Her stomach sank. He only called himself her papa when he was about ready to put her on the parental rack of guilt. “Keeping tabs on me still, Father? You know I don’t like that.”
“You’re the daughter of a billionaire, Francesca. I’ve had people keeping tabs on you since you were in swaddling. I knew about the trip to San Francisco, but I didn’t put it together you might be in touch with the Merriams. Personally or professionally.”
“Quinn Merriam asked, and I decided.” She fisted her hand against her stomach. “I don’t run my consultancies by you, Father.”
“No, and the very fact that you’re a consultant instead of vice president of your birthright continues to upset me. You stubbornly refuse to be a part of everything I’ve built for you.”
“The company is yours, Father. I’m not needed. Neither of us were happy, even if you won’t admit it. You run it, and it’s easier for everyone if no one interferes with that. We’ve covered this.”
“And when I die? Francesca, there are forty thousand employees who support Maroun Industries. Those jobs put bread on the table. Now Quinn Merriam is luring you—”
“Luring?” Her voice held an edge. “Father, do I strike you as someone who could be lured by anyone?”
“Certainly not your own father. But a former lover?”
Her breath caught. They’d never spoken about Quinn. He’d never asked her, specifically, about her personal relationships. He disapproved of all of them on principle—because they weren’t his choices. He’d tried to introduce her to “a man of good standing” when she was eighteen. She had made sure that disaster was not repeated.
But of course he’d known about Quinn. He made a point of knowing everything. “That’s my personal life. It has nothing to do with business.”
“It does if he’s trying to lure you to his flagging company on the memories of a summer fling.”
“It wasn’t a summer fling, Father.”
“Oh, boy,” Alice muttered, turning the car off.
“Of course it wasn’t, which is why I approached him and told him to leave you alone.”
Her shock caused her to knock her knee against the glove box. How come Quinn had never told her? “Clearly that didn’t go your way,” she guessed.
His rude noise confirmed it. “His outright refusal might have earned him my respect except for the fact that he’s not the man for you. You need to marry someone who understands you.”
Oh, God, not this again. “A good Lebanese man?”
“After all this time, I could likely approve of a cultured European as well. If the man’s from a good family, of course.”
“Of course. Father, you know this discussion is pointless.”
“You’re already too long without a husband. People talk about you, and about me too. They wonder what kind of a man could let his daughter be without a husband and children and a good home. I know your mother died—”
“It wouldn’t have changed my views.” She gripped the phone. “Father, this conversation is tiring. I’ve told you. I live my own life. Make my own decisions.”
“Certainly make your own money. You won’t let me support my only child. Why else do I work so hard except to take care of my family?”
She reminded herself of her New Year’s resolution to make peace with him. At the moment, she wanted to chuck it out the window. “Father, I love you, but we’ll never agree on this.”
He went silent a moment. “Merriam Enterprises is going down, Francesca. One gust of wind and they’re sunk. Not even you can stop it.”
“You won’t touch them, Father.” Her stomach quivered.
“I wouldn’t be that ruthless. Besides, you would never forgive me. But you do your consultancy and see for yourself. You’re planning on restructuring the company around oil, correct?”
“Father, you know that’s confidential.”
He made another rude noise. “It’s the wise play—on paper. Return to their roots and lock in on an industry that never loses money. Only, for reasons I can’t divulge, I’m telling you: don’t make this play.”
Silence radiated over the line as her mind raced. Why not? The oil industry was tempestuous, but the world depended on it.
Of course, she’d seen the drop in oil prices when she’d done her morning industry research. Concerns about China’s pneumonia-like virus were spooking some investors. Chinese officials had confirmed yesterday that they now had nearly three thousand cases, and the virus had spread from the city of Wuhan to Beijing, Shanghai, Macao, and Hong Kong.
“Are you warning me because of the virus in China?” she asked.
His grunt was audible. “The infected are a drop in the ocean in a country with over a billion and a half people. They’ll lock it down. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister made a similar statement, but did the market listen? No, it’s like a chicken in a henhouse sometimes, bawking at the tiniest noise.”
He hadn’t completely answered her question. Surely he wasn’t misleading her as a way of causing conflict with Quinn. “You’ll have to give me more, Father.”
He sighed. “Can you not trust your papa this once?”
Papa again. After what he’d admitted, she couldn’t do anything but call his motives into question. Plus, how was she supposed to explain any other play to Quinn? He knew it was the best plan to save Merriam Enterprises as much as she did. Everyone did. The devil was in the details. That’s where others fell down and she excelled. “I’m sorry to say no, Father.”
“Then I have truly failed you as a father, and I’m sorry for that.”
Her heart squeezed. “Father, I’m sorry too. I want peace between us.”
“Peace! What is peace? Even now our country faces tremendous trouble and hardship. I thrive on adversity, but you have forgotten your roots and gone soft. Do not let your feelings for this man cloud your judgment. Merriam Enterprises has had poor leadership since their father retired, and the brothers have run a good legacy into the ground. I don’t plan for that to happen to Maroun Industries. As my daughter, I’m trusting you’ll do what you’ve always been meant to do. People are depending on you, and so am I. Now more than ever.”
The call ended, and she clenched her eyes shut as hurt and anger wrapped her up like a hot scratchy blanket.
“Breathe,” Alice said in her Zen voice.
“He makes me madder than— Do you know what he said?”
“I have an idea after seeing you two go round after round on our last trip to Beirut. Anything new?”
She threw her phone into her purse and turned in her seat. Leaving out his nebulous entreaty regarding oil, she said, “Apparently, back in London, he spoke to Quinn and asked him to leave me alone.”
Alice’s eyes widened. “I’d have paid big money to hear that conversation.”
Frankly, so would she.
Why hadn’t Quinn told her? Had he known how angry it would make her? They didn’t used to keep secrets from each other.
“This only drills home what we already knew,” Alice said. “Your father knows everything. Remember how thoroughly he had his people check me out?”