Luca
uca didn't wait for Jacey to walk beside him to the elevator. He couldn't take another moment of her falsely
innocent features or the demure navy suit that did nothing to hide her seductive, feminine curves.
Curves that he’d had the pleasure of holding against him earlier in the day. What was wrong with his traitorous
heart for still wanting the woman? One taste was all it had taken, and now he would never be able to get her out of
his system.
He strode ahead of her, inwardly cursing her every st ep of the way, and was relieved when she didn't join him in
the elevator. He didn't trust himself in such proximity with her at the moment. He might do something he regretted,
like strangle her.
On the short ride to the top floor, he mulled over the last two weeks and could come up with only one conclusion.
He was the one to blame for her treachery today. He'd let his guard down. Allowed her to get too close. He'd all but
forgotten his family’s decades-old mantra: Never trust a Maddox. And they'd lost a big account as a result. They
might have lost it anyway. Accounts come and go. But they'd lost it for sure with her behind-the-scenes help. The
printout of her two calls to DRAW Corporation earlier were burning a hole in the pocket of his slacks. He was not
sure why he'd expected anything better from her, but he had.
Her betrayal stung. The fact she'd used her widowed status to wheedle her way inside their firm stung almost more
than he could bear.
The fact she'd used his own grief against him stung, too. She'd nearly succeeded in convincing him he was wrong
about her, too, and he'd wanted to believe it. Lord help him, how he'd wanted to believe it!
His phone was ringing before he st epped from the elevator.
"Luca Calcagni speaking."
"Oh, Luca! I heard." Waverly sounded tremulous and confused. "I'm sure you have your reasons, but—" "It's
okay." He dragged a hand through his hair. "There was nothing we could do to save the account. It was an inside
hack. Ms. Maddox placed two calls to DRAW Corporation from her company line earlier today."
"What calls? Are we talking about the same thing, love?"
"I'm talking about Jacey Maddox and my plans to fire her as soon as she returns to her desk."
"Oh, my!” his grandmother sighed. “That might not be the best idea, given the current media attention directed at
Genesis and Sons.”
“What are you talking about?"
“Oh dear! I figured you already knew.” At his silence, she sighed again. “Maybe you should turn on the evening
news, sweetheart."
He snatched the remote from his center desk drawer and flipped on the flat screen TV mounted to the wall. The
muted announcement ribbon scrolled across the bottom of the screen. He frowned and looked again.
Breaking News: CEO of industrial design giant Genesis & Sons hires daughter of rival DRAW Corporation as his
PA.
He turned up the volume. The animated voice of the news anchor rang across the room. "In a startlingly aggressive
move, CEO Luca Calcagni snapped up the youngest Maddox daughter two weeks ago, signing her on as an
apprentice to their world-famous think tank."
Her fellow anchor laughed. "And that's just the beginning of this delicious story. Ms. Maddox happens to be his
grieving sister-in-law, the widow of Easton Calcagni, who died a few months ago in a tragic NASCAR pileup in
southern Florida. What an all-around altruistic move! It certainly begs the question we’re all wondering about.
Does Mr.
Calcagni’s decision mark the end of one of the greatest corporate rivalries in history, or the beginning of a whole
new feud? Stay tuned for more."
Luca flipped off the TV screen, unable to listen to another word.
Neither one of the news anchor’s speculations was correct. This was nothing more than another one of Jacey’s
games. Her audacity apparently had no boundaries. She and her family had gone to unimaginable and
unconscionable lengths to prevent him from firing her tonight. Was that the only reason she had kissed him this
afternoon? To distract him from logging out of his computer, so she could hack his email?
He could barely see past the blood in his eyes. She’d played him, and he’d fallen for her. For real. Allowed his
foolish feelings to get all tangled over her.
Well, she’d won this round. Far too much media attention was focused on Genesis and Sons at the moment to fire
her, and the attention would continue to be on them for days. Maybe weeks.
He tossed his remote control on his desk and folded his arms. It was the only thing ke eping him from pounding
something. He, Luca Calcagni, CEO of Genesis & Sons, had actually gone and hired a corporate spy for his
personal assistant.
He clenched his teeth and fisted his hands against his chest. If the heartless woman thought he'd been tough on her
the first two weeks of her employment, she was about to find out what if felt like to work in a gloves-off, bloody,
winner-takes-all kind of environment.
This was no longer about families, businesses, or feuds. No! This was personal.