Page 20 of The Forbidden

“Would you really?” Ethan asks, his expression lighting up with a surge of relief. “I just don’t have it in me to be around anyone in that family. Logically, I understand he’s not his father, but all I see is a Mardraggon and it makes me furious what they did.”

“I understand,” I say, moving my hand over to lay on top of his. “I got this, Ethan.”

CHAPTER 8

Gabe

Pacing back and forth in my home office, I rub at my neck, which has tightened into knots. “Clara… I do not have time to rehash all of this with you. My father is no longer chairman. The vote was properly called for and executed. You need to deal with it or you can resign your position. Which is it going to be?”

“I am going to hold you accountable,” she snaps with the iron bite of a woman who’s been helping to helm the empire for decades. “You may think you know what you’re doing, but you’re just a young pup and you are out of your league.”

Someone with a lesser ego might be intimidated by her rebuke, but I recognize what this is. Clara is fearful she’ll be ousted right alongside my father. She represents part of the old guard. She sees that I want to bring new and young blood onto the board because I have a greater vision than my father did.

Simply put, she’s concerned for her livelihood.

“Clara, you are a vital and integral part of this organization. I need people like you and Uncle Terrance on the board who can help advise me and who are willing to let me guide this ship under such advice. But I can’t battle you and do my job at the same time. You need to decide which way it’s going to be.”

I listen to her ramble for another five minutes, but I note that she’s no longer playing the blame game for what I did to my father. Deep down she knows we cannot have an accused attempted murderer on our board. It would kill our reputation and our product.

Ultimately, we end the call with the promise to meet tomorrow for lunch so we can discuss her concerns. I’m confident I can get her reined in but to be on the safe side, I shoot a quick text to Uncle Terrance and invite him to join us. He’s an ally no one expected me to have since he’s incredibly close to my father and has essentially been his right-hand man. I know it was a dagger to Lionel’s heart when Uncle Terrance voted against him, but my uncle saw the writing on the wall and he knew it was time to jump ship.

After pocketing my phone, I move to my desk and stuff several folders in my briefcase. I glance around my new home office, loving the casual comfort. I love even more not having to wear a suit when I choose to work from here rather than the office and while my jeans and shirt are designer, they’re still representative of some of the changes happening with me.

As awesome as it was to kick my dad off the board of directors, the real victory was in getting Ethan’s agreement to let me see Sylvie. I dropped the revised trust agreement off yesterday with Kat and before I went to bed last night, she told me via text that Ethan agreed. He wasn’t about to let me get my hands on her alone and I understand that. It appears that Kat is to be our chaperone, so I’m headed to Blackburn Farms now to spend the afternoon with my niece.

I sling the briefcase over my shoulder and move to the couch to grab the two shopping bags filled with presents for Sylvie. I feel no need to buy her affection as I’m confident in the bond I’ve developed with her since the day she was born, but it makes me feel good to give her something to bring a smile to her face. God knows she needs it.

Sylvie and I have always been tight. I went to France a handful of times each year to visit and we stayed in frequent contact by phone or FaceTime. That was a reflection of the rock-solid bond I had with my sister Alaine, born of being raised in the same cold sterile home environment. We really only had each other.

When Alaine got sick with brain cancer and we realized she was dying, my bond with Sylvie strengthened even more. Alaine and Sylvie came to live with us in Kentucky and when Sylvie wasn’t spending time with her mother, she was at my side.

I had even fancied in my mind that I would be the one to raise Sylvie after my sister died. It made the most sense and I even started making plans to get out from under my parents’ roof and buy a home Sylvie and I could live in.

That all went to hell after the truth came out that Ethan Blackburn was Sylvie’s father. The cruel twist of betrayal from my sister was that she wanted Sylvie to live with him and not me.

Naturally, I banded with my parents to make sure that didn’t happen. Sylvie is a Mardraggon, not a Blackburn. I aligned with my parents’ efforts to do everything we could to turn Sylvie against Ethan. For me, it wasn’t about the winery. I didn’t care at all what happened to it because I was more focused on our bourbon empire, which is the real moneymaker.

But as a Mardraggon, I hated the Blackburns. The long-standing divide would never be bridged and I would keep Sylvie on our side.

While my father was apparently plotting the murder of his granddaughter, I just wanted to keep her bonded to me. I could not stomach the thought of Sylvie becoming a Blackburn nor could I envision her spending any time with them. If she developed ties to that family that meant I would have to deal with them, and I didn’t want them in my life.

Most of all, I did not want Kat there. In truth, that was a huge driving factor in my zeal to keep Sylvie separated from the Blackburns. I could not foresee a life where our families barbecued together because one precocious child closed the gap. That was a dream I once had a long time ago, but it died. It was mostly my fault when it crashed and burned, and I never planned to put myself into that position again.

But I’m in the thick of it now.

Sylvie is a Blackburn, and she has nothing of the Mardraggons in her other than her mother’s DNA. She is nothing like her grandparents and I see very little of me within her because I can be ruthless in pursuit of what I want. But now I have to play nice because I hold no leverage with Ethan Blackburn and if I want Sylvie in my life, that means I have to accept the Blackburns to some extent. Frustrating beyond measure, that means Kat is back in my life now too.

She is the biggest complicating factor I face. She is what’s causing me the most stress right now because no matter how snide our exchanges are or how deep our bitter feelings run, I am still drawn to the woman.

I still want her.

And apparently, I still care for her because when she fell off that horse yesterday, my heart stopped cold in my chest. The fall was brutal and I was afraid she was dead. I took off running across the barn without thought as to how it might look. Luckily, Kat was knocked too silly to understand the meaning behind my actions and Trey was too conceited in the hatred between us all that he didn’t even pay attention.

It was a potent reminder that Kat Blackburn still has power over me and if I allow myself to succumb to it, I’ll slide down an incredibly slippery slope. I know this because it happened once before. We were young, dumb and foolish, but we were crazy about each other.

I rapped my knuckles softly on the door to Kat’s dorm room, looking left and right to make sure nobody saw me. It was close to midnight and her roommate was staying over at her boyfriend’s house. While this was a coed dorm, I could’ve gotten in serious trouble for being on the female floor at this time of night. But this wasn’t the first time I’d been here nor would it be my last. Nothing would keep me away from Kat.

She swung open the door and before I could even level a smile her way, her hands gripped my T-shirt and she dragged me inside. I’m not sure who closed the door, but all that mattered was that her mouth was on mine and my hands were on her. We fumbled our way through hot kisses and tearing off each other’s clothes. We fell onto her bed and I whispered dirty things in her ear.

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