Chapter 8

CHAPTER8

He really was a stubborn man, Andi thought as she nibbled on the delicious breakfast sandwich with extra bacon that was quickly making up for the fact that she was exhausted while she watched the man that was making her life harder than it needed to be as he absently scrolled through his emails.

“I’m fine,” Devyn murmured absently, not bothering to look up from his phone as she stood there considering him.

She ran her gaze from the small bandage covering the cut on his temple that was probably going to leave a small scar down to the dark bruise that ran from his temple to his jaw, absently noting that it was beginning to fade. He was still incredibly handsome, Andi thought as she debated pointing out that he should be back in bed. Since he showed up at her door with a bacon sandwich and gave her a ride to work this morning, she wasn’t going to argue with him. What she was going to do was continue staring at him until he took the hint and-

“God, you’re a pain in my ass,” Devyn said with a mock glare as he put his phone away and pulled the bottle of over-the-counter pain medication that she’d left on his nightstand out of his pocket.

“Today’s the big day,” Andi said, handing him her juice as he popped two pills in his mouth. “Are you nervous?”

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he hedged, taking a sip of apple juice as he pulled his phone back out of his pocket.

“It’s a good deal,” she said, kind of wishing that they’d found something wrong.

Not that she wanted anything to be wrong with this deal, but she’d actually enjoyed working with Devyn over the past week. Not the glaring, although she actually liked it when he glared, but she really enjoyed reading through the files and learning the ins and outs of working on a deal this big. It had been a long time since she found anything that caught her attention, but after an hour of going through those files, she was hooked.

When she was little, everyone assumed that she had her whole life planned out and knew exactly what she wanted, but the truth was, she had no idea what she wanted. Still didn’t. But she knew what she didn’t want. She didn’t want to end up doing something that she hated just because it came easy to her. She just wanted to find something that she loved doing.

That’s honestly all she’d ever wanted.

“You look exhausted,” Devyn said, not bothering to look up from his phone.

That’s because she was.

She hadn’t slept much over the past week. Between going through the Hillshire Hotels’ files and taking care of him, she was exhausted. It didn’t help that she’d been afraid to close her eyes, terrified that if she closed them for even a minute that something would happen to him. She’d planned on going to bed as soon as she got home last night, but instead, she’d ended up going over Hillshire Hotels’ financial reports. She didn’t know everything that went into a deal this size, but she knew that their finances were in great shape. It actually made her wonder why Hillshire Hotels was even considering this deal.

“I’m fine,” Andi said, forcing a smile as she finished off the last bite of the delicious sandwich that made everything better.

“Liar,” Devyn murmured absently as he continued scrolling. “Why didn’t you take the day off?”

“I just took a week off,” Andi pointed out, biting back a yawn even as she had to admit that she’d been tempted, more than a little tempted, to take the day off, but…

She didn’t want to miss this.

Granted, she wouldn’t be in the boardroom when the papers were signed, but she wanted to be here for him, which was incredibly stupid. He was her boss and…

She just wanted to be here.

“You really are a pain in the ass,” Devyn said, sighing heavily as he slid his phone back into his pocket as he leaned against the elevator wall and considered her. “Take the day off, Andi.”

“Can’t. I have too much to do,” she said, which sadly wasn’t a lie. She still had to finish the list that he gave her last week on top of the list that he’d sent her this morning. He had back-to-back meetings all morning before the big meeting and she was hoping to use that time to get everything done, but…

She was definitely in over her head on this one.

“It can wait,” Devyn said as they reached their floor and the elevator doors slid open.

“It really can’t,” she said, stealing her juice back as she made her way off the elevator, only to pause and look back to find Devyn watching her. “Good luck today, Devyn,” she said, watching as Devyn’s lips curled up into one of the sexiest smiles that she’d ever seen, momentarily making her mind go blank.

“Thank you, Miss Dawson,” Devyn drawled, shooting her a wink as the elevator doors slid shut, leaving her standing there, staring helplessly at the elevator doors until she realized what she was doing and forced herself to turn around and head to her desk, knowing that she had too much to do to stand around thinking about just how much she liked it when he smiled.

Besides, she had more pressing issues to deal with at the moment, like figuring out how she was going to get through two daily lists in one day. She was going to need a miracle, Andi realized as she dropped her bag on the floor by her desk, only to frown when she spotted the boxes stacked against the wall. Curious, she opened the first box and realized that they were the files that Hillshire Hotels promised to send.

Not that it mattered now, Andi thought, moving to close the box only to find herself picking up the folder on top and opening it. By the time she read the first paragraph, she realized that something was off. By the second paragraph, she’d settled on the floor and pulled the box closer, and by the time she came to the first spreadsheet, she felt sick to her stomach.

Telling herself that she was wrong, Andi grabbed her iPad out of her bag, pulled up the files that Lucas’s team sent last week and started comparing them. When she realized that the numbers didn’t add up, she grabbed a legal pad, a handful of the pens that she’d helped herself to from the supply closet and set to work, quickly running the numbers from each file in her head and writing them down and-

Oh, God…

* * *

“You look like hell,”Lucas said, sighing heavily as he dropped down in the chair next to him.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Devyn murmured absently as his gaze shifted to Carta Hotels’ lawyers seated at the end of the boardroom table, going through the contracts one last time before his gaze flickered to Hillshire Hotels’ lawyers and their CEO doing the same on the other side of the table. He took in the Carta Hotels’ board members standing around the large boardroom, smiling as they congratulated themselves on a job well done as he sat there, unable to stop thinking about the small woman that was threatening his sanity.

This deal should have been more than enough to hold his attention, but he couldn’t stop thinking about her. This morning when he woke up and realized that she wasn’t there, he’d realized just how much he liked waking up with her in his arms. She’d felt so fucking good in his arms and-

What the hell was he doing? Devyn couldn’t help but wonder as he forced himself to stop thinking about Andi and focus on making sure that this deal went through. Over the past week, they’d gone through every file, looking for anything that would justify putting off this meeting, but everything was exactly the way that it was supposed to be, destroying every last concern that he’d had about this deal. Lucas was right, this deal was perfect and was exactly what he needed to secure his contract with Carta Hotels for two more years.

“You should have called me,” Lucas said absently as he watched the lawyers discuss the details of the stock transfer before his gaze shifted to the CEO of Hillshire Hotels, noting the relieved look on his face before he glanced back at his lawyers.

“And what would you have done if I had?” Devyn asked as Mark, the head lawyer for Carta Hotels, gave him the nod that he’d been waiting for.

“Probably made everything worse,” Lucas admitted, sighing heavily as he stood up. “Looks like I’m on.”

“Looks like it,” Devyn murmured, slowly exhaling as he gestured for the meeting to begin.

Everything was going to be fine. Lucas and his team had been working on this project for almost two years, making sure that everything was perfect, Devyn reminded himself as the rest of the board members took their seats. If there was one thing that he knew about Lucas, it was that he would do whatever it took to get what he wanted.

For the past two years, Lucas had been eyeing a seat on the board and with a deal this big, it was all but guaranteed to happen. Lucas would get a bigger office along with a bigger stake in the company, and Devyn would be able to stop fucking worrying about this deal and focus on taking over Hillshire Hotels and making sure the transition went smoothly.

He kept telling himself that for the next hour as Lucas went through his presentation, focusing on their plans for Hillshire Hotels, the projected earnings, and their expectations until finally, it was time. As Lucas stepped back, copies of the contract were handed to each member of the board while the master was placed in front of Devyn for his signature. He looked over the contract, his gaze lingering on the words, “Ten billion dollars,” before he found the signature line with his name typed beneath it followed by the words, CEO of Carta Hotels.

Relieved that this was finally over, Devyn reached for his pen and-

“Don’t sign it!” came the hysterical shout that drew his attention to the closed boardroom doors as they were thrown open and the last person that he’d expected to see came stumbling through them, hugging her iPad and a legal pad against her chest, gasping for air and-

“Please, don’t sign the contract!” Andi said, swallowing hard as she grabbed onto her side and muttered, “Stupid stairs,” as she tried to catch her breath.

“What the hell is going on?” Lucas asked while Devyn sat there, too stunned to do anything more than stare at Andi, wondering when she’d lost her damn mind.

“You can’t sign that contract,” Andi managed to get out as she stumbled towards him, only to get a panicked look in her eyes when she saw the pen in his hand.

“Call security!” Lucas snapped, moving to go after her only to curse when Andi grabbed the contract away from Devyn and-

Had him fucking sighing when she hugged the contract against her chest, moved to make a run for it, saw the large security guards walking into the room and decided that diving beneath the table was her best bet as the room erupted in shouted demands that someone stop her.

“What the hell is she doing?” Janet demanded as Devyn pushed his chair back and glared down at the small woman hugging the table leg as she continued struggling to catch her breath.

“Miss Dawson,” Devyn drawled, holding his hand out for the contract, praying like hell that she handed it over to him before she made this worse.

“Grab her!”

“You don’t understand. You can’t sign the contract!” Andi rushed to explain as she threw a panicked look at the large security guard reaching for her and-

“Oh, come on!” she said when they grabbed her, pulling her away from the table and managed to get the contract away from her before she could stop them.

“I’ll talk to you later, Miss Dawson,” Devyn said, feeling his stomach drop as he forced himself to look away as she struggled to break free. He had a job to do, Devyn reminded himself. He needed to sign the fucking papers and-

“Devyn, please!” she said, breaking him as he moved to go after them only to move his ass faster when the pain in the ass that had a lot of explaining to do managed to take the security guards carrying her by surprise and fell to the floor with a weakly mumbled, “That’s going to leave a mark.”

“Get her out of here!” Lucas snapped as Devyn dropped by Andi’s side, ignoring everything around them as he focused on her.

“You can’t sign the contracts,” Andi said, shaking her head frantically as he helped her sit up, absently noting that she was still hugging her iPad and the legal pad against her chest.

“Start talking,” Devyn said, hoping for her sake that she had a good reason for pulling this stunt.

Nodding, Andi nervously licked her lips before blurting out, “They’re bankrupt,” making everything in him go still only to follow that up by rambling on about numbers for several minutes before ending with, “Please don’t fire me.”

“What is she talking about?” came the question as Devyn reached over and gently brushed his thumb over the scrape marking Andi’s chin only to stop when she winced.

“Everything’s fine. She’s mistaken,” Lucas said, sighing heavily as he gestured for security to show her to the door.

“No, it’s not,” Andi said with a stubborn shake of her head as she managed to stand up. “If you look at the last quarter, you can clearly see that the numbers don’t match the records that Hillshire Hotels sent over. They didn’t make two billion in profit last year. They’re in serious debt. The stock is worthless.”

“How much?” Devyn asked as the room suddenly went quiet.

“If my calculations are correct, I would say a little over twenty-two billion, forty-seven million, two hundred fifty-seven thousand dollars and eighty-three cents. Give or take a few cents,” Andi explained with a shrug that had him swallowing hard.

Keeping his eyes locked with hers, he said, “Run the numbers.”

“Devyn, there’s nothing wrong with the numbers. I ran them myself more than once,” Lucas explained as he picked the rumpled contract off the floor.

“I said run the numbers,” Devyn bit out, still watching Andi.

“I can show you,” Andi said, handing him the legal pad as she shifted her focus to the iPad in her arms as she quickly made her way to the table. “I was pressed for time with trying to get down here and everything, but I managed to scan last year’s financial reports for Hillshire Hotels. If you look at the screen, you’ll see the corresponding numbers to the reports that I have. The electronic files that were sent are showing Hillshire Hotels’ debts as profit,” she explained as she threw the images onto the large screen, splitting it so that the images on her iPad were side by side with the numbers from Lucas’s report.

She went through everything, highlighting all the debts that had been presented as profits, showing the corresponding dates before moving on to all the figures that had been altered or completely removed while she ran through large sums, never glancing down at the legal pad as she kept track of figures in her head while she worked through entire columns while Devyn stood there, absolutely floored by what he was seeing. When she was done, Andi said, “They’re in debt. I don’t know where the rest of the numbers came from,” she said, gesturing to the monitor, “but they don’t match the files that Hillshire Hotels sent this past week.”

“Oh, fuck…” Lucas said hollowly as he stared helplessly at the figures highlighted on the board.

“Please tell me that this is a joke,” Harold, the head of the board and Lucas’s godfather, said as they all stood there, staring helplessly at the screen as the reality of the situation slowly sank in.

Devyn watched as Hillshire Hotels’ CEO and lawyers shared a confused look as they quietly made their way to the door before his gaze shifted back to the woman that had a lot of explaining to do.