I clenched my teeth at the sight of Grant. Of course, he’d make more out of me and Fin than necessary.
Stepping into Dad’s office suite, I was caught short by the sight of everyone on the executive committee. They all turned to me.
“Is this…” I began to say when I realized the only person missing.
“Vee,” Aunt Rachel said, with tears in her eyes.
“What’s going on?” I managed to say as a lump formed in my throat. “Where’s Dad?”
“Vee,” Uncle Darin said. His eyes were also red. “There was an accident this morning on 64.”
“An accident?” It wasn’t making sense.
“A semi-truck…” Grant said.
“Vee,” Aunt Rachel said, reaching for my hand. “Reid was pronounced dead at the scene.”
I shook my head. “No. No. There’s a mistake.”
“We need to talk,” Uncle Darin said. “Reid was in the middle of changing his will. He hadn’t completed the change yet, but he was going to.”
Gripping the back of a chair, I willed my knees to keep standing. The room was spinning, I couldn’t focus. “What are you saying?”
Uncle Darin’s gaze met mine. “Reid didn’t want the Coopers to go one hundred percent to you.”
My neck straightened. “My father is gone, and you’re talking about the Coopers?”
“As his will stands, you’re now the owner and CEO. What do you plan on doing?”
“I’m not doing anything until I see my dad.”
Chapter 1
Vee
I looked around the room in astonishment—my uncle, aunt, and cousins. These people were my family, my father’s family. And yet, instead of showing concern and shock at our terrible loss, they were focused on the ownership of the Coopers. “Where is he?”
Aunt Rachel led me to the chair across from my father’s desk—the desk that used to be his. I sat as she took a seat in the chair to my side. “The state police said an ambulance would transport Reid to the Fayette County Coroner’s Office.”
Her words were muted as if I were listening through an old telephone or to a scratchy vinyl album. “I-I… I don’t know what to do.” I looked up. “Do we need to call someone?” My questions disappeared into a void. Oh God, Daphne. My next question came louder. “Has Daphne been told?”
Aunt Rachel nodded. “The police went to their home first. Daphne had to be woken up. The detective said she was in shock and asked him to contact Darin. Darin called your office as soon as we heard.”
I began to nod. “Yes, I remember. Jen told me he called.” I looked up at my uncle. “I called you back and it went to voicemail.”
“We didn’t want to inform you while you were driving,” he said.
Because I couldn’t handle it.
That’s what he’d decided. I would be too emotional.
He was right about my emotions. They were racing through my circulation, filling me with an unexplainable sense of loss. While falling to the floor in a fetal position and sobbing until I couldn’t sob anymore was what my mind and body wanted to do, it wasn’t the person Reid Hubbard raised me to be. I squared my shoulders. “The coroner’s office…” I tried to think. “Will they let me see him?”
“They requested a family member to identify Reid’s…to identify him,” Uncle Darin said.
I stood suddenly. “Wait. They’re not sure.” A seed of hope burst within my chest. “Maybe it’s not him. Maybe they made a mistake.” My gaze went to the closed door, wishing for my dad to materialize. I could almost picture him sauntering through the front office, greeting his staff, and smiling with his green eyes shining.
The gripping of my heart and the heaviness in my chest told me the police weren’t wrong. It was wrong of me to have false hope.
