calls before and after the meeting today. Good. And be sure and help Dee out. We’re bouncing as soon as the meeting is over. No ... no. I have a doctor’s appointment.” Piper looked up, smiled. “Thanks.” She hung up the phone. “That base is covered.”

“You really don’t trust that man,” Max pointed out.

“No.” Alex took Piper’s place.

“Then fire him.” It didn’t seem all that complicated to Max.

“It’s easier to watch our enemies when they’re right down the hall.”

Max crossed to the windows that overlooked the city. “In my world, it’s a pink slip and a paycheck and see ya.”

“It’s not as easy to fire executives this far up the chain without legal ramifications. For now, he stays,” Alex said.

“But not for long,” Chase added.

“Agreed, Chase. One thing at a time.”

“Oh shit.” Piper reached for the phone again, started to dial. “I almost forgot security.”

While Piper made a call for extra security, Chase moved to Max’s side.

“Nervous?”

“Should I be?”

“I guess not. We’ll keep the meeting going as long as we can after you leave. Busa will be hanging out at the elevators. You’ll get in one car, and he’ll get in the other. Hopefully when you split up, half the media that’s watching will follow the wrong car.”

Overkill. The whole thing. “Sounds good.”

“You sure you don’t want to come with us?”

“I know where you are if I change my mind.” Max looked around the room. “How much of this has changed since he was here?”

“The paint, the art, the sofa ... the desk.”

Max chuckled. He turned to Alex. “So why Ms. ?” He knew Alex had never been married, yet everyone in the office was calling her Ms. Stone.

Alex glanced at him, then turned her attention back to whatever she was doing at her desk. “The expectation for a woman to change how she is addressed because of her marital status is not only sexist, it’s archaic and outdated. Besides, in the unlikely event that I’ll ever get married, everyone in this building will address me as Ms. Stone. I might as well get them used to it now.”

“You have something against marriage?” he asked. Not that he was a fan, but he’d yet to meet a woman who didn’t long for the white dress and fancy ring.

“Alex is convinced her love life is over since inheriting Dad’s estate,” Chase told him.

“Statistical facts, Chase. It has nothing to do with my conviction on the subject.” She tapped the papers in her hand on her desk to straighten them out. “The deck was stacked against me before Dad died. Now it’s over.”

“Enlighten me,” Max said.

Her eyes caught his and held. “For every sixteen points elevated in a man’s IQ, his likelihood of finding a partner increases by thirty percent,” she told him. “Guess how much it goes up for a woman.”

Max shook his head. “I couldn’t tell you.”

“It doesn’t. It decreases by forty percent. You add the zeros I have in the bank, and my dating life bottomed out. I either have to lie about who I am, which won’t work for long since my face is all over the internet, or settle. And that’s just to get a date.”

“I’m sure there are plenty of men in your world that would kill to date you,” Max told her.

“You be sure and point them out to me, then. Keep in mind, my daddy issues don’t compel me to date someone who is retired.” She took a breath and squared her shoulders. “Are we ready?”

Piper moved toward the door.

Alex followed her into the hall.

“Is she serious?” Max asked Chase under his breath.

“Unfortunately.” He lowered his voice. “She needs to get laid.”

“I heard that,” Alex said, two paces in front of them.

“There is no way you heard me,” Chase said.

She glanced over her shoulder, scowled, and then smiled.

Chase laughed.

Max couldn’t help but appreciate how the two of them got along.

Sarah watched as Patrick’s eyes all but popped out of their sockets as he read Max’s story.

“Is this true?”

“One hundred percent.”

He kept reading. “You had dinner with him?”

“One of many if I keep my word.”

“What word is that?”

Sarah looked at her watch. “That we hold off on publishing that until five minutes past nine.”

“What’s special about that time?” He looked up.

“He’s being introduced to the board at Stone Enterprises at nine sharp. If any of them get word before the Stones break it to them, it can’t be from us.”

Patrick went back to reading. “Who is the mother?”

“He didn’t tell me ... yet.”

“He will?”

“If I keep my word.”

“What’s he going to do with his inheritance?”

“Those are tomorrow’s articles, Patrick. I promised Max I’d get this on the internet at five after the hour. The PR team is mass-mailing the first two paragraphs at ten. All the papers will be chasing this story to get their quotes since Max and his siblings have no intention of talking to the media until next week ... after the market has a chance of settling.”

“Stone Enterprises’ market value will tank with this.”

“Good thing neither one of us owns their stock and can’t be accused of insider trading by unloading it. Besides, it will bounce back up.”

Patrick nodded. “Probably.”

“Nine oh five, Patrick. One minute earlier, and we’ve blown our future exclusives with him.”

Patrick reached for the phone. “We’ll make it six minutes past.”

Sarah smiled.

“This is good, McNeilly.”

“I’m not going to the unemployment line?” she asked, half teasing.

“You’re safe . . . for now.”

Would it have been too hard for the man to nix the “for now” in that statement?

She stood taller. “Oh wait ...” From her purse, she pulled out a stick drive. “Exclusive pictures.”

He snatched the drive from her fingertips. “Remind me to give you a raise.”

That was more like it.