Read Online The Seduction 3 by Roxy Sloane - Free Book Online Page B

trigger.
    For twenty-two years
I’ve hated Charles Ashcroft, and blamed him for my father’s
death. Twenty-two years of white-hot resentment. Twenty-two fucking
years determined to make him pay.
    But now...
    I pull out the photo
and stare at it in the dark. The target is scrawled in harsh black
marker, crystal clear.
    I’m watching.
    If Ashcroft sent away
Keely’s mom to protect her, what if he did the same to my dad: shut
him out of the company so this mystery blackmailer wouldn’t take
his revenge?
    My head thunders with
questions, too fucking loud.
    Everything I thought I
knew is spinning out of control, and the center of the storm is
laying right here beside me.
    Keely.
    She’s breaking
through my defenses, chipping away at my stone cold heart. And now
she’s unraveling the only thing I thought I was sure of in the
world.
    What the fuck do I do
now?

12
    KEELY
    The rest of the week
passes in a blur. It’s like I’m living a double life. My nights
are filled with Vaughn, exploring every boundary and pushing every
limit until I’m begging for more. Then, when day breaks, I’m
plunged into my new life as CEO: meetings in the city every day,
doing my rounds of Ashcroft Industries until I’ve met with every
department head in the company.
    Despite Brent’s
scorn, I’m managing to stay on top of everything. Cam guides me
through each day. He’s been a lifesaver, but even though he says no
question is too dumb, I still feel like an idiot making him translate
all the business-speak into plain English.
    “You’re doing
great,” he reassures me, after a meeting about transportation
targets that couldn’t be more confusing if the whole thing had been
spoken in Swahili.
    “I wish,” I try and
balance the huge binder of information on top of all my other
folders. “How’s the share price doing?”
    Cam gives an easy
smile. “Creeping back up. It’ll take its time, but Wall Street is
watching. It knows we’re holding strong even without Ashcroft at
the helm.”
    “You worked for him a
while, didn’t you?” I ask, walking back towards his office. I try
and smile and nod at all the assistants and secretaries as I pass. I
know from my days as a paralegal how shitty work can be if the boss
doesn’t treat you like a human being.
    “Ten years,” Cam
replies. He’s clean-shaven and dressed in a designer suit: always
professional in the office. “I joined the company right out of
college in the mailroom, and worked my way up.”
    We enter his corner
office, and I take the chance to put my files down. I pull a photo
from my pocket, one of Ashcroft’s mysterious friend -- without the
bullseye target. I’ve been looking in old company brochures and
photographs any chance I get, but I’m still coming up blank.
    “Do you know who this
is?” I ask, showing it to Cam.
    He takes the photo. I
think I see a flicker of recognition on his face, but he shakes his
head. “No, sorry.”
    “He was a friend of
Ashcroft’s,” I add, hoping to jog his memory. “Back maybe
twenty or thirty years ago.”
    “Before my time,”
Cam laughs. “Or are you saying I’m an old man?”
    “No,” I say. “I
just thought maybe you would have seen something. If Ashcroft
mentioned him at all.” I pause. “He didn’t say anything about
me, did he? I can’t believe he would just put me in the will and
not discuss it with anyone.”
    “Ashcroft was
secretive like that.” Cam shrugs. “He had his own way of doing
things.”
    “But you were his
second in command,” I argue.
    Cam gives me a
regretful smile. “That just meant he gave me orders and I followed
them. I mean, I kept things running around here, especially towards
the end,” he adds, “But Ashcroft was the one at the wheel.”
    I sigh. Everywhere I
turn, I find more dead ends and secrets.
    I shake off the past,
and check my never-ending to-do list. “Did you hear back from the
event planner?” I ask, remembering. With the gala set for tonight,
I’m worried