His heart ached for her. Guilt stabbed at him. He’d done this; he’d drawn the first blood and this was the counterattack. “I’m sorry,” he said, apologizing for more than just her mother.
He’d told Priscilla he’d protect her. He failed.
“I wish I could make this all go away. Turn back the clock.” Turn it back on so many things. “I can’t.” Genuine sorrow shot through him.
Sitting beside her, he took her cold hands in his. “I’ve never seen her so…so hateful before.” She shrugged. “Is it the liquor? I could smell it on her breath.”
“She’s—” He stopped himself from saying something vindictive. “She lost control,” he amended. “Everything is spinning away from her grasp. Sometimes that makes people do things you wouldn’t normally expect.” He knew desperation when he saw it. Agnes King would go to any lengths now.
“Holy moly, this is hot,” Peg said, carrying a tray in and placing it on his desk. “You okay, Prissy? You need anything?”
He debated whether or not he should tell her. The more people he got to surround Priscilla, the better. “Mrs. King confronted us.”
“The Barracuda? She can ruin anyone’s day.” She plopped down on a chair in a huff and folded her arms across her chest. “What did she have to say, anyway? As if what she says matters.”
Inside, he smiled at his assistant. “From what I could gather, she doesn’t like me very much.”
“Or me,” Priscilla chimed in. “Not when I make decisions she doesn’t like.” She sighed, her shivering subsiding. “I remember her telling me whenever she scolded me for doing something she didn’t like, time and time again she’d say I wasn’t living up to the King name. That always worked on me.” Her voice trailed off. She swallowed hard.
Peg cursed. “For criminy’s sake…”
Griff gazed at Priscilla’s profile, her downcast face. His heart squeezed. That’s where it stemmed from, her quest to make a name for herself, to put her own mark on the store. She longed to earn the right and prove she deserved the beloved King name, claiming her place in the family. “She doesn’t know you. She doesn’t know you have the heart of a King.”
She jerked her head up to look at him. Her eyes, wide and teary, melted him. “What?” she asked in wonder.
“You may be her biological child,” he reached out and swiped a fast falling tear from her cheek, “but you are not your mother’s daughter. Everything that is good and pure in you is all you with a dose of Charles King, your father, to guide you.”
More tears fell, but her smile told him they were happy tears now. “Thank you,” she whispered. “You don’t know what you’ve just done for me.”
The words swept through him, taking his breath away. He wished she’d look at him like that for the rest of his life. Deep inside, he knew she never would again.
***
Later that day, after Priscilla assured him she was better and had left to finish his living room, Griffin called a brief meeting with Charlie. Looking up as she entered his office, he stood, saying, “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”
“I heard. We have a problem.”
Dawning slipped in. “Peg.” It wasn’t a question. “And it’s my problem.”
She held up her hands. “You’re part of King’s. You’re family, so this is our problem.”
That only made his guilt increase. “I brought this on King’s.” In his mind, he added and so much more than you know. “I’m going to release a statement to the press.” He handed her his official statement.
Remaining silent, she read, looked up from the print, and then back down again. “You’re going to quote King’s sales figures—they’ve increased by thirty percent from last year at this time—thank the employees for their devotion, thank the loyal customers, and you’re going to thank the entire King family for giving you the privilege of heading King’s Department Store. Oh, yeah, you’re going to donate all your salary this year to charity, one of the King family’s choosing.”
“It’s the least I can do.” He meant it.
“What better way to preempt a character assassination from the Barracuda? I like it.”
“She wants to take down King’s.”
Charlie frowned. “And start with you?”
He nodded, unable to reveal the entire truth. “She couldn’t get her way with selling the store out from under you or try to destroy it by her insinuations about Marcus and Francie weeks ago. Now, her target is the top dog, who just happens to be her new son-in-law. Although, I’m sure she wouldn’t admit that to anyone’s face.”