by B. B. Hamel
“But we can threaten him with this,” I say, pushing forward. I couldn’t help but notice her disappointment for some reason. “He probably doesn’t think we even noticed this weird little discrepancy.”
“Oh, I’m sure he knows we know,” she says. “He’s too thorough for that.”
“True. Has he contacted you?”
She shakes her head. “Not yet. But I suspect it’s because he’s too afraid.”
I grin at her. “You’re one scary girl, you know that?”
“Of course I am.” She grins right back.
I have to admit, she’s absolutely marvelous. I walk over to her and kiss her again softly, not able to help myself.
“We’re still doing this?” she asks, gently pulling away.
“We are, if it’s what you still want.”
She nods slowly, eyes locked on mine. “I still want it.”
“Good. I do too.” I kiss her again, deeper this time, lingering on her lips.
I believe her. This was all that I needed. Her initial reaction was a little fishy, but I think in retrospect it’s because she was just so shocked by it all. Her father has never given her anything substantial, and to find out that he put a portion of his own company in her name is a big deal. It probably freaked her out.
But now that she’s calmer, I can see that she’s not lying. I don’t know how, but I can see it clear as day. I believe that she’s not hiding anything from me, and that she’s totally genuine about everything she’s saying to me.
I’m happy to have her back. And I’m happy that we now have a real weapon to use against her asshole father. I won’t do anything she’s not comfortable with, but together I’m confident we can destroy him.
Together, we’re going to make this happen, and I’m so happy she’s here in my arms.
26
Erin
I’m still reeling from yesterday. Lacey is fussy this morning for whatever reason, and Griffin had to go into work early, so he didn’t have time to hang around. I don’t know what to think about everything, but I’ve finally decided just to go with the flow.
I’m trying to understand why my father would put part of his company in my name, but I just can’t figure it out. Part of me wants to call him and ask, but I can’t stoop to that. I don’t want to talk to him if I didn’t have to, I’ve decided.
I know there’s nothing back there for me, even if he says there is. I know he won’t give me what I want even if I do everything perfectly, purely because he’s that kind of man. He’s the kind of person that would withhold everything from me just because he can, and I don’t need that in my life. He’s been controlling and pushing me my whole life, and finally I’ve gotten away from it.
I’m happy I made up with Griffin. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t decided to come back to his place. I was flirting with finding a hotel room on the cheap, but I couldn’t leave things the way they were. Besides, the more I thought about it, the more I could see his point of view. It came out of nowhere and looked really suspicious, and although I don’t think he should have been skeptical of me, I can understand why he might have been.
I just want this to be over, and I think it will be soon. Griffin was excited last night when we got to talking in bed, and he seemed to know what he’s going to do with this information. I honestly don’t care, as long as it’s nothing illegal. Whatever he thinks is best will work for me. I want to see my father go down, and I know Griffin is the man to make that happen.
As I’m playing with Lacey in the living room, my phone starts to buzz. I answer it without thinking, assuming it’s Griffin calling to see how I’m doing.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Erin. We need to talk.”
I pause, surprised. It’s my brother Ward’s voice, but I don’t know why he’d be calling.
“Uh, okay,” I say. “I didn’t expect to hear from you.”
“I’m outside.”
I stare at the ground. “Outside where?”
“Griffin McGrath’s house. You’re in there, right?”
I have to put the phone on mute for a second as I take some deep breaths. My brother Ward is here, at this house right now, and he wants to talk. Ward is practically my father’s right-hand man, and talking to Ward is basically like talking to my father.
Except it’s not. Ward isn’t my father, although they share some similarities. Back when we were kids, Ward and I were actually pretty close. My father was never a nice man, and he used to be particularly hard on Ward. We’d bond over our mutual shared dislike of our father, although that changed once I was sent away to school. Ward, on the other hand, was kept around, and I realize now that’s because my father wanted to groom him personally to take over the business one day.
I pick the phone back up to my ear. “I can come outside,” I say.
“Okay. I’ll be here.” He hangs up.
I look at Lacey and shake my head. “This is a mistake,” I say.
She just makes some noises and I smile. I pick her up and carry her down the hall with me and out the front door.
Ward is standing by the tree. I put Lacey down on the stoop was he comes over to us.
“Is this his daughter?” Ward asks.
I nod. “Her name’s Lacey.”
“Cute kid.” Ward smiles at her and crouches down. “Hi, Lacey.”
Lacey just looks at him, a little suspicious.
“What do you want to talk about?” I ask him.
“You know what.” Ward straightens up.
Lacey plays with the bushes as I look at him. “Did you know?” I ask.
He frowns. “Know what?”
“That father left me thirty percent of the Consortium. Or at least he put it in my name.”
Ward nods his head. “I knew.”
“Why?”
He glances down. “I’m not supposed to say.” He quickly looks back up at me and steps closer. “But please, Erin, stop this. McGrath isn’t a good man.”
“Griffin has been better to me than you assholes ever were.” I’m surprised at the harshness of my voice but it’s the truth.
Ward doesn’t seem fazed. “Father regrets the way he spoke to you. He regrets a lot of things.”
“Did he say that, or are you just trying to get me to come back?”
Ward frowns and puts his hands up. “I’m here on a peaceful mission, Erin.”
“I can see that. Suddenly I have something that can hurt you and father, and now I’m worth talking to.”
“I always talked to you.”
“No, you spoke down to me.” I face him with my arms crossed while Lacey laughs and pulls at the leaves. “Maybe when we were kids, we were close, but we haven’t been kids for a long time. You changed, Ward, and I never liked it.”
“I’m still your older brother,” he says softly.
“That doesn’t matter much anymore.”
He frowns at me and for a second, I think he might actually be upset. But the moment passes and he’s back to the same old Ward with a flat affect and no emotions.
“What do you want?” he asks.
“Talk to Griffin about that.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t want to talk to that… that asshole. What do you want, Erin?”
“Talk to Griffin,” I repeat.
He watches me for a second, and I realize that he’s not at all my brother anymore. He’s just a man that happens to be related to me. He’s not the sweet and kind older brother that I remember from our childhood. That older brother is gone.
“We’ll sign the papers,” Ward says. “We’ll sign the current version of the contract today.”
“Today?” I ask, a little surprised. “You must be desperate.”
“The contract is good enough. We’ll benefit and so will you.”
“Is this coming from father again?”
“Yes,” Ward confirms.
So that’s it, then. My older brother is fully in my father’s pocket, and
I don’t have to worry about that anymore.
“Tell him to talk with Griffin.”
Ward’s jaw tightens. “This is a good offer, Erin. Tell your husband about it.” He says the word “husband” like it’s poisonous.
“Okay,” I say. “But you’ll still have to talk to him yourself.” I pause for a second then sigh. “Why is the company in my name, anyway?”
“Do you rally want to know?”
I nod slowly. “Tell me.”
“When father was setting up the business, him and mother weren’t doing too well. He was afraid she would divorce him and take his assets, so he put some things in our names to hide it from her. This thirty percent share is a remnant from that time.”
I can’t help but laugh. It’s so freaking hilarious to finally hear the truth and to have everything I always assumed confirmed. My father doesn’t care about me and never did. He only gave me something good in order to keep it away from someone else. He’s a spiteful, mean bastard, and I hope he gets what he deserves.
“Talk to Griffin,” I say, still laughing, though inwardly I’m screaming. I bend down and pick up Lacey.
“Just make this deal happen so we can all move on.”
“Goodbye, Ward.” I turn and go back inside, and part of me thinks I may never see him again.
The thought isn’t so bad. I’m not sure I’d care. There’s nothing there between us anymore. Whatever relationship I once had with my brother is long dead and gone, and I don’t need to worry about it anymore.
Part of me thought they’d force me to divorce Griffin as part of whatever deal they eventually strike, but I don’t know why I’d kid myself about that. They don’t care who I marry or what I do. They don’t care about me, and so I’m finished caring about them.
I lock the front door and carry Lacey back up into the living room. I put her down, play with her until I’ve calmed down, and finally call Griffin to tell him the news.
27
Griffin
I shouldn’t be surprised when Erin comes to me about the deal her family wants to strike, but I actually am a little bit. I thought it might take longer, but apparently they could only last a couple of days.
I’m sure they know that we know about Erin’s ownership stake in the Consortium. I’m sure James passed that bit of information along to them. Good old traitor James, so reliable. I’m happy he told them, actually.
It’s making them panic, and that’s exactly what I want. When they panic, they make bad decisions, and that’s what I need them to do.
But this deal they’re offering, it’s bullshit. Fisher has been slowly eroding the deal we were constructing over months and it already favors him. Not too heavily, but it absolutely does. Now that I have the upper hand, I see zero reason to sign that agreement.
They’re desperate. They’re willing to do almost anything. I just need to push them in the right direction, and I’ll get what I want.
As I pull up outside of the building where Rick Fisher lives, I can’t help but think about Erin. Of course I think about her. She grew up in this place, which seems so crazy to me. It’s a beautiful apartment building, and Fisher owns two floors of it, but it doesn’t seem very kid-friendly at all. In fact, the whole place seems too austere and beautiful to have children anywhere near it.
This is what she grew up with, or at least until she was sent away to school. She was more of a problem than a part of their family, and they sent her away so that she wouldn’t be underfoot anymore. I can feel my anger rising as I ride the elevator up to Fisher’s floor.
I step up to his front door and knock twice. It takes a minute before a man answers the door, a big guy with hard eyes. He looks at me sideways.
“Who are you?” he asks me.
I smile at him. “Griffin McGrath,” I say.
Clearly that name doesn’t mean anything to him. “Are you expected?”
“No,” I say. “But tell Rick that I’m here. He’ll want to talk.”
The man grunts and shuts the door in my face. I sigh and smile to myself. That guy is clearly some kind of security and it’s interesting that he thinks he needs security guys.
A couple minutes later, the door opens again, but this time it’s not the security goons. This time, it’s Ward Fisher himself, the prodigal son.
He doesn’t look happy to see me. “Mr. McGrath,” he says. “We weren’t expecting you.”
“No, I don’t think you were,” I say.
“What can I do for you?”
“I’m here to discuss business with your father.”
“My father is indisposed. You’ll deal with me.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Will I?”
Ward nods. He’s older than Erin, but he’s clearly not as bright. I think he takes after his father a little too much for his own good.
“Listen to me, Ward,” I say, stepping closer. “Tell your father he wants to cut a deal. Because Erin already offered to sell me her thirty percent for next to nothing. Imagine the bargaining power I’ll have when I already own thirty percent of your company.”
Ward’s eyes grow a little large. “Are you threatening me?”
I laugh. “I’m not threatening you, son. I’m pointing out the shitty position your father put you in. Now, go get him for me.”
Ward watches me for a second, clearly trying to figure out what to do. The boy is clearly too thick for his own good, but eventually he turns and heads back inside, shutting the door once again in my face.
I sigh but I don’t get impatient. A foyer is good enough for me. Truthfully, I don’t want to be invited into their house. I know keeping me out here is some kind of power play to them, but it really doesn’t matter. They can play all the games they want.
I have the real power in this situation.
Ten minutes pass slowly, but soon enough the door opens and Rick Fisher emerges. He looks dour and tired, his suit wrinkled and messy.
“Good to see you, Griffin,” he says, trying to muster his usual con artist’s charm.
“Rick,” I say, and neither of us moves to shake hands.
“What can I do for you?”
“Let’s skip the bullshit, okay?” I say to him. “You know why I’m here.”
He watches me and his eyes slowly narrow. He transforms from the affable salesman he pretends to be right into the snake that I know he actually is.
“Okay then, Griffin,” he says. “You married my fucking daughter and found out about the portion of my company that’s in her name.”
“That’s right,” I say. “Pretty shitty position for you.”
“What are you going to do about it?” he asks. “I offered you terms. You rejected them.”
“That’s because your terms were bullshit. But there’s one more thing I know.” I step toward him, eyes locked on his. “You sent Erin to spy on me. You want to try and destroy me by digging up my past, but that’s not going to work, not anymore.”
He doesn’t flinch or look away. “I assumed you knew.”
“I also know about James,” I hiss.
He stares at me for a second, and I think I’ve actually rattled him. “James is a dear friend,” he finally says.
“I used to say the same thing.” I smile at him sweetly. “So be careful about that.”
“What do you want, Griffin? It’s late.”
He’s right, it’s past six. I came straight here from the office after working all day.
“I want the original deal we wrote up months ago. The original contract we both nearly agreed to signing, before you tried all of this bullshit to weasel your way into a better deal.”
Rick looks at me for a second then sighs. “The Consortium is my baby,” he says. “Can you blame me for being hesitant to sell her?”
“I don’t care how you feel. Those are my terms.”
“You don’t dictate terms to me,” he snaps suddenly, eyes getting wide. “I’m Rick Fisher. I don’t fucking lose.”
I’m a little surprised
at his outburst. He’s usually so composed.
“Apparently you don’t see yourself very accurately,” I say softly.
“Bastard.” He clenches his jaw. “I’m not giving you shit. Fuck you and fuck my little whore of a daughter.”
My anger flares up. He can say whatever he wants to me, I don’t care about that, but he can’t talk about Erin like that.
I take a deep breath to calm myself. His eyes look crazed and I think he’s a second away from attacking me. I know that if he does, I’ll kill him right here and now, and that won’t be good for anyone.
“It’s over, Fisher. The original contract or I come after you and destroy you.” I turn away from him.
“You’ll regret this,” he says.
“Take a couple days to consider it.” I step back into the elevator and turn around. “Make the right choice here. You lost already. Don’t make it harder on yourself.”
The doors slide shut. The last thing I see is Fisher’s haunted eyes staring back at me. He looks like a broken man.
The thought makes me smile. I only wish Erin could be here to see how far her father has fallen in such a short time. She deserves all the credit for this, or at least most of it. Without her, I wouldn’t have been able to make this happen.
I have a sudden and intense desire for her, and I’m so happy that she’s waiting at home for me. I can’t wait to get her undressed and celebrate this victory. I’ll tell her every detail, and then I’ll make her body feel better than I ever have before. By the end, she’ll be begging for more and thanking me, all at the same time.
I smile to myself, a thrill running down my spine, excitement building in my chest.
28
Erin
When Griffin gets home later than usual, he’s starving for me in a way I didn’t know was possible. It’s like he can’t physically keep his hands off my body, and it feels so good to let him roam along my skin, tasting me and teasing me.
Fortunately, Lacey is already in bed, because as soon as he comes in through the door he presses me up against the kitchen counter and kisses me deeply. We don’t even say a word to each other. We don’t need to. He just strips my clothes off and turns me around, roughly bending me over the stove, making me grip the edges of the counter.