Wright Kind of Love, page 16
“Most men don’t see it,” Harley said softly at my side. “You’ve never had to be on your guard the way we have.”
Ashleigh tipped her head at Harley. “It’s second nature.”
I sighed. I hated that they were right. I hadn’t looked deeper, and I should have. At what Ashleigh was doing and why. At my father’s exploits. At all of it.
“All right,” I said with a nod. “Come to the meeting.”
“Sir,” Joseph said, “are you sure about this?”
Joseph was my favorite board member. He’d been at my side through all of this with my father. From his relationship with Dayna and on. He wasn’t sure about Ashleigh. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure about her either. Not after everything she’d done. But in this, with Harley’s nod of approval, I felt like I was in the right. I could at least hear her out. She’d been hurt by the monster we called Father as much or even more than I had.
“Yes, I’m sure. Shall we convene in the conference room?” I said, taking control of the chaotic office space.
“Of course,” Joseph said.
He gestured to the remaining board members, and they began to file toward the conference room.
His eyes landed on Harley, and he held his hand out. “Joseph Johnson. You must be Harley Wright. We’ve heard a great deal about you recently.”
She grinned and took his hand. “All good things, I hope.”
“Not exactly, but I’m sure Chase will correct us about all of that.”
She laughed. “I bet he will.”
Joseph smiled down at her. “Just keep him happy. It’s going to be a rough couple of weeks.”
“I plan to keep her happy,” I interjected.
She lifted her book. “By reading in his office while y’all have your big, important meeting. Don’t worry. I don’t want to be involved.” She fluttered the book and turned to me. “Have fun at your little shindig.”
I shook my head and kissed her. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I’d just released her and gestured to Ashleigh to fall into step next to me when the elevator dinged again.
My gaze shifted to Joseph. “Were we waiting on someone else?”
He shook his head. “Just you, sir.”
The doors opened, and my father took up the doorway like the giant he was. An unkempt, greasy mess, but a giant nonetheless.
He took one look at me and Ashleigh, clearly colluding side by side, and his fury burned. Before finding Harley still standing in the open space. And then he exploded.
“Who let that Wright whore in my building?” he snarled.
24
Harley
Whore.
How eloquent.
I rolled my eyes. “Ugh. This guy again?”
Chase barely suppressed a laugh as he left his sister’s side to come stand next to me. He put his hand in mine, a unit. And I was glad for it.
Arnold Sinclair was not supposed to be here today. That was part of the reason Chase had hustled to get back. The board had dealt with his dad, and now, they were moving on. How had Arnold even found out about the board meeting? Did he have someone sympathetic to his cause within the ranks?
It wouldn’t surprise me. He’d worked at the company for years. Inherited it from his father and all that. The way Chase was inheriting it from him. I didn’t know what he thought he would accomplish by showing up here.
“Dad, you need to leave,” Chase said.
“No one can make me leave my own property,” he snarled.
“In fact, Arnold,” Joseph began, “we already made you leave. Don’t make us call security to escort you out.”
Arnold shook his head. “After all these years, Joseph, you’re going to turn against me.”
“There are no sides here,” Joseph said. “There is only right and wrong. What you did was wrong, and the company that you claim to love doesn’t stand for it.”
“Think about the women you hurt, Dad,” Ashleigh said, finding her voice. “Think about how they felt when you hurt them and discarded them. Can’t you think of anyone but yourself?”
“All of you just believe these women,” he snarled. “Without any proof. My own flesh and blood crafting stories to get me out of the way.”
Ashleigh flinched at the words hurled at her. I wanted to defend her, defend all the women, but arguing with Arnold was futile. He had no power here. He was exerting himself like he always did. The best thing to do in this situation was nothing. It was useless to deal with him when he was just manic.
“Enough,” Chase said. “You’re through, Dad. You need to leave.”
“You aren’t the CEO here.”
“Maybe not. But neither are you. And the board has already decided to dismiss you based on the sheer volume of allegations.”
“Bullshit.” He pointed his finger at me. “You’re just listening to your Wright. They’re trying to ruin us, and you’re letting them.”
“You will not speak to Harley that way,” he snapped.
“You’re an idiot if you don’t see that she’s trying to tear down everything we’ve built.”
“You’ve already gone down this road, and I threatened to quit before letting you speak to her like that,” he told his father with barely concealed fury in his voice. “I won’t tolerate it anymore.”
“You can fix this, Chase,” his dad said as if he realized his behavior wasn’t getting him anywhere. He stepped forward, pleading with Chase from a new angle. “You can make them see reason. Come on. I’ve always been in your corner. You can be CEO, and I can work where I’ve been this whole time. You aren’t ready to run everything on your own.”
Chase’s face was like stone. “Is that what you believe?”
“You’re brilliant at it. I raised you. I trained you. I know you can do the job, but you still need me. I’ve worked here too long.” His father put on a spectacular show. Owen would have even been proud of the duplicity. “I know I said some things in anger at dinner, but I never wanted you out of the company.”
“And Harley?”
He swallowed, but couldn’t quite suppress his disgust. “I still stand that you can do better.”
“Okay, Dad,” Chase said softly. “Okay, you can have another chance.”
Ashleigh and Joseph looked at him with disbelievingly. A word of protest was already on his sister’s lips. Arnold looked triumphant.
But they hadn’t been looking at Chase when he said it. They didn’t see the way his lips twisted in displeasure. The way his eyes had hardened into gemstones and his resolve set. Arnold should have known it would never be this easy.
So, I wasn’t surprised when Chase continued in a brisk, cutting manner with a dark smile on his lips, “If you apologize to my wife.”
The room went deathly silent.
Arnold’s face slackened in shock. Ashleigh’s eyes darted to my hand, where the black diamond shone in brilliant clarity. Joseph coughed into his hand, as if he’d been about to laugh and covered it at the last minute.
“Wife,” Arnold said flatly.
“That’s right,” Chase said.
“You’re not married.”
“We are,” I said.
I held up my left hand, letting him get a better look at the diamond on my finger. The wedding band beside it. The one he’d slid onto my finger only last night. I’d thought we’d spend the next day lounging around our penthouse honeymoon suite, eating top-quality food, drinking champagne, and enjoying the benefits of the empty ski resort. Instead, we were here.
“Oh my God!” Ashleigh gushed. She rushed forward, throwing her arms around her brother. “Congratulations! When did this happen? Tell me everything!”
Chase laughed and pulled back from his sister. “We eloped yesterday in New Mexico. We went to Holliday Ski.”
“You stayed at my chalet?” Arnold demanded.
“No,” Chase drawled. “We stayed at the resort with Blake.”
“You married a Wright?”
“Yes,” Chase said.
“I’m a Sinclair now,” I said with my chin tipped up. The words I’d uttered to Chase in the car coming back in full force.
Chase smiled. “And I’m a Wright.”
“No,” Arnold said. He shook his head, as if he couldn’t face those words.
“It’s done,” Chase said.
“This is absurd. You can’t marry her. Let alone without a prenup.”
His eyes snapped between us like we were insane for what had happened. Maybe it had been a quick ceremony decided at the last minute, but it didn’t change our love for one another. Prenup or not.
“You can still annul it.”
“Daddy, they’re married,” Ashleigh said.
“Accept it,” I added.
“So, those are the terms,” Chase said, lifting his chin. “You apologize to my wife for the horrid things you said about her, and you can have another chance.”
Arnold’s eyes were hard when they came to rest on his son. They weren’t terms. There was no possibility that this man would apologize to me. The twenty-two-year-old harlot he thought had ensorcelled his son. The only reason Chase had offered it to him at all was because he knew that his dad would never do it.
“Never,” he snarled, as I’d known he would. “This slut has twisted your mind.”
“Joseph, call security, please,” Chase said with a dismissive glance away from his father.
“Of course,” Joseph said.
“How fucking dare you!” Arnold said.
“Come on, Harley. This meeting shouldn’t take long,” he said, holding his hand out to me.
But Arnold grasped his son by the collar. “You can’t do this to me.”
Chase moved me hastily behind him. “I’ve done nothing to you. You did all of this to yourself. These are the consequences to your actions. You might never admit your fault, but you did this. You ruined your position here. You hurt countless women. And you lost the love and support of your wife and children all on your own.” Chase wrenched his suit out of his dad’s hands just as security rushed out of the elevator. “And you will suffer those consequences for once.”
“You need to come with us, Mr. Sinclair,” one of the officers said, reaching for Arnold.
“Get your hands off me!” Arnold swore at the security guards. He swung backward to get out of their grip. The first guard secured his arms, and the other began to drag him backward. “You can’t do this!”
“Good-bye, Dad,” Chase said resolutely.
I put my hand into his as we watched his dad be dragged away while he ranted and raved. It was a sad sight, but also a welcome one. As Chase had said, he’d gotten what he deserved. Finally. At least someone had.
“Well, that was dramatic,” Ashleigh said with an eye roll.
“Quite,” Joseph agreed. “He always did have a flair for the dramatic.”
Ashleigh laughed. “It runs in the family.”
“You are quite dramatic,” Chase agreed.
“Me?” She shot me a glance. “Y’all went and eloped!”
“We did,” Chase said with a smile, and he kissed me again.
“Congratulations, by the way,” Joseph said.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I want to know all the details and why I wasn’t a bridesmaid,” Ashleigh said with a pointed look. “But can we finish this meeting first?”
“I believe that’s in order,” Chase agreed.
“If you don’t mind, Mrs. Sinclair,” Joseph said with a head nod in our direction, “I’d like to borrow your husband for a minute to vote him in as CEO.”
I flushed at those words. Mrs. Sinclair. I wasn’t changing my name—that was for damn sure—but that didn’t mean I didn’t like hearing it. I was his. His. And now, people knew. All that was left was to break the news to my family. Suddenly, I couldn’t wait.
“I don’t mind at all as long as you bring the CEO back to me in one piece,” I teased. “I have plans for him tonight.”
Ashleigh chortled.
Chase grinned down at me devilishly and slung me up into his arms. He kissed me hard. “I love you.”
I laughed. “I love you, too.”
“I cannot wait for these plans.”
“Oh yeah? You don’t even know what they are.”
“I can guess,” he said with a seductive look.
“How about telling my brothers?”
He put me back on my feet with a smile. “I can take a punch.”
I snorted. “I was thinking of putting a family feud to an end.”
“Let’s do it.”
25
Harley
“Ready?” Chase asked from the driver’s side of his Porsche.
I sat on the passenger side, staring down at the diamond ring on my left hand. I still couldn’t believe how stunning it was and that he’d picked out my dream ring without my input. I twirled it around and around and around. A new habit that I had no intention of breaking. I never wanted to take the beautiful thing for granted.
“Harley,” he said softly.
I jerked my gaze up to meet his. I wasn’t nervous. Not really. Not after what we went through to get where we were. But calling a meeting of all the Wrights at Wright Vineyard was a bold move. Maybe I should have done it another way, but I wasn’t sure how.
“I’m ready.”
“We don’t have to tell everyone like this.”
“I want everyone to know,” I assured him.
“That’s not in doubt.”
“I want them to know now.”
I’d already told Mom. I couldn’t keep it from her another minute.
After Chase had officially been named CEO, we’d gone back to his—now, our—house, and I got on video chat to tell my mom. She was shocked and ecstatic. Though she had been sad that she hadn’t been there to see her only daughter get married, I thought she had been a little happy that her rule follower had finally followed her heart and rebelled.
“Then, let’s enter the lion’s den together.”
I nodded. “Together.”
We stepped out of his car, and he came around to take my hand. The walk up the stone path that led to the front of the vineyard felt shorter than normal. As if we took one step and then another and we were instantly at the large barn door that stood ajar, ready and waiting for us.
He squeezed my hand for reassurance and pushed the door all the way open. Inside was a crowd of Wrights. I’d done this, and still, I was struck by how much family I had now. I’d been so used to it being so small that I sometimes forgot when I invited all the Wrights, it was all the Wrights.
Whitt and Eve were standing with West and Nora, who were thankfully back from their honeymoon and the end of the tour. The rest of Cosmere lounged in chairs nearby. Beyond that, Jordan and Julian had drinks in hand beside their co-owner, Hollin, and the girls—Annie, Jennifer, Piper, and Blaire. My cousins—Jensen, Austin, Landon, Morgan, and Sutton—were in a cluster in one corner. Jensen was pointing fingers at his siblings, and the rest seemed to be arguing in the genial way they did. Their significant others were scattered about the room, along with their kids and friends.
Jensen’s eldest, Colton, had his head buried in his phone against a wall. A blonde stood at his side, staring up at him with longing in her eyes. They’d been on-again, off-again all year. This summer had been bumpier than ever. If it wasn’t enough that he was Harvard bound in a week’s time, there had been a horrible accident at the old train tracks, and one of their friends had died.
Understandably so, Colton had seemed off ever since. I didn’t blame him if he wanted to cut all ties to Lubbock and make a new name for himself in Cambridge, away from the legacy of the Wrights.
Honestly, sometimes, it was still strange to think that I wouldn’t be going with him. But I knew I’d made the right choice.
“Surprise!” I said, holding our hands up to the crowd.
The room quieted, turning toward us. All eyes were suddenly on us. Everyone wondering exactly why I’d called them here. Now, the moment of truth.
I caught Chase’s eye, and his smile warmed me. This was it. This was the right thing to do. No more hiding. Not ever again.
“Thank you so much for coming on short notice. I know it’s a lot to get all of the family together. We’re quite a bunch, aren’t we?”
They looked around at each other, chuckling at how much we’d grown over the years.
“Chase and I have an announcement to make.”
“But before we do,” Chase interjected, “I’d like to request that no Wrights punch me.”
More laughter from everyone. Eyes turning to Jordan, who just shrugged. Annie rolled her eyes at him. Julian slugged him in the arm.
“Hey!” Jordan said. Then another shrug. “He earned it.”
“What’s this about?” Whitt asked. He stepped forward, his face going white, as if he realized the news before it was announced.
“It’s okay,” Eve said. Her eyes were shining with tears of excitement. Bailey was at her side, and she must have already spilled the beans to her sister. “Let her speak.”
“Harley?” West said.
I turned my left hand to face my family. “Chase and I got married.”
There was a moment of deafening silence. Not whatever they must have been anticipating. Something more permanent. Something they hadn’t been included in.
I opened my mouth, prepared to defend our choice and tell them that they could all go to hell if they didn’t agree. We hadn’t done this for them. I was young, but not that young. Not anymore. This was what we wanted. What we’d fought for.
But the moment before I could speak, Eve, Bailey, and Annie rushed forward. A din of, “Congratulations!” followed as the girls smothered me with hugs and excitement.
I laughed at the sheer volume of their enthusiasm. My brothers stood on the periphery, but I couldn’t see what they were doing, and I didn’t know what they were thinking. Only that my family was happy for us. Wrights and Sinclairs were together, and they were happy.
