As her mother began crying in earnest, Katie tried to calm her raging heartbeat so that she could assimilate the situation. She'd known the previous few years had been bad, but because she hadn't known about a mortgage on the property, Katie hadn't worried too much about her mom and dad. They'd always had a huge garden, along with a water well, and her parents had always managed to get by. But she could well imagine how difficult it must have been to service a mortgage of that size. "But Mom, how did Zachary come to own the note?"
"Because we'd missed some payments, the bank was about to foreclose on us. We had about sixty days to come up with the money." Her mother took a quivering breath. "I had gone to see the loan officer but had zero luck. I was upset and ran into Zach outside the bank. I was crying and somehow, I really can't remember, he got the story from me. He said he would help us out and loan us the money and give us more time."
"And then he didn't?" Katie couldn't believe how manipulative the man was. He was manipulative; his goddamn roses were manipulative. Every month, without fail, for the last three years, she'd received a bouquet of flowers from him. They'd always contained a note and the note was always basically the same. Looking back on it now, she was mad at herself for even being tempted. Because she had been. But invariably, she'd get a grip and toss the flowers away so she didn't have to think about him or what he wanted from her. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't go out with him or anyone. Not now and maybe not ever. As the months had gone by, his notes had gone from requests, to pleading, and then finally, Katie began to read the frustration that came across between the lines. And then about eighteen months ago, even as the roses still came, she knew something had changed. It was as if the florist was only filling a standing order; there wasn't anything personal about the deliveries after that. They'd each only been signed with his name, and Katie wondered if he even realized he was still paying for them each and every month.
Her mother answered her question with a sigh, "No, he did, he gave us some breathing room. But now the time is up, and we can't pay him, and I don't know what to do. This will kill your father; I haven't told him that Zach has called in the loan." Her mother's face visibly paled. "And Josh doesn't know about any of it. He has no idea his father sold out. Dear God, I can't stand the thought of Josh finding out what his father did."
A horrible, purely suspicious thought came to Katie. "How long ago did this happen? When did ya'll borrow the money from Zach?" Katie held her breath and waited for the answer.
Her mom was quick to respond. "Three years ago. It was a thirty-six month balloon note."
Katie dropped her head into her hands as a shudder shook her body. It was three years ago exactly that Zach had kidnapped her from school and taken her to his penthouse and propositioned her. He'd warned her then that he'd win in the end.
And he had won. The bastard had won.
Dallas, Texas
Three days later, Katie rode the elevator up to the top floor of the corporate offices of McIntyre Oil and Wind Energy. She'd been mildly surprised when an appointment with Zachary had been so easy to obtain. All it had taken was one phone call and her request to see him had been accomplished. In that aspect, at least, he wasn't going to make her beg.
Katie hadn't set eyes on him in three years. The only contact between them had been the roses. By the grace of God or by pure good luck, she had managed to avoid him, until now.
She had dressed carefully for this meeting. Unfortunately, her first full year of teaching at a private elementary school had resulted in her wardrobe consisting of nothing but work clothes. She'd much rather have gotten a job at one of the higher-paying public school districts, but the recession had forced her into a lower-paying position that she was grateful to have been offered. She was living on her own, and basic clothes for teaching were all she could afford. Her parents certainly hadn't been able to help her in a monetary sense, and of course, she'd never expected them to. In fact, they didn't know she was here and Katie desperately wanted to keep it that way.
She wore a flared floral skirt that fell well below her knees and she'd teamed it with her prettiest blouse, an off-white button-down with delicate beading around the collar. The shoes on her feet were ballerina flats. Her make-up was understated, and although she had hoped for a sophisticated look, she knew she appeared to be exactly what she was, an elementary school teacher.
She put it from her mind, because it was, after all, the best she could do, and besides, for whatever reason, Zachary McIntyre wasn't interested in her clothes. She knew that much.
When she arrived at the top floor, the receptionist led her to Zach's office. After a brief knock, he called enter, and before she was ready, she was standing in his office with the door closed behind her.
When he looked up from the computer screen, he met her eyes briefly, and then he gave her body a cursory look before his eyes clashed with hers again. "Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes, Miss Turner. What can I do for you?"
The rage Katie felt all the way up in the elevator escalated when she heard the sarcastic tone of his harsh voice, and she was mildly aware that any teasing or cajoling quality she'd heard from him before was completely absent. So be it. It should make the situation easier to deal with it. After all, she regretted the softer emotions that she sometimes felt about Zach. If he was going to be sarcastic, those softer feelings would be easier to suppress. "Don't play games with me, Zach. You know why I'm here." She held herself stiffly from across the room.
He pushed his chair away from his desk, leaned back and crossed one booted foot over his knee in a totally relaxed posture that Katie didn't quite buy. "Do I?" he asked.
Katie ignored his question and continued her diatribe. "I can't believe you did it. I can't believe what you did to my parents. To Josh and to me." She stopped speaking to catch her breath. She needed to slow down and breathe properly so she could retain what little control she had left.
"Are you referring to when I kindly stopped the bank from foreclosing on your parents' farm?"
"You didn't kindly do anything, you bastard. You purposely manipulated my mother into telling you her problems, and then you ruthlessly took advantage of the situation." Her chest heaved.
"Is that what you think?" he asked softly, too softly, with a kind of heat in his eyes that she'd never seen before.
"Yes," she hissed. "Your intention was to blackmail me from the word go. You had no intention of helping them, not ever." She took a deep breath. "You have no honor." When she said that, something shifted in the room and a dangerous sizzle filled the air.
He was quiet for a long moment as if debating something and then he inclined his head and said softly, "Thank you. It was quite the coup, don't you think?" One dark, masculine eyebrow rose.
"I hate you." Katie hissed the words.
At her words, some indefinable emotion hardened what was left of Zachary's heart and he felt his features turn to stone. She hated him? His temples began to throb and his mouth flattened.
In the three years since he'd seen her mother and set up the loan, he hadn't given the money he'd lent to them a lot of thought. He remembered feeling satisfaction at the time, knowing damn good and well he'd get to call in the loan eventually, if he chose to. He'd even admit he had ulterior motives three years ago. But he'd put it on the back burner, so to speak, and as the years had passed, he'd slowly began to feel remorse for what he'd tentatively planned. He couldn't actually blackmail Katie. And he didn't want to. He didn't want antagonism between them. He'd never wanted it to be that way between them. He'd even thought about extending the loan to the Turners with more favorable terms for them but had been so busy he'd forgotten about it. He hadn't even realized the loan had been called in; it had been done automatically, through his financial department.
But here Katie stood, in front of him now, spitting fire and accusing him of something that even if he was guilty of briefly contemplating three years ago, he had never planned on putting into action.
Anger and a healthy dose of embarrassment licked through him. He'd actually thought he could wear her down. He'd sent her roses after roses after roses and for what? For nothing. For her to throw them away and probably have a good laugh at his expense. He was embarrassed to admit he'd been almost lovesick over her in the past. But not anymore. She didn't want him and he should just leave her the fuck alone. But instead, he found himself snarling at her and giving back as good as he was getting. "Hatred is fine for what I have planned for you. In fact, hatred is the perfect emotion between us. There is not and never will be room for anything else. Remember that."
The harshness of his own words pricked at his conscience, but damn, what did he have to lose? She hated him and always would. He hadn't wanted it to be this way between them, but he was stunned to realize that after all this time, he was prepared to take her any way he could get her.
He came to his feet and crossed the large expanse of carpet until he stood in front of her. Taking her hand, he led her over to one of the two upholstered chairs facing his desk. He deposited her there and leaned over her with his arms caging her in. Fully cognizant of the fact that he was making a decision in anger that he knew he was going to regret later, he enunciated clearly, "Just so we're clear on the deal. I'm assuming you know what I want from you to clear the note? Or am I wrong and you're going to let me foreclose on your lovely parents?"