Page 61 of Enchanting the CEO

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

"You were thinking about going into the hotel business, too, weren't you?" Maddox asked.

"Yes! Seems like a natural expansion from the bar business, but right now my priorities are building a bigger distillery."

I looked at the rest of our brothers and then made a split-second decision.

"There's no need to involve the others in this," I said.

"We weren't going to," Leo said.

"I don't see why we should annoy everyone with Dad’s antics," Nick added. "It’s not like last time with the shares. There's nothing anyone can do about this."

I didn't know how, but I wasn't going to allow Ryan Whitley to mess with our legacy. Not again.

Him coming back to Boston was out of the question. He'd done so much damage to the Whitley name over the years that we’d barely recovered. He wasn't going to tear it down again.

“When you find out what exactly he wants to buy, let me know.”

"Let all of us know," Maddox said. "I'm starting to think Colton and Jake were right."

Coming from Maddox, this was shocking. Those three were on good terms now, but I never thought I’d hear Maddox say he actually agreed with them.

“About what exactly?” I asked.

“Giving him money. Feels like we gave him a prize for all the shit he’s pulled. And now he has enough capital to continue messing up the name.”

“He won't,” I assured him. “I’ll make sure of that. Now, let’s get back to work before the others catch on.”

An hour later, we finally finished everything.

"All right, everyone. Cocktails are on the house, but it has to be some other evening when I can join you," I said at 11:00 p.m. “I’m exhausted right now.”

"I’ll hold you to that, don't worry," Cade said good-naturedly. "Come on. Let's all go."

The warehouse manager was the last one out, checking everything before closing up.

I went home, and once I got inside, I remembered that Diane hadn't responded to my messages all day. That was unlike her. Not that I was an expert at communicating with women.

"Diane?" I called, looking around the living room. It was empty.

Was she not home? She would have told me if she went somewhere, right?

Then again, why should she? She didn't owe me an explanation for anything.

I was about to go to bed, but then I saw she'd left her phone on the kitchen counter. Fuck, something was really off. She wouldn't have simply left it in here. When I touched it, the screen lit up with all the messages from me.

I went back to the entrance and up the spiral staircase. Her door was open—yet another sign that something was off. I sprinted up the last steps.

"Diane?" No response. "Diane?" I asked again.

"Am I imagining this?" The faint voice came from the bedroom.

I walked straight to her. She was lying on one side, hair plastered on her face. She was a sweaty mess.

"What happened?"

"Some sort of virus. I don't even know. I feel like death."

---