Page 85 of The Acquisition

I huffed. "Well, enough easing me into this news, just spit it out."

"I think my brother might be the one pulling the strings on behalf of your father," he said hesitantly.

"And who might that be?" Some instinct deep inside warned me I didn't want to turn over this particular rock, but running away from my problems hadn't worked. There was no white knight coming to my rescue. It was time for me to woman up and save my damn self.

"Malcolm Graham."

I sucked in a breath. "There's no way."

"I'm afraid it's true. I'll bore you all the minute details. The condensed version is that I'm the bastard son of a man who deserves the title more than me because of the circumstances surrounding how I was born. Malcolm is his golden boy. He's followed in our father's footsteps right down to the clubs he belongs to."

"Let me guess," I began, "he belongs to Evergreen Acres?"

Stryker made a clicking sound. "Nailed it on the first try. Where else would a group of misogynists congregate than a club of stuffy assholes that prevent women from joining their sausage parties."

"What do you want me to do?" It was clear this was where the conversation was headed. I needed to combat my father's schemes head on, and Stryker needed to stay here and run the company.

"My brother is an idiot who leads every plan with his cock. He won't try and get control of the company by only purchasing stocks. He'll try to get it through manipulation."

"Please tell me you don't expect me to try and convince him not to help my father," I begged.

"I'm sorry to ask. I'm sensing you've got history with him. Knowing Malcolm I can only guess it's a nasty one. But that only means you won't be charmed by him and will know how to motivate him to change paths."

"There's a property in the Easton holdings in New York. My guess is your brother would go for a sure thing over the risky deal he's made with my father," I suggested.

Stryker chuckled. "You're an evil genius."

THIRTY-TWO

COLTER

Ilooked at my phone. Dozens of unanswered calls and even more texts sent to Jana over the last week. Beck said she sent notice she would be working remotely for the time being.

My alarm system beeped letting me know someone entered my apartment. I couldn't muster up the energy to check who it was. Besides, they obviously had a key.

I reached over to the side table and grabbed my tumbler full of Scotch and downed the entire glass before refilling it.

"Is this what you're doing now? Drinking all day and glaring at your phone?"

I tossed that glass down after the other one. "I seem to remember you weren't in such great shape when you lost Evie. Why don't you just fuck off and leave me alone?"

"Get off your ass and please shower. It's time to try and get her back."

I glared at him. "It's useless, she won't answer my calls. I ruined everything."

"I accused Evie of having an affair with you. I even made you take a paternity test, only to find out you were her father, not my baby's. If we could overcome that, you can get past this," he insisted.

I tried to take another drink and realized my glass was empty. As I reached for the bottle, Beck yanked it out of my reach.

"Is this what you're going to do now? Drink yourself to death? How will this make anything better?"

I heaved myself out of my chair and stumbled across the room. He was foolish if he thought that was my only bottle. What was I, an amateur?

Taking a new bottle out of the cabinet, I pulled out the cork and drank straight from it. I turned to Beck to finally answer him. "It will help me forget, and right now that's the best I can hope for."

"Bullshit," he shouted and threw the bottle in his hand against the wall.

The sound of glass shattering and tinkling as it fell filled the room. I gestured toward the mess with the bottle in my hand. "That's going to be a real bitch to clean up."

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