The Scion: A Billionaire Romance (The Holbrook Cousins Saga Book 3) Read online

  The Scion

  A Billionaire Romance

  Alina Jacobs

  Contents

  Other books by Alina Jacobs

  Synopsis

  Acknowledgments

  Mailing List

  1. Liz

  2. Wes

  3. Liz

  4. Wes

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  Sneak peek

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  3. Chloe

  4. Jack

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  About the Author

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright ©2018 by Alina Jacobs

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  Created with Vellum

  Other books by Alina Jacobs

  Check out other books in this series on my website:

  http://alinajacobs.com/books.html

  Synopsis

  He built a billion dollar company from scratch—and she just took it from him.

  Ever since she was a little girl, Liz wanted the fairytale wedding, and the star player would be a tall dark handsome man. Wes Holbrook fits the bill. Unfortunately she just executed a hostile takeover of Wes's company under orders of her boss. Will Liz still be able to win the billionaire of her dreams, or is Wes's attraction to her hiding more sinister motivations?

  Wes sacrificed everything to build his billion dollar company. He made sure his employees were well taken care of, and refused several offers from competitors, including one from Liz. He might have been a bit…aggressive…when refusing her, but all that sacrifice included sacrificing a relationship, and having the curvy blond in his boardroom was doing terrible things to his self-control.

  Now that he's taken his tech company public, Wes wants to win one more thing—Liz. But as the glow of being a billionaire washed over him, he realized that someone was stealing his company and taking control, and he thinks he knows who…

  Now Wes Holbrook wants revenge. But will Liz steal his heart like she stole his company?

  The Scion is book 3 in the Holbrook Cousins Saga, but can be read as a standalone novel. This 85,000 word steamy romance novel has no cliffhangers but does have a very happily ever after.

  To the guy at my favorite Mexican restaurant who doesn’t judge when I order the family size, bless you.

  Acknowledgments

  A big thank you to Red Adept Editing for editing and proofreading.

  And finally a big thank you to all the readers! I had a great time writing this book, and I hope you enjoy getting to know Wes and Liz!

  Mailing List

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  alinajacobs.com/mailinglist.html

  1

  Liz

  In the meeting, Liz Davenport sat across from Wes Walsh, owner of Walsh Systech, and studied him. He angled his head, causing the light from the large windows to accentuate his jaw. Then he glanced over at her.

  He knows I'm looking at him, she thought. He had shaken her hand when they arrived. It was a good handshake—strong, professional, not sweaty. Her mind briefly wandered to what it would feel like if he ran that hand down her body and…

  "What do you think, Liz?" her boss, Grant Holbrook, asked.

  Liz froze.

  Wes looked straight at her. His brilliant-blue eyes narrowed, and his mouth settled into a smirk. "Do they really let a pretty girl like yourself make such big decisions?" Wes drawled.

  Liz pursed her lips, trying to keep the annoyance off her face.

  "Liz has an MBA from Stanford," said Walter Holbrook, the CEO of Holbrook Enterprises and Grant's father. "Furthermore, do not ever speak to one of my employees like that."

  Wes leaned back in his chair and stared at the two Holbrook men.

  "Considering you want to buy my company, since it's the fastest way for Holbrook to corner the market on weapons and robotics technology, you should let me speak to her any damn way I please. If you were really serious about purchasing Walsh Systech, you would let me take her back to my corner office and fuck her."

  Liz turned beet red at the comment. She was no stranger to off-color remarks—she worked in the corporate world after all—but never had any man ever said something so blatantly sexual to her face.

  At least Grant and Walter were offended on her behalf. Walter had to grab Grant to keep him from throwing himself across the large conference table at Wes.

  Liz knew Grant could probably kill Wes, and Holbrook Enterprises didn't need that particular streak of bad publicity, especially after what had happened last year with Grant's cousin, Carter, and Carter's girlfriend, Allie.

  Wes surveyed the scene with mild amusement. Robert, his COO, sat next to him and looked at Grant with concern.

  "Let me make one thing clear," Wes said as Walter held Grant down in his seat. "I don't care who you parade in here. You aren't stealing my company."

  "Holbrook is a multibillion-dollar international corporation," Liz said. "We have the assets and global network to put Walsh Systech on the map. We didn't come here to take over your company, only to offer assistance and to help you grow and expand."

  Wes barked out a laugh. "There's that MBA. Leave it to Stanford to teach you to speak corporate bullshit."

  Liz was annoyed. She had worked hard for that degree.

  "I think we're done here. This meeting has stopped being productive," Walter said, pushing back his chair and closing his notebook.

  As they all stood up, Liz thought to herself that Grant and Wes both looked qu
ite similar. Same height, broad shoulders, dark hair, ice-blue eyes… Something must be in the water in New England.

  Wes noticed her looking at him.

  "Was this supposed to be your big corporate deal?" Wes asked Liz in a mocking tone. "Sorry it didn't go how you planned. Oh, wait. No, I'm not."

  Liz scowled at him.

  "We didn't come here with hostile intentions," she said to Wes as she came around the conference table, "but don't act like you're such a big dog in the ring. Holbrook moves a thousand times the amount of money as Walsh Systech. We can still crush you."

  Wes moved closer to Liz. She felt trapped by his gaze.

  "You should put that mouth to better use," Wes said softly to her, putting a hand on her hip and sliding it up along the seam of her gray suit jacket. "You're too pretty to be making threats."

  "That is sexual assault," Grant snarled.

  Wes laughed and released Liz. "Get out of my office. Robert will escort you off the premises. Walsh Systech IPOs in a week, and I will never sell my company to Holbrook Enterprises."

  He turned and stalked out of the conference room. After waiting a beat, Robert motioned them out.

  "Wes is a real character. Isn't he?" Robert asked, making strained chitchat as they waited for the elevator to arrive. "A few years ago, Walsh Systech bought the company my dad and I built together. Pops was old and wanted to retire. I didn't want him to sell, but Wes made an offer Pops couldn't refuse. So here we are. It hasn't been so bad." He signed Liz and the Holbrooks out at the front desk. "Still, having Holbrook come and buy us would rock the boat too much. We'll just continue to be competitors." Robert held out a hand for them to shake.

  The car ride back to New York City was tense. It was several hours from upstate Connecticut in afternoon traffic, and Liz tried to settle down in her seat.

  "Are you all right?" Grant asked her softly while Walter tapped away on his phone.

  "I'm fine," Liz replied with more confidence than she' felt. She didn't want to admit that Wes's comments had burrowed under her skin.

  When they returned to the office late that evening, Liz's embarrassment and discomfort 'had turned into rage.

  "How dare he speak to me like that?" she fumed to Allie. Liz used to work with Allie in a special quality-control department that Grant had created just for Allie to run. Her boyfriend and Grant's cousin, Carter Holbrook, worked in that department too. Liz was friends with Allie, but she had found it weird to work with the couple. She always felt like a third wheel, though she would never tell that to her friend.

  Grant had been happy to move Liz into mergers and acquisitions, however, and Liz was happy in her new department, though it meant she saw less of her friend.

  "Wes sounds like a real piece of work," Allie stated. "I bet his father didn't love him. All the guys who act like that have daddy issues. Don't take it personally."

  "I already told Eric what happened, and he's furious," Carter said, coming into the office.

  Liz groaned. "I wish you hadn't riled up my brother. The last thing we need is for him to go after Wes."

  "This would be a moot point if Grant had just shot him," Carter said.

  "I can't just go around shooting people," Grant said mildly as he sauntered into the room.

  "So you're just going to let him talk to her like that?" Carter demanded. Grant smirked.

  He and Wes really do look similar, Liz thought.

  "No," Grant stated. "Wes has to pay. Liz, put that MBA to good use, and steal me that company."

  2

  Wes

  After Liz and the Holbrooks left, Wes paced around his office, berating himself. "What were you thinking? What possessed you to talk to her like that?"

  He paused in front of the floor-to-ceiling wall of windows that looked out over the landscaped entry to the building. The three Holbrook representatives were waiting for their car. He saw it driving up from the parking lot, and he let his gaze settle on Liz.

  She stood in three-quarter profile, and the late summer sun caught on her blond hair in its professional bun.

  He had meant what he said when he said he wanted to fuck her in his office. It had been too long since he'd had any woman in his bed, let alone someone who wasn't trying to grab a piece of the Walsh Systech fortune for herself. "But that is not a thought you should say out loud," he growled. He watched as Liz and the two Holbrooks climbed into the car.

  Robert knocked on the door to Wes's office and let himself in.

  "I should have gone down and apologized," he said to Robert.

  "I'm sure she's used to those comments. She does work in the corporate world after all," Robert reassured him. "She didn't seem like she was going to cry, at least."

  "Still," Wes said, "my sister would cut off my balls if she heard me say those things."

  "It's the stress of the IPO," Robert told him. "I know you haven't had much sleep, judging from the number of emails that show up in my inbox at three in the morning."

  Wes frowned. It was true. The IPO had made the last few months nerve-racking.

  "Let's go have a drink," Robert said, handing Wes his suit jacket.

  "I can't—"

  "Of course you can!" Robert said. "The paperwork has already been submitted. The SEC signed off on everything. All that's left is to ring the bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange next week."

  Wes smiled at Robert and pulled on his jacket.

  Robert gave a wolf whistle, and Wes rolled his eyes.

  "I wish I looked like you," Robert remarked as they left the office.

  At a nearby hotel bar—there weren't too many choices out in the middle of nowhere, where Walsh Systech had their offices—Wes sank back into the large leather seat and sipped his drink. He wasn't a big drinker, but this was a special occasion.

  "I wouldn't worry too much about your curvy blond crush," Robert told him. "Maybe after the IPO, you can ask her out. You'll be a billionaire then, if your numbers are correct."

  "And they are," Wes retorted.

  Robert smirked. "She won't be able to resist you. All will be forgiven. Or you could date my sister, Rhonda. I think you two would be great together."

  "You're the one who needs to find a girlfriend," Wes told Robert. "You'll be rich too."

  "I don't care about money. I want to do cool stuff and be my own boss. I was so angry when my father sold the company. I wanted to run it and make it a global name."

  Wes sipped his drink. He knew the sale of Robert's father's company was still a sore point for Wes's COO, though he had tried to make the transition as smooth as possible.

  Robert gave a sad smile and swirled his drink around. "You know, I was apprehensive about selling you my company, but maybe it hasn't turned out so bad. I'm still able to have some control' as COO."

  Wes clinked his glass against Robert's. "Here's to dominating the market."

  The next week, Wes showed up at the NASDAQ stock exchange in the darkness of the early morning for interviews with various business-oriented TV shows.

  The interviewers all asked him similar questions about the company, his projections for the industry as a whole, and how Walsh Systech would be able to compete with Holbrook Enterprises.

  "There is room enough in the market for both entities," he said tersely to one interviewer.

  She smiled at him. "Now that the hard questions are out of the way, let's move on to some fun ones."

  Wes hated fun questions.

  "With this IPO, you're going to be a billionaire. How does it feel?"

  "Surreal."

  The interviewer gave him a bland smile. He knew she wanted him to elaborate. He stayed silent.

  "Any lucky women in your life to share the happy day?"

  "Nope."

  "Hear that, ladies?" the interviewer asked, turning to the camera. "Wes Walsh is single and on the market."

  Wes briefly thought about Liz and decided that maybe he would call her after the IPO was over. But he couldn't think about the curvy blonde right
now. He had a company to IPO.

  At 9:25, Wes, Robert, and the CEO of the NASDAQ stock exchange stepped up to the podium. The cameras clicked, and at 9:30 sharp Wes rang the bell.

  "Congratulations!" the CEO told him, shaking his hand.

  Robert and Wes gave more interviews, then they went to a nearby hotel and watched the stock ticker.

  "Why's the price dropping?" Robert asked with a frown.

  "Don't worry," Wes reassured him. "That means I did my job right. I wanted to set the valuation of the company as high as possible so we could have a quick cash infusion. Over the next few weeks, the stock price will start to climb back up as the major firms do their forecasts. I talked to Brayden, with Svensson Investment, and he said that their projections for our growth are very bullish."