“Wake up!” Shannyn said. “No decent man wants to be around you. You’re just like your mother. You attract terrible people.”
I was shaking after she left.
“I think we all need something stronger than cheesecake after that,” Holly said finally.
“A warm cinnamon bun?” Maeve suggested.
“Only if it’s soaked in bourbon,” Holly said grimly.
Shannyn had put me in a tailspin. Was she right? Was I as blind as my mom?
Of course not. Beck’s not like that.
I sent him a text, praying he responded, craving the reassurance.
But he didn’t answer.
57
Beck
“This is a fucking disaster,” Greg said when I walked into the conference room at Svensson Investment the next morning
“He’s trying to get their trust fund,” I said to Greg.
I had pulled background and credit checks on Tess’s stepfather. The man was up to his toupee in debt. It was clear Alistair didn’t care about his nieces at all. He only wanted the trust fund money.
“He’s slandering our family,” Mike said, concerned. “It’s going to affect our business.”
“I’ve already filed stop-press orders and take-down orders for the content,” I replied.
“Then we’re going to sue the shit out of Alistair.”
“No, we aren’t,” Greg said, steepling his hands.
“You’re awfully calm,” I said, narrowing my eyes at my older brother.
“I thought something like this might transpire when the girls arrived on the scene. As such, I have multiple contingency plans in place.”
“Contingency plans?” I looked at Greg like he had grown a second head. “We need to go scorched-earth! He’s trying to steal our siblings!”
“That’s lawsuits and bad press and devaluing our companies. People don’t want to do business with people that can’t quietly handle their shit,” Greg said coldly. “No, these tabloids will take the stories down. I have a crisis PR firm dropping information about Meg and Hunter’s upcoming wedding since that’s nice, positive news, and then you will bribe the stepfather to go away.”
“We are not just going to fold.” I scowled.
“You know I always recommend settling,” my brother said simply. “It’s the most financially sensible path.”
“We need to go after him for slander.”
“There’s no way we can prove that his words had any ill financial effect,” Greg said. “And the subsequent lawsuit will bring more attention. This is the easiest way forward.”
“You’re such a hypocrite,” I said. “You’re going after Belle’s tower to teach her a lesson. We need to do the same with Alistair.”
“He’s a nobody,” Greg sneered. “He’s not competition; he’s a slug, and we just need to flick him off the rosebush then move on.”
“Tess said he’s very manipulative,” I protested.
“Tess?” Greg’s lip curled up. “Walker, why haven’t you fired her yet?”
