For His Keeping (For His Pleasure, Book 3) by Kelly Favor Read Free Book Online Page B

and smiled at Red. “The circumstances are a bit difficult at the moment, but we are determined to come out stronger and better than ever.”
    Red stared at him, and slowly Lucas’s smile faded.
    “I heard through my CFO that you’ve had five executives leave the company since Jameson international acquired you.”
    “And a sixth today,” Alric said.
    “Who?”
    “One of our art directors,” Lucas chimed in. “It’s a big problem. We can’t compete with the salary that Kane Wright is offering our people.”
    “Kane Wright?” Red said, and if his gaze had been intense before, Nicole thought, it was now burning with the brightness of a thousand suns. The German ad agency executives wilted beneath his glare.
    “I thought you’d been told,” Lucas peeped.
    “No. I was not.” Red sat back in his chair and put a hand on his chin, looking down, lost in thought.
    “It’s criminal what that man has done to Aufrührerische Kreativität,” Helga told them. “He’s purposely trying to ruin us, going after our most important people and offering them ridiculous sums of money to move to his agency.”
    “Why would he do that?” Lucas asked them, throwing up his hands. His veneer of happiness and friendliness was gone, and now he just seemed bewildered. “Why would he pay so much just to take our people?”
    Red still hadn’t spoken. The room fell silent as everyone looked to him for an answer. Finally, he spoke.
    “Kane Wright is trying to destroy me,” he said.
    Nicole watched him. She thought that he looked already as if he’d lost some enormous battle.
    “We will fight back,” Lucas told him. “We are going to work hard, hire new people, and we will regain ourselves. I promise you that, Mister Jameson.”
    “Who’s Kane Wright?” Nicole asked, softly.
    Everyone turned to her now. They looked at her like she’d just asked him who Barack Obama was.
    Red smiled. “Kane Wright is the European version of me. Only a little bit older, a lot richer, and a hell of a lot more ruthless and lacking in ethics.”
    “I promise you these maneuvers of his will come back to haunt him,” Lucas said, pounding the table with his fist. “He can’t be allowed to get away with this.”
    Red sighed. “I appreciate that, I appreciate your loyalty also. Have the three of you also been approached by Mister Wright?”
    The three Germans exchanged glances and then slowly nodded.
    Red sighed. “Did any of you accept an offer yet? Tell me now. If I find out you’ve lied to me today, I will make it my life’s work to pay you back for this breach of trust.”
    Alric, the sharply dressed young man with the brown hair, uneasily raised his hand. “I’m sorry. I did just recently accept an offer to work with Kane Wright.”
    Helga and Lucas turned and gawked at the younger man.
    “Alric, are you insane?” Lucas practically yelled. “You’re taking the blood money from that horrible leach?”
    “I’m so sorry. I know I should have told you,” he said softly.
    “And you come in our meeting to spy on us?” Helga said. “You have no shame, Alric.”
    They began arguing in German.
    Red stood up. “Lucas, please call security and make sure they come and escort this man out of the building immediately.”
    Alric started to leave, his head hanging.
    “Thank you for being honest with me,” Red told him as he left.
    Alric nodded, but Lucas just kept yelling at him again in German and ushering him out of the conference room.
    “Could you give us a moment of privacy?” Red asked Helga.
    She stood up, sweating and apologetic. “Of course, of course. We will wait outside,” she said.
    Soon the room was empty. Red walked to where Nicole was sitting and knelt before her. “I’m sorry I’ve let you down,” he said.
    She put her hands on his face and smiled. “You could never let me down. I love you no matter what.”
    He kissed her palm, took her hands in his own. “I screwed up,” he said. “I lost focus and I made