Chapter 1

      “Son of a...!”

      An uncharacteristic censuring glare from her father halted Lola Gray’s curse, but not her outrage. She glared at her family gathered in the boardroom of Espresso Cosmetics for their quarterly meeting.

      “Calm down, baby girl,” her stepbrother and company CEO, Cole Sinclair, warned from the head of the conference room table. The endearment didn’t diminish the sting of his stern tone. Nor did it soften the blow of him using against her the voting rights she had entrusted him with.

      “Calm down?” Lola asked, incredulous. Standing abruptly, she flung a head shot of the model they intended to replace her with across the boardroom table. “How would you feel if I gave your job to a drag queen?”

      “That drag queen was nearly your new step-mother.” The gravelly voice of Espresso’s longtime secretary, Loretta Walker, chimed in.

      A grunt sounded from Lola’s father’s direction. “Are you ever going to let that go?”

      “Not as long as I’m still breathing,” Loretta retorted.

      “It was an honest mistake,” Lola’s father grumbled. “The guy looked just like a woman, a really good-looking one.”

      Lola’s shoulder-length hair swished against her shoulders as her head swiveled between them like a tennis ball in a championship match between Venus and Serena.

      Unbelievable.

      She’d walked through the doors of the Espresso building this morning expecting to hear an update on their family business, as well as more information about her upcoming photo shoot in China for the new red-lipstick collection. Instead, her family had broken the news she was out as the face of Espresso, as casually as they’d poured coffee from the carafe situated at the center of the long table.

      And now they’d segued to an entirely different topic.

      “Gorgeous, isn’t he?” Lola’s older sister, Tia Gray-Wright picked up the discarded glossy photo. “This was the most challenging makeover I’ve ever done, but Freddy Finch is one stunning woman...uh, I mean man...um, I mean...”

      Her husband and now Espresso’s attorney, Ethan Wright, patted his wife’s hand. “We know what you mean, sweetheart, and you did a spectacular job.” He turned to his father-in-law. “Always check the neck, man.”

      Cole nodded in agreement. “And if you spot a giant Adam’s apple bobbing in the throat, then she is more than likely a he.”

      Raucous laughter erupted around the table. Lola stared at them openmouthed. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she was in the middle of a comedy-club act instead of a business meeting.

      How could they all sit around joking after the bomb they’d just dropped?

      Fed up, Lola fisted her hands on hip bones sharpened by years of torturous exercise and a diet of tasteless protein shakes. “Shut up!” she yelled. “Every one of you. Just shut up!”

      Silence fell upon the room, and the startled eyes of its occupants landed on her. Satisfied she finally had their attention, Lola wanted to make it crystal clear she wasn’t going to stand by and let them take her job. Not without a fight.

      “As a member of this family and a part owner of Espresso Cosmetics, I have a say in this matter,” she began.

      “I hold your proxy,” Cole reminded her. Again, his chilly monotone had a firm edge, so different than the indulging one he’d always used with her. “So you’ve already had your say.”

      “That was fine when I was out of the country for months at a time, but I’m back now. I’ll vote my own shares, thank you very much. We’ll just do a recount.”

      Lola turned imploring eyes to Cole’s new wife, Sage, who had recently merged her own cosmetics company with Espresso. Her sister-in-law had a rebellious streak. If she got Sage on her side, Lola calculated quickly, and then sweet-talked her father into changing his mind, she’d have the voting power to overturn Cole’s decision to oust her as the face of Espresso Cosmetics.

      Sage glanced at her husband, and Cole winked in response. Lola’s hopes plummeted as she watched her sister-in-law’s light brown face flush. She recognized a dick-whipped woman when she saw one, and Sage was clearly under his spell. Just as she expected, her sister-in-law shook her head slowly and mouthed the word no.

      Cole cleared his throat. “Even if you did vote your shares, it’s not enough to overrule my decision,” he said. “Mr. Freddy Finch is the new face of Espresso Cosmetics. We’ll announce it to the public next month. He’ll also travel to Hong Kong to shoot the campaign for the special-edition red lipsticks.”

      “So this was a done deal before I even walked into the building,” Lola whispered, more to herself than to them. “I never stood a chance.”

      She glanced around the room at her father, siblings and their spouses. Her family. They were the very people who were supposed to have her back. Instead, she felt their disloyalty as keenly as if they’d took turns plunging a knife into her back.

      “I have a contract. I’ll sue.” Lola knew she was grasping.

      “That wouldn’t be wise,” Ethan said, sounding more like the lawyer he was than her brother-in-law.

      Cole heaved a sigh from the head of the table. “Hopefully that’s settled.” He turned to his secretary. “What’s next on the agenda?”

      “It is certainly not settled.” Lola struggled to keep her emotions in check. “This—this is...” she stammered, her brain scrambling for the right word. “This is bullshit!”

      “Lola!” her father admonished from the other end of the conference table.

      However, she had too much at stake to back down. “You raised me to call it as I see it, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” She addressed her father, and then scanned the room.

      “I put my best face forward for years, while this company churned out one stale collection after another, earning the reputation as old-lady makeup,” Lola argued. She was the one the public associated with Espresso’s senior-citizen image. Not her in-laws, her father or her siblings. “Now that we’re finally making a comeback with fresh colors and exciting new products, you want to kick me to the curb, for a man in a wig.”

      Zeroing in on her brother, Lola jabbed a gel-manicured fingertip in his direction. “If that’s not a load of crap, then you tell me what is!”

      Cole raised a brow. “Since you never have a problem saying exactly what’s on your mind, I’ll return the favor.” His eyes narrowed as he leaned back in the black leather executive chair. “Let’s start with this sudden concern for your job. Where was it last year when Tia had to personally escort you to the airport so you could make a flight to a location shoot?”

      He fired off another question before Lola could answer the first one. “Do you know how much it cost Espresso to appease that prima donna photographer you kept waiting?”

      She knew before she opened her mouth to explain that he wouldn’t understand. Her sister certainly hadn’t. “My very best friend’s fiancé had just called off their engagement, a week before their wedding. Britt was hysterical. How could I walk away when she needed me most?”

      “Easy,” Cole said. He appeared as unmoved as Tia had been at the time.