“He said he would disinherit you if I didn’t stop seeing Livvy.” The words rang with accusation in the silence of the room.
“Whoa. Disinherit an innocent child? Cold.” Eve’s eyes had hardened to obsidian chips.
“You didn’t.” John’s voice rang out. Their grandfather was pale. “Brendan, tell me you didn’t say that.”
Brendan was silent. He rested his hands on the table, shoulders stooping.
Nicholas could almost pity him. For all his stomping around and machinations, Brendan wanted the world to think of him as perfect.
Eve and John eyeing him with disgust had to grate.
“If you ever disinherit either of these children, son, I will make you pay,” John rasped.
Eve nibbled at her cookie. Nicholas wasn’t fooled by her nonchalance. He’d seen that carefully controlled rage before. In his father, but in himself as well. “Nicholas, if that’s what Dad was holding over your head all these years, consider the shoe fallen.”
Brendan shifted, rallying. “I won’t tolerate the president of Chandler’s dating a Kane.”
A rush of realization and resolve swirled within Nicholas. Focused. He was so focused. “Then I won’t be the president of Chandler’s anymore. I quit.”
A crafty gleam entered his father’s eyes. “You wouldn’t sacrifice the company like that.”
It would hurt, no doubt. It would be so awfully painful to walk away from this company that had been built by his hands and the hands of men before him. He thought of the list of people sitting on his desk, every extended family member who relied on the place for their livelihood.
But he’d done enough for it. More than enough.
“I would.”
His grandfather’s measured voice came from the end of the table. It was the first time in ten years Nicholas had heard that tone from his grandfather when speaking to his father. Normally, John met his son’s coldness with impassioned heat. This time, a blast of pure frigidness came out of his mouth. “Enough, Brendan. The poor boy has suffered enough.”
“Poor? Suffered?” Brendan scoffed. “He’s had everything money can buy. He’ll inherit a multimillion-dollar company.”
“I’ve suffered,” Nicholas admitted, and saying that, acknowledging the pain he’d experienced, felt better than anything he could remember. He didn’t have to lock it up in a little box and soldier on. He could bring it out and let it grow inside him. It hurt, but it was the good kind of hurt that came with acceptance. Freedom. “I stopped seeing Livvy because I thought I had to. Because I was certain I needed to keep this company and this family together.” His laugh was short. “Look at us. You and Granddad never talk to each other without fighting. You barely acknowledge your daughter and only speak to me when you want something.”
Nicholas looked around the conference room. “Our only meals together happen in a boardroom, and we never discuss anything more than business. My initial motivation doesn’t exist anymore. There’s no family to keep together.” His voice turned ragged. “And as much as I hate the thought of the employees suffering for your and Grandpa’s temper, I can’t let that control my life anymore. Go on. Splinter this family. Kill the company. I’m done with letting you and the past and your ridiculous anger and secrets dictate my life. I gave Livvy up once for this family, for the company. I won’t again.” He came to his feet, feeling like a ton of bricks had lifted off him.
Brendan sneered. “So fucking dramatic. Come on now, Nicholas, this isn’t you. Be realistic.”
“Realistic like you, you mean? Nah. I could never be like you,” he murmured, certain of at least this much. He could never be like his father. He had toomuch of his mother and grandfather in him. “Besides, you weren’t being realistic, then or now. You were being vindictive and selfish.”
John cleared his throat. “Nicholas, I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t accept your resignation. What would you like us to do in order to ensure you stay?”
Nicholas raised an eyebrow while his father sputtered. He hadn’t foreseen any part of this discussion, but he certainly hadn’t anticipated bargaining his way through his resignation. He thought for a second. “Both of you need to stop squabbling like children. Since I don’t think that’s going to happen, I need you to establish an independent board of directors so I won’t have to play this ridiculous balancing act between the two of you. Plus, Dad has to learn to treat Eve and Livvy with the respect they’re owed. Or simply stay away from them, and me.” He rose, the rest of his cookie still in hand. He’d eat it on the way to Livvy’s. “You can think about it and let me know if those terms are acceptable. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go talk to Livvy.”
He almost made it to the elevator before Eve hailed him. She ran up to him, huffing and out of breath. “Nicholas.”
He turned, regret and sorrow hitting him. “Eve.” He glanced around, grateful the hallway was empty. “Sweetheart, I never wanted you to—”
“I know,” she interjected, and then wrapped her arms around his middle, hugging him tight. “You’ve always been so good to me, and I neededshielding when I was thirteen or fourteen or fifteen. I can’t thank you enough for that. I’m an adult now, though, and if you’d just talked to me like an adult, we could have removed this obstacle for you long ago.”
He returned her hug with no reservation, absorbing her love inside of him like sunshine. “You’re right. I’m sorry. You know, I don’t know if he would have honestly written you out—”
“There’s that shielding again. You and I both know he would have done it.” She patted his back, like she was offering him comfort. “And we both know why.”
He exhaled, feeling her final words like a punch to the gut. Christ, so many secrets. He drew away and looked down at her, uncertain of what to say, unable to give voice to the suspicions he’d always harbored. Finally he settled on something unequivocally true. “I love you.”
“I love you more. I don’t think you should quit, by the way. I know mediating between those two isn’t fun, but this place makes you happy.”
“I don’t think I have to. Once Dad and Grandpa calm down, they’ll give me what I want. Who else is going to run this place?”
