Taken by Storm by Kelli Maine Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t work.
    Everything in Enzo Rocha’s world came with strings attached.
    “Well?” the Old Man said, flicking his thumbs, questioning a response.
    MJ figured it was best to go all-in at this point and try to pry out his grandfather’s true motives. “What if I don’t want it?”
    The Old Man threw his head back and howled with laughter. He tugged his glasses off by one arm and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “What if you don’t want it.” He chuckled some more. “That’s priceless, MJ. Priceless. What else do you plan to do with your life? MMA fighter perhaps?”
    “Yeah. Maybe.” He was more cut out to be an MMA fighter than the president of Rocha Enterprises.
    “What’s your definition of successfully managing the company?” Rachael asked, uncrossing and re-crossing her legs.
    MJ realized he’d pegged her right. She was someone who would go right for the kill every time. He bit back the urge to tell her to mind her own business. It was the question he’d been circling in his mind.
    Enzo flatted his palms on the file folder and spread his fingers. “I’m a fair man, Rachael. MJ and I will do a full evaluation of each property and determine goals we mutually agree upon.”
    “I’m sure you will,” she said. She shot Enzo a shrewd look. “Who will train him? You haven’t been running Rocha Enterprises.”
    The Old Man licked his lips and steepled his fingers again. “Are you suggesting your
boyfriend
train him? If you find him, you can ask him of course, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.”
    MJ watched Rachael’s chin jut forward. She’d soon learn obstinacy didn’t get you anywhere with his grandfather. You couldn’t affect someone who didn’t give a shit.
    “I’ll let you know,” MJ said. “I need to think about it.”
    The corner of his grandfather’s mouth twitched. “While you’re thinking about it, think about finding a permanent residence somewhere near. A corporate president doesn’t live with his granddad.”
    Granddad? MJ had never once called him that. And the permanent residence was just a way to get him out of this house under the guise of looking and acting like a
corporate president
. He’d never been welcome here, and the Old Man couldn’t send him away to boarding school anymore.
    Not that it mattered. MJ didn’t want to be here anymore than his grandfather wanted him to be. He should’ve found a lease that went through the summer.
    MJ stood and smoothed the legs of his jeans. “That it?”
    “That’s it.” His grandfather pushed his chair out from the desk.
    “Wait.” Rachael stood and stepped up to Enzo’s desk. “Why now? After twenty years, why tell Merrick about him now?”
    Enzo braced both hands on his desk. “As I said, I spent a lot of money keeping Gina’s family quiet. They agreedon one condition: Keeping Merrick out of MJ’s life. Once he was eighteen though it was out of my hands. MJ’s a man, as is his father, and men need to deal with the truth. I should’ve told him two years ago.”
    MJ studied Rachael’s face. She wasn’t buying it. Good for her. It was all bullshit. Everything out of Enzo Rocha’s mouth was bullshit, MJ had learned that early on.
    Rachael lifted her chin slightly higher and let her stony stare linger on Enzo for a moment longer. “Your son is nothing that you make him out to be,” she said, and strode out of the office ahead of MJ.
    He caught up with her in the hallway. “Hey, don’t worry about any of that. I’ve known him long enough to not become one of his minions.”
    Rachael’s gaze darted over his shoulder to the closed office door at the end of the hall. “Minion, huh? What do you think he has up his sleeve?”
    MJ glanced behind him. Within the Old Man’s earshot was not the place to discuss Enzo’s motives. He took her by the elbow, led her through the house and out the back door to the patio. “I think you and I both know there’s no chance of me successfully