Jonah's POV

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Or so my father thought.

I sigh and lean back in my chair, running my hand through my hair as I glare at the numbers on my computer screen. Staring at the same endless account statement for almost an hour has given me a headache that almost rivals the one my hangover gave me.

A grin tugs at the corner of my lips, though, at the thought of last night. It seems Harley is a completely different person outside of work. Quite confident even.

A chime on my computer shifts my attention back to it. Sunlight streams through the window along the side of my office, illuminating every shiny, white surface in this damned room and blinding me. I take another gulp of my coffee and toss back a dose of Tylenol just as my secretary, Charlotte, enters the room.

"Sir, your father is here to speak with you."

"Thank you, Charlotte. Make sure no one interrupts, please. This conversation needs to stay between my father and I for now," I say, tidying up the stack of papers on my desk. I can trust that Charlotte won't let anyone interfere. She seems sweet, but is a spitfire and follows orders to a T. That's why I hired her.

She nods and exits, holding the door open for my father.

He strides into the room and flops into the chair across from me. He already knows what I want to discuss. There's no way he couldn't.

We stare at each other, and for a second, I let him bask in the silence. Maybe he can feel my disapproval in the air. Maybe he's finally getting a hint of the way he's treated me my entire life.

"Get on with it," he says, throwing up a hand.

I pick up my coffee and cross my ankle over my knee, pretending I'm meeting with one of our regular employees. "Where should I begin? Shall we discuss your little 'business trips,' the medical bills, or the fact that you basically ran this company into the ground and left it to me to fix?"

His laugh is mirthless. "You're lucky I even let you run the company. I was going to give the CEO position to Marco. I'm sure he would do a much better job. And if I wanted, I could easily have you replaced."

I slam down my cup, spilling hot liquid on my hand. I ignore the pain.  It's nothing compared to the throbbing in my head as I try to quell my anger at my father while simultaneously running possible financial remedies through my head."Marco wouldn't know what to do and you know it. He may be good at the legal things, but finances? Approving changes? Writing project proposals? He couldn't handle it all."

"And you can?" He raises a clean-cut salt-and-pepper eyebrow.

My father and I have never gotten along. Not even when we found out he had late-stage colon cancer. I've never been good enough to help him and he never hesitates to remind me. Always the disappointment, even when I graduated summa cum-laude from Duke.

"I already have. I'm removing your access to the company's accounts. I'll oversee all payments regarding your medical bills." A smirk forms on my face. "Now all you have to worry about is making sure you make it to your appointments. You will no longer control the company's finances."

His nostrils flare. "You can't do that. I own this company. I could -"

"Not anymore. You signed it over to me the day you found out about your prognosis, remember? Plus, as CEO, I can do whatever I want with the company's finances, as long as I have the board's approval."

"Good luck with that. I'm a member of the board." He sits back and crosses his arms.

"You are," I say. "But one disapproval doesn't mean anything."

He stands up, and the chair scoots back with the sudden movement. "I should have left you in Italy with your grandparents."

My stomach pitches. Every time. Every time he doesn't get his way, he says that. "Well, you didn't." I stand and gesture to the door. "You can leave now."

He glares at me one last time before stalking out of the room, bumping into Charlotte as he does.

She watches him go, brows furrowed and lips parted in concern.

"What is it, Charlotte?"

Her head swivels to me. "There's a board meeting, sir. The new translator is waiting downstairs."

I nod and return to my desk to grab my Macbook and a notepad. Attending a board meeting is the last thing I want to be doing right now, but such is the life of a CEO. I sigh as I walk down the hall to the elevator. If my mother were still here, my father would have been the CEO still. She kept him grounded.

Now I've lost them both. Not physically, though soon I'll have to face that too.

I click the button for the sixth floor when the metal doors open and pull out my phone to check the meeting agenda, but the elevator stops on floor eight to pick someone up on the way. I don't look up but a familiar dewy perfume fills the air and I lift my head as Harley steps through the doors.

She ignores me and stays at the front of the elevator, curling her arms around herself.

"How are you?" I decide not to mention last night. She obviously doesn't want to talk about it.

"I'm fine. You?"

"Good," I say, regarding her silently.

She shifts on her feet and bounces up and down a little. "Why is this elevator so slow?" she mutters.

A grin tugs at the corner of my mouth, but she turns sharply and I force the smile down. Her lips part like she's going to say something, but instead she just turns back around and hits the elevator button again.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think hitting the button is going to make the elevator move any faster." I push off the elevator wall and walk up to her. "Do I make you nervous?"

Her eyes meet mine and she swallows. Then something shifts in her eyes and she looks away, rolling her eyes. "As if. I'm a professional. You're a coworker."

"I'm your boss."

She scoffs. "My boss is my department head. Just because you're the one who hired me doesn't mean anything."

A puff of amusement leaves my nose. "I own the company."

She goes rigid and her eyes widen, but she still doesn't look at me. "What?"

"I'm the CEO? The big boss? The one who will sign your paychecks?" I smirk as she turns to look at me, taking a step back. "And I think it may be wise if you learn to speak to me with some respect."

"You're Jonah Ricci?"

I tip my head to the side a little then back. "The one and only."

She snaps forward again. "I apologize."

It shouldn't, but her reaction annoys me because even though I'm her boss now, I want her to act the way she did last night. Fun and easy-going. Nervous and uncomfortable in her skin but loosening up quickly.

But that's the thing. She works here now. There's no room for her to be that way - it's unprofessional. I step back to put some distance between us. "Don't apologize. I am the one who should be sorry."

The corner of her lip disappears between her teeth as she tips her head a little to watch me from her peripherals. "Why's that?"

"I'm your boss. I should be more professional. I don't want you to feel forced into anything." I lean against the back of the elevator and rest my hands on the handlebar. What's taking this elevator so long to get to the sixth floor?

"Forced into anything?" she repeats just as the elevator dings and the doors open.

I push off the wall and step past her, waiting for her to follow before saying anything. "We discussed this last night," I say. "My offer still stands."

She doesn't respond but begins to walk faster, though I'm sure she has no clue where she's going. As she turns around a corner, there's a fluttering sound like a stack of papers has been thrown, followed by a string of curses and an "Oh my god! I'm so sorry!"

My heart drops and I hustle around the corner to find Harley frantically grabbing papers and placing them into an unorganized pile. Marco is on the other side, mumbling under his breath as he tries to make sense of what's on each paper.

"Here, let me help." I crouch beside Harley and start organizing the papers, glancing at each of them to figure out what order they might be in. 

Once Marco has all of the papers semi-in-order, his grumbling stops and he adjusts his suit jacket, reaching into his pocket and grabbing a binder clip to place on the stack of papers.

"I'm so sorry," Harley says again, lowering her head.

"Stop apologizing. Please." Marco rubs his temples and sighs through his nose. "This board meeting has got me stressed out. Planning the trip to Russia and having to discuss the details with the company's diplomats has proven to be very difficult. I don't trust that their translator is being truthful."

"I don't imagine there will be much to discuss during the board meeting. Geoffreys likes to hear himself talk too much, so I can't imagine that he doesn't already have everything planned out." I look down at the agenda on my tablet and scroll through it. "I suppose we will see when we get there."

Harley leans over my shoulder to peer at my tablet, so I tilt it toward her so she can see.

"It's time to go," I say. "The meeting will start soon - with or without us."

Harley nods and we start walking again, but not before I catch the glare Marco gives me.

"It's the door up on the right," I tell Harley, pointing at the door to the conference room. "I'll be in in a moment. Just introduce yourself. They'll love you."

As she disappears into the room, I turn to Marco and cross my arms. "What is it now?"

"Why are you treating your father the way you did earlier?" Marco's glare softens into a look of disapproval. "He's sick and just trying to cope."

I roll my eyes and uncross my arms to use finger quotes. "His 'coping' is costing the company more money than we can spare right now. We're this close to going into debt. He gave the company to me to run, so I'll do it my way and that's final."

Marco lowers his voice. "I just hope your way isn't what costs us all our jobs."

I sigh but don't say anything else to him as I walk into the conference room.