Читать книгу The Complete Boardroom Collection - Джанис Мейнард, Yvonne Lindsay - Страница 32

TEN

Toni shrugged her arms into an old cardigan belonging to Scott’s father that she had found hanging on the back of a chair. But it was no good. She still stank of smoke. All of her clothes and certainly her hair and skin were dirty with soot and grime and no amount of rinsing her face could clear her eyes of that horrible gritty feeling.

She peeked around the corner of the main office and watched Scott direct the electricians to the totally burnt-out junction box which was the source of all of the smoke. No actual flames, thank goodness. That would have been truly terrifying.

Scott was even filthier than she was!

Hardly surprising. He had been amazing. Once he had known that she was safe outside on the pavement, he had dashed back into the service room with only a small fire extinguisher and the torch held between this teeth.

That was a sight that she was not going to forget in a hurry!

Her heart had been in her throat for the whole ten minutes until he had emerged, coughing and smoky. Through the smoke, it was obvious that the ancient electrical system had finally given up and had been totally burnt out and would need to be replaced.

The emergency electrician who arrived to make the building safe gave them the bad news in the middle of the night. The whole building would have to be rewired to bring it up to modern safety standards. In fact he was astonished that this had not happened earlier. He had never seen anything this old still in operation. Anywhere!

Sitting in a coffee shop in their stinky clothing at first light was not exactly how she had imagined her birthday dinner would end. Scott wasn’t going to get another up close and personal second viewing of her new burgundy underwear after all. Not tonight, anyhow.

It hadn’t taken long for the shock to wear off and the real impact of the damage to sink in and they had sat in silence for a lot of the time, deep in thought.

Neither of them was stupid. All of that work had been wasted! And what would this mean for the financial plans for the building? Rewiring a two-hundred-year-old building was no easy task. Wooden panels and flooring were not designed to be easily removed and replaced. The work could take weeks!

Any plans to use Elstrom Mapping as a film location were officially on hold.

The true extent of the smoke damage was only really obvious when they braved the smell and went back in to open every window to try and clear the smoke. And this time there was no way that she would stay outside and leave Scott to do the work alone.

Her camera and the precious maps and charts had all been safely locked away in the mapping room drawers before she left the previous evening but other paperwork and some of the archive papers had been covered in smoke and smelt horrible.

It was heartbreaking to see this fine building that she had come to care about so much looking so wrecked and damaged.

Heartbreaking to see Scott trying to sound positive on the phone to Freya and the insurance company. Heartbreaking to sit with him and look at the damage and know how much work was needed to restore the greatness of this fine place.

And heartbreaking to know that she only had one more week to help him. Her boss at the media company had already emailed her twice to make sure that she would be at the airport on Monday morning for a flight to Madrid and then on to Athens a few days later to shoot a three-week commercial campaign for a housewares company. Her time at Elstroms was coming to an end.

What was she going to do? What could she do?

It was almost a shock to hear the phone ringing on Scott’s desk and she jogged around and picked up the handset, just as Scott strolled into the room.

‘Elstrom Mapping.’ Toni said, trying to sound professional, but her throat was still a little hoarse to pull it off. ‘Good morning.’

‘Not from what I’ve just heard,’ a high-pitched male voice replied. ‘I need to speak to Scott right now. Is he there?’

Toni beckoned Scott to her and he gave a quick nod and stretched out his hand for the phone. ‘One moment, please. Who shall I say is calling?’

‘Just tell him it’s Travis. He’ll take the call.’

Scott must have seen the surprise on her face and his eyebrows creased together for a second before he put the phone to his ear, but that was nothing compared to the look of absolute rage that seemed to transform his face the second he heard the other man’s voice.

‘I wondered when you would call. It didn’t take long, did it?’

Scott was on his feet, walking back and forth in front of the desk with exhaustion only too clear on his face. But, as Toni sat back in his office chair, every word that exploded from Scott’s mouth sounded like cannon fire.

‘Sell the building? Now, why should I do that? A bit of smoke damage only adds to the character.’

Something Travis said must have upset Scott even more because suddenly he froze. ‘How the hell do you know what my father wants? When was the last time you even spoke to him? Oh, yes, I remember. Just after you started screwing my wife. Forget it, Travis. I’m not selling. You’re going to have to find some easy money somewhere else. Now, get off my phone. I have a business to run.’

Toni leant back as the phone came sliding across the desk towards her and she could hear the sound of Scott’s breathing as he continued to pace with one hand pressed hard to the back of his head.

‘So that was Travis. He sounded intense. It’s amazing how quickly bad news travels.’

Scott threw off the thick leather gloves and tossed them on to the desk and stomped closer to her, but Toni stayed exactly where she was.

Scott was furious; when he spoke, each word was like a dagger stabbing at her forehead and penetrating her skull.

‘Intense? Is that how you would describe Travis? Intense? You want to know about my stepbrother?’

Scott was almost spitting out the words as he said the name.

‘That man hated the fact that his widowed mother married someone who he thought was totally beneath her in every way. Yes, that’s right. My dad was a boring academic type who wasn’t worthy to marry a woman with a title. How pathetic was that! And, even worse, the man had two children and expected him to play nice.’

Scott coughed. ‘Travis broke up his mother’s marriage and then used every trick in the book to turn my family against me, starting with my father and then my wife, Alexa. And I cannot forgive him for destroying something I thought was special.’

Toni sucked in some air. ‘You’re still in love with her. I understand. Really. You can’t just wipe away all of those years of your life that you spent together.’

‘Ah, Toni, believe me—I’m over Alexa. But memories have this habit of kicking you when you’re down. I haven’t forgotten what it felt like to find my stepbrother and my wife together in the boardroom. And what they were doing on that table had nothing to do with forward planning, unless it was to find a contract which would keep me as far away from London as they could come up with. Alaska fitted the bill nicely.’

‘Oh, Scott, surely you don’t think that they planned it?’

‘No, I don’t think—I’m sure of it. Travis told me to my face on the day we first met that he was determined to have everything that I had. Well, he got what he wanted.’

Scott stopped pacing long enough to count out the list using his fingers. ‘A controlling interest in Elstrom Mapping. My father gave his new wife half of his shares as a little wedding present and Travis a few more on his twenty-first birthday. All Travis had to do was persuade his mother to put the shares in his name, for tax reasons or some other excuse, and he had the shares he needed to sit on the board.’

‘But surely he couldn’t do that. You and your father ran the business.’

‘And how could I forget my father? He made sure that there was always some excellent excuse why my father should attend some function Travis had organised instead of seeing me. And when I complained? I was being childish and jealous. So, of course, when the position for CEO came up? He took my job. The only job that I had trained for and wanted since I could read a map.’

‘Oh, Scott, I can’t believe it.’

‘Believe it.’ He paused a moment and shook his head and blew out sharp and fast.

‘And then there was the lovely Alexa. She was the final trophy in his little collection. When he had Alexa he had the full set. He had everything he wanted. Everything he thought that I wanted. He had taken everything that mattered to me.’

Scott was pacing now like a caged animal. ‘But Travis had forgotten something rather important. Where do you go when you have everything that you have ever wanted?’

Scott whirled, one hand in the air.

‘I remember coming into this room on the day before I left for Alaska. Travis was sitting at the head of the table. Master of all he surveyed. And I looked at him and laughed in his face. Do you know why? He had no clue. None. About any of it. He didn’t know how to run a business. How could he? He had shadowed me for almost a year but that wasn’t nearly long enough. Sad thing was, Travis was clever enough to realise that he taken on too much too soon. But too arrogant to admit that he had failed.’

‘So what did he do? After you left?’

‘He did what any desperate fool does. He threw money at the problem. Brought in top consultants. Experts in new mapping technology. Anybody and anything that could give him a rope to hold on to so he could try and climb out of this pit that he had dug for himself and for Elstrom Mapping and have someone else to blame when it all went wrong.’

Scott gazed out of the tiny squares of mullioned glass on to the busy London street and his voice dropped to a sad whisper.

‘My father came back from Italy with Freya and walked in the front doors to find the bailiffs were already here to unplug all of the ludicrously expensive computer systems that Travis had ordered and never bothered to pay for or train anyone to use.’

Scott looked at Toni over one shoulder then turned back to gaze at the city street.

‘Travis was gone. Resigned. Walked out. Leaving Freya and my father to try and sort out the chaos that he had created and left for other people to deal with.’

‘Oh, no. That’s so cruel.’

‘Cruel and irresponsible,’ Scott agreed. ‘But if you’re looking for someone to blame for my father’s poor health, don’t look to Travis. Start with me. Because I saw it coming and did not do one thing to stop it.’

‘What do you mean, you saw it coming?’ Toni asked as she stepped closer to Scott so that she could see his face.

‘It was common knowledge that we desperately needed to invest in new mapping and survey technology. That was why I had spent three months studying the alternatives and putting together a proposal which would have taken us into the next generation of mapping.’

Scott turned and gazed at the imposing chair at the end of the table. ‘I stood here and spent an hour going through the detail. Freya loved it. But she was the only one. Alexa and my father sided with Travis. He couldn’t wait years. I wasn’t being adventurous enough. I needed to wake up and be more experimental. I was not the man for the job.’

The pain in Scott’s voice was so intense that Toni rested her hand over his in support and for a moment his gaze focused on her. ‘I walked out, Toni. I was so angry and bitter that I wanted Travis to fail and for the world to see it. Why should I stay and try and save the business when my father had chosen to put his trust in Travis instead of me? Let Travis bankrupt the business. Then they would see who was wrong and who was right!’

Scott gave a low shuddering sigh. ‘Not something I am proud of. He brought out an ugly side of me which I didn’t know existed.’

‘That was what he wanted to do, wasn’t it? Make things so impossible that you had to leave him in charge of the company.’

Scott flashed her a closed mouth smile. ‘Clever girl. He goaded me into it by forcing me to choose whether to stay and work with him or take off. So no, Travis Brooks is not my favourite person in the world. And now he’s back and he needs money. The question is—what will he do to get it this time? My ex-wife soon outlived her usefulness and he moved on to the next wealthy woman a year later. He had no use for her any longer. And I cannot forgive the man for that.’

Toni paced up and down the parquet floor several lengths, her head down but her gaze was wild as she mentally worked through the question and tried to come up with an answer.

‘Did Travis keep his shares in the company?’ she asked, blinking.

‘Not all of them,’ Scott replied. ‘Alexa was an expensive luxury so he sold a few to Freya when he needed some money.’

‘Freya? Yes, of course. Neutral territory. I’m beginning to get the picture. One last question.’ She licked her lips. ‘What about Alexa? Does she still have a say in what happens to Elstrom?’

‘Alexa wanted half my shares as part of the divorce but when she saw what was left after Travis was left in control, she changed her mind and walked away with the home that we had made together as final settlement.’

He strolled forward and tented his hands on the table. ‘I can see where you’re going with this. My dad might be ill but he has handed over his control of the company to me. Travis has some shares, but I control the decisions now. What I say goes and he had better get used to that.’

‘Travis could still fight you.’

‘I expect him to.’

Scott gestured towards the stairs. ‘This fire is nothing. Just a small temporary setback. Your location scout won’t even know that things have changed. I’ll make sure of that.’

He broke into a strange and slightly scary grin. ‘This is round two, Toni. Now it is his turn to feel excluded. And this time I get to win.’

‘Win?’ she repeated. ‘So this is a battle. Oh, Scott. Don’t you see what he’s doing? Travis is pulling your strings again. Making you play his game and by his rules all over again.’

Toni stood in front of Scott and pressed the palms of both of her hands flat against his chest. ‘Don’t let Travis manipulate you into doing something you will regret, Scott. Because, if you do, he will have won.’

That caught Scott’s attention. ‘What do you mean—won?’

‘You told me on my first day in this office that you had come back to save the family business from losing everything. But now I’m wondering if that was the only reason. Was it to do with Alexa and Travis?’

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, Toni. It has been a hell of a long night. Why don’t you head off home and get some sleep and I’ll catch up with you later?’

‘No, Scott. I need to hear this. Please. Tell me now and I will never mention it again. Why have you come back to work for Elstrom? You told me that it was about your family legacy. I understand that better than you could know. But I’m beginning to think that there is a lot more to it than that. Why are you here, Scott? Why did you agree to come all the way from Alaska to save an old wooden building and a few rooms of maps and charts? Was this to spite Travis and get retribution for taking your place in your family?’

Scott gazed at her with a stunned expression on his face, jaw slack and his eyes dancing.

Then, just as quickly, he shook it off.

‘Right now I am a lot more interested in making this building safe to work in. The junction box is fried and I don’t intend to spend a minute longer than I have to on Travis when there is so much work to do.’

‘All I am asking for is the truth. That’s all.’

‘The truth? You want to know the truth? Why don’t you ask Travis? He will tell you his version of the truth. Oh, yes. Golden boy Travis could even convince my own father that I was responsible for throwing my wife at him. I neglected her, you see. Left her all alone while I was out working on every mapping project I could find. According to Travis, all that work had nothing to do with trying to save the company. It was all because I couldn’t stand to see Travis in charge of Elstrom Mapping instead of me.’

He pushed both of his hands flat against the brick wall and closed his eyes for a second before speaking into the distance, his voice low and harsh and intent.

‘And do you know the worst thing? He was right. I couldn’t stand to see Travis at the head of the boardroom table with all of those portraits looking down at the back of his head. So yes, I took too many trips overseas to win some new business to pay for the extravagant lifestyle that my father’s new family was living. There was no one else doing the work to bring in new business and for once I was determined not to see it go down with the crazy plans for expansion that Travis and Alexa came up with between them without even bothering to ask me first.’

‘Was it so very bad?’

‘Need you ask? It was a disaster. My father trusted them to turn the business around. Clever academic business degree Travis was going to rescue the company and bring it into the new technological age of map-making.’

Scott shook his head and coughed low in his throat. ‘He had so many grandiose plans and no clue about what he was doing. So yes, I went out looking for new business, but don’t you dare tell me that it gave him permission to seduce my wife behind my back and laugh about it to my face.’

‘I would never do that,’ Toni gasped. ‘And I’m sorry that you had to go through that. It was inexcusable and cruel. I know...I know how it feels when someone you love betrays you.’

‘You know? You have no idea what it felt like to walk into the boardroom and find my wife with Travis. You have no idea at all. Because it was one of the few times in my life when I understood why people commit crimes of passion. He was very lucky that day that I chose to walk out and leave the two people who I thought were my family to rot.’

The sound that Scott’s fist made when it hit the wall made Toni jump with shock. ‘No, Toni. You only think that you know. You don’t have any idea at all.’