Entangled With The Heiress

“I feel completely unprepared,” she said low, not wanting anyone else in the room to overhear. There were a few people here who would jump on any weakness like sharks scenting blood in the water.

What she needed was a strategy. Being perceived as a strong leader by the board of Hyatt Heights was essential. If she inherited Michael’s position, she would be CEO of the corporation, and a majority shareholder, but still needed the board on her side to put through the initiatives and decisions that could be supported by the other shareholders.

An injunction had created a temporary board director to serve in Michael’s place during the court case, while Trinity still handled Michael’s other businesses and whatever tasks the temporary board director asked of her. So she and Richard were “auditioning” while the case was ongoing. If she didn’t prove her worth, Trinity could still lose the CEO position, though the shares would remain hers through inheritance.

Which would make carrying out Michael’s wishes even harder. The two board meetings she’d attended since her husband’s death had included talking points and presentations and charts that Bill had briefed her on before they’d arrived.

Not today. There’d been no preparation, no warnings. Trinity knew on an intellectual level that she needed to focus on getting through this without hinting how much she was out of her depth. She was a smart woman, but her crash course in billion-dollar businesses over the last two months had been steep.

Plus, her sleep last night had been repeatedly interrupted by the image of bright gray-green eyes that left her restless and needy in a way she’d never felt before. A way she was definitely not comfortable with.

“It will be fine,” Bill assured her as the meeting was called to order.

Richard Hyatt sat with his wife and lawyer at an angle across from Trinity and Bill, which should have been enough to put her out of their line of sight. Still she shifted in discomfort as she noticed the couple’s gazes trained in her direction. What trouble were they stirring up now?

She had to wonder what influence Richard had used with the temporary board director to get everyone to show up for this. He acted as if winning the case for Michael’s inheritance was a done deal and he’d already been elevated to CEO, instead of still being only a member of the board.

“This meeting at my request to the chair was called with some urgency to address issues brought to my awareness this morning,” Richard said, taking to his feet as if to assert his superiority over the others around the table. “How many of you have seen this?”

He clicked a button on the remote in his hand, which caused a portion of the back wall to slide down. The large screen behind it was already on, displaying a photo of Trinity. She could easily read the headline on the screen.

Suspicious Widow Fights for Control

of Hyatt Estate

Trinity couldn’t hold in a gasp, though she would have given anything not to react after Richard smirked in her direction.

But he didn’t stop there. “I told the board you’d be bad for business, but they wouldn’t listen.”

His words were lost in the cacophony of voices as board members asserted their opinions. They clicked on the keyboards before them on the table’s highly polished surface. He’d gotten his point across, and that was all that mattered.

Trinity pressed her shaking fingers together. The headline and blog post were only the beginning of the ugliness. There were also photos. The series of pictures included one of her at the funeral, one from the charity event the night before looking particularly standoffish, and a picture of her marriage certificate. She tuned out the noise around her as she read the short captions and comments.

They included vague claims about how unfit Trinity was, simply because she’d never been part of New Orleans’s upper crust and ran a charity for a living. There were specific details about her short marriage to Michael and a link to documentation about the court case filed by Richard and Patricia, all under the hashtag #NOLASecrets. A few Black Widow comments thrown in didn’t sit well with her either.

“Where is this from?” Bill’s sharp voice jolted her from her absorption. She’d assumed he knew about the rumors making the social media rounds.

“That new gossip blogger who’s all the rage at the moment,” Patricia said. “Everyone who is anyone is following her blog and other social media.” Her eye roll was almost comical.

Another board member interrupted, his voice sounding panicky. “It’s only a matter of time before this hits other news sites. NOLA Secrets & Scandals is really making waves.”

“It already has,” Richard said, his voice calm. There was an ominous glint of satisfaction in his gaze as he trained it once again on Trinity. “Our stock has already begun to drop.”

There was a flurry of rustling as phones were pulled from pockets and briefcases. Those with laptops began furiously clicking. The murmurs grew louder as the board members confirmed for themselves what Richard had said.

Bill scoffed, looking up from his own phone. “We have no idea whether this was caused by that hatchet piece. The stock is barely down from yesterday.”

“Mark my words, it’s going to fall, and fall fast,” Richard assured him. “I mean, look at this post.” He clicked on a link in the sidebar. The headline read, “Suspicious Marriage Threatens Local Jobs.” Then the next line, “And it’s all her fault.”

Trinity allowed herself to blink slowly once, twice, before saying, “I thought you said it was the blogger’s fault.”

“There wouldn’t even be a post if it wasn’t for you. Obviously, they agree it’s your fault, too.”

“You don’t even know who wrote this,” Trinity argued, though she knew it was futile.

“The public doesn’t care, little girl. Shareholders just read the news and start dumping their stock. Prices go down. People lose jobs.”

Bill interrupted with, “This isn’t news. It’s rumors. Once the truth comes out in court—”

“When?” Richard demanded. “In a year? Two years? How much damage will be done in that amount of time?”

Trinity’s heart picked up speed.

That’s when Richard and Patricia’s lawyer saw an opening. “Let’s not forget that if the stock drops, you might all be booted off the board.”

Larry Pelegrine, one of the men who had been kind enough to answer Trinity’s questions over the last six weeks, spoke up. “Now, we can’t allow this to get out of hand. Not because of how it might affect any one of us individually,” he said with gentlemanly emphasis, without directly pointing out the crass slant of the lawyer’s words, “but because of the thousands of people who work for the Hyatt companies. They have families to support. Families that need groceries and health insurance and—”

“We get it,” Patricia said, her voice turning snide. “We need to help people…and ourselves.”

How in the world could the other board members not see just how focused Richard and Patricia Hyatt were on bettering themselves, without caring about the effect of their actions on others? Or that their selfishness was the exact opposite of Michael’s vision for his companies and charitable foundation?

Larry leaned forward. “Look, as much as I hate to say it, the reality is that if the company’s valuation goes down, people will lose their jobs. And that valuation is partially reliant on how the outside world views the company, regardless of the truth.”

The rest of the board members nodded and muttered to each other. Bill cast a sympathetic glance in Trinity’s direction. She pressed her palms against her thighs beneath the protection of the table’s edge. She and Bill and even Larry had worked hard to promote her abilities and skills to the rest of the board for the last six weeks. After all, she’d single-handedly run Maison de Jardin for Michael since she was twenty-three. It wasn’t a small operation, by any stretch of the imagination, though it was miniscule compared to the entire Hyatt Heights operation.

She could feel the understanding and support they’d been working so hard to cultivate slowly sinking out from underneath her like sand beneath a wave on the beach. Once the court case was settled, the winner would own the largest portion of the company and would most likely be the CEO, giving them the most sway with the board. She needed them to believe in her, so she could use her power for the things Michael would have wanted. Richard had his own seat, but no true power if he didn’t inherit Michael’s estate.

One voice rose above the rest. “We have to do something.”

Trinity was bombarded with questions and comments from all sides. She slowly drew in a breath, trying to think amid the chaos.

“I think this will help everyone see what I mean,” Richard said.

This time he clicked to display a file. At first when Trinity looked at the handout, the figures and columns jumbled before her eyes; then, she started to sort through the data. She could see Bill doing the same out of her peripheral vision. The negative projections on how their workforce and revenue would be impacted by the bad press hit Trinity hard.

No matter how much she told herself that this wasn’t her fault, that what had simply started as a favor to her best friend had gotten completely out of control with his unexpected death, it didn’t make her feel any less responsible for what could happen to innocent people along the way.

Patricia drove the nail in harder. “That’s an estimated five thousand people with families in New Orleans alone who will end up unemployed.”

A city in desperate need of jobs. Trinity knew that.

“You don’t know that,” Bill asserted, a little of his spirit reappearing.

The woman didn’t seem to care about a little thing like facts…or decorum. She leaned forward, hands planted squarely on the table, and looked Trinity directly in the eye. “That means they’re gonna need all the charity they can get. You know, the same kind your clients receive over at Maison,” she said, a snide twist to her voice. “That’s something your brain can actually grasp, right?”

Trinity felt herself withdraw from the unexpected attack, but forced herself to hold completely still. It was the only coping mechanism she had. If she held still, no one could see her, no one could take a swipe at her. Or in this case, gather any more evidence to use against her.

She forced her voice to stay steady as she said, “The last thing I want is for families to lose their income.”