His Instant Heir(14)

And it was so hard now to not tell her everything. Even harder than it  had been before Dec had come back into her life. She wanted to lean on  someone else, to unburden herself so that the responsibility of the  decision wouldn't be hers. But she knew she couldn't do that. Inside she  sighed, but outside she smiled at her sister.

"I'll always need my big sis, but I don't want you to cancel your lunch  plans. The staff is in full panic mode. I just needed to escape where no  one could find me," she admitted, which was partially the truth. She  couldn't work with the steady stream of people coming to her office to  ask questions every five minutes.

Since she'd worked her way up to COO she'd always had an open-door  policy. She'd learned from her time at the different levels in the  company that most of the staff needed to be heard more than they needed  action.

"Well, you are welcome to use my office. I'm out until two," Emma said.  "Sam wanted me to tell you that he's happy to babysit DJ whenever you  need him to."

"Really?"

"Yes. He's trying to teach him to say 'what's up, dog?'"

"Why?"

"He thinks it will crack you up," Emma said. "He told me about you both doing hip-hop on 'Sing Star.'"

"That was supposed to be a secret," Cari said. But remembering playing  the singing game with her nephew made her smile and she thought of all  that Emma had been shouldering since her young husband had died. And  Cari knew that if Emma could do it, so could she. Hiding out wasn't a  Chandler trait. Cari knew that no matter how much she wanted distance,  she could not run from Dec.                       
       
           



       

"Thanks, Em."

"You're welcome, sweetie. Are you sure you don't need me?"

Cari gathered her strength around her and stood taller. She was an  adult, an executive, and she didn't need to rely on her sister anymore.  She couldn't keep running away or hiding from the tough things in life.  "Of course. Thanks for caring."

"Can't help myself since I'm always right. I like to show off," Emma said with a cheeky grin.

"As if," Cari said. "I think I just need a break. Thanks, sis. I'll ride down in the elevator with you."

The ride in the elevator was short, but when she got off Cari felt like a  changed woman. So much had been out of her control since Dec had  arrived, not only the takeover but her own personal life, though she  realized that it was only her perception. She was still the confident  woman she'd grown into since the birth of her son. Having Dec back here,  just down the hall from her, changed nothing.

"I thought you were out of here," Ally said when she walked back into the office.

"I just needed a break," Cari said. She knew the takeover was hard  enough on her staff without her running every time things got tough.

"Changed my mind," Cari said. "I think we need an all-staff meeting.  Send a global email and tell them to meet in the cafeteria at two this  afternoon. Get the cafeteria staff to set up cookies and sodas. I'm  going to introduce Dec and talk about the takeover. I will take  questions but only on general topics."

"Are you sure you want to do that? People are acting crazy," Ally said.

"I know. That's why we need to do this. Maybe if we get it all out in the open it will be better."

"All what?"

"That there will be staff reductions and the best way for them to save  their jobs is to do them instead of coming to me," Cari said. "I'm going  down to talk to Dec."

"I think Mr. McKinney is in there with him," Ally said.

"His cousin? Why is he here?" Cari asked.

"I don't know. Perhaps we should bug the conference room," Ally said with an arched eyebrow.

"I don't think that's a solution," Cari said.

"Well, it would make it easier to find out who is on the chopping block," Ally said.

"It's also illegal."

"Picky picky," Ally said.

She just smiled at her assistant as she went into her office to gather  her thoughts before heading down to see Dec. She jotted down some  business questions about reduction targets and the deadline to make all  of them. But as she stared down at her own handwriting, she realized she  had other questions. Maybe that was why she was so restless.

She wanted to know what he expected from dating her and if he'd be  kissing her again. And as soon as she identified what her true worries  were, she felt better. She wanted him, and this morning seeing him  holding DJ had only made him more attractive to her. He didn't seem like  a loner or a man who would abandon her a second time.

And that was very dangerous thinking.

* * *

Dec leaned back in the leather chair he'd had brought over from his  office at Playtone and looked at his cousin, trying to gauge why he'd  stopped by. Allan was thirty-five like Dec but was two inches shorter  and looked a lot like the Montrose family with his thick dark hair and  silver-colored eyes. He was an avid outdoorsman and always had a tan,  not hard to achieve in California.

"Why are you here?" Dec said when they finished discussing the current  lineup of the Lakers. The cousins had season tickets to floor seats and  were anticipating a good year when the season started. "I doubt you came  over here to discuss the Lakers."

"Too true. Kell thinks you're tired from Australia and don't have your head in the game," Allan said.

"Why does he think that? I've been sending him reports since I hit the ground. He's just anxious and acting like a maniac."

"I agree. But I told him I'd stop by and check it out."

"Well, you have, so I guess we're done."

"Not yet. The assistant to the COO practically glared a hole through me."

"It's safe to say the staff aren't happy that we've acquired them. Some  of them are downright belligerent but I can handle it. Most of the  companies we take over are the same," Dec said.

"But Kell feels so personal about this one," Allan said.

"I know," Dec said, pushing his chair back. "Do you? I know that I'm  kind of not as involved in the rivalry as you both were. I mean, my  mother could have cared less what happened to Gregory. She saw her money  as the solution."                       
       
           



       

"It was a solution, but not the one Grandfather ultimately wanted,"  Allan said. "I think your dad was sick of the rivalry, too. That's why-"

"He married an heiress," Dec filled in. "I know it is. He said as much  when he was drinking. Why couldn't the old man let it go?"

"He wasn't built that way," Allan said. "And neither is Kell."

"Well, he's going to have to give some ground on this. The days of  coming in to a hostile takeover and firing everyone are gone. Especially  in our industry. We'll end up alienating a lot of potential talent,"  Dec explained. "Some of the staff here are guys we want making games for  us."

"I get it," Allan said. "I don't envy you this job. Why do you do it?"

"What do you mean?"

"We both know you don't have to work, you never have had to," Allan said.

Dec couldn't put it into words, but it made him feel like a real  Montrose to be a part of the company. To do his part to help his cousins  achieve their goal of revenge against the Chandlers. He'd always been  on the outside until that day when he was twenty-three and Kell had  called and asked him if he wanted to start a rival game company to beat  Infinity in the marketplace. "I'm a Montrose."

"True dat," Allan said with a grin. "How's the Chandler girl you're dealing with?"

Incredible, Dec thought. There was no way he'd reveal to Allan his true  feelings for Cari when he didn't even have a handle on them himself yet.  But as an executive, she was actually doing a good job of giving him  the space he needed to evaluate the staff. "She's good."

"I know the middle sister, Jessi."

"You do?" He remembered Kell mentioning a night of drinking and something about Allan and the middle sister. "Since when?"

"About two years now. Her best friend is married to my best friend,"  Allan said. "Every time they have a major event, there she is to annoy  me."

"Is she serious about the rivalry?" he asked, because from what he could tell, Cari didn't really let it bother her too much.

"She's serious about being a pain in the ass. She had John investigated before the wedding."

"You're kidding. He comes from one of the oldest moneyed families in the  country," Dec said. They were distantly related on his mother's side.

"I know, right? She said that money didn't make someone a good person," Allan said.