Seducing the Billionaire's Wife(7)

“Then why not make it thirty years?”

“Either you want the company or not. I’m sure Connor could be persuaded… perhaps even London.”

“Connor doesn’t give a damn and would run MI into the ground in less than a year. London is barely out of high school,” Drew said flatly.

“Fine. Either you get married, or I sell the stock I own and give the proceeds to charity.”

“You’re serious about this, aren’t you?” Drew asked. “And it makes no difference at all that I’ve sacrificed everything to make MI what it is today.”

“I want grandchildren.”

“You can get those without marriage.”

His dad’s mouth thinned. “Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer they come after marriage.”

There were many things Drew would have liked to call his dad in that moment, but old-fashioned wasn’t on the list. “This is blackmail. Plain and simple.”

“No, this is an old man’s request.”

“Why don’t you remarry, then?” Drew asked, already knowing the answer.

“Because there will never be another woman like your mother for me,” his dad said, getting that familiar, faraway look in his eye. “Cecelia was one of a kind. When I started this company, we were living in a one-bedroom studio apartment with you and Connor, and eating ramen noodles for dinner every night so I could pour all our extra money into MI. She loved me before the money and success. And she loved me after, even when I was intolerable.”

Drew didn’t have memories of that apartment, mostly because he had been two years old at the time. Six months after his dad started Montgomery Industry, he had landed the deal of a lifetime with the federal government. Nothing like a security breach at Area 51 to get them scrambling for private contractors.

“In any case,” his dad said, breaking into Drew’s thoughts, “you have forty-eight hours to decide.”

His jaw clenched, as did his fists. Damn his father for putting him in this position. “You can’t retire in forty-eight hours, and I sure as hell won’t be married that quickly.” Damn it. Who in the hell did his dad expect him to convince in that short amount of time—if he were to agree to this ridiculous condition in the first place?

“You’re right, but I can set things into motion. So can you.” His dad picked up the phone, letting Drew know that their meeting was over. “The ball’s in your court, son, and the paperwork is ready for both of our signatures.”

With a curse, Drew strode out of the office. He texted his business partner Blake York and asked him to meet at King’s for drinks.

God, did he ever need one.

William A. Montgomery, aka his father and head of MI, was obviously determined to see Drew settled and married. Once his dad made up his mind, there was nothing Drew or anyone else could do to stop him. He knew William would make good on his promise to dismantle MI share by share until there was nothing left but an empty shell of a building.

Drew couldn’t do that to the two thousand people they employed… not in this bear of an economy. Hell, he wouldn’t do that to MI’s employees in a bull economy like they had in the early 2000s. Yet another way of doing business his dad had drilled into his head. His economics professors had hated him for it and had done their best to change his mind. The bottom line must be maintained at all costs.

But Drew refused to budge on his dad’s school of thought. William’s line of thinking had worked since inception and twenty-seven years later, it was still working.

However, their competition certainly didn’t feel that way and at times, that had hurt MI’s bottom line. T&G Securities shed entire floors of employees more often than a snake got rid of its skin. Like Montgomery Industry, T&G Securities had diversified to include stock portfolios, venture capital, and Internet security. Unlike Montgomery Industry, the CEO of T&G didn’t give a damn beyond his bottom line.

Although Drew had to give their new CEO credit. The man was barely out of business school and had to deal with the fallout of his father and his father’s business partners going to prison for embezzlement. Drew hadn’t been sorry at all to hear of the conviction. Hell, he’d celebrated with Blake once the verdict was announced.

Drew took the elevator to the garage, forcing thoughts of T&G Securities out of his head. Tapping his fingers against his thigh, he waited impatiently for the doors to open.

“Shall I ring for your driver?” Brian, his head of security, asked him as the elevator opened.

“Not this time. Thanks.”

Drew preferred to drive himself to King’s instead of using the car service that was available twenty-four seven. He wasn’t ashamed of the money his father had made, nor was he ashamed of all the hard work he’d put in to make even more money, but there was something to be said for driving your own damn car.