Chapter One
Hannah
“Are you ready for the party?”
Nessa shrugged and rearranged the stack of papers on her desk. “I suppose. Marcus took care of almost everything for us. Mom and dad had most things planned before they died, so he just sort of made sure everything was in line.”
I sat back in my chair and sighed. It seemed so easy for Nessa to say mom and dad had died. “I know it’s been four months, but it still feels like it was yesterday when we got the news.”
You never really expect to lose your parents, let alone at the same time. Daddy was one of the best pilots this side of the Mississippi River, but he didn’t stand a chance against the front of storms and hail that suddenly appeared. He had tried to land, but the wind had other plans. It was as if the rain had grabbed his plane and just slammed it right into the Rocky Mountains.
Nessa sighed and ran her fingers through her long silvery hair. “It does, but there isn’t anything else we can do about it but to move on. Dad wouldn’t want us moping around when there is so much work to be done. I’m worried we’re going to lose three jobs. We need that money coming in.”
Nessa had a lot of work to do. Mom and Dad hadn’t willed me any of the business. They had left all of that to Nessa while I had gotten their house in the Rocky Mountains along with all of their cars.
It may seem like I had gotten off better, but Nessa had more. Mitcham Metals was the largest supplier of structural steel and miscellaneous metals fabrication in a six-state radius, and with that came lots of money and power.
Growing up, Nessa and I had been close for so many years, and then something changed when she turned thirteen. She stopped hanging out with me, spending most of her time in her room, and barely looking in my direction. Mom and Dad didn’t seem to care.
Once Nessa had graduated high school, dad had taken her under his wing and started grooming her for the job she now had. President of Mitcham Metals.
I had started working at Mitcham Metals after I had graduated college with a degree in accounting. I had worked my way up, and now I had my job at Mitcham as the head of accounting, but everyone knew that Nessa was the woman in charge now.
“I got the estimate from Bob for the Grace Church build. I don’t think we are charging enough.” Nessa grabbed a paper and handed it to me. “We’re barely going to break even. If we do this and then lose the three other jobs, I’m afraid times are going to be very hard.”
I scanned the paper. “I would have to sit down and actually look at this, but it seems he only charged them half of what we normally would for labor.”
“He did. I don’t know if he was doing it because it’s a church, but we can’t be cutting ourselves short.”
Nessa was right, but it wasn’t like Bob wrote up estimates like this all of the time. “Did you talk to him about it? Maybe there is a reason why.”
“I asked him to come in this afternoon to talk about it. I’m hoping it’s a mistake.”
Maybe it was. “Well, if you want me to crunch the numbers and see exactly how much he’s off by, I would be happy to.”
Nessa shook her head. “Not yet. If I do, I’ll let you know.”
I smiled wide and stood. “Well, I’m headed back to my office. Let me know if there is anything else you need from me.”
Nessa grabbed the paper back and set it in front of her. “Try not to go cross-eyed looking at all those numbers you love so much.”
A laugh bubbled from my lips. “Never.”
I made my way down two floors and parked my butt in my office.
Mitcham Metals was a four-story building that was across the yard from where the metal fabricating happened. The fabricating buildings were six times the size of the office building and stretched the length of two football fields.
Daddy always said that was where the magic happened, and he tended to spend more time over there than in his office chair.
I grabbed the three files of the companies that were threatening to take their business elsewhere. Dad had always said it was hard to keep everyone happy, but he always tried his best.
That was what Nessa was trying to do, but some people were having a problem with a twenty-eight-year-old woman taking over.
Marcus, who had been my dad’s right-hand man, was helping to advise Nessa what she needed to be doing, but things were a little bumpy.
The party that was to happen two days from now was supposed to be the annual employee appreciation. Still, Nessa and Marcus had decided to change gears instead and focus more on rebuilding Mitcham Metals. A sort of introduction to Nessa being the new boss and for everyone to get to know her.
Before Nessa had become president of Mitcham Metals, she worked as the head of advertising and helped dad with certain things. He had tried to have her learn everything, but he had died before that had happened.
That was another reason why I didn’t envy her. Sure, Mitcham Metals was part of me, but I knew I wasn’t ready to run a multi-million-dollar company. Nessa didn’t have the choice to say no.
I opened the first file and sighed. I was going to help Nessa as much as I could because she was my sister, and family never turned their backs on each other. Ever.
*
Chapter Two
Ice
“The load of steel should be here Monday.”
“They’re delivering to the site, right?” Mercury asked
I nodded and tossed my pen on the desk in front of me. Samson, my Sheepnees with one icy blue eye and one dark brown eye, was sprawled out next to me with his head resting on my foot. “Over on Dickson. We should be able to get back to work after lunchtime on Monday.” I reached down and ruffled Samson’s fluffy ears.
“I’m still not happy about having two days of downtime. We should be working on the addition to the garage right now. Thank god we have loyal customers who know shit is out of our hands.”
I shrugged and leaned back in my chair. “You had to know with Hal and Gretchen dying a few months back; things were going to be messed up over at Mitcham Steel. I’m just glad the place hasn’t folded.”
Mercury scoffed. “The Ice Queen would have to fuck up a whole lot for that place to go under. She’s got the world in the palm of her hand right now.”
“I still remember the day you called her Ice Queen to her face.” Man, that had been fucking crazy. “Pretty sure my eyebrows were scorched from the death glare she had given us.”
“Just calling it as I see it. Nessa Mitcham needs to be taken down a peg or two.”
“And you thought you were the person for the job?” Mercury was the president of the VII Knights MC, and that sometimes went to his head. He didn’t care if you were a member of the club or not; he was going to tell you whatever he wanted. Nice or not.
“She was walking around like she owned the fucking joint while her ol’ man, who actually built that company from the ground up, was doing all the heavy lifting and work. Yeah, she’s a fucking Ice Princess.”
“Yeah, she was being a bitch, but I don’t know how you got Ice Princess.”
Mercury pointed to his head. “The fucking white/silver hair, bro. Ice Princess.”