RAGE (The Rage Series Book 2) (2 page)

              “He says
tonight
, Charlotte,” Adeline replied in an even smaller voice than before. The only time Addy ever cowed was when she was forced to act as the go-between for Charlotte and her father. While the older Mathers had hired her, she was loyal to the younger one. It was a conflict that caused its fair share of problems.

              “Damn it.” Picking up the glass near her feet, Charlotte hurled it at the tile wall. Luckily, the vessel was made of plastic and merely bounced off. Raking her hands through her mussed blonde locks, she turned on her heels and made her way to the closet, yanking out the first clothes she found.

“Addy, call a car,” Charlotte barked in a tone that was completely unlike her. However, she couldn't help it. Count on her father to use her current vulnerability to demean her. The man was lower than low.

              To her relief, Adeline didn't argue. By the time Charlotte was dressed, there was a car waiting downstairs for her. On the way to the hospital, neither of them spoke. Adeline knew better since it was at
her
bidding that her best friend was forced into a difficult situation. Charlotte's thoughts were awhirl, as well. She was trying to imagine what her father could possibly say to her now to make her feel worse.

              The ride downtown was far too short.

              New York Presbyterian Hospital was bustling for a weekend night, but Charlotte supposed hospitals were always busy. When she asked after her father, she was directed up to the fourth floor recovery ward. A quick stop at the doctor's office revealed that Emerson Mathers' jaw had been cracked in two places and six of his teeth were removed by the impact.

Charlotte had known that David was strong, but apparently even she had underestimated him. Closing her eyes, she tried not to imagine the way his magnificent body looked while she rode him, or when he'd emerged from the shower, dripping with water.

             
No
.

              He was her goddamn brother. She could
not
be having these thoughts about him.

              When she finished speaking with the doctor, Charlotte walked down the hall and stopped just outside her father's private room. Knowing him, she was surprised he hadn't bought out the whole floor. She could at least say that he wasn't
that
selfish. Glancing at Adeline, who only nodded encouragingly, Charlotte opened the door and let herself into the brightly lit room.

              At the sight before her, she frowned. Her father's large form was propped up in the hospital bed. His skin was pale and his eyes beady under the florescent lights. The entire right side of his face was swollen almost beyond recognition, and it was clear that his jaw had been wired shut to keep him from aggravating the injury. He was a sorry sight, indeed. It was difficult not to feel any pity for him in his current state. Marscomb had got him good.

              “Nice of you to come and visit me.” Though his voice was somewhat muffled without the use of his jaw, Charlotte could understand him quite well.

              “Nice of you to demand it,” she replied, her tone both formal and neutral.

              She swore that if his wire hadn't prevented it, the man would have shot her his typical sarcastic grin.             

              “Well, I figure we have some business to discuss. The sooner, the better.”

              Sighing, Charlotte dropped into a nearby chair, bracing herself for what was to come.  “I know. I'll have to speak with the employees, the board, and the tech department. I'll work around the clock to correct the mishap.”

              “Correct?” The man arched a brow superciliously. “My dear Charlotte, what you have done is far beyond any
correction
. You banked the entire future of the company on the one man who would bring it down. You, without my knowledge of approval I might add, let him practically run our tech department for over four months and converted fifty percent of our cash resources into backing him. He may very well have bankrupted this company.”

              The gravity of her actions hit her hard, and for the umpteenth time in the past twenty-four hours, Charlotte felt as though she might throw up. Were things really so severe? She remembered tentatively signing an agreement to funnel a larger percentage of income into David's research, but fifty percent? Had it really been so high? “Your oversights have cost this company millions, if not billions. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you and the man were in cahoots to bring the entire thing crashing down.”

              “Don't you
dare.”
The words left her mouth in a grim warning, as she stared at him, her blue eyes narrow. “I may not have chosen to run this company, but I'm no less invested in it than you are. David has hurt both of us. Although, perhaps, the entire matter
might
have been avoided if you had warned me—”

              “Of what?” The man's muffled laughter was scathing in its sarcasm. “Women are all starry-eyed, gullible idiots. Even if I had told you I had a son who was out for my blood, you still would have let him waltz right through the front door, completely and totally infatuated. You, Charlotte, have always been gullible. You think I've forgotten your little fiasco from a few years ago? You almost ruined us then, and you've brought us to the brink again now. Well, no longer.”

Charlotte was still reeling from his barrage of insults. When he finally ended on an open note, she struggled to catch up. “What do you mean
no longer
?” she whispered, hardly able to choke out the words.

              “Do you really think I would allow such an irresponsible individual run my empire? No, my imbecilic little girl. You are through.”

              Charlotte’s mouth fell open in shock.
Through
? What did he mean
through
? This company had been her life for the past six years. She'd poured her heart and soul into it. Even though it had never quite been what she'd wanted, she'd made the best of the situation she'd been thrust into and done her best to do the company proud. And now he wanted to
fire
her?

              “You can't. You don't have the authority.” Faced suddenly with the prospect of her occupation—her life— being pulled out from under her, Charlotte went on the offensive. “You stepped down as CEO years ago. How can you fire me when you're not ranked above my position?”

              “On the contrary, girl. You might be the acting CEO, but I am still Mathers Incorporated's largest shareholder. It won’t take much to convince this board that your latest debacle has proved that you are entirely unfit to run the company.”

              She couldn't breathe. Her heart had stopped.

              “Who?” she finally demanded. “Who could possibly run the company better than I could?”

              His piggy little eyes were smug, as he called out towards the door, “You can come in now, Samson.”

              Still in a state of utter shock, Charlotte watched with her mouth wide, as the door opened and a red-haired man entered. He was about her height with deep green eyes, chiseled features, and a strong jaw. He was dressed in an immaculately tailored suit.

“Charlotte, this is Samson Causewell. He's another of the leading shareholders with a history in business management. He's headed several Fortune 500 companies in his time, and
he
has no issues following instruction. Am I right, my boy?”

              At the sight of Charlotte, disheveled and hollow-eyed in a chair by her father's side, the man seemed to hesitate slightly before answering. His neutral expression softened slightly into something that might have been pity before instantly hardening once more. “No, sir.”

              “Good.” Emerson looked back to Charlotte once more, his eyes narrow. “If you fight me on this, girl, you will lose. You're to be Causewell's secretary to use as he sees fit. Do you understand?”

              He could he do this to her?

              She was his
daughter
.

              Didn't he have a heart at all?

              “Dad,” she said, softly. Reaching out, as she hadn't in years, she took his hand gently in hers. All she'd ever wanted was his approval. While, yes, she had run the company in a fashion that didn't yield the highest personal profits for their family, she liked to think she had run it well. Apparently, however, her father disagreed to the point that he was willing to oust her over a situation that her heart was still bleeding over.

              Without hesitation, Emerson yanked his meaty hand from hers, wincing as it taxed his injured jaw. “You should be lucky I don't disown you, girl. Hopefully, you'll learn something from Causewell. You had better hope that he can somehow pull us up out of the hole you've dug us into.” Then, he grunted, as if satisfied with his own statement. Next, he turned his beady gaze onto Samson and said, “And
you
, you'd better deliver. If Mathers goes down, you'll never work in this town, or any other, again. Mark my words.”

              “Of course, sir.” Samson's slightly accented tones flowed sinuously over the statement. “It's all under control.”

              However, Charlotte barely noticed what he said. She had already risen from her chair and stumbled from the hospital room. Outside, Adeline caught her arm as she trudged past, in a daze. “What is it?” she demanded. “What happened? Who was that guy?”

              “He sacked me,” Charlotte replied dully, unable to believe it actually happened. “I'm not the company head anymore.”

              “He
what
?” Adeline's incredulous exclamation echoed down the hospital halls, causing several orderlies to eye them sternly. “He can't
do
that.”

              “He can and he did,” Charlotte replied, completely hollow. “He said I'm supposed to be the new guy's secretary. He stripped me of all control.”

              “Charlotte, I won't stand for this. I'll resign. I'm not going back to the company if you're not running the show. I—”

              “Addy, don't.” Suddenly, she was tired—so very tired. Too much happened in the past twenty-four hours. She needed to get home, get into bed, and sleep for a very long time. “You're not going to quit. You're going to stay right where you are.”

              “Like
hell
I am!”

              “Without Marscomb, we need you to keep the tech department up and running. You wouldn't strand us like that, would you?”

              Almost immediately, the fire in Adeline's eyes died. Her expression became torn as she bit her lip, lowering her gaze to her twisting hands. Sighing, Charlotte shook her head before walking back down to the lobby and out the front door.

By this time, night had long fallen. The stars were out, and though it was usually her favorite thing to count the few stars not blotted out by the bright lights of the city, tonight it gave her no comfort. Everything had been taken from her. Absolutely everything.

              She let Addy hail a taxi, as she struggled to take it all in. The man she had thought loved her was a charlatan. She'd been trying for weeks to discover what dark secret he kept and how to help him get over it—only to find that
she
was the secret. She and her company.

              Well, it wasn't hers anymore.

              In reality, Charlotte realized that Mathers Incorporated had always belonged to her father and always would. Every piece of information she tried to keep from him, he discovered with hardly any obstacle. He invaded her private life to a stunning degree. Plus, disgustingly, he'd let her sleep with her own brother just so he could get the upper hand.

              The man was sick.

              Any love or pity she might have had for him was gone in that moment. He'd betrayed her almost as woefully as David had, and she didn't know if she would ever recover.

              “You need rest, Charlotte.” Adeline, also incredibly upset, slid Charlotte into the taxi first and then slid in beside her. “Give yourself a few hours of sleep and some perspective. We'll figure things out. We always do.”

              Would they?

              Did it even matter?

              It seemed as if she couldn't trust anyone, and Charlotte was sick of it.

              Closing her eyes, she blocked out everything and tried to think only of her bed, her apartment, and blessed silence from the din of horror that surrounded her.

              Monday was pretty damn torturous.

              Despite the fact that Addy had pretty much demanded that she take a day for herself, came into the office. She'd been up the entire night, despite her exhaustion, and had come to the conclusion that if she wanted to get used to her life as it was going to be, she had better start falling into line—the sooner, the better. It seemed almost impossible for an hour to pass where she didn't think of David; so, she figured that she could at least try and settle into her new position.