Page 157 of Dex

Everyone’s seated at the long dining table in my father’s penthouse.No drinks in the Great Room, just straight to the dining table.Jett and Zach are on one side.Rio, Matteo, and Enzo are on the other.

A hush falls for the longest time, and my father looks up, eyebrows lifting.“Well.The prodigal son returns, with his wife.”

Daniela doesn’t flinch.She looks flawless in navy silk, her spine straight, chin high.My father may be powerful, but my woman is unbreakable.

“Let’s just try to get through tonight,” Zach mutters.“We don’t need more drama tonight.”

“I disagree,” I say, stepping forward, “we do.”

My father exhales loudly, clearly irritated.“You obviously have something to say, Dexter.Say it.”

“It’s about the fifty-one percent share of AO Eletronica that you took from Daniela’s father.”

Jett tenses and Zach goes quiet.My father sips his wine, smug as ever.“I didn’t steal anything.I protected our interests.”

“That’s your opinion,” I say.“The way I see it, you manipulated a desperate man and took advantage of a family in crisis.That’s not business.That’s cowardice.”

My father narrows his eyes.“Careful there, boy.”

I nod toward Rio, who leans back in his seat, grinning.

“Rio?”My father’s tone is wary now.“You went behind my back?”

Rio shrugs.“You were so busy underestimating us, you didn’t see what was right in front of you.”

We all watch our father do something he rarely ever does.He looks unsure.

“You’ve been duped,” I tell him.“We faked a hostile takeover rumor.Played on your fear that AO Eletronica would drag down Knight Enterprises’ quarterly report.Leaked whispers about regulatory risks tied to the acquisition.”

Matteo jumps in, voice smooth.“Our outside investors?All carefully selected.People with long-standing confidence in AO Eletronica.Industry players who want it to succeed because they’ve benefited from its innovations or partnerships in the past.And none of them trace back to Dex.”

My father’s nostrils flare; something else we rarely see.

“You thought you were outmaneuvering us,” I continue.“So you offloaded your majority share in AO Eletronica ...to a shell company.”

My father leans “Whose shell company?”

Rio tosses a folder on the table.“Ours.Mine, Matteo’s and Enzo’s.”

We watch as our father tears it open.His face drains of color.For a second, he’s immobile.Then he clenches the papers tightly in his fist until they crumple.A muscle jumps in his jaw.We’re witnessing something we’ve never seen before … this cool and calculated man, whose chest now rises and falls in shallow, angry breaths, like he’s trying not to accept the cold hard fact that he’s been outplayed by his sons.We’re all witness to real gut-wrenching fear flashing across the old man’s face.

I don’t feel the smug satisfaction I expected.

I feel pity.And sadness.

“You can’t reverse it,” I say calmly.“Not without looking like a fool to the board.You signed off on it yourself.Won’t look too good, what with you not realizing the fabricated reports initially.People might think you’re losing it, Father.Getting old, not able to cope anymore.”

Zach looks dismayed, and shifts uncomfortably in his seat.The old man glances around the table at all of us seated around the dining table.His voice is quiet.Lethal.“You’ve been working together.”

“Getting on, is a better word I’d say,” Rio says.“Because we’re family, whether you like it or not.”

The old man turns to Enzo and Matteo.“You two were in on this?”

Matteo grins and lifts a shoulder.“We’re family.”

Rio opens another folder and slides it across the table toward Daniela.“I’ve signed over all controlling interest.Your father now owns forty-nine percent.We, the shell company that Matteo, Enzo and I formed, hold fifty-one percent on paper, but the documents transferring control are right here.”

Daniela blinks, stunned.

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