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A Year Later

Ryan wondered if today would be the day Bradford Silverton finally lost his temper.

Seated in front his father's massive mahogany desk, Ryan watched the play of expressions on the older man's face and decided this was definitely not the day he would witness the impossible.

It was not Bradford Silverton's style to resort to temper tantrums or relinquish control enough to allow for unnecessary things like yelling or even loud laughter.

Ryan knew the old man was pissed from the moment he'd walked into his private study and his father had ignored him for a full ten minutes, his attention riveted on the contents of the computer screen.

This was deliberate, giving his victim enough time to stew, before he outlined their transgression; all delivered in a calm, but cold tone by which point, not a hint of anger.

Only disappointment. The soul crushing kind.

It was a tactic that had worked effectively with his employees, and - up until they'd hit early adulthood - his two children.

Growing up, Ryan had lived in dread of being summoned to his father's study. He'd hated the feeling of being vulnerable, the guilt that ate at him, sometimes even when he'd done nothing wrong, his mind would conjure up something to make him feel guilty about until his father deigned to acknowledge him and put him out of his misery.

It wasn't until he and Hailey had gone away to college that the twins realized the sort of mind games their father had played on them.

Now, he considered himself immune to the old man's tricks. On a normal day, Ryan would use the time to quickly check his social media accounts, play solitaire or chat with any available buddy, knowing his nonchalance served to irritate his father.

Today was not a normal day.

He'd fucked up.

Big time.

The kind of fuck up that led to losing important clients and a shit ton of money.

So Ryan sat, and stewed.

Bradford let him fret for another minute, and leaned back in his chair, eyes running over his son. "So, Caine pulled the contract."

The supposedly bland statement was an ax splitting his conscience in two.

"I can get him back." Ryan replied. "I will talk to Caine and convince him it was a mistake to drop us."

Irritation flashed across his father's expression so quickly Ryan would have missed it if he hadn't been watching closely.

"The mistake was yours, Ryan." Bradford's tone remained unwavering even. "Your carelessness is the reason we lost a two million dollar contract. Don't try to put this on the client."

"I agree. My word choice was wrong." Ryan leaned forward to perch on the edge of his chair, elbows resting on spread knees. "I take full responsibility."

He'd spent the past day mentally beating himself up for the screw up. He should have handled the resort project himself, rather than delegating it to his staff. The building had fallen horribly behind schedule, had gone over budget trying to solve issues that could have been prevented with careful management.

He had placed too heavy a burden on his team, had relied on them too much to pick up his slack over the past year while he struggled with personal issues and ultimately, things had fallen apart.

Not that he blamed them. The Caine Hotels and Resort project was bigger and more demanding than anyone had envisioned, and without a good leader at the helm to guide the decision making, shit had hit the fan.

A truckload of shit.

Bradford's gaze slid from Ryan's face to his clothes and back again. His lips thinned.

"Perhaps it would have been wise if I had insisted on giving you some time to get over the...incident," The latter word was said with distaste. "But, your mother and Halley convinced me otherwise. I see now it would have served everyone's best interests if you had taken time off."

Anger curled in Ryan's gut at his father's use of the word 'incident' to describe the moment his life had turned over on its head. As if the innocuous word could fully capture the devastating moment he'd walked in on his fiancee in bed - their bed - with another man two weeks to their wedding.

The catastrophe, The huge truckload of shit, The big, fucking disaster. Those were better words than 'incident'.

The old man remained convinced Ryan was somehow to blame for the failed wedding. Probably because he had been too embarrassed to share the full details of what had actually happened with anyone, save Hailey.

As far as his parents knew, he and Nicky'd had a huge fight and decided to call the whole thing off. The fact that Ryan had made no effort to win her back had annoyed his father.

He bit his tongue to still a caustic remark. This wasn't about his past, and getting into an argument would not do him any favors. Now was the time to focus on getting Caine back and he needed to remain calm if he had a shot at convincing his father to give him the go ahead.

"Perhaps it would have helped." He shrugged. "But what's done is done, and right now, our focus is on getting Caine to give Silvercorp a second chance."

"I suppose you already have a plan on how to do that?"

Ryan recognized the opening for what it was and took it. Retrieving the tablet he'd tossed on the table earlier, he flicked it on and stood, crossing to stand beside Bradford. "I've been doing a review of the project files and I found some problem areas that can be fixed."

He outlined his plan, taking care to explain what had gone wrong and the solution he'd spent the better part of last night brainstorming. Since receiving the news, he'd pulled an allnighter, knowing full well Bradford would summon him and he'd been determined to show up with answers.

"All that's left is your approval and then I will fly to Boston, apologize to Caine in person and present my offer."

Bradford turned in his swivel chair to stare out the huge bay window as Ryan returned to his seat as quietly as possible, knowing full well his father was deeply pondering the issue. Seconds ticked by, the silence finally broken as with a loud sigh, his father turned to face him, pinning him with an impassive gaze that told nothing of his thoughts.

"It's a good plan," Bradford said. "Expensive, but good."

"I'll handle the expenses out of my own pocket." It was the least he could do since he'd been the one to screw it up. His former apartment block had sold for a tidy sum, plus he'd made several lucrative investments over the years, and he would pour the money into this project.

Grey eyes so like his own, pierced him with a stare. "I see."

"So, do I have your approval?"

"Before I get to that," Bradford selected a file from the pile close to his elbow and flipped it open. "I've come to a decision that it's time to make some much needed adjustments to the Projects and Development division."

His division. A sick feeling pooled in the pit of Ryan's stomach. What was his father talking about? The division was fine, the team worked well together and save for the past couple of months, had produced excellent results. They were a well-oiled chain with one weak link...

"What kind of adjustments?" The words passed through a dry mouth.

"Structural. Nothing major, but the overall performance of your division has been less than impressive. I believe that's because some members of staff have become complacent and no longer pull their weight." Bradford replied. "In light of that, there will be cutbacks and reshuffling based on an upcoming employee appraisal, which you will personally handle."

Damn. This whole thing was spiraling into a tornado. Because of his failure, innocent people stood to lose their jobs. Could this get any worse?

Apparently, it could.

"I am bringing in someone competent to oversee this exercise," His father settled back against the seat, laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them. "A supervisor who will make sure things are done according to procedure and who will also review any and all ongoing projects. Also, this person will serve as the interim head of division."

"What?" Ryan was on his feet before he realized what was happening. "You're giving him my job? Is this a fucking joke?"

"Her," The response had him confused, until his father clarified. "Ms. Bhatt will be resuming duty effective today. Meanwhile, you are demoted to Team Leader, until you can prove to me that this you are done wallowing in self-pity and ready to -"

"Are you kidding me?" The sound of flesh hitting wood reverberated through the room. "You dare sit there on your high horse and tell me you're taking away everything I've worked for because you fucking think I feel sorry for myself? What sort of dick move is this?"

Unmoved by his son's outburst, Bradford held his stare. "Be grateful that's all I'm doing. You cost this company a huge loss, and the only reason you're not out on your ass is because you are my son. Your questionable life choices brought you to this point and I can no longer sit back and watch you waste your life."

"I was heartbroken" The words were forced through clenched teeth, rage threatening to erupt at any moment. "Try a little empathy sometime, Dad."

Un-fucking-believable!

The door edged open and Hailey peeked in, brows furrowed. "Is everything okay? We heard yelling."

A quick study of the faces of both men caused the frown to deepen. She pushed the door wider and stepped in, crossing to stand beside her twin. "What's going on?"

I need out of here.

Ryan's fingers tightened into fists with the urge to break something.

"Ask him." he growled, brushing past her and stalked out of the room. He marched on autopilot along a short hallway, and down a sweeping stairs leading to the foyer not stopping until he reached his car. Resting his hands on the warm top, he lowered his head, forcing air through constricted airways.

"I'll be damned if I let him win this one."

He'd poured blood, sweat, and tears into that division and Bradford Silverton was fucking delusional to think he'd just roll over and let some...unknown woman take over. He wasn't giving this up, not without a fight.

"Ryan, wait!" Hailey's voice had him raising his head.

She burst through the front doors, and came to stand beside him. "I can't believe dad would do something like this." She leaned against the car, huffing in disbelief. "This is ridiculous."

Ryan calmed at her presence. Just knowing he had her on his side helped lift some of the anger. "Does anything he does still surprise you?"

"No, but this..." she broke off and gave him a searching look. "Maybe if you finally tell him what Nicky..."

But Ryan was already shaking his head. "No way. I'd rather cut off my dick than give him a chance to use that against me. And you know he will still think her cheating was somehow my fault."

Hailey was the only member of his family who knew the truth about his ex. She'd been out of town when he'd called her, broken and devastated and had flown back the next day.

The exact details of that day remained blurred to Ryan. He could remember leaving the apartment, Nicky's pleas ringing in his ears. He remembered walking into a bar, and ordering a drink, then two and a third.

Everything after that was a mystery.

"Okay," Hailey said. "So, what now?"

"I'll figure it out." He glanced at her as a thought occurred to him. "You're in HR, tell me, have you heard of a Ms. Bhatt in the employee list?"

"I don't think so. There are over five hundred staff in our Boston office alone. I'll have to look through my database first, No first name?"

"He didn't give one." Ryan tried to imagine what the woman would look like. Probably one of those uptight, stuck up new age bitches with an over bloated sense of their own importance that had flooded the job market in the past few years. Wearing impossibly tight suits that restricted basic movement, and high heels no sane person would dream of wearing, flaunting designer labels as if that was meant to impress anyone.

The kind that believed in getting special treatment by virtue of their gender and not actual, fucking hard work and diligence.

He was not against women in the workplace. Hell, his mother was the founder of a successful event planning company and Hailey was a Vice President at Silvercorp. But these new type of women were so hung up on themselves and had no qualms fucking or cheating and lying their way to the top.

Crap. He needed to some research before meeting this woman. He was a firm believer in knowing who the enemy was beforehand and with any luck, he would find enough to gain some leverage over her.

"I could do a google search." Hailey offered, pulling out her phone.

"There's probably a million Ms. Bhatt's out there." Ryan pointed out. He dipped a hand into the pocket of his jeans, pulled out his cell and speed dialed his executive assistant.

"Lola, where are you?" he listened for a moment. "Good. Schedule a department wide meeting in one hour. Anyone, whose ass is not in the conference room by the time I get there is fired. Got that?"

He glanced at the time. Six fifteen a.m. By now traffic would be a bitch with the flow of Monday morning commuters. He would have to shower and get dressed at the office, no time to make it back to his condo. Fortunately, he kept a set of work clothes handy at the office, for situations like these.

He ended the call and met his sister's look. "I need to go in."

"Let me know how it goes. I'll try to reason with dad." She stepped aside so he could get into the car.

"Don't bother."

The Jaguar roared to life. Ryan steered the car out the extensive driveway of his parent's home, the sleek black paint gleaming in the morning light, and joined the main road.

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