When Corrie, her assistant and the one handling the day-to-day workings of the firm while she was in Miami, called her and said Diallo Corporation was looking for a professional fixer, she’d been shocked. But jumped on it right away. Diallo was big business and it was only luck—bad or good, she wasn’t sure yet—that had her in Miami this week.
Her parents’ sudden deaths in a car accident yanked her from the safety and distance of her San Diego home back to Miami where she’d been mostly miserable. Or too ignorant to realize she’d been miserable. She hadn’t talked to her parents in years and although her first impulse was to hand everything over to a professional to deal with, Corrie had cornered her the afternoon after she found out about the accident and basically guilted her into jumping on a plane.
Jade arrived in Miami in time for the meticulously planned funeral—her parents had been so thorough with their own arrangements, she’d hardly had to do anything—and hadn’t been at all surprised by the service’s sparse attendance. The ten or so people gathered around the caskets seemed more intent on avoiding each other’s eyes than mourning Isaac and Abigail Tremaine.
Jade included.
Resentment was too strong a word for what she felt for her parents. It had mostly been apathy, especially after the way they’d treated her when she was in college. Even with Corrie bullying her, Jade didn’t want to deal with her parents’ funeral, their estate, the murky pool of unsorted emotion in her chest. She didn’t want to deal with any of it.
So, it had been a blessing, she thought, when she got the call about the Diallo Corporation’s interest. Sitting in front of the lawyer and painfully discussing her parents’ last wishes, she’d practically jumped for joy when her cell phone rang. Now she wasn’t so sure if any of this could be called a blessing.
With her escape from the lawyer’s office at the forefront of her mind, she’d done the quick research on the problem—boy genius Jaxon Diallo’s general tactlessness and extremely bad taste in women—printed the information she thought she would need for the quickly arranged meeting and just shown up.
Now she wasn’t sure what was worse. Dealing with the lawyer telling her that her parents had always wished for her to forgive them and return home, or facing the man who’d shattered her heart into a million pieces ten years ago.
A tough choice.
“Damn, I wish Jaxon would learn a little more discretion,” Kingsley said, dragging Jade’s mind back from the past. “Pillow talk doesn’t have to include your idea for a million-dollar app your casual screw can later blackmail you about.”
“This isn’t exactly blackmail,” she pointed out. “This girl just wants to ruin him, no compensation necessary.”
Across the table, Carter flipped through the papers Jade had passed to him, frown lines creasing his brow.
“This is blatant bull,” Carter said drily. “Jaxon is a lot of things, but he’s not a thief. The first app he created made millions. It’s doing better than the one this girl claims to have had the idea for.”
“Unfortunately, in this instance, truth doesn’t matter. This girl—” Jade flipped through the file for her name “—Nessa Bannon, looks great on camera and has something to say about the so-called rich playboy who stole her idea and just plain took advantage of her. The world is practically salivating to get more of her story.”
Within a matter of hours, social media had latched on to the few details Nessa Bannon tossed out there. The fires were being lit to roast Jaxon Diallo alive, and his family’s reputation along with him. Not good news as far as the IPO was concerned.
“We need to shut all that down. Fast.” Kingsley steepled his fingers. “Which is why we’re here this afternoon—”
“Instead of in Las Vegas, enjoying the showgirls and casinos,” Carter grumbled.
“Is that what we pulled you away from?” Kingsley didn’t sound sorry, showing instead a brotherly lack of care about the relaxation he’d taken Carter away from.
Not that Jade cared that much either but neither one was her brother.
“That damn kid...” Carter muttered across from her. The tightness at the corners of his eyes betrayed his worry.
For what, Jade couldn’t tell. The IPO? The scorned woman lashing out at a man she thought betrayed her? His lost all-you-can-eat Vegas buffet?
“I’m sure you’ve had your share of romantic roadkill from back in your younger days.” She arched an eyebrow at him. Jade didn’t have any proof but she mentally put a point on her side of the game when Carter flinched.
But he didn’t stay down for long. “You already have the details of our planned IPO offering and about Jaxon and this mess. Do you think you can help us? Be honest. If it’s too much, let us know and we’ll find someone else.”
It was like he’d thrown down a gauntlet, and the glint in his eyes told Jade he knew exactly what he was doing. But what he asked wasn’t impossible. Of course, she could help them.
The situation had the potential to be an easy fix but she could also see why Carter had lobbed this potential bomb into her lap. The last thing the Diallo family wanted to do was seem like they were covering for an opportunist who stole from a girl trying to do better for herself.
Nessa Bannon was raised poor, was now working to pay her own way through college, and had an Instagram account filled with gorgeous selfies and intimate details of her everyday life, including her desire to get into fashion one day. Obviously, a beautiful and driven girl.
Jaxon, at barely nineteen years old, was a proven genius and already one of the leading minds in tech. A young and very attractive member of the superrich Diallo family of Miami, he had every advantage growing up. Good schools, resources, people paving the way for his success.
Which of these nineteen-year-olds was more likely to have come up with the idea for the million-dollar app in question? The answer was clear.
But news bites were everything. The right set of headlines read by the right people could crush the Diallos’ dreams of taking their company public at a profit.
Jade wouldn’t let that happen, though.
She closed the manila in front of her. “Yes, I can take care of this.”
Kingsley leaned back with a relieved smile. “That’s usually Carter’s line. But I’m glad you have the same amount of confidence as my brother.” He flicked a smile Carter’s way.
Oh really? Jade flashed both of them her teeth. “More,” she said. “I have much more confidence than Carter. After all, you guys came to me, right?”
“Lord, not another one!” Kingsley rolled his eyes but he was smiling. “At least when you two get this thing sorted out, I can save myself the trouble and just thank you both at the same time.”
What? “Both?”
“Yes. It’s your call how you handle this but I need you to work closely with Carter on it. He knows what the company is doing. And he knows the family. He’ll be your shadow while you handle this.”
Just great. She clenched her teeth but managed a smile. “Sounds good.”
“Perfect!” Kingsley glanced at his watch then clapped his hands once. “Now, I need my office back. I have a very important lunch date in about five minutes.”
Just then, the intercom buzzed on his desk phone. “Ms. Palmer-Mitchell is here to see you, Mr. Diallo.”
“Ah, she’s