Page 34 of Red Velvet

"No, it'll be just the three of us tonight."

He gestures for us to sit on the sofas next to a well-equipped bar table. Both Damon and I hesitate a moment before we sit across from each other while he pours everyone a bourbon without asking. I don't wait for the obligatory clink of glasses before taking my first sip. My brother has an agenda, and whatever it is, I'm sure I'm not going to like it.

"What is this about?"

My brother shows no reaction to my direct question, displaying a nonchalance that bugs the hell out of me as he sits next to Damon.

"Not one for beating around the bush, huh?" Damon says, raising his glass before he takes a sip himself.

"Correct."

Greg sighs, adding an exasperated roll of the eyes. "Please excuse my brother, he—"

"It's fine. I like to take my time with things and do them properly, see them through until the end. But I understand that you have a rather short-lived attention span, always losing your grip on a project long before it reaches its peak."

I frown at him. "That's not what I would call it, but fine, not everyone gets it."

I cast my brother a condescending look, arching an eyebrow to urge him to explain. He raises his hand in a defensive manner, shifting on the sofa and giving the impression that this exchange is making him uncomfortable.

"Yes, you gentlemen are pretty different in the way you handle your business. Which is exactly why I think we should consider a cooperation," he says, throwing Damon a look that suggests they talked about this beforehand. It seems like I'm the only one who hasn’t been in the know about the nature of this meeting before showing up.

"I know you're already working on your next idea," my brother continues, casting me a questioning look that receives no response from my side. "And I know you'll want to give it up long before you should, because you always do. I can't watch that happen again."

I scoff, but he appears unfazed by my interjection.

"I can't, and I won't. But I know I won't be able to stop you from following that same pattern you've been following for the past few years. You'll never be interested in seeing a project through until the bitter end, at least not on your own."

He pauses, catching my gaze while I look back and forth between him and Damon, trying to grasp where he's going with this.

"You’ll want to sell, sooner rather than later, and that's fine," he adds, raising his hand again when I'm about to interrupt him. "That's why I'm suggesting you don't sell to just anybody. Instead you'll sell to us."

I suck in a sharp breath, furrowing my eyebrows in disgust as I try to understand him. "Us?"

"Me and Damon," he clarifies, pointing to the stern-looking guy next to him. "We're working on a merger of two branches in our e-commerce business."

"And you're already talking growth?" I blurt out, shaking my head. "You're already talking acquisition?"

They both nod in unison.

"It's not like we're talking tomorrow, this week, or even this month," Damon elaborates. "If I understand your brother correctly, there should be nothing to acquire from your part. Yet."

"No, there isn't," I respond. "Did he also tell you that he has no fucking idea what I'm even working on next?"

"Yes, I did tell him that," Greg answers on Damon's behalf. "But I also told him I'm confident that whatever it is, it’ll be interesting to us—and more valuable than you'll ever want to admit."

"Unbelievable!"

My exclamation is met with the stoic faces of two business professionals who aren’t conscious of having done anything wrong.

"How often have I told you, and Dad, that I'm not like you! How often have I—"

"Yes, yes, whatever, Kade!" Greg’s tone is unusually harsh for him. "You keep saying that, and I get it. You want to be the outsider, the black seed or whatever, but you can’t deny who you really are, as much as you want to."

He adds a dramatic pause, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees as he looks at me. "You are working on something new, aren't you?"

"Even if I was, that gives you no right to—"

"Why the fuck are you being so stubborn? You don't have to do anything. This is merely a proposal."

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