Lucien(62)
Later that afternoon and still struggling to answer the question burning a hole through his conscience, Luc sat across from Ben in a conference room.
He’d spent the last hour listening and watching Ben debate the pros and cons on sealing the deal to stroke a check for the company. He understood Ben’s conflicted stance. Better than he suspected his best friend did.
On one hand… if Ben bought the company, then he’d be forced to move to Texas and away from Eleanor’s sphere of torture. For a couple of years at the least.
If he didn’t buy the company, then he’d miss out on the rare opportunity to snatch up the perfect vehicle that’d propel Ben straight to the top of the Forbes list.
Luc leaned back in his chair and wondered if he should tell Ben about Eleanor’s desire to get a job. Oh yeah, he fully admitted that he’d been too shocked stupid at the time she’d asked to question his twin’s motives. But he got it now.
Eleanor wasn’t about to let Ben escape her sphere of torture and she’d do whatever was necessary—including getting a job—to make it happen.
Which meant that—to help his best friend and sister—Luc needed to dig deep into his bag of tricks to find a solution that’d work for all interested parties. Something that—courtesy of Elise and her oh-so-efficient ways and means—Luc didn’t have to dig very far to find.
The solution was simple, wholly unethical, and would require Ben’s full cooperation.
Luc nodded at the amended purchase contract sitting between them on the table. “All the money is accounted for, but I don’t recommend buying.”
“I don’t have a choice,” Ben said. “I need those designs.”
“Then negotiate for the designs and forget the company.”
“Tried that before we came down here. Bingley wouldn’t go for it. He’s got the rights to the prototypes locked up in iron tight contracts. If I don’t buy the company lock-stock-and-barrel, then I’ll lose my shot at the defense contracts lined up at Raine Corp.”
Luc acknowledged Ben’s words with a nod. “True, but that was before you found incriminating pictures of Bingley and his secretary.”
“Before I… well, I’ll be damned. Brother Luc, are you suggesting that I blackmail Bingley to get what I want without having to buy the whole company?” When Luc just smiled, Ben drummed his fingers on the table and started thinking. From where he sat, Luc could smell smoke from the wheels churning in his best friend’s devious mind. “That would be evil.” A pause and then Ben grinned. “But I’m so gonna do it.”
“Good, because it’s a damn sight nicer than what I crave to do to those bastards for having harassed my wife while we’ve been here.”
Ben muttered a True that under his breath, then asked, “Speaking of your wife… have you told her, yet?”
Luc was about to answer when his mind—already entrenched in unethical evil business mode—laid out a wholly unethical and evil strategy to achieve his goal. One that—he did a quick calculation—had more than a prayer’s chance in hell of killing two birds with one stone. Of course it’d require him to play his best friend like a fine fiddle, but… aw, what the hell. All’s fair in love and whatnot. “No and I’m not going to.”
“Luc, I love ya like a brother, but you’re an idiot. Man up and tell her already.”
“Let it go, Ben.”
“No can do. I’m morally obligated to prevent you from making the biggest mistake of your life. It’s the unspoken creed of the bro-code.”
Luc sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “The bro-code also says not to covet thy best friend’s wife.”
Ben shrugged. “What can I say? I’m weak and have a thing for fairy tale princesses. Now, back to you telling Elise about the brood mare clause.”
“I’m not telling her.”
“Wrong. You have to tell her.”
“Give me one good reason why I should,” Luc said.
“Because it’d be better for her to hear from you than someone else. And trust me, after having watched more than my fair share of chick flicks with the ladies, if you don’t tell her, she will hear it from someone else. They always do. Then she’ll leave you.”
Both of them knew exactly who that someone would be. His grandfather and the old man’s desire to make sure Luc’s bride was in it for more than the money. Given that, maybe it was time to stop thinking of it as a broodmare condition, but instead as an anti-gold digger clause. Something that Elise would never be—recognizing that left Luc feeling more comfortable telling Ben, “She won’t leave me.”