Virgin Bride(56)

“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.