Solving For Nic by Lexxi Callahan Read Free Book Online Page B

feelings he’d spent his whole life avoiding.
    She’d done him a favor. She saved them a big uncomfortable scene. His anger was misplaced, and by the time he walked out of the suite dressed and ready to leave, he was himself again. Everything was calm and under control.
    As long as he didn’t close his eyes, because the minute he did the night played out again for him in full Technicolor and the hollowness threatened to consume him.

Chapter Four
    “You’re sure about this?” Pam repeated the question for the millionth time before they stepped into the executive elevator.
    “Yes.” Nic shoved his hands in his pockets, hiding his clenched fists.
    “It’s a lot of money.” Pam’s attention was fixed on the screen of her tablet as she swiped through the pages of the agreement Nic was on his way to sign. “You’ll never see it again.”
    Nic nodded. He didn’t care about the money. Money had never been an issue for Nic. He had way more than his fair share and no matter how much of it he gave away or loaned, he seemed to make more. It wasn’t the money that had his stomach churning in protest. It was the hour he was going to have to sit across a conference table from the pompous bastard who took the money as his due.
    Nic conceded Andreas Maretti might not be wrong but he was tired of being constantly reminded of the sacrifices Andreas had made. Nic hoped the obscene amount of money he was handing the old man would shut him up once and for all.
    “Have you decided who you’re going to appoint to the board?” Pam glanced at him when he didn’t answer. “They are going to ask.”
    “I have sixty days to decide. I’ll let you know.”
    “Make sure it’s not me,” she warned him. “I will quit if you make me work with your father. It’s bad enough being in the same building with him but I’m not cleaning up his mess.”
    Nic nodded. He hadn’t planned to saddle Pam with trying to put Maretti Oil back together. Andreas had done a spectacular job of running it into the ground. Whoever Nic put in charge of damage control would have a full time job. He couldn’t spare Pam. “I was thinking about Madlyn Robicheaux,” he admitted.
    “She won’t leave New Orleans,” Pam dismissed. “You should appoint Mac Sellers. Can you imagine the look on Andreas’ face?”
    Nic choked back an unexpected laugh as the elevator doors slid open on the top floor. He braced himself then stepped into the ostentatious outer office of Maretti Oil. When Andreas had taken over his second wife’s family company, he’d had the unmitigated gall to rename the company and redecorated the office in what could only be called vintage Euro-trash.
    Nic and Pam were shown to a conference room. The lawyers from both sides were already seated at the table. Andreas Maretti was not. Nic had purposely been ten minutes late for the meeting and had expected to find the old man signing his part of the paperwork. He should have known better.
    He slid Pam’s chair out for her and waited for her to be seated before he took the seat next to her. He waved away the hovering secretary who wanted to bring him coffee or something more personal if he wanted, if the look she gave him was anything to go by.
    Five minutes later, Pam covered his hand and Nic realized he’d started tapping his fingers on the conference table.
    “We’ll take that coffee.” She broke the tense silenced in the conference room as the attorneys seated across the table pretended to be paying attention to what they were saying to each other. When everyone knew they were just waiting for Nic to lose his cool.
    Except Nic never lost his cool. This power play of Andreas’ was almost pathetic. A smart man wouldn’t have left Nic cooling his heels in a conference room full of junior lawyers and assistants. A smarter man would’ve already signed the loan paperwork before he arrived. A smarter man would have known Nic would rather walk back out the door than hand over the amount of