The Fearless King (The Kings #2)(35)



“No reason to waste both our time.” Though that was exactly what they were doing right now. Elliott wouldn’t have brought in someone who was objective—he had a goal to accomplish, and this shrink would play a key part in that. He would have covered all his bases to ensure he ended up with the outcome he wanted.

“Your mother leaving under such sudden circumstances must have been difficult to deal with.” Dr. Scott pinned her in place with hard blue eyes. “How are you holding up under the increased demands on your time?”

“To be honest, not much has changed.” It was even the truth. “My mother appointed me as COO because she knew I could handle it, and she only micromanaged her pet projects when they came under my purview. The rest of the time, she was focused on the big picture, while I did my part to keep Kingdom Corp functioning like a well-oiled machine.” She gave a tight smile. “If you’ll excuse the pun.”

The shrink made a note. “I have it here that Samara Mallick also left the company around the same time as your mother. Who’s handling her duties now?”

“Anderson and I have split them.”

“Hmmm.” Another note. “You and Ms. Mallick were friends.”

“We are friends—present tense.”

She made that annoying hmmm noise again and sat back. “You don’t think that friendship is in direct conflict with your current position within Kingdom Corp? She’s now the COO of Morningstar Enterprise, is she not?”

This, at least, Journey had prepared for the second Samara left the company. Since they worked so closely for so many years, it stood to reason that people would wonder if that would affect their ability to work for competing companies going forward. “Samara and I are professionals. We’re more than capable of being friends outside of work and competition within our respective positions.”

“That’s a rather optimistic outlook, don’t you think?”

“Hardly.” Journey gave her a hard look. “Samara was with Kingdom Corp for ten years. I know how she operates, both professionally and personally. As such, I can say with confidence that I’m correct. You’re more than welcome to confirm that with Anderson.” If her father thought he could use Samara to bring her down, he had another think coming. Their friendship brought up questions like this all the time, even when they had still worked for the same company. They’d managed to keep things separate when they needed to for the last decade—they’d do it for the next decade, too.

Dr. Scott recrossed her legs, apparently a signal of the subject changing. “You’re dating Frank Evans.”

That didn’t take long for Elliott to figure out. “Yes.”

“Another relationship that you can keep separate from Kingdom Corp.”

It wasn’t a question, so she should have kept her damn mouth shut, but Journey saw the writing on the wall. “If anything, my relationship with Frank is an asset to the company. While we also keep the professional and personal separate—shocking, I know—our being together may very well mean that he’s more inclined to make favorable deals with Kingdom Corp.”

“Those statements contradict each other. Either your relationship has nothing to do with your professional life or it’s an asset professionally—which means you’re also in danger of being influenced.”

Journey caught herself white-knuckling the arms of her chair and released them. This wasn’t going her way, but she’d be damned before she went down without a fight. Journey forced a smile. “Dr. Scott, I’m not sure how psychologists work, but within the oil industry, there’s a significant amount of socializing and elbow rubbing between companies that are both allies and enemies. It’s the nature of the beast. Personal bias, both positive and negative, comes into every single business meeting, whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Frank Evans made things very difficult for Kingdom Corp within Houston because he dislikes my mother intensely. I think it would be considered an asset that my relationship with him may open doors that have been previously closed to the company.” Chew on that, bitch.

From the way the woman’s mouth tightened, she wasn’t a fan of Journey being so damn logical. Those cold blue eyes flicked up to her, crinkling a little at the corners, and that’s all the warning she had before Dr. Scott said, “You seem rather confrontational, Ms. King.”

“Excuse me?”

Dr. Scott’s mouth quirked into something resembling a smile. “I believe you heard me. You knew a psychological evaluation was part of being the condition for holding a position on the board of directors. I haven’t asked anything out of line, but you decided this was a fight the second I walked through the door. Why is that?”

Oh, so they were going to be honest. Great. Journey leaned back in her chair and stared at the woman. “You have one purpose here, and we both know it’s not to provide an accurate report. My father has his plans in place, and you’re on his payroll. So, yes, I’m confrontational. You’re wasting my time when you decided on the outcome before I said a single word.”

“Interesting.” Her pen scratched over the paper as she made yet more notes. “It’s perfectly normal for girls raised without their father to have issues with authority, as well as feelings of abandonment. Neither of those things is your father’s fault, you know. It’s simply the natural reaction to the choice your mother made.”

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