Did I really look pregnant? I looked down at my stomach. Maybe I did need to lay off the sweets.
"Please," Cody begged. "I don't have any money, and you clearly do."
"I don't! You stole it!" How was he not hearing me? He was so fixated on my giving him the money he felt like he was owed that he wouldn't listen to reason.
"I have nothing for you. Do not contact me again," I told him.
"Oma is rolling over in her grave!" Cody called after me as I hurried back to the waiting SUV.
40
Jack
Hunter and Greg were in the Platinum Provisions boardroom bright and early.
"Late again," Liam said when I walked into the meeting.
Greg pounced on that comment. "Is there a new pattern of lateness?"
"Chill, Greg," Liam said to his brother.
"You need to offload that tower," Hunter said. If Greg was a jerk, Hunter was a cold-hearted bastard. He was in high demand to be on companies' boards because he could ferret out inefficiencies and foresee problems long before they blew up.
"He's distracted," Greg said.
"It's not the tower, he has a girlfriend." Liam said.
"He does, does he?" Hunter remarked.
"Not helping, Liam," I said. "What I do on my personal time is my business."
"Not if it starts to affectmybusiness," Hunter said in a low voice.
"Platinum Provisions is doing very well," I said. "There is no cause for concern."
Hunter leveled his gaze at me. I debated telling them about my lead with Mark Holbrook, but I didn't want to say more until I had more concrete information.
I wondered how Chloe was doing with the muffins. I would have texted her, but I realized I didn't have her number. We lived in the same building, so I never thought to call her, since I knew I would simply see her in person.
"I did want to talk to you about expanding your lab equipment division," Hunter said. "Svensson PharmaTech is trying to move into new spaces and drop drug prices. Mace's company needs better tools and a wider variety of more robust ones."
"Interesting you should say that," Liam said. Was he going to pitch his factory idea? We hadn't discussed it yet. I hoped he knew what he was doing.
"I was thinking that we needed to own the means of production. There's a lot of land out there in Harrogate near where PharmaTech is located. You guys own most of the town, correct? It would be a good fit, especially if we start supplying Svensson PharmaTech."
"Are you suggesting you want to move out into the country?" Greg asked.
"Harrogate is like two hours from Manhattan," Liam countered. "It barely counts as another town."
"I think it could be a good move," Hunter said. "I'll start looking into the logistics."
"Wait, wait a minute," Greg interjected. "You can't just unilaterally decide that Liam is going to move."
"Liam is an adult, Greg, and if he wants to live with me, then I think we should encourage that."
I sank down in my chair. I did not want to be in the crossfire of one of the legendary fights between the two elder Svensson half-brothers.
"I'm not moving permanently," Liam said, "and I'm not living with you and all the kids, Hunter, no offense."
