“I’m going to go right on and vote for myself.”
Harrison made a note on the papers. “Kensington?”
“I vote for myself as well.”
Raquel got to her feet, a broad, triumphant smile on her face. “Well, I guess that settles that. I’ll see you in the office Monday morning, Kenzi, and we’ll go over the particulars of selling the company and transferring the profits into the trust.”
“Sit down, Raquel.” Harrison had taken on his courtroom voice, projecting all the way to the back of the room and using a deeper timbre. “We’re not finished.”
Raquel waved her hand to the side. “I can’t imagine what more there is to discuss.”
“Nash needs to cast his vote.”
Kenzi had to hand it to her cousin: he kept a steady voice. She trembled inside.
“Pardon me?” Raquel batted her eyelashes in disbelief.
Harrison picked up one of the papers he’d arranged in front of him. He didn’t have to shuffle through the page to find this one—he’d had it at the ready. Hopefully, her sisters didn’t notice, or if they did, they attributed it to him knowing about the wedding. “Page fifty-two, paragraph six: In the event that one of my daughters takes a husband before my death, he shall have an equal vote—”
Raquel’s hand shot across the desk like a rocket and she snatched the paper out of Harrison’s hands. The look she gave Kensington could have burned cream. “Youknew. All this time, you knew about this clause.That’swhy you ran off and got married without telling us.”
Kenzi neither confirmed nor denied the accusation, because confirming it would be like crushing all future sisterly relations and denying it would be an outright lie. Nash’s thumb brushed across her hand, letting her know that he was there for her and wasn’t going to abandon her in this moment. His unyielding support was enough to help her keep it all together. Now, if only he would say those four little words:I vote for Kenzi.
Raquel wasn’t done. “All the time we were in counseling, supposedly healing wounds, you were plotting behind out backs.”
Kenzi rose to her feet. “Me? What about you, talking Lunette into voting for you so you could parcel off everything Grandpa and Dad—not to mention Grandma and Mom—sacrificed to build? You would sell our family legacy and not even blink an eye.”
“Ladies!” Harrison cut in. “If we could please keep the comments to the matter at hand.”
“Stuff it, Harrison.” Raquel continued to glare at Kenzi—each heated moment melting away at the tentative bridge they’d built over the last six months. “I know you helped Kenzi with her little scheme. I’ve half a mind to have you removed as executor of Daddy’s will.”
The muscle in Harrison’s jaw twitched. “You know as well as I do there’s no legal way to make that happen, Raquel.”
Kenzi pulled her hand away from Nash and placed it on her hip. “Maybe she doesn’t know, since she didn’t pass the bar exam.”
“Not taking the test and failing are two different things,” Raquel ground out.
“You fail one hundred percent of the tests you don’t take.” They locked eyes in a vicious glare-down. The last time they’d gone at each other’s throats, Kenzi had come off the loser; she wasn’t about to tuck tail and run this time. No. This time, she had the backup she needed to stand her ground. Well, she would if Nash came through.Please let him come through.
Harrison cleared his throat. “Mr. Westport, your vote?”
All eyes turned to Nash.
Kenzi looked down at her hands, wishing she hadn’t let go of his only moments before. The air in the room charged. Even the dust particles seemed to freeze, caught in the electrical current of anticipation.
Lunette brought her eyes up, resting her head on her fist and her elbow on the chair. She’d checked out of the situation once Raquel and Kenzi began fighting in earnest, not wanting to get between them. They weren’t doing her any favors by arguing in front of her. She didn’t handle confrontation well and more often than not turned to a bottle of wine to soothe her nerves.
Harrison’s steely eyes pinned Nash in his chair as he waited for an answer.
Kenzi drew in a breath, wondering if her lungs had ever taken in that much oxygen; she couldn’t seem to get enough.
Certainly Nash wouldn’t vote for Raquel; the idea was preposterous. And yet, he’d watched the two of them argue—seen that Kenzi wasn’t much better at controlling herself than her magnet-for-drama sister. What if he thought Raquel was the better CEO? If he voted for her, then all would be lost.
He may choose to abstain from the vote all together, which would have just as dire circumstances as if he voted for the wrong person. He’d gone on and on about not wanting to be a pawn in all of this, and she’d tried to assure him that he wasn’t a pawn but an independent decision-maker. Ugh! She should have demanded that he do the job he was hired for and stop claiming the moral high ground.
Nash met her pleading eyes. She needed him right now. Needed him to stand beside her even when she’d been ugly and fought with her sister. Did he have a sister? Had they argued?Please, Lord of Heaven, let him have a sister.
“My vote is for Kenzi.”
