Episode 98

Episode 98

The Nail in the Coffin

NAOMI

Memphis held the car door open for me as I exited the taxi. I looked up at the skyscraper that I despised with every ounce of my being. Shaw International, the building, was as ostentatious and unwelcoming as my father himself. It stood sixty stories into the sky, shimmering glass sticking out from the earth like a titanium blade. It was my father's pride and joy. To own something so monumental in the city that never sleeps was the highlight of his career. To a man like Abraham Shaw, it meant freedom, glory, and power.

At one time, I was also impressed. Until I realized how my father's company had become the albatross around my neck and future. He believed it was my birthright. That I owed him my fealty and a lifelong service to the cause. Instead, his cause wasn't just or meant to change the world for the better; it was selfish, driven by greed. He saw himself as a king. This eyesore, his castle. His office was the entire penthouse floor. Designed so he could lord over what he saw as his kingdom and the people of New York simply peons beneath him.

I hated it, and at the moment, I hated him, for what he'd done to the Taylors.

This would not stand.

I gripped Memphis' hand tightly, looked him in the eyes and nodded succinctly before I let go and strutted forward like I owned the place. He followed dutifully behind me, understanding this was my mission. He demanded to be here for support but that was as far as I'd allow. This was my battle. My kin purposely hurt and threatened the livelihood of people I cared deeply for.

Again, this would not stand.

Memphis rushed ahead and held the door for me. I didn't even stop to thank him; instead, kept up the ruse, pretending I was in complete control. I did, however, wink at him as I passed by, enjoying his corresponding smirk and head shake.

I didn't stop at the reception desk either, lifting my hand and chopping at the air. "Notify my father I am here," I barked with conviction. "Memphis, this way," I ushered him right past security who didn't move from their station. Everyone here knew exactly who I was and wouldn't dare stop me for fear of getting fired by my father. After this visit, he would probably terminate my all-access pass, but I didn't plan on ever stepping foot back in this building again if I could avoid it.

"But you don't have an appointment," the receptionist cried out as we made our way to the elevator.

"He's my father; I don't need one. Please notify his secretary I'm on my way up," I bit out and then entered the elevator without so much as a glance back.

The doors closed, and Memphis instantly started laughing. "Damn baby, I can't wait to get you home. That take no prisoners, take charge attitude has me feelin' some type of way." His voice was low, mimicking that sexy timbre he often used in the bedroom.

I chuckled and then cleared my throat. "Stop it! I'm all business right now. I don't need to be imagining you naked while I'm in boss mode."

He lifted his hands. "As long as you know I am all the fuck in on you having your wicked way with me. Just please, keep the heels on. They are sexy as fuck." His gaze traveled down my body taking in my fierce business attire as though he was envisioning removing each item from me… with his teeth . I'd dressed to play the part. Black silk blouse. Black leather pencil skirt, and matching heels. My hair was parted down the middle and slicked back into a low ponytail. The ponytail hair extension skimmed my ass, giving me the boost I needed to feel fierce and ready for battle. The only color I wore came from the red soles on my sky-high stilettos he clearly fancied.

"Just sayin' if you need to boss someone around after this…I am your man."

"Noted." I smirked and then watched the numbers. We were about to hit the top floor. The elevator doors opened. "Show time," I whispered and exited, my father's secretary, Desiree, waiting.

"Hello Ms. Shaw. Mr. Shaw is on an important call and asks that you wait until he's finished." She gestured to the seating area near her desk.

"Thank you, Desiree, but I'm not waiting," I clipped, leaving her in my dust as I stormed down the hall, Memphis bringing up the rear. When I got to the double doors for my father's office, I swung them both open with a flourish, loving the fact that they slammed against the wall on either side as I entered.

"I'm going to have to call you back. My daughter is here unexpectedly," my father said before slamming the receiver down. He stood, automatically buttoning his suit jacket, ever the gentleman. But he wasn't a gentleman. It was all for show, and he played the part well. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded.

"What is the meaning of this?" I parroted back. "You're outta your mind, old man. Isn't my attention what you were hoping for with the stunt you pulled?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his ass on the front of his desk, attempting to prove with his pose and stature that he had the high ground when he absolutely did not.

"I don't know what you mean. Speak clearly, daughter. Have you forgotten your Ivy League training and vast vocabulary, or has slumming it in Georgia already rotted your brain?"

"Say what now?" Memphis barked and started to move in front of me to give my father a piece of his mind.

I extended my arm to stop him from passing. His nostrils flared as he ground his teeth. "I'll just be over there," he grated, gesturing to the seating area. He was clearly angered by the cheap shot, but also understood this was my battle, not his.

"Be careful, Father. Whatever it is you want is hanging by a thread, along with my fury. So let's speak in a manner with which you are familiar. A business negotiation, if you will."

He dipped his head, waiting for me to speak. It was a business move he taught me. Let your opponent hang themselves by putting all their cards on the table first.

"What will it take for you to sell me the Taylor property?"

His eyes lit up with excitement, the thrill of the kill already at his fingertips.

"Oh, I don't know. I'm pretty fond of that holding." He tapped his bottom lip with one finger, his tone sarcastic.

I clenched my teeth while I tried and failed to wait him out. It was all part of his sick and twisted game.

"Instead of going back and forth, we both know what we want." I seethed internally, using all my energy to appear unfazed and calm on the outside. "You are going to give me back that property, and I'm going to graciously apologize on our family's behalf to the Taylors once you do and transfer it back to them free and clear. The only reason I am here today is to find out what you want for it, because I'm not leaving here without it."

That's when my father smiled. "There's my girl. Mind as fast and dangerous as lightning, just as I taught you."

It took Herculean effort not to roll my eyes, lest it piss him off, preventing me from getting what I wanted.

He pushed away from his desk and walked around to his chair. "I'll sell you the property back…on one condition."

"I'm waiting," I stood still as a statue.

"You end this farce of an engagement, and you marry Malik."

"Not happening," I snapped at the same time Memphis rose and barked, "Fuck that!" I lifted my hand to stop Memphis from interfering. "Baby, please. I got this." I put everything I could into one look, hoping he could see all that I tried to say without speaking.

I love you.

Trust me.

"Next offer," I snapped.

"There is nothing else I want," he claimed, lying through his teeth. This wasn't about Malik or even Memphis. This was about me not choosing to accept the life he'd built for me and refusing to fall in line like a good little soldier.

I grinned. "That isn't true. Never go into a negotiation without having a backup plan. You taught me that. What's your backup offer, Dad ." I enunciated the last word as a taunt.

His lips twisted and he tilted his head to the side as though assessing whether or not the rattlesnake before him would strike.

Spoiler alert… I bite.

"Anytime, Dad ," I taunted again.

He leaned over his desk, placing both hands to the glass surface. His gaze was that of a world champion boxer, ready to take me down with one punch.

"You come work for me. Take your rightful place as second-in-command, and you can marry whomever you want." His gaze flitted to Memphis. "Even if he is a gold-digging jock with no future and little to show for the life he's already lived."

I winced, wanting desperately to defend Memphis and his honor, but it would only hinder getting what I wanted. "If I accept this offer, the first rule of us working together will be that you never speak of my future husband in that manner again," I spat.

His gaze slid to Memphis once more.

"Don't even look at him. Look at me. Eyes on me. I'm what you want." I pointed to where I knew Memphis was sitting, likely falling into a hole of his own mental misery after my father's nasty comments. "That man…he doesn't exist for you. He and his family are one hundred percent off limits. You no longer hurt them to get to me. Do you understand me?"

My father's smile disappeared, and the hardened asshole came to the forefront. "What you don't understand, Daughter, is you do not tell me what to do. I am your father," he banged his hand against the glass desk the same way a judge would a gavel.

I slowly moved closer and stopped when my thighs pressed against his desk, the only thing separating us. Every part of me wanted to jump across that surface and strangle him where he stood, but I wouldn't stoop to his level. No, I'd beat him at his own game.

"I will come work for you in three months' time…"

"One. Or the deal is off the table," he purred manically.

"Fine, I will work for you in one months' time. Today, not tomorrow, not next week, but today , you will transfer the deed of the Taylor property to me," I growled.

"Agreed."

"You will leave them alone. You will stay out of my romantic relationships from this day forward," I added curtly.

"Fine. If you want to ruin your life by marrying beneath you, go ahead," he said with an air of nonchalance.

I inhaled sharply, letting that ignorant jab roll off me. It didn't, however, prevent me from feeling the rage filled energy coming from the seating area behind me. I knew Memphis hated everything I was agreeing to, but I had a plan, and this was only the first part of it.

I extended my hand, and my father looked at it, then at me, a devious smile plastered across his face. He thought he'd won.

We shook hands.

"Well, now that is over…" He said it so flippantly it was as though we hadn't just been facing off. "Your mother would like to discuss the wedding with you. She's been devastated since we left Georgia. I'll expect you for dinner tonight."

I stepped back and shook my head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Shaw, but dinners are not part of my working contract."

"Excuse me?" he blustered. "We just made a deal."

"For employment, yes. You are about to be my boss. If you think for one minute you kept a relationship with me as part of your business deal, you are sorely mistaken. I am no longer your daughter. You will never be invited to our home. You will not be walking me down the aisle, nor attending my wedding, as that privilege is reserved for people who love and care about me, not those who think they own me. You will never look upon the faces of your biological grandchildren. After what you've done, the decisions you've made, you are no longer my father. He's dead to me."

His hands trembled as he slumped into his seat. "Naomi, please, let's be reasonable."

"You've made your bed, Mr. Shaw. Now you have to lie in it. And don't call me Naomi. When I return to start work a month from now, you will address me as Mrs. Taylor."

On that parting fuck you , I turned around, allowing my hair to fly out behind me like a superhero's cape. "Memphis, we've got a wedding to plan," I announced as I dug the hole an inch deeper into my father's psyche.

Memphis jumped up and followed me to the door. I walked through, my head held high. Memphis, as it turned out, had some parting words for the man I would no longer acknowledge as my father.

"You know, it didn't have to be like this, Abraham. Your decisions, your actions, lost you a world of future happiness with your only daughter. I pity you." Memphis shook his head, then followed me out of Abraham Shaw's office and out of his life forever.

* * * *

Neither Memphis nor I said a single word as we rode the elevator, walked out of the building and hailed a taxi. He did, however, hold my hand every step of the way.

When we made it to my penthouse apartment in Soho overlooking the waterfront, he followed me in.

"Welcome home, baby," I whispered and then burst into tears.

He pulled me into his arms as I sobbed, letting it all out in a tide of emotional trauma.

"It's okay, Nay. I'm here. Let it all out. You were fantastic in there. You socked it to him good, baby," he whispered against my hair. "We'll find a way to get you out of working for him. I mean forcing your daughter to work for you can't be legally binding, right? We'll figure it out."

I shook my head and pushed back. "Oh no, I fully plan on working for him."

Memphis frowned. "But you have your own successful business. And more importantly, you don't want that life."

I sniffled and wiped my snot on the sleeve of my silk blouse. Fuck it, I could afford a new one.

"I fully intend to hold up my side of the bargain. However, I never agreed to a specific term. There is no employment contract, though he might try to pull a fast one and get me to sign something, which I will ignore."

"Soooo what? You're going to work for him for a little while, and then just quit? And you think he'll let that fly?"

I wiped at my wet eyes, hating that I was even giving that man my precious tears. He didn't deserve them or the utter devastation I was feeling after cutting him out of my life for good.

"No, he wouldn't. But I'm not going to just start and quit. That would be too easy. My entire life he put me through hell. Questioned and demeaned me and my choices at every turn. Forced me to obtain a degree I wasn't interested in but will now put to good use against him. He even prevented me from having real friends because their families weren't in my parents' social circles. Well, I'm going to go work for him, then I'm going to ruin him from the inside. Find out every secret and shady business deal he's ever made, because I've heard the whisperings of deals gone wrong. When I was with Malik, he used to get drunk and share all kinds of things that my father did to get ahead. What I need shouldn't be too hard to find, especially when you're not expecting the threat to come from the inside."

"Okay, I'm trying to follow, babe, but this is convoluted as fuck."

"Basically, I'm going to take his company from him, destroy the sham of a reputation he spent his life building, and leave him a sad and lonely man with no family to speak of."

Memphis' mouth fell open with what I assumed was shock. "Damn, Nay. Remind me never to get on your bad side."

I moved back into his arms, pressing my face to his warm chest. "I don't think you could ever be on my bad side. Because all your sides are nothing but good." I lifted my face and rested my chin against his chest. "Will you stand by me while I take my father down?"

"Naomi, I'd stand by your side and jump off a cliff, if you asked me to. Woman, my faith and trust in you is endless. I'm just really sorry you feel the need to do this, and all because of what he did to my family."

I shook my head. "No, him stealing your family home out from underneath you was the final nail in the coffin. This is all about him. Like you said when we left, it didn't have to be this way. He could have left well enough alone and let me live my life by my terms. Instead, he schemed, threatened, and hurt me and the people I've come to love. All because he wanted to control me like some perfect little robot. Now he has to suffer the consequences of his decision and actions. He's going to learn he should be careful what he wishes for. Because ultimately, I'm the one that will be his demise."