Page 334 of The Christmas Wife

"Funny how you only value something when you don’t have it anymore," I murmur.

"Like your girl who’s not your girl anymore?" Tyler, the brother standing on the other side of the table drawls.

Anger squeezes my guts. My pulse begins to race. "Better than not knowing your child was not your own."

The moment the words are out of my mouth, I regret it. I raise my hands.

"Sorry, that was a low blow."

Tyler’s jaw tics. A nerve pops at his temple. He folds his fingers into fists and takes a few steps forward, as if he’s about to jump over the table and hit me.

But the brother standing near him—Connor—moves forward and touches his shoulder. Tyler seems about to shake it off, but the other man says, "Don’t. Arthur won’t be happy if you fuck up this meeting."

Arthur.So they do refer to our grandfather by his first name? He's the chairperson of the company, so it stands to reason it’s easier for all concerned to call him by his name at work, and he asked me to do so the one and only time we met. But I’d have thought when they were among family, they’d refer to him as Grandpa? Or Grandad? Not that he looks like either of those.

Tyler lowers his arms to his sides but continues to glower at me.

The fifth man who, so far, stands in one corner of the room reading, looks around, then snaps his book shut and walks over to the table. From my research, I know that Brody is the quietest of the five, and the one I know the least about. He keeps to himself and does not participate in the day-to-day running of the company. The only reason he’s here is because Arthur asked him to come.

Brody pulls out a chair, and seats himself. The rest of the brothers look at him, their expressions ranging from anger to frustration. All of their gazes are tinged with stubbornness. Do I really want to take over the company and deal with their egos,not to mention, the roadblocks they’ll put up to obstruct any plans I want to execute?

If it's a challenge I'm looking for, being the GM of the London Ice Kings provides me plenty—or rather, did provide me plenty—right until the time they won the League, and on their first attempt. I played a role by helping to put the team together, but the glory belongs to the players. And they won the championship.

I have the option to continue as GM, but I'm ready to hand that off. I paved the way for someone else to take over and build on the foundation I set up. That's me. I prefer to do the hard work, the dirty work, the work that requires the most obstacles to be overcome. And once that's done, I move on.

The only time I stayed consistent was when I was part of the church. The routine, the discipline, and the regulations ensured I could focus on the only thing which mattered—my devotion to the Lord. And then I left it behind, and with it, my ability to have a focal point in my life. I hoped being the GM of the Ice Kings would provide me with that anchor, and it did. Briefly. But something was missing. The position always felt temporary. I loved building something with the team, but like I said, something was missing. Something I hope I'll find as the CEO of the Davenport group of companies.

It’s why I accepted Arthur's offer to take over this role. The fact that it means working with my half-siblings is something I've both been looking forward to, while also dreading it.

It’s not every day a man finds out he has an entire biological family he never knew anything about. Turns out, my biological father and my mother had an affair, and when she broke things off with him, she didn’t realize she was pregnant. By the time she did, she was married to my adoptive father, his older brother.

My biological father went on to marry and father my half-brothers.

My adoptive father, who is technically my uncle, fell out with his family, changed his surname to his mother’s maiden name, and never spoke to them again.

But when Arthur found out about my existence he wanted me to rejoin the family business. He also wants to groom me to become his heir.

Now, I glance about at the faces of my half-brothers, then pull out the chair at the head of the table and drop into it. The men stiffen. None of them move for a few seconds. Then, Knox steps forward into the light. I take in the scars on his face as he crosses over to the chair at the other end of the table.

He sits down, and once his brothers follow suit, he leans forward in his seat. "You have something to tell us?”

4

Mira

"He had nothing to say to you?" Gio scowls up at me from the screen of my phone.

I shake my head. "I didn’t see the man the entire day."

She taps her finger to her cheek. "Maybe he was busy? He is the CEO of the company."

"And he asked me to get to his office for eight a.m., which I did, but he wasn’t there. He palmed me off to his HR manager who onboarded me. She also told me one of my roles, get this, is to ensure his favorite coffee is stocked, as well as his sparkling water."

"So he did instruct someone to show you around?"

I pop a shoulder. "There was no reason to ask me to report for eight a.m. if he wasn’t going to be around."

"But the office hours are from eight a.m. to five p.m.?"

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