Page 121 of Could Have Been Us
“You have nothing to thank us for. We are . . . well, we would never have said no.”
He’s silent for a moment. “I leave in a week. I will have a long road to go, but I’m at least going the right way now.”
“I’m glad.”
“I’m hoping that you can bring Kinsley home right away, I want her to be there and get her ready for school to start back.”
My throat is tight, but I force the words out. “Not a problem,” I lie. I lie because it is a problem. But it’s my problem, and that’s why I have to say what I don’t mean. I don’t want to return Kinsley.
I don’t want to give her back. Not now that I’ve gotten to know her. Not now that I can no longer pretend that I’m okay not having her in my life.
No, I have to give her back, not knowing if we will ever see her again.
Stella slams into my side, wrapping her arms around my middle. I love that she knew and came to me. We may never be the same after we drop Kinsley off, but if we can hold on to each other, we may survive.
Samuel speaks again. “I want to focus on finishing the program for the next six days so I’m ready to go home at the end of the week. But I get a phone call the day before I leave, so I’ll call you if something changes.”
“Okay. We’ll plan to bring her back in a week unless we hear from you. Just let us know.”
“I will. Please tell Stella I said thank you, and I’ll be in touch.”
He disconnects, and my arms are around Stella instantly.
Seven days left until we, once again, face pain like we did twelve years ago.
Chapter 37
Stella
My brothers and I stand next to each other in front of our father’s desk. We were summoned here today to get the final news regarding his precious company. My brothers and I granted him another two weeks when Kinsley came to stay with us. “I’ve come up with the capital to buy you all out.”
“Great. We expect the process to take no more than another two weeks for you to have the money,” Josh says with a perfunctory tone.
“I taught you well, son.”
Josh laughs with a smug smile. “You taught me nothing. I left the minute I could and haven’t listened to your ‘advice’ since.”
“Yes, and you became a man because of it.”
“Sure, we’ll go with that. It’s all because of you that we’re banding together in order to leave the company. Great play, Dad. Real smart business move.”
Our father turns his head in my direction. “You think the five of you can start a new career?”
“I think we’re smart enough to do what we must. However, we’re here about the money. Our lawyers have drawn up the sale papers, and as soon as you sign them and hand over the money, you’ll have back all the equity we owned.”
It’s not an insignificant amount of money. Between the five of us, it is well over two million dollars. How our father was able to come up with the money, I don’t know, but it appears he’s prepping the house for sale.
“Not that it’ll be worth much,” Oliver says as he throws me a grin.
Our father glares at him. “You think you’re all so smart.”
“We are,” Ollie tosses back.
Dad laughs once. “We’ll see about that. When you’re all back here, begging for your jobs back because you see how hard it is out in the real world. You five are in for the surprise of your lives.”
Grayson, who looked bored a few moments ago, scoffs. “You think we’ll be back? You think any of us want a damn thing to do with you? Even now, when your own kids are forcing you to find money they know you don’t have just so they can get away from you, you think you’ve won. Not only is your business about to crumble, but your kids—let me rephrase that—at least I’m done with you. Once that paperwork is signed, that’s it. We’re through. We have no business together. No relationship. You almost cost me everything, and I will never forgive you for it.”
Our father’s composure cracks just a bit. He has been a horrendous parent the last twenty years, but for a time, he did love us. I believe that, in some part of his mind, he thought gifting us parts of the company was a show of that love. He wanted us to share in something he built.
