“I found out that The AT Corporation isnot owned by Mezzo.”
“Who the fu—” Kit stops mid-sentencelooking at me, “hell owns it?”
I feel like my heart has dropped into abottomless pit. “Do they call it the AT Corp?” The words just come out of mymouth.
Kit stares at me, his mouth droppingopen.
“Kate,” I glance at Cole, who has thesame bewildered look on his face. Oh, my freaking hell. Alan just dumped thisentire problem on me, the dirty old jerk. I turn back around, leaning over him.“Wake up Alan.” I shake his arm. He mumbles and then rolls over. “No, this isnot fair. Wake up.”
“Kate,” Cole says again. I straighten andslowly turn around.
“Yes.” My voice is soft and high.
“Did Melvin Martins tell you who ownedThe AT Corp?” he asks, stepping closer to me.
“No.” I can’t look at Cole. I can feeleveryone’s eyes boring into me. It makes me nervous, and I fidget with the bowon my dress.
“Do you know who owns the AT Corp?”Cooper asks. He stands back up and comes to the end of the table.
“Um, well, can you tell me what time itis first?”
Kit glances at his watch. “It’s 12:15,Sugar.”
“Well…” My voice is a sliver of sound.
“Katherine, who owns The Atlantic TrojanCorporation?” It’s Preston who speaks.
I hold my trembling chin up and turn toCole, looking him in the eye. “I do.”
“What?” he asks calmly.
“I—well, we do. The AT Corp is part of myestate inheritance from Alan, and as of midnight tonight, I’m the onlyshareholder.”
Both Kit and Race curse. Cole takes astep towards me, but I shy away from him. Alan, the son of a bitch knew what hewas doing. He had a plan. A plan to make sure nobody could take anything from him,or his family and he put the prize in my hands, knowing I wouldn’t let Colesell it.
“I didn’t know.” My voice shakes. In along stride, Cole encases me in his arms. “I didn’t know. Please, please,believe me. Alan told me what he did at the club. The only way I knew it waspart of my estate inheritance is because you called it The AT Corp. It was onthe list like that. I asked Mr. Edwards what that was. He said Alan added itlast minute. He didn’t have any particulars, but he would get them for me.” Myknees go weak, but Cole holds me. “Please, you have to believe I didn’t know. Ididn’t know.”
“Shh, Cookie.” Cole cups a hand around myface. “I believe you.”
“You’ve got to hand it to the old fart,that was a pretty ingenious plan. He gave it to the one person who was againstthe sale of Lawton shipping.” Cooper laughs.
“The question now is, how long untilRafael Mezzo learns what Alan did and that Kate is the owner and you, Coulter,are the CEO?” Luke pulls out a chair sitting down.
“The paperwork is all filed and done. Theonly things left were Kate and Alan’s signature,” Cole states.
“Which means he may already know.” Racesits across from Luke.
I wrap my arms around Cole, resting myhead in the crook of his neck. This is too much for me. “Can I go home?” Iwhisper to him.
He runs his fingers through my hair,pushing it behind my ear. “I think you need to stay. The AT Corp is yourcompany, and now so is Lawton.”
“You can have it back.” I try to make ajoke to ease the awkward tension. “I just want my twenty mil back, okay?”
This makes Cole laugh out loud. “Oh Kate,I love you.” He leads me over to the table and pulls out a chair for me. “Didyou hear that, guys? Kate says we can have Lawton, she just wants her moneyback.”
I shrug, giving a weak smile. “JimmyChoo’s don’t buy themselves.” Everyone laughs and the tension in the roomdissipates. I take a breath without feeling like my chest may cave in.
“What do we do now?” Kit is the last tosit down around the table.
