“Until we know more,” Aldrich continued, “I want everyone to be vigilant. We don’t yet know the full scope of what we’re dealing with, or who else might be involved.” A pause. “The Youngs have weathered many storms. We’ll weather this one too. But not through carelessness.”
It was his mother who spoke next.
“Benedict has enough to contend with, especially with Lana’s confinement being extended for another month.” Joy’s voice was soft, but Arkane heard the steel beneath it—the same steel that had held their family together through their father’s abuse and everything that came after. “He shouldn’t have to fight the vultures as well.”
Arkane understood what she wasn’t saying.
Benedict would never ask for help. He would sooner chew glass than admit that his marriage to Lana was the one mistake he couldn’t outmaneuver. But that didn’t mean his family would stand by and watch him drown.
“So we run interference,” Arkane said.
“Yes.” Joy’s copper eyes—the same copper eyes she had passed to most of her children, though not to him—flickered with something fierce. “Keep the press occupied. Redirect their attention. Give your brother the space he needs to handle this.”
“Consider it done.”
But his mother wasn’t finished.
“There’s something else.” Joy glanced at Aldrich, and something in that glance told Arkane this part had been discussed between them beforehand. Carefully. “Have you been following the press around Foxtown lately?”
He hadn’t. But the shift in his mother’s tone made him pay closer attention.
“There’s been a gossip piece making the rounds,” Joy said. “About how the last several high-profile weddings at Foxtown all involved brides who’d recently ended previous relationships. The implication being that Foxtown is where women go to rebound. To make impulsive decisions. To trade up.”
Arkane’s lip curled. Typical of the press. He was not surprised at all.
“First it was Lucius and Tassy’s wedding, and more recently, Veil’s bride was also in a similar situation with Tassy.”
“She also had a jerk for an ex?”
“Let’s just say they weren’t meant to be,” Joy said prudently.
“How are the Foxes handling the situation?” Arkane asked.
“We’ve spoken to them.” Aldrich was the one to answer this time. “If there’s slander or libel, they’ll act decisively. But otherwise, they’re choosing not to respond.”
The tone of his father’s voice was what gave Arkane a glimmer of what his parents were leading to with all of this.
“You feel partly responsible about what happened,” he guessed, “and you also want to redirect attention away from Benedict.” And since he knew his parents pretty well, and how efficient they were when it came to protecting their family and its reputation—
Arkane leaned back against his seat. “You’ve already thought of a solution, haven’t you?”
His mother suddenly looked all too innocent, and that had Arkane’s gaze narrowing. There was only one thing he could think of that would require his involvement in fixing this mess. Or rather, make that one person—
Aldrich started to cough, the way his father often did when he was about to say something...unpopular, and Aldrich’s lips tightened.
“The girl you dated—”
Knew it.
“No.”
But his mother, for some reason, seemed to have misheard him completely, with how she was now beaming at him. “I knew we could count on you.”
“I just said no.”
“You just need to divert the press for a month or so,” Joy went on as if he hadn’t rejected their suggestion for the second time. “Show them that Foxtown isn’t about breaking relationships but creating new ones...or mending old ones like yours and Tiara’s.”
The End
