Three to Get Ready, page 15
I wish we could have had this party before his mind began to deteriorate. My regret is an ache clamped around my chest like my dad’s hand around the box. He deserved to be recognized for his work, for real. The secret we’re keeping stole that from him.
There’s a gold watch inside. He hasn’t opened the top. I’m not sure he’s aware of holding it.
A woman from the marketing department takes his elbow and guides him to the cake. Dad exclaims over it, but when she tries to give him the first slice, he shakes his head. “I won’t be sharp for my three o’clock meeting if I’m full of sugar.”
“You sure, Dad? You only have one retirement party.”
Fifteen minutes. That’s how long it’ll take everybody else to shake his hand if nobody starts a long conversation.
Fifteen minutes, and I can breathe again.
The well-wishes keep coming.
I bet you’re looking forward to your golden years.
Take advantage of your newfound free time and travel. I hear Italy’s magic.
Play as much golf as you want. You deserve it. If you ever need someone to drive the cart—
“I’ll give you a call,” Dad promises.
He won’t.
I’ve always looked up to you, Mr. Hughes.
My father’s proud that I work for a company like yours. I’m glad I got the chance to shake your hand.
“I’d be nothing without my team,” Dad says over another handshake. His team is down to me, Hemingway, and his nurses now. “It’s hard work, but it’s worth it.”
The man he’s speaking to blinks, but doesn’t ask Dad to clarify.
Time to wrap things up.
I put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s about time we headed out, Dad. Don’t you think?”
He nods, turning toward me. I open my mouth to say our goodbyes.
They don’t make it out, because the CFO angles in and shakes my dad’s hand. Alex Wong doesn’t miss a thing, which is why it’s great to have him in that role. It’s also the reason why I want to keep him far away from my father.
They’ve only ever met at fake, staged meetings like this one, only ever shook hands and waved as he did a walkthrough under my supervision. But he’s conversed with my father over email plenty of times, in depth emails that discussed confidential, complex financial matters.
“Mr. Hughes. Before you go, I wanted to get your take on the reinvestment strategy for next quarter. Seems important that we’re all on the same page.”
“We are. Of course we are. That’s what makes us an effective team.”
“I’m in total agreement. The specific strategy, though. I sent you my thoughts, but I know you disagree on the dividends. We’ve gone back and forth a few times, but I thought maybe we could talk in person.”
Dad frowns, pulling slightly away. He clutches the watch box with both hands.
“I can take it from here, Dad.” I meet the CFO’s eyes. “We’ll discuss the strategy next week. I’m the CEO starting at the open of business on Monday.”
“Of course. I mean no disrespect. Your leadership isn’t in question.” Wong refocuses on my dad. “It’s just that your father has one of the best financial minds I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Even though we only talk over email, I’ve learned so much.”
“What happens at the open of business?” It’s as if Dad has completely forgotten about Alex Wong. “Phineas. Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Wong’s brow furrows. “Sir?”
“What’s happening Monday?” he demands.
“Dad, let’s talk about this outside.”
Wong glances at me, suspicious now. I want to cover his mouth with my hand. I want to drag him out of here by his collar. “Didn’t you sign off on that? The board voted on it. Unanimous agreement. You voted by proxy. Are you saying that you don’t know?”
“Young man.” My dad’s face is flushing. “I have been the head of this company for ten years.”
Fuck.
“Dad, we should go. Everybody needs to get back to work. You’ve got appointments on your schedule.”
“Ten years?” Wong repeats.
Other people are beginning to listen in. He’s been the official CEO of Hughes Industries for more than three decades, not one. This is going off the rails.
“That’s right. And I have no plans to step down. I’ll be in my office on Monday. If you’ve got a problem, you can bring it directly to me. Make an appointment with my secretary.”
The silence in the room is as thick as the tension.
I keep a calm smile firmly in place. “He’s having cold feet at the last minute. The prospect of all those beach vacations and endless golf holes don’t appeal to someone as industrious as my dad.”
There’s confusion in everyone’s eyes.
They’re wondering if it’s a power struggle. And it is, but not a power struggle between father and son. It’s a power struggle between the Hughes men and our curse.
And right now, as sweat beads on my forehead, the curse is winning.
My father meets my eyes. “What’s going on? Where’s Geneva? Where am I?”
“He’s not feeling well,” I tell everyone. “I should have rescheduled the party. I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”
“Mr. Hughes—”
Dad whips his head toward Wong. He takes a shaky breath and then steps back.
“Why does it say retirement on the sign?” He glances down, discovers the box in his hands, and hurls it to the floor like it burned him. “I’m not retiring. I’m not old enough for that. I have work to do. I wasn’t finished. Where is my secretary?” His eyes search the room. “Where is my office?”
“What’s going on here?” Wong asks. “Is this some kind of episode?”
Yes. That’s what I’ll say. I’ll pretend to be shocked and horrified.
I don’t have to pretend to be worried sick.
But then…
“I just dealt with this with my Dad.” A woman’s voice. “Alzheimer’s. Or dementia. Mr. Hughes—”
She tries to move forward, but my dad startles back.
“How long has he been like this?” The CFO asks, his voice sharp with blame. “How long, Finn?”
He’s still thinking this is some kind of hostile takeover.
He has no idea that my dad wanted this. He asked for it to happen this way to preserve his dignity, but it’s not working. It’s not working.
“I’m late for my meeting,” my father snaps. His eyes pass over me like I’m one of the strangers in the crowd. “I don’t know who the hell you people are. My son is supposed to be here. Phineas. Where the hell is he? What did you people do with him?”
22
EVA
The director of the charity benefiting LGBTQ+ youth faces me across my desk, her chin held high, expression stoic. Her eyes reveal the truth. She badly wants this grant. And I want to give it to her. I always did, even before, but I’ve seen too many millions squandered in administrative costs and never-finished projects to hand it out without due diligence.
I flip the last page on her completely reworked presentation and meet her eyes.
This is one of the best moments in my job. Telling people we’re about to change their lives. And the lives of so many more people that the charity helps.
Even sweeter that I get to do it with Finn’s ring on my finger.
“I’m impressed. You brought me all the information I asked for and then some.” I rise from my seat and offer her my hand. “I’m looking forward to working together on your project.”
She clasps my hand, no longer attempting to hide her nerves. “Oh my God, thank you. This is amazing. You have no idea how much this means to us.”
“Thank you. It’s your work that made the difference here.”
“I—” She releases my hand and covers her mouth. “I don’t want to be rude, but I have to tell my team.”
“Go,” I say with a laugh. “You deserve a celebratory phone call.”
The director heads out of my office, through the waiting area, and into the main corridor at Morelli Holdings. I’m glad we held the meeting here. It’s grander than my office at home, and she deserves to feel like she won big.
Except she didn’t win it. She earned it.
I’m still basking in her joy when Leo sticks his head in the door. “You ready?”
“I was born ready.”
The reason I held the meeting in the official Morelli Fund offices is because there’s one other item on my agenda for the day—a meeting with my brothers.
Lucian’s the CEO of Morelli Holdings. The Morelli Fund is an arm of the family company, and I manage a growing amount of charitable donations every year. Leo’s operations at his real estate firm, the Morelli Property Group, are entirely his own, but the legal structure makes his business a subsidiary of Morelli Holdings.
Together, the three of us are in charge of the family’s business and philanthropic interests. We have regular meetings to keep each other updated.
This is Leo’s first trip back to the city after Abby’s birth. He described it to me as a test run. He’ll still be on paternity leave for at least the next few months.
“How’s Haley? How’s my favorite niece?” I ask him on the way up to Lucian’s office.
“Petra came to be with Haley while I’m at the meeting. Everyone was happy when I left. Abby slept for four straight hours last night, so Haley has a new lease on life.”
I nudge him with my elbow. “What about you?”
“I’ve already texted her three times asking for pictures. Do you know what she said?” Leo pulls out his phone and reads off the screen. “You’re only going to be gone a few hours, and then you can hold her the rest of the day and night. I promise, she’s fine!!!” He gives me wide, skeptical eyes. “Can you believe that? My own wife.”
“You’re too much.”
“I’m your favorite person, sister mine.”
“You’re up there.” We go into Lucian’s office and take seats at his desk.
He looks at us with narrowed eyes, his desk phone pressed to his ear. “No. Stop talking. My next meeting is here. I’ll send you an email.” The phone clatters into its cradle.
“That was a little rude, Lucian,” I point out.
“You know what’s rude? Having to hear about Finn’s proposal from this asshole.” He inclines his head at Leo, who rolls his eyes.
“You were there when we announced our engagement. Don’t be ridiculous.”
His dark eyes glitter. I never told Lucian the engagement was fake. Outside of me and Finn, only Haley and Leo knew.
I might have been wrong. Lucian doesn’t miss much.
“Ah, but you didn’t have a ring. Odd that Hughes would wait so long to get down on one knee on some rickety dock and put it on your finger.”
“He got down on one knee on his sailing yacht, for the record.”
“And you didn’t so much as send me a text. Let’s see it.” Lucian stands up, and I have no idea why.
“See what?”
“The ring, Eva. Let us see.”
“I’ve already seen it,” Leo teases. “You should have been more persistent.”
“Shut your mouth, brother mine. I’m not above shutting it for you.”
A strange, pleased warmth suffuses me. I’m often at the center of the family, but I’m not usually the center of attention. I’m not sure I ever allowed myself to imagine showing off my new engagement ring. Certainly not to Lucian.
I get up anyway, unable to stop myself from smiling, my eyes hot with happy tears. Leo stands up, too. I extend my hand over Lucian’s desk. He takes it carefully in both of his and examines the ring. Leo leans over and looks, too, though of course he was one of the first people to see.
It’s a beautiful ring, a dark gold with a four-carat marquise diamond. Finn offered to buy me a ring, anything I wanted. This one is beautiful, full of history and family.
“Do you like it?” Lucian asks softly. My chest goes tight. He’s trying so hard. It’s so unlike the Lucian I used to know as a child.
“I love it.”
“What about Hughes?” He looks into my eyes, my hand still in his. “You love him, too?”
I can only nod.
“Good. That makes things easier for me.”
“Because you don’t have to kill him?”
“Exactly.”
“The two of you have to stop threatening people with murder.”
Lucian laughs, and the three of us take our seats. “You should be grateful you have brothers who would kill for you. Some people aren’t so lucky. Now. Tell me the top-line items from the Morelli Fund.”
Honestly, I couldn’t have imagined a meeting like this before Lucian took over as CEO. Our father used an iron-fist style of management. He and Lucian butted heads over how to run the company, and they kept everybody at a distance. Lucian was always cold. Always kept himself apart, even when we were kids.
Lucian’s trying something different. He insists it’s about making the most money, but I suspect that falling in love with Elaine gave him a change of heart. He’s not nearly such an aloof bastard anymore. I think part of him was afraid that the rest of us wouldn’t accept him back into the fold. Silly. He’s a Morelli. There’s no keeping him out. The meetings are just one of the ways he shows up for us now.
The meeting runs long. It’s just past five when the three of us exit Lucian’s office and make our way to the main entrance of Morelli Holdings.
“Elaine wants to come see the baby,” Lucian says. “Is she free this evening?”
“You could at least pretend to care that I still exist.” Leo’s tone is only a little sarcastic.
“Oh, but I do. Elaine’s the one who wants to coo at the baby. I want to bait you into a fistfight.”
“Jesus Christ.” Leo gazes at the ceiling, then laughs. “If you come for dinner, I should ask Daphne and Emerson.” He looks at me, considering. “What about you and Finn? Do you have plans?”
“I don’t know. I can find out.” I’m giddy at the prospect of finding out. It’s just a tentative dinner invitation to Leo’s, but it feels like a gift. “What about everybody else?”
“Depends on how Haley feels. I can invite Sophia and Tiernan and Lizzy if she’s up to a circus.”
“It can be a calm circus.” We reach the big front doors.
He snorts. “Sure.”
“I’m going to text Finn right now.” I rest my hand on the push bar and slip my phone out of my purse. Leo puts his hand on the frame above mine, and the door opens. I take a step onto the sidewalk, tapping at the screen “It would be nice if—”
“Ms. Morelli!” The shout is loud and close. My body jolts from the volume. “Ms. Morelli, do you have anything to say about the Hughes conspiracy?”
Paparazzi crowd in, filling the sidewalk. I can’t see my SUV over their heads, or my security.
A hand comes down on my shoulder. Leo’s. It holds me in place while both my brothers launch themselves in front of me. I take a step back toward the glassed-in doors.
“Step away,” Lucian snaps, voice icy. “She doesn’t have a comment.”
Leo’s shoving his open palms in the direction of the photographers, forcing them back. They keep surging forward as he snarls at them, a vicious smile on his face.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? No, please, take another step. I’ll consider you a threat to my sister’s life if you move one more inch.”
The cameras don’t stop flashing. Security has arrived, but they’re on the outside of the crush, having to shove their way through. I’m in the only clear pocket of space behind Leo and Lucian.
They keep repeating that we have no comment. The questions don’t stop. Some of them are aimed at Leo and Lucian.
“Did you know your fiancé was covering up his father’s dementia? Eva. Over here. How much did the rest of the family know about this? Is Morelli Holdings involved? Eva. This way. Were you helping him to hide it? Is your engagement a plot to distract the public from the conspiracy?”
My face feels bloodless and numb. Two minutes ago, we were making dinner plans. I was so happy. I was going to find out if Finn was free.
He’s not going to be free now that the news is out.
I don’t have any idea how it happened. I can hardly breathe.
Our respective security teams converge, finally surrounding us. They make a path through the rowdy clutch of shouting men and women with telephoto lenses. Someone opens the back door of my SUV and I climb in. Leo stands in front of it, blocking me from the photographers. Lucian’s right next to him.
One of the agents moves to shut the door behind me.
He’s not quite fast enough.
A final shouted question breaks through:
“What about your baby? Does your baby have the disease, too?”
* * *
Thank you for reading the emotional story of Finn and Eva. Find out whether the Hughes curse is real in the explosive next book, THREE TO GET READY…
There’s a ticking time bomb over Finn Hughes head. It’s only a matter of time. That means he has to prepare everyone. Eva. The baby. The company, which is in an uproar after the announcement. He needs to get them ready because when the curse hits, it will be too late to say goodbye.
One click THREE TO GET READY now >
And don’t miss Daphne Morelli’s dark captivity story…
Wealthy. Reclusive. Dangerous. Emerson LeBlanc doesn’t enter society much. He only ventures out in pursuit of new art for his collection. It starts with a haunting painting. Then he meets the artist…
Innocent Daphne Morelli is more exquisite than anything he’s ever seen. He becomes obsessed with her. It doesn’t matter that she’s a living, breathing person with her own hopes and dreams.
She’ll be the perfect addition to his collection.
One click DARK REIGN now >
You can also read Carter Morelli’s thrilling, scorching hot prequel THE CRASH, where he becomes stranded with a beautiful photographer—and a mysterious stranger in the jungle.
