I’m supposed to be back in Quebec by Monday, but there's no way in hell I'm leaving Sebastian and Lillianna to clean up a mess I helped create. They don’t know it yet, but I'm staying until every piece of Dad's corruption is buried.
Or until it buries us.
“Why the fuck do you have these papers?” I ask.
“My mom. Like I said, they were her insurance policy.”
“Christ,” I grumble. “Your mom should have been a damn politician, not a mistress.”
The conference room falls silent except for the distant hum of the copper stills. Sebastian stares at his wife in a silent conversation. Lillianna stares out the window, probably wishing she’d never returned home. Ivy looks shell-shocked.
The environmental scandal would destroy everything Sebastian has built since taking over. And my name on the papers, signing off on the deal, might be enough to have theboard kick me out of my family’s distillery. And we’d get the media circus of the illegitimate daughter of our father living with us. Either way, we’re fucked.
I can’t believe I’m even entertaining the idea, but I ask, “And what happens if we can’t stand each other by the end of three months? Which is exactly how this will end.”
“Then I’ll go to New York with my sister. I’ll leave Kentucky, leave everything I’ve ever known.” Her voice wavers just enough to seem genuine.
Fuck me. She’s good. Playing the abandoned child card while holding a gun to our heads. Dad would be proud.
“You’re wasting everyone’s time. We’ll never be family,” I snap. “You’re blackmailing us, for fuck’s sake.”
Madison’s smile turns razor-sharp and I see our father in her so clearly. “It’s the Blackstone way, so you should be used to it.”
Sebastian lets out a harsh laugh. “She’s not wrong. Blackmail runs in the family.” His gaze locks with mine. I see it in the tightness around his eyes. He’s remembering the bet, the way I used Rosalia as leverage against him. “You always did appreciate a good power play, Thorne.”
“And while I’m living with one of you, I’ll share all the environmental papers, that way you can fix his mess,” Madison offers, like she’s some benevolent angel. “Ivy can help.”
Her sister starts in her chair as if waking from a nightmare. “I…”
I scoff. “Help how?”
“She’s an environmental lawyer,” Madison replies.
I shake my head. Work with her when I can't get last night out of my head? Absolutely not. She’s a temptation I don’t need. “We have plenty of lawyers. I’m sure one of them specializes in environmental law.”
“Well, I’m sure as shit not leaving her with you Blackstones. And especially not you,” Ivy fires back.
A flush creeps up from her collarbone, barely visible above the grey blouse. She doesn't touch it. Doesn't acknowledge it.
But I notice. Because I know exactly where that flush starts. And I know exactly how far it travels.
I bite back my response. She wants to think I'm the villain? Fine. Easier that way. Might even be true.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Lillianna taps a pen she’s been holding. “That’s not a bad idea. We could hire Ms. West. We should keep Daniel, hell, all the other attorneys linked to the distilleries, in the dark about this.”
Fuck, she’s right. But I’m not ready to let this happen. “We don’t know her,” I tell the room. “We can’t trust her.”
Lillianna looks at Ivy. “Are you any good?”
She lifts her chin. “Good? I’ve won twenty-eight of my last thirty cases, including the Riverdale watershed suit that made national headlines last year. Forty-seven million dollar settlement. Largest in state history. The EPA now uses my briefs as teaching examples. So yeah, I’m good.”
"Then we hire you. As a consultant," Lillianna clarifies.
"Wait." Ivy holds up a hand. "I work for Huntsman & Fellows in New York. I'd need my firm's approval to take on outside consulting work. And I'd need this in writing: scope, timeline, confidentiality. Everything."
“Then it’s decided?” Madison asks, suddenly sounding like the child she is. “We fix this together.”
“Together, my ass,” I retort at the same time Sebastian says, “Fine.”
