She just did it because she was paid, I thought, angrily mashing the elevator button.
* * *
My brothers were arrangedin the conference room when I stepped out of the elevator on the eightieth floor of the Svensson Investment tower. I wished I had brought Avery with me to the meeting at Svensson Investment. She could keep up with the worst of them, I was sure.
Growing up in a polygamist doomsday cult meant that I had an excessive number of brothers. They were scattered around the Northeast. My full-blooded brothers mainly lived in the small town of Harrogate, two hours outside of Manhattan, though they came into the city for meetings. This one was about an update on the process of Weston and me relocating our business to Harrogate.
I had mixed feelings about being around my brothers full time. In Manhattan, though there was my half brother Greg who was an arrogant asshole and who was consistently in everyone’s shit, the rest of the Manhattan Svenssons tended to keep to themselves. Not so for my full-blooded brothers, the Harrogate Svenssons, as Greg referred to them when he was in an especially bad mood, usually because of something Hunter had done.
The second oldest, Hunter, was the most evil. The fact that Meghan, the deputy mayor of Harrogate and the love of Hunter’s life, was in the process of actively dating to finally replace him had him in an awful mood. He didn’t pass up the opportunity to make a snide, undercutting comment.
I much preferred my oldest brother, Remington—Remy for short—who was content to run his nonprofit. An ex-Marine and combat vet, he spent his days looking after my two dozen or so youngest brothers, the byproducts of my father’s prolific collection of sister wives. His foundation, the Rural Trust, was moving into the same building, the old Harrogate shirtwaist factory building, as ThinkX. Though he usually preferred the open rural areas, he had come into Manhattan for the meeting.
My brother Gunnar was not in attendance. He owned the Romance Creative production company and was in the process of frittering away all the profits he had made fromThe Great Christmas Bake-Off.
Next in line came Mace and Archer, identical twins and polar opposites. Mace was the CEO of Svensson PharmaTech and was one of the main advocates for Weston and me moving ThinkX to Harrogate. Archer, who owned Grayson Hotel group, was not an advocate because he didn’t want us to relocate into the conference center he was opening in Harrogate that had hotels and office space. Of course, I didn’t want to be that close to him either.
At least Archer wasn’t as bad as Garrett. He was a classic middle child, and his paranoid scheming was obnoxious. He would rope me into his plans because I knew how to code. The fact that our father, Leif, had shown up in Harrogate a few weeks ago had us all on edge but Garrett especially. Every interaction with him was like dealing with a person who brought a Glock to a pencil fight.
Then there was my Irish twin, Weston. After having him, my mother immediately fell pregnant again, and we were born in the same year. I liked to think that she took one look at him and decided she needed a do-over, though the fact that she abandoned all of us the first chance she had probably just meant she wanted the extra welfare money.
Merla Vee had stuck around for a couple years after my youngest brother, Parker, was born then ran off. My father had been furious and had kicked my older brothers out a few years later. Though it had been rough after leaving the compound, I much preferred the power and money that came from owning my own company. None of us had ever wanted to see our father again, but he had showed up a month ago. My youngest full brother, Parker, was the reason our father had dared show his face in Harrogate. Therefore Parker was now in the doghouse.
“Sadie has been working with the architect on phasing for the build-out of the old shirtwaist factory,” Parker said when he saw me.
“Did you all hear something?” Garrett asked loudly. “Maybe it was the wind or the sound of a dying slug.”
Parker gritted his teeth.
“Speaking of dead insects,” Archer added, “Blade, what the hell, man? You stink.” He threw open the windows.
“Did you have a date?” Mace asked as Greg sniffed and scowled.
“You better not. With all the recent family issues, Gunnar has exhausted the goodwill with the press. I will not have you dating some poor girl and letting her pass out due to the sheer volume of cheap cologne you’re wearing. Honestly, I thought you of all people, Blade, were the one I didn’t have to worry about.”
“It’s not cheap!” Weston said. “This was very expensive cologne.”
“You poured it all over me,” I snapped at him. I had already had enough family time, and I had only just arrived.
“How was I supposed to know that they wouldn’t have one of the bottles that dripped it out? It was like the Niagara Falls of cologne. I was just trying to help you. You never do anything fun.”
“I do lots.”
“You don’t even have any plans tonight. You’re going to go home after this and reorganize your watch drawer, inventory your scotch collection, then mess with your spreadsheets and code.”
“I’m doing it for our company. One of us has to care,” I seethed.
“I care,” Weston scoffed. “I’m busy bringing in work. That’s why we have that Harris & Schultz contract.”
“You all don’t have it yet,” Greg countered. “And if you keep carrying on like this, you won’t win it.”
“I’ve taken the liberty of doing research into Chuck Schultz,” Garrett said. “He’s family oriented and cares about the community. He wants his bank to be viewed as a compassionate entity, and he values strong relationships.”
“Good thing we’re moving the company to Harrogate,” Weston said. “That’s a point that works in our favor compared to the Holbrooks.”
“Grant Holbrook is married, his half brother is engaged, and his cousin is in a committed relationship. Meanwhile, Weston has slept with half of his company and has appeared on the front page of numerous tabloids, stumbling drunk out of random condo buildings,” Hunter said in a clipped tone.
“I had a tragic childhood,” Weston complained. “I have unhealthy coping mechanisms.”
