Page 87 of Pin-up Girl

Milo started pacing, mumbling periodically under his breath.

Eventually, Elise came out of Jules’ arms, but she didn’t stray too far, and she wasn’t surprised to see us standing there, so I would take that as a plus. Not that she said anything. We stayed in that room with the bodies longer than we needed to, maybe from fear, maybe for power.

When your enemy had rained hell down on your life, andfinallythat fucker was dead, you didn’t want to just walk away and take the chance he could come back to life.

“Emmett, call my attorney. Let’s move forward with our plan, even if Justin’s deal is irrevocably dead. No pun intended. As much as I hate to, I’m going to call my father.” He left the room for his phone call.

I studied Jules and Elise as I pulled my phone from my pocket. Mr. Thornton was the attorney who handled all of Milo’s assets, especially after his mother died.

She was the sole heir of Vita Logic Industries. That was, until she had Milo. Now he was the sole heir.

Until now, he’d never wanted anything to do with it, allowing a board to manage the company any way they wished as long as they were performing at specific metrics.

“Mr. Ellis, what a pleasant surprise.” Mr. Thornton was a gruff old man with a voice like dry leaves crunching under heavy footsteps. He was also one of the only people who had ever really looked out for Milo and always had his best interest at heart, instead of trying to make money off of Milo’s back.

Now we needed him to orchestrate something very delicate.

“Mr. Thornton, I hope you’re well. Milo asked me to call you. Now that he’s almost done with college, he wants to take an interest in his mother’s company.” All of this sounded absolutely ridiculous, especially for a random weekday morning. “He’s been doing a lot of research, and he found a company that’s interested in a potential merger. Can you have the financial team at Vita do a work-up and draw up a preliminary contract?”

He sputtered on the other end. “Why isn’t Milo contacting me for this? This is all very out of the blue. He should learn how the company works before jumping in with both feet. I daresay, he should take the time to make sure he knows what he wants to do with Vita before making any rash decisions.”

“He’s done his research, and you haven’t even heard the company that’s looking to make a deal. Aren’t you even a little bit curious?” I taunted, because if there was one thing I’d learned about the old man, he could never leave an answer unknown if he could help it.

“Okay, fine. Tell me this company that Milo thinks will be a genius business deal.” He sighed like he was barely suffering my conversation.

“Kensington Industries.” I waited for the bomb to drop.

Finally, Jules took Elise out of the room, his skin tinged a little green. He hated the sight of blood. How could I forget? Honestly, I was surprised he was able to take Derek out, but there was probably nothing he wouldn’t do, or couldn’t stomach for her.

As if pulled to it by thought, my gaze landed on the bloody wall. I spun, unable to concentrate as long as the reminders of what happened stared me in the face.

He hemmed and hawed for a minute. “Well, okay now. That might not be such a bad idea. They’re the most successful and rapid growing cloud-based storage company in the world. And if Mr. Kensington wants to do a merger deal, it would complement the big data space Vita Logic plays in. I’ll see what I can do on the contracts and have the accountants and analysts review the numbers, maybe project a few hypothetical forecasts.”

With that, he hung up, without even a goodbye.

I went in search of Milo to tell him we were a go and found him in the kitchen making coffee.

He wasn’t on the phone, so whatever he said to his dad was short.

“Your dad coming?” How was he so calm right now? Like this was any other morning.

“Yes. I didn’t tell him anything over the phone. You think we should call your parents or Jules’?” He took a sip, then held the mug in two hands.

“Mine? No, they’re less than worthless, and I kind of like getting one over on Jules’ mom and dad. I always thought bad of him, but knowing his dad could have taken his place? No, I’m not feeling any kindness toward them.”

He dipped his head in agreement.

“Then we wait for Dad.” We fell into a silence that wasn’t comfortable. If I had one word to describe it, it would probably be tired. This game had gone on for too long. It was time to take our shot and see how the cards fell.

If things worked out the way we hoped, we’d walk away from everyone who even smelled like they could be part of the organization. If we failed miserably…that thought was too bitter to spend my time on.

Jules and Elise must have gone upstairs, because I didn’t see or hear them while we waited. Whatever reason Marsten thought Milo had for calling him must have been important, because he walked in the front door in less than fifteen minutes. His house was a good thirty minutes away.

“What was the emergency, Milo?” He wasn’t angry, but he wasn’t necessarily happy to be here either.

Milo led him down the short hallway to the sitting room. “See for yourself.” He held his hand out to the carnage on view.

At first, I thought Marsten was going to freak. Then, he bent over at the waist and busted up laughing. Loud, rolling laughter, like this was the best thing he’d ever seen.

---