At the end of the day, the Pollard brothers were all passably competent at what they did. But there was no escaping how they got where they were. Old money. They bought the company and they bought their way to success. Alec and Maxwell both cared deeply about the company’s success, while Jonas thought of it more as a fun diversion he might set down at any time if he got bored.

Alec simply wanted to dominate the competition. Maxwell wanted to prove he was more than a trust fund kid. He wanted to learn everything he could from me so he could run the company as effectively as possible.

I admired Maxwell’s drive and motivation, but at the moment, I really wanted to be back in town. I only had three days left with Pearl in my life, and I wanted to enjoy whatever scraps of that life I could.

Instead, I was leaning over Maxwell’s shoulder at a computer in a borrowed office room. He was showing me a table of data and asking about advertising strategies.

It was nearly half an hour later before I was finally allowed to go. On my way out, I bumped into Alec. He was standing in the hallway just outside the office. He saw me and held up a palm, stopping me.

“I hope you know my brother will be weaning himself off of you soon,” Alec said.

“Alright.” I shoved my hands in my pockets and shrugged. I wanted the Pollard contract for as long as I could have it, but I wasn’t about to lower myself to pissing my pants because Alec wanted to threaten me. His thoughts about me had been clear now for months. The man hadn’t gathered the balls to make that clear to my face until now.

“I’ve nearly convinced him you’re too distracted with your little romance. He agreed it was inappropriate. Some of the things you two have been doing together on a work trip do not inspire confidence in your commitment to Pollard Marketing and its goals.”

I was in the middle of walking away from Alec, but something about his words made me lift my chin and clench my teeth. I closed my eyes, willing myself not to bite, but I just couldn’t help it. In some roundabout way, I felt like he was talking about Pearl, and I didn’t like the tone of his voice.

“Work trip?” I asked, turning to face him. “One, I’m not your employee. I’m a contractor. A consultant. Two, inviting employees to a work conference for a week doesn’t give you autonomy over how they spend their time outside of work functions. Three, if you think my loyalty to your company is going to stop me from enjoying my girlfriend in my free time, you’re delusional.”

“Girlfriend. Right,” Alec said.

I didn’t like the slimy way he said it, or the narrowed suspicion in his eyes.

“Yeah, that is right,” I said. I wasn’t much for punching people in their dumb faces, but Alec was making a strong case for turning me into that guy.