“From the start?” she rasps. “All those lies told?”
“From the first day. And as has already been stated, you’re incapable of closing your thoughts to anyone who cared to listen, so I learnedeverything I needed to know, even as Tony attempted to convince the world you were the same Michelle I once considered trite and irritating. Your grief entered a room long before you did, sweet girl, and later, your desire to right the wrongs he committed. You wondered if I, too, should fall in your quest to make things better.”
Her cheeks pale.
He chuckles. “Fortunately for me, you considered me worthy. Redeemable, even. Despite my title and the assumptions you could make about my life and the business I conduct, you decided to spare me.”
“Because I felt…” She places a trembling hand over her heart. “I couldn’t convince myself that you and Tony were the same.”
“I like to think we all have a gift.” He looks Aubree’s way. “Don’t you think?”
She smiles in agreement.
“Not everyone understands it, and fewer can control it. Many are too arrogant to grasp the gift they possess, and others prefer to call it intuition. They say we have two brains: one in our heads, and the other in our stomachs. Too often, folks get caught up with the brain in their heads, which we know is notorious for overthinking and incorrectly analyzing. Foolishly, these same people ignore the messages their stomachs tell them. But you knew, even in your quest to end the reign of a man who profited off innocents, that I was not the same.” Finally, he stares the length of the table and locks eyes with a hard-jawed, conspicuously silent Felix. “We’ve worked hard since your father’s death. I’ve taught you lessons I hope you’ll hold on to, and cautioned you from the mistakes we make up here.” He points a gentle finger to his temple. “I know my conduct since your brother’s wedding has eroded some of the trust you’d placed in me, but I take comfort in knowing that, someday, you’ll understand.”
“I understand nothing.” With a gritted jaw, Felix casts bright green eyes to Tim, then to Archer. His brothers. Even to Troy and Jay, though the relationship they share is tentative at best. Leaning toward the table and the dinner we all ignore, he places his elbows on either side of the plate and glares. “With all due respect, Mr. Cordoza, I need you to cut the shit and give it to us straight. Because we,” he nods to each of the men at the table, “we weren’t on that jet earlier today. Instead, while you spent a leisurely six hours with the ladies, we were lied to. We were left behind. Now we’re at your table, but two of my brothers have been refused a seat. His brother,” he nods toward Jay, “and his,” Troy, “don’t have seats either. For eighteen months, I’ve deferred to you. I’ve listened to your teachingsbecause you told me my family would suffer if I didn’t. I restructured my business on your word, and even when I doubted some of your recommendations, I still followed them through. Becauseyoutold me to.” His shoulders bulge with adrenaline, and his eyes glitter with a potent mix of anger and hurt. “I would’ve walked through fire if you said it was necessary, Mr. Cordoza. Because you’ve treated me well. Because they,” he points to me. Then to Ellie. “Vouched for you. I made business decisions based on nothing more than, ‘well, he’s been good to Mayet, so he must be telling the truth.’ But then this week happened, and now I look at you and realize my family and I may not survive our interactions. What’s your endgame here, Boss? Why the lies? And how the fuck do you expect me to trust a single damn word that comes out of your mouth ever again?”
“He’s dying.” I push the words past my aching throat and say nothing of Archer’s sharp inhalation of air. Of Tim’s wide eyes and the way he drags Aubree just a little closer. Of Felix’s entire body shoving back, his elbows coming off the table, and his cheeks turning deathly pale.
Swallowing, I add, “He’s ready to appoint his successor.”
“He wants us to create a board of advisors,” Ellie rasps, her stare warming the side of my face. Then she looks at Aubree. At Soph. “The four of us.” Finally, she looks at Felix. “And you make five.”
His fiery eyes swing back to Cordoza. Furious and fierce. Burning and dangerous. “A board of directors? Like we’re a Fortune Fifty now?”
“It’s not customary, I know. But these are my wishes. And these,” he lifts his chin, summoning his guards forward, “Are just two of the men who will enforce my orders, even after my death. I have safeguards in place, gentlemen, to ensure a smooth transition of power, and my safeguards have safeguards that promise to keep this train moving in the direction I wish. I’m not so foolish as to think you won’t have questions. Ask them. I’ll answer. But none of you need to fret, because I’m not dyingtoday. I will ensure a gradual changeover that folds the five of you seamlessly into your new positions. But before all that,” he picks up his knife and fork, and slices into a fat potato. “I say we eat. It’s been alongday, and your baby,” he glances Ellie’s way, “is hungry.”
Her eyes flare wide.
“Like I said,” he chuckles. “Very loud indeed.”
ARCHER
“Oh, thank God.” The instant we open the front door to Felix’s home, Christabelle shoves off the base of the stairs and charges toward us. The dog jumps and spins and yelps his excitement, getting underfoot and throwing way too much energy into a group that, collectively, has none left. Still, Christabelle bolts barefoot across the tile with their sleeping baby curled against her chest and burrows straight into Felix’s embrace.
Because I guess she wasn’t sure if we’d survive the night either.
“What happened?” She doesn’t object as Lix takes baby Zora and presses a kiss on one cheek. Then the other. As he lays his baby into the curve of his arm, and wraps the other around his wife. She especially doesn’t object to the way he tugs her close and plasters his lips to her temple. But she looks at each of us as we wander in. Then to the door as Cato is the last through and closes it at his back. Her eyes glitter with the fear she’s carried all day, and her cheeks are too pale. “Someone, please tell me what happened.”
“You guys fill her in.” I take Minka’s hand and lead her toward the stairs. “We’re going to bed.”
“Wait.” Cato grabs my shoulder and spins me back around. “Weallneed to be filled in, Arch. You can’t just go to bed?—”
I shake him off and continue forward. “Tim and Lix were both in that meeting. They know everything I know.Ask them.”
“But—”
“It’s infusion night.” I drape my arm across Minka’s back and anchor my hand against her hip. “We’re going to bed. I can’t…” I bring her to a stop on the first stair and look back at my family. To Tim and Aubree. To Felix and Christabelle. Tiia’s footsteps echo along the tile, then Micah’s arms open and accept their solid collision as she walks straight into his embrace.
Drained, I scrub my free hand over my face and groan. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so fucking exhausted in my life. “I’ve got nothing left to give tonight, so I’m taking my wife to bed.”
“I’ll tell them,” Felix grumbles. “We’ll have breakfast in the morning and regroup.”
“Yep.” I turn again and head up, not to the room I occupied when I was a kid, since Cato took it over after I left. But to the room I’ve claimed since my return. To the bags we sent ahead with a driver. “I’m so fucking wrecked.”
“It might be my turn to carry you upstairs instead of you carrying me.” Minka slips her hand into my back pocket and her shoulder securely under mine. “When was the last time you slept properly?”
I choke out a pathetic laugh and draw her around the first landing. Bastard sprints up ahead of us, his knees smacking each step because of how uncoordinated he is, but being so far from Christabelle is not something he freely does, so he spins again and bounces his way back down.