Page 44 of Flame
She shifts in her chair. “Hey, guys. How is everything at home?”
Jason and Gannon sit side by side in the Brewer Air offices.
“It’s going,” Gannon says. “How are you?”
“I’m going.” It’s a joke, but she quickly realizes the truth she inadvertently admitted. Her smile melts off her face. “I’m fine. So what brings us together this morning?”
Landry coughs, picking up a sheet of paper. “I asked you to join us this morning, considering this meeting concerns you.”
“I appreciate it, Ford.”
“We got a piece of intel this morning,” he says. “It seems your father is close with a man named Bobby Downing. Does that name ring a bell to you, Bianca?” Landry asks.
Bianca stills. “Close? I’m not sure I’d say they’re close. But we have done business with him on several occasions. He assisted us with the purchase of the Tennessee Raptors hockey team years ago. Dad also called him when the purchase of the Arrows franchise got stuck in baseball red tape hell. Why? What’s going on?”
Yeah, what’s going on?
Her knee wiggles up and down—an expression of her worry. I reach over subtly and lay my palm on her thigh. She gasps but stills. Then slowly, she lays her hand on top of mine.
The weight of her palm and the heat of her bare skin send a burst of energy straight through me. This is what I’m not supposed to be doing. The fact that I want to do this is why we’re here—it’s why she’s telling her brothers she wants to leave. And maybe that’s why I got ballsy and touched her. Maybe it’s because I know it’ll be the last time I can.
Maybe. But it’s definitely why I want to shut this computer off, take her in my arms, carry her to my bed, and never let her go.Because even one taste of her is better than none.
“When Dad inked the deal for both the Raptors and the Arrows, he put them in a trust,” Jason says.
Bianca nods. “That’s right.”
Jason’s eyes flip to mine. He doesn’t need to say anything.This is going to be bad.
I give Bianca a gentle squeeze of reassurance and brace for whatever he’s about to unload on us.
“There is an amendment to the trust that was inked six months ago,” Jason says.
Her brows pull together. “I haven’t seen an amendment.”
“The legal team found it while they were readying the new trusts for all Brewer companies,” Gannon says. “It’s a good thing they insisted on it despite Dad losing interest. If they hadn’t—if we had let the old trusts stand—we never would’ve discovered this.”
“What does the amendment say?” Bianca asks.
Jason hesitates. “It says that on your twenty-seventh birthday, you become the sole beneficiary of the Brewer Sports Trust.”
Bianca struggles to process this information. So do I, but I think it’s for different reasons. She’s wondering why her father favored her. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Reid Brewer may be many things, but benevolent he is not.
“Me?” Bianca balks, obviously surprised. “That’s not … that’s not how it’s set up. We’reallthe beneficiaries of Brewer Sports. We all inherit them equally.”
Jason takes a deep breath and looks at Gannon.
Gannon leans forward. “The amendment goes on to read that if you’re not married on your twenty-seventh birthday, three-quarters of Brewer Sports goes to Charlie Downing.”
That’s what I was waiting for. Holy shit.
Bianca’s feet fly to the floor, knocking my hand off in the process. She scoots to the edge of the chair. “What? What are you talking about?”
“That’s supposed to be Bobby’s kickback for the work he put in for Dad. Dad is giving Bobby’s son three-quarters of the trust,” Jason says.
The fuck?
I’ve never liked Reid Brewer. He was shady and off-putting from the moment I met him. I couldn’t believe a man like that fathered Jason. But this is beyond anything I could’ve imagined he would’ve attempted.
