Romance: The CEO by Cooper Emily

Author:Cooper, Emily [Cooper, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Run Free Publishing
Published: 2015-08-27T07:00:00+00:00

Ten minutes passes and we still haven’t said another word to each other, eating our pancakes in silence.

When we both finish them I decide to break the awkwardness and go to clear the table, only to have Jackson’s arm fling out and stop me.

He speaks in a chilling tone that seizes my complete attention;

“It was a stinking hot day when I got the call, which was normal for that time of year. Summer in Africa is, needless to say, awful if you’re not used to it. I was in my bungalow not far from one of the mine sites in Zimbabwe. The loud crash came a minute before the call did. When I answered the phone I already knew what was I was going to hear,” he pauses to take a breath, looking up at me with watering eyes.

“Three hundred people,” he whispers, his forehead moving pensively like he’s seeing something that I can’t. “Three hundred people died on my watch that day, Claire.”

I feel the goosebumps stipple on my skin, gazing over at Jackson like he’s a murderer and casualty all in one fold.

“Why did the mine collapse?’ I ask, keeping my voice steady.

“The structural engineers cut costs. Their design wasn’t sturdy enough to support the work we were doing in there. I didn’t know my company’s managerial staff had approved the cheaper materials. I was too wrapped up with investing in a third mine site further into the jungle and…I…just…”

He buries his face in his hands, trying to hold back the sobs of a broken man.

I’m not sure how to respond to all this.

I feel like I’m on the edge of a precipice.

Do I jump back into reporter mode, short and sharp like I’d always planned it and play on his vulnerability to get the story no matter what?

Or do I stay on the precipice and go with a more boring interview, where Jackson doesn’t get implicated in the deaths of 300 workers, and I head back to New York knowing there’s a demotion waiting for me.

My dreams of career advancement obliterated.

“It wasn’t your fault, Jackson,” I eventually sigh, reaching out to take his hand.

In only a few minutes he’s managed to reverse my entire opinion of him, an opinion that has had two long years of hate attached to it.

How could I have misjudged him so severely?

“I may not have approved those cheap materials, but it still happened under my jurisdiction,” he states disdainfully. “I’m to blame. I’m responsible for all those bodies. I destroyed families.”

I give him a moment before I press him further.

The last thing I want to happen is for him to go and crack on me.

Billionaire recluse declared insane after flighty blonde reporter visits mansion...ha, what a headline that would be!

“How did you manage to keep it out of the media?” I ask carefully, deciding that the only way I can know for sure which angle to write the story in is to hear the rest of it first.

“I paid off everyone…the survivors, the employees, and the families of the workers who died.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.