The first person was on vacation. The second was dead, and I mumbled my condolences to his widower. But the third, Oscar, answered the phone himself, said he was recently retired. I let him speak of him and Father making deals, staying up all night writing proposals, and the mistakes they made. There was a tinge of regret in his voice, as though he may have lived his life differently if he did it all again.
“Are you still in contact with people you used to work with?”
“What do you need to know?” His voice perked up, and I wondered if retirement wasn’t what he’d imagined.
I skirted around the subject, saying Sebastian was acting oddly and perhaps he was under a lot of pressure. I hoped I came across as concerned, not fishing for dirt.
“He cut you out of the will, I heard. And now you’re trying to bring him down?”
Ouch. Oscar was savvy enough to pick up that this wasn’t a social phone call. Not that I’d ever phoned him previously, so that was a red flag. But bring Sebastian down? No, I was searching for the truth. But was I? Wouldn’t I secretly cheer if he ended up with nothing except his clothes? The flip side would be fury that he had thrown away everything Father worked for.
“No. I was at his place, and it was bare. He was eating food he never deigned to eat in the past—cheap food—there’s no sign of the domestic staff.” I could go on but left it there. That was enough for Oscar to chew over.
“I was loyal to your father, not Sebastian, who never had a lick of business sense.” He paused. “But I have heard rumors. The company’s in bad shape and I’m pretty sure he’s itching to sell it. But from your description, it sounds like it’s circling the drain.”
He’d confirmed my worst fears; Sebastian wouldn’t and couldn’t pay for Dad’s operation, unless he got me to marry Devyn and conned my mate’s dad into buying the company Father built.
“Just as well Gerard isn’t here to see this.”
I half expected him to say, “It would kill him.”
Slumped in the driver’s seat, I wondered how much Devyn would get if he sold the car but that was still in his brother’s name. Had he changed it? But the phone interrupted my gloomy thoughts. Devyn! The one bright spot of my day.
He spoke first, not letting me say hello. “I need you here at Father’s office. Can you come now?”
What? I was going to meet his dad. “Did you tell them?” I couldn’t fathom how we got from “Let’s keep it a secret” to “Tell them everything.”
“Not all of it. Just come, please.”
He texted me the address and when I arrived at the gleaming, silver skyscraper with Devyn’s family name emblazoned over the entrance, I shaded my eyes, intimidated by the size. Devyn was waiting downstairs, and I handed my keys to the valet. He’d probably never driven a stick shift or had to park a run down carlike mine. And the crunching of the gears seconds later proved my point.
The elevator whisked us upward, leaving my stomach behind, while I stared at the view through the glass panels.
Devyn took my hand as the doors opened, not into a corridor but directly into an office.
“Trust me?”
“Yes.” I did, unlike the last time he’d asked before he revealed his wolf.
He strode into the room where a man who reminded me of Devyn sat at a huge wooden desk, maybe an antique. The only time I’d seen his face was on the computer when I’d been researching the family. Two younger men stood on either side of him. The stomach I’d lost in the elevator found me, but roiled as their eyes registered surprise and their mouths gaped, revealing their gleaming white teeth.
“You.” That was Roy, the one who I wrongly assumed was my groom. He was just as surly as in his photos. The second one was Devyn’s other brother.
“You spoiled the surprise.” The older man steepled his fingers. He studied our clasped hands. “Are you here to break the deal or something else?”
“No.” I cleared my throat. A croaky voice didn’t belong in this room. “We love each other.”
Roy snorted, his lips arranged in a sneer.
“While you are obviously an astute businessman…” Devyn’s father leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his middle. “You remind me of your late father.”
Devyn flashed me a glance and grinned.
“Sebastian is fooling you.” I straightened my spine.
“Lies. You’re jealous he got everything in your father’s will, you sniveling little creep.” Roy’s face was the color of beetroot. He’d explode if he didn’t calm down.
“Roy!” The dad slammed his fist on the desk. “Apologize.”
