“And yet I’ve decided to make it my business.”
“Like my company.”
“Would you rather be having this discussion with Jeremy Archer?”
“More like Viktor Beck.”
“Viktor wouldn’t consider the merger. He’d go for the takeover.” Because in his own way, Viktor Beck was every bit as ruthless as Maxwell Black.
“I’m not going into rehab.”
Maxwell didn’t argue. He knew better.
Instead, he asked, “Have you considered how much your death from alcoholism-related disease will hurt your daughter?”
“She’s an adult.”
“Who would grieve your loss, with guilt she would never let go of. She’s got a very tender heart.”
“You don’t have to tell me that.” Grayson glared, fraying around the edges. “She’s my daughter.”
“Then you should know how your actions affect her.”
“I’m not her responsibility. That’s not how it works.” But his words lacked conviction.
As well they should. Romi took care of her father and if he didn’t see that, Grayson was being willfully blind.
“Are you saying you consider her yours?” he asked the older man.
“Yes, of course.”
“Even though she’s an adult?”
“Yes,” the other man ground out.
“Then you owe her your sobriety.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Life never is.”
“I miss her mother, damn it.”
Maxwell didn’t say that the older man spent too much of his time pickled with alcohol to miss anyone. Though he thought it. Or maybe it was the constant inebriation that made it impossible for the older Grayson to move on with his life.
His maudlin inability to move beyond his grief might well be fed by the alcoholism and not just vice versa.
But all Maxwell said was, “The deal depends on you going into rehab and staying until the doctor releases you.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Grayson tossed the papers on his desk with a jerky movement. “There’s not even a time limit.”
“No, there isn’t. You’re staying until you have developed a new way to handle your grief.”
“It’s not just about grief. Not anymore,” Grayson surprised Maxwell by admitting.
He’d known that, but he had not realized the older man was that self-aware.
“All the more reason to fix the problem now.” Maxwell wasn’t offering an out.
“It’s not just a problem you can fix.”
“I disagree.”
“Then you go to rehab.”
“I don’t need it. You do.” The man didn’t need coddling.
He got enough of that and sweet understanding from his daughter. It was time for Harry Grayson to be the man Romi thought he was.
Grayson said with a lousy attempt at defiance, “I don’t have to sign this contract.”
“And I don’t have to merge with your company. I can take it over without your cooperation. That’s not what’s at stake here.”
“What is?”
“Visiting time with Romi.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You aren’t going to keep hurting her. One way or another.” Maxwell was under no illusion it would be easy to stage an intervention in Romi’s life with her dad, but she was strong.
She would want Harry Grayson healthy more than her own comfort, no matter how much she might rather avoid the problem.
“She won’t let you take her away from me.” The words were strong, but the worried expression that accompanied them said Grayson wasn’t as confident as they sounded.
“You underestimate my powers of persuasion.” Maxwell, on the other hand, had no doubts about his own abilities.
“You underestimate her loyalty and strength of love.”
“She won’t be the one saying goodbye. You will.”
Showing his brain still functioned, Grayson stopped arguing. “You’ll do whatever you have to do to get your way.”
“You know my reputation.”
“I do. It’s why your offer of a merger surprised me.”
“Accept what I offer.”
“Why? So you don’t have to take what you want?”
“For Romi’s sake.”
The other man’s face crumpled. “She’s a good daughter.”
“She deserves a healthy father.”
“You must care about her or you wouldn’t be pushing this.”
Maxwell didn’t know if Grayson was trying to convince himself or Maxwell, and he didn’t care. He simply waited for the older man to agree to Maxwell’s terms.
“Fine. I’ll sign the contract. And the codicil.”