Page 102 of Taking What's Ours

I sit on the edge of his desk. “So, has Elliott lived up to all your plans for him? Marriage? Taking over the family business? A corner office all his own?”

My father’s chin lifts. “Elliott has proven less than ideal. Since Elaina abandoned him, he’s been unable to keep an executive assistant.” He eyes me up and down. “Perhaps I misjudged you, Dylan. Perhaps you’re more like me than I thought. There’s a merger I’ve been working on. Perhaps someone like you has the skills to pull it off—skills your brother doesn’t seem to have. Elliott’s done nothing but screw it up.”

I laugh so hard my eyes water. “Maybe if you had disciplined him, Elliott wouldn’t be the asshole he is. Now that he’s fucked it up for you, you’re stuck.” I shrug. “He runs the business into the ground, why should I care?”

“Don’t you even care about the family business? Not even for your mother’s sake?”

“You get what you sow, Dad. And if you drag Mom down with you, that’s on you.”

He studies me with newfound respect. “Look, Dylan, I may have been too hasty in judging you. I think we can help each other.”

“Fuck you. I wouldn’t help you if my life depended on it. And as for Mom? I’m done with all of you.”

Elliott walks through the door and comes to a dead stop. His eyes find me. “What the hell are you doing here?”

I stalk to him and cold cock him in the mouth. He stumbles against the door, but I keep coming, pummeling him with hit after hit, some to his face, some to his gut, until he drops to his knees, blood running from his broken nose and busted jaw. Two teeth lay on the floor.

“That’s for Elaina, you son-of-a-bitch.” I whirl on my father. “Oh, and by the way, that grandchild you’ve been wanting? He’ll come from me. I’ll give him to you next summer. But you and the vileness you spew will never get near him.”

Rock stalks to Elliott, grabs his tie, and hauls him to his feet, getting right in his face. “You call the cops about this or try to file charges; your father won’t find enough of you to bury. Understand?” He shakes him for good measure.

“Yes, s-sir.” My gutless brother, unless he’s terrorizing someone weaker than he is, is a coward.

Rock drops him to the ground and kicks him in the gut, then looks at me. “Come on, brother. You’ve got one more stop to make.”

We stalk into the reception area.

“Where’s my brother’s office?” I ask my father’s assistant, who is staring in horror through the open door at my brother lying on the floor, bleeding profusely from his mouth and nose.

She points down a hall across on the other side of the building. “405.”

The four of us troop down the corridor. When we get to the end of the hall, Elaina is standing at a desk outside the office, putting things in a cardboard box. She turns when she hears us, and two other women stand near her. They appear to be friendly co-workers. One has a hand on her shoulder. All eyes widen when they see us.

Elaina actually looks stricken. “What are you doing here?”

“Had a message to deliver to my father and brother.”

Her eyes widen, and she glances behind us. “What did you do?”

Her voice is barely a whisper, and I turn and see my father marching down the hall.

“Elaina, is this the kind of life you gave up Elliott for?Bikers?”he sneers.

I whirl on him. “Shut your fucking mouth.”

He comes to a halt.

I turn back to Elaina. “Look, I don’t know what made you run, but you don’t have to go back to my brother.”

She lifts her chin. “It was all just payback, wasn’t it?”

My chin pulls to the side. “What was payback?”

“All of it. You went to your brother’s wedding intending to ruin it, didn’t you?”

“Why would you think that?”

“Did you? Yes, or no?”

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