Alpha CEO Read online

  ALPHA CEO

  USA TODAY & WALLSTREET JOURNAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR

  M. ROBINSON

  COPYRIGHT© 2021 Alpha CEO by M. Robinson

  All rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity and are used fictitiously. All characters are a figment of the author’s imagination, and all incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s mind's eye and are not to be interpreted as real. Though several people, places, and events portrayed in this book are correct, the story is fiction that the author has made up for entertainment purposes only.

  DEDICATION

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  EPILOGUE

  COMPLICATE ME

  PROLOGUE

  MEET M. ROBINSON

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  MORE BOOKS BY M

  DEDICATION

  To all my angst readers!

  I wrote this for you!

  Prologue

  —Autumn—

  “I’m sorry, Autumn.”

  Three little words that left a gaping hole in my heart. I should’ve listened to my brother. I should’ve known this man would break me. He didn’t just tear me open, no… He shattered me into a million tiny pieces.

  “You’re sorry?” I countered in a condescending tone. “What exactly are you sorry for, Julian? The fact that you not only pushed me away but also led me on all these years? Or is it the fact that you took my virginity, and now you’re telling me you’re sorry for it? Which is it? Because I honestly don’t know.”

  “Kid, you know that’s not true. I’ve been back inside of you since I took your virginity months ago.”

  I scoffed out, shaking my head in disgust. “That’s all you’ve ever seen me as. I’m just a kid to you.”

  “You think I see you as a child?” He jerked back. Offended was an understatement. “For fuck’s sake! Your mouth’s been wrapped around my cock, Autumn, so your statement is full of shit.”

  I couldn’t help but remember the first time he’d called me kid. I was six years old, and he was almost thirteen. Even back then I knew I loved him. There we were, almost thirteen years later, and I was no longer a little girl with a crush on her older brother’s best friend.

  Now I was a woman who was madly in love with him instead.

  “I can’t do this anymore. We can’t do this anymore.”

  It pained me to hear him say that. He sounded so unbelievably defeated which wasn’t in his nature. Julian was always determined in whatever he wanted, and he never backed down from a challenge.

  “So what? Are we just supposed to pretend like you don’t love me?”

  With the utmost sincere expression on his face, he argued, “I don’t love you, Autumn.”

  I stumbled back, almost falling to the ground from his cruel response. “You don’t mean that.”

  Our relationship wasn’t supposed to be this hard. Today was supposed to be Christian’s day. My brother was getting married, and I was in the wedding. We both were. Julian was the best man, standing tall beside my brother who was marrying the love of his life that he’d known since childhood. They were high school sweethearts.

  Throughout the entire ceremony Julian and I cautiously locked eyes, and I wondered if his thoughts mirrored mine. Was he was envisioning us standing in front of all our family and friends, sharing our vows to one another?

  Our love for each other?

  I’d known Julian for as long as I could remember. He was always there, through thick and thin, my brother’s best friend. I should have been celebrating with everyone else at the reception, not wallowing in the illusions I’d made up in my mind of a future that existed only in my mind.

  “I’ve never meant anything more in all my life.”

  I didn’t know what to say or how to act. All I could do was feel this powerful pain spiraling inside of me. I closed my eyes as a single tear fell down the side of my face, reminding me of all the times I’d spent crying over him.

  Over us.

  “Why are you doing this? Is it because I told you I loved you?”

  “Autumn, you’ve been telling me you love me since you were almost seventeen years old.”

  “Then why are you doing this? You at least owe me that.”

  I would never forget the expression on his face when he confessed, “At Christian’s bachelor party last weekend, I fucked someone else, kid.”

  —Julian—

  “You’re lying!”

  “Do I ever lie to you?”

  She wrapped her arms around her torso in a comforting gesture while I waited to finally end us once and for all.

  “Who?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Then why are you telling me?”

  “I’m not good for you. I’ve never been good enough for you.”

  “That didn’t stop you from sleeping with me, did it?”

  “If anything, kid, you should be thankful it was me and not some boy in the back of his car who doesn’t even know how to make you come.”

  “Oh, because you did?”

  “Yeah, just ask my soaking wet sheets.”

  “You arrogant asshole!”

  “What do you want from me? You want me to lie and tell you I love you when I don’t? You want me to hurt you more than I already am? More than I already have?”

  “You know what I want. It’s what I’ve always wanted. It hasn’t changed, it never changes. You know it as much as I do. All I’ve ever wanted is you.”

  I hated that she was speaking the truth.

  “I want you to look me in the eyes and swear to me that you cheated on me, and you’re not just telling me that to push me away again.”

  “We’re not together, kid. I didn’t cheat on you.”

  I debated for the last week if I was going to do this. If I truly had the strength to tell her this. I thought about it for hours on end, driving myself fucking insane with what the right or wrong thing to do was when it came to us.

  We never had a future.

  We barely had a present.

  After seeing the look in her eyes during the ceremony, I knew what she was envisioning, and it was the cold, hard reality I needed to witness in order to tell her it was over. The sneaking around and lying to her brother, to her family. The only family I’d ever known. They took me in when I didn’t have anyone, and this was how I repaid them.

  By fucking over their daughter.

  What kind of man was I?

  I was hurting her in the worst possible ways, and I had to live with knowing I did that. My hands were firmly placed in the pockets of my slacks, resisting the urge to pull her into my arms and comfort her the only way I knew how.

  The second I walked into the church this afternoon, I stopped dead in my tracks just to take her in. She was a vision in her lavender gown. Her red hair was down, framing her beautiful freckled face and her bright green eyes that I lost myself in night after night.

  She looked breathtaking, smiling at everyone. Always the center of attention in any room without having to try. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It took everything inside me not to claim her right then and there. In front of her family, her friends, her brother…

  My best friend.

  There was no controlling the internal battle that surfaced in the forefront of my mind—it was such a wave of emotions.

  It wasn’t fair.

  None of this was fucking fair.

  Especially to her.

  When she suddenly caught my stare like she’d felt me from across the church, I didn’t look away. She was the first to break our connection, gazing at the ground instead of my eyes. Fully aware she couldn’t hide her feelings for me.

  Her love.

  It seared off of her, burning into my skin. Inflicting scars that would never heal—I wouldn’t let them. I didn’t know if she’d adverted her gaze for my benefit or hers, but I didn’t give it too much thought.

  I shoved it away as I did with everything when it came to her. Out of respect for her overprotective brother, it was easier to pretend she was just my best friend’s little sister and not the woman who had the power to bring me to my knees if I’d let her.
>
  Since she’d turned eighteen almost a year ago, there was no holding back anymore, and I indulged in the sweetest sin that was Autumn Troy. The little girl who used to follow me around with pigtails and her baby doll in her arms was long gone, and in her place stood an adult, a woman.

  My feet moved of their own accord as I followed her out to the cove. We exchanged words that would eternally haunt me, only adding to the pile of endless secrets and betrayals I’d let happen to the family that raised me as if I was their own.

  For a few seconds, I inhaled the sweet and enticing smell of Autumn. Remembering that the scent of her strawberry shampoo and coconut lotion still lingered on my pillow and sheets was the only comforting thing I had to go home to.

  Stepping toward her, I swept the hair away from her face as a few tears slid down the sides of her cheeks. I wiped those away too. Her tears were the only thing I’d ever be worthy of. Our emotions were running wild, fighting a battle I knew I could never win.

  The emotional turmoil ate away at me the closer I got to telling her this would be the last time she would see me. It would be the last time anyone in her family would see me. Including her brother.

  I had to leave.

  If I stayed, I’d make her mine, and I couldn’t do that to them. Not after everything they had done for me.

  Gripping onto the back of her neck, I tugged her toward me, and she caught herself on my chest. Her lips were now mere inches away from my mouth.

  Leaning in, I rasped, “I’m leaving town.”

  Autumn’s doe eyes widened, and her breathing hitched. “Leaving?” She choked back a sob. “What do you mean leaving? Where are you going?”

  “Away from you.”

  She sucked in a breath. “Julian…” Softly, she pecked my lips, beckoning my mouth to open for her.

  “But before I go…” I hesitated for a moment, wanting to remember the feel of her lips against mine. “I just need you to know.”

  There was no coming back from this.

  What I’d say next would break her heart. She’d hate me, but in the end, I did what I had to do.

  Looking deep into her eyes, I viciously spewed, “You were nothing more than a fuck to me, kid.”

  Those were the last words I’d ever said to her before I turned around and left her there.

  With nothing but the man she once knew.

  Chapter ONE

  —Autumn—

  Ten years later

  “Welcome, Miss Troy. We can’t tell you how excited we are to finally have you here in Miami with us.”

  I smiled, nodding at the women who’d just welcomed me. “Thank you. I’m excited to be here and working with everyone.”

  She nervously chuckled, quickly playing it off. “Right… We’ve spoken on the phone several times in the last couple of weeks, and I’ve given you a brief overview, but I figured it would be best for us to discuss all the details in person and with everyone present.”

  “Everyone except the most important person,” an older man sitting to the right of her informed.

  She didn’t pay him any mind. “Now that you’ve signed your nondisclosure, it’s best if we begin with introductions before we proceed.” She touched her chest. “As you know, I’m Claire, the head of human resources, and I’ve been with Mr. Locke for the last four years. This is Mr. Locke’s assistant, Erin.” She gestured to the younger woman sitting beside her who appeared anxious and a bit shy.

  “Erin will be citing our entire meeting, so please don’t be alarmed as she types away on her computer. Mr. Locke prefers all meetings to be noted for future reference and, of course, to avoid any indiscretions that may arise.”

  “I understand.”

  Claire nodded toward the older man who had just spoken. “This is Carl, and he is the Vice President here at Locke Enterprises. He’s been with Mr. Locke the longest out of everyone in this board meeting.”

  “And because I’ve been with him the longest, I know we’re all wasting our time. He’s never going to go for this.”

  “He doesn’t have a choice in the matter. We’re announcing and going public in ten days, Carl.”

  “I understand the severity, Claire, but we both know he’s a private person.”

  She ignored his statement, gesturing toward the man who sat in front of her at the rectangular mahogany table where we were all sitting at.

  “That’s Robert. He’s our chief financial officer.” She pointed to the woman next to him. “This is Julia. She’s our senior marketing officer, and the man sitting to her right is Adam. He’s the head of our public relations department. The woman sitting beside him is Sylvia, and she’s one of our board members who is accompanied by James and Andrew, who are also board members. Last, but certainly not least is Marcus.” She nodded toward the man sitting parallel to her. “He’s one of our chief executives.”

  I smiled at the room. “Nice to meet everyone.”

  “Great, now that we have that out of the way, I can share some history on Locke Enterprises with you. I’m sure you Googled the company, but even the internet doesn’t know much about our CEO. As Carl stated, Mr. Locke is an extremely private man and is adamant about staying so. However, we’re in the process of transitioning from a private business to a public one as we discussed on the phone. We’ve all come to the mutual agreement that Mr. Locke must remain the face of the company, and with that, there are a few concerns.”

  “There aren’t a few concerns,” Carl interrupted, only looking at me. “There’s only one, Miss Troy, and it’s why you’re here.”

  She glared at him. “We’re not trying to scare her away, Carl. She’s the best at what she does. It’s why she’s here.”

  “I am the best at what I do, and I’m fully aware of the reputation that precedes Mr. Locke. The whole world is, but trust me, if I can change Life of Debauchery’s (LOD) rock star image to golden boys, then I can handle your CEO.”

  “I know.” Claire beamed, sitting up in her chair. “It took me months to get a phone call with you. You’re a very busy woman, and your resume speaks for itself.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled, gazing around the table before I confidently added, “I’ve worked for High Society Public Relations for the last five years, and after my success with softening Life of Debauchery’s image about two years ago, my phone hasn’t stopped ringing with new clientele. LOD had endless stints in rehab and problems with authority, not to mention the law didn’t hold well with their record label. When news got out that I was the woman responsible for their rebranding, things most certainly took a turn in my career. By the time I was through with them, they landed the cover of The New York Times and went from bad boy rockers to misunderstood musicians. I was in charge of their interviews, live appearances, and everything in between. Most importantly, I established and maintained cooperative relationships with industry representatives across a broad spectrum of media outlets which we’re going to need now more than ever on our side.”

  I could tell by the expression on their faces they were eating up every word of what I was sharing. I wasn’t exaggerating by any means. I’d graduated college early, top of my class in my master’s program of Marketing and Public Relations. I wasn’t just good at what I did—I was the best.

  “Those are only a couple of things that I can personally handle,” I continued on. “But rest assured that my entire team was handpicked by yours truly. Each person brings their own level of expertise, from writing press releases and any other media communications on promoting our clients, and in some cases, even monitoring their social media accounts. Their ideas are fresh, and they understand how this industry works. It can eat you up and spit you out in a matter of a few hours, and my job is to make sure our T’s are crossed and our I’s are dotted. We act as a safety net for our clients and the rest of the consumer world. We’re a powerhouse and a force to be reckoned with. I am the best. Therefore, I only work with clients who are in desperate need of my services. The bigger the challenge, the more I accel.” I paused to let my words sink in, loving the energy I was creating through the boardroom.

  It was such a high.

  Success was as addicting as any drug could be, and it was the only reason I agreed to this position in the first place. If I took Mr. Locke on as a client, I could make partner in my agency. My hands were tied, and I had no choice if I wanted to advance my career to the next level, Mr. Locke would be the man to make that possible. Everyone would want to work with me, and there would be no competition. I’d be at the top of my game, the peak of my career, and there was no turning that down.