Page 57 of Luke

“Let’s make sure they know it’s over for now, and we can wait on Evan and Kayla before we make any decisions.” Cade grabbed pizza and put it on plates and left the kitchen.

Luke and Jake followed suit, grabbing plates for themselves and their significant others. It was shaping up to be another long night. Luke was over it already and needed to find a way for this to be done soon.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Paisley

Paisley sighed for the tenth time today as the men continued to talk circles around each other. No one seemed to have a good idea as to what to do next and they were concerned about the pressure that Mr. Hamilton had just put on them.

She, at least, learned what their other plan was and she agreed that it wasn’t a good idea anymore. They were trying to take the completely legal route and get his father no contact with anyone. It was looking less and less like the legal option was going to work, but they still had lawyers working on it.

“I believe he has something else in the works,” Luke said.

“No one is arguing that point. He wouldn’t have just one option though. It wouldn’t be like him. Honestly, if there’s only one than I’d say he’s running out of options.” Cade stood and stretched his back. “The question is what his plan is.”

“I don’t get it. You’re all successful. Why is he doing this? For a legacy? You have his name and are growing his business. Isn’t that enough?” Paisley asked.

Cade stared her down but didn’t seem to have an answer.

“It’s because we didn’t do it his way. That pisses him off more than anything else. It’s defiant and not living up to his expectations. He needs it to happen the way he wants and to merge families because part of having a legacy is finding a way to grow.” Catherine spoke with a flat tone, very unusual for her.

Paisley made a face, unable to stop it. “Sounds gross.”

“Think of it more like an old romance novel where there are a ton of dukes and they all need to marry well. It’s like that. Not many people still think this is important, but he does and now we are here,” Catherine explained.

“What about Ashley?” Paisley asked.

Luke blanched and looked around. Clearly, no one had considered how she might fit into all of this tonight. It made sense to Paisley that Ashley was the next one because everyone else was solidified in their relationships and had already thwarted his plans for them.

“I’ll call her,” Luke said.

He did and placed it on speakerphone. They all inhaled a sharp breath when a man answered.

“Hello?”

“Who are you?” Luke demanded. “Why do you have my sister’s phone?”

The man sighed. “Carter here. Is this Luke or Cade?”

“Carter, where is she?” Ryker shouted, causing both babies to startle, but they easily settled back down.

April sent Ryker a glare as she soothed her baby in her arms.

“She gave us both the slip this time. Left her phone here and we are looking for her, sir,” Carter said.

“How the hell is a grad student with no security training able to get past you so damn much?” Ryker’s volume was hushed but his anger was clear.

“Sir, I don’t know. We are doing what we can, but we don’t know how she got out this time.”

“Probably because you are making her sound like a puppy that escaped the yard,” Catherine commented.

Ryker glared at her this time. “Did you have Matt check?”

“I already sent him a message,” Carter confirmed.

“After this, I think we need to get her back here for a little while at least so we can all be together in case he pulls something else,” Luke said.

“I agree.” Cade paced again. “If we get her here, we can all help keep her out of trouble. It will also be easier to track who might want to play along with Father by seeing who goes from one town to the other like her.”

---