Page 222 of Mad As Hell

“Tell me again we’re doing the right thing.” My voice came out as a fragile whisper in the space of the car.

Ryan’s jaw tightened, and he reached over to grab my fingers. “We’re doing the right thing, baby.”

I glanced down at our hands, receiving a small measure of comfort from seeing my wedding band back on my finger. In the few days it had been off, I’d missed it. How silly and sappy did that sound?

But there was no point in keeping it hidden now; today was the day we’d confront our fathers. I knew that Gary was planning on crashing Beckett’s board meeting. What neither of them knew was that Ryan and I would also be crashing.

At my feet was a briefcase full of all the paperwork we’d need to prove that we’d outsmarted them.

Our marriage license.

Proof that Phoenix International held the full rights to all the bogus companies both Gary and Beckett had sunk all their money into.

A copy of Michael Harris’s will that put all of Brookfield and its holdings in my name.

And—the part I loved the most—a statement from an offshore bank account where my inheritance had been deposited hours earlier.

Court and the attorneys had worked endlessly making sure everything was set up and primed for what we needed. All that was left was this meeting, where we showed Gary and Beckett that we’d won.

For now.

Court and Linc were still worried about the blowback that was sure to come once their fathers found out what we’d all done. Bringing Phoenix into the public light was making them nervous, but we’d done what we could to mitigate the fallout.

Corinne was out of the country. Where, I wasn’t entirely sure, but Ryan and his grandfather had made sure she was out of the line of fire. I knew for a fact that Court was hovering close to Bex today while Ryan and I made our announcement.

Linc and Ash had offered to come with us, but Court wasn’t leaving Bex’s side. In the end, they stayed behind. Ryan wanted this moment with his father as a statement that he didn’t need his friends at his back to take the asshole down.

“What do you think about London?” Ryan asked suddenly.

I startled as my mind was pulled from running through all the potential worst-case scenarios. “What?”

“London,” he repeated, steering the car off the highway and onto a ramp that led into downtown Los Angeles. “I was thinking about our honeymoon. Holiday break is coming up, so I thought you might want to go then.”

“You want to go to London for Christmas?”

He shrugged. “Or Rome. Honestly, whatever you’re in the mood for. We’ll have about a week during the holidays where we can travel. Unless the team loses a game and we’re out for the season. Then we could go longer.”

“You’re going all the way,” I assured him.

He turned and flashed me a wicked grin. “Damn right we are.” Yeah, he wasn’t talking about football.

“Eyes on the road,” I laughed, shaking my head.

“I just think we could use the break,” he explained, turning onto a street. “And you said you’ve never traveled…”

“Honestly? I want to spend the holidays at Brookfield.” I glanced over at him. “I want to be with our friends and your family.”

“Our family,” he interrupted.

“Our family,” I agreed with a grin. “I think spending the holidays there is important.” I didn’t bother adding because it would likely be his grandfather’s last.

Ryan swallowed. “Thanks, baby. I think that’s a great idea. Depending on how things go, we can take a trip this summer. Somewhere warm. A private beach, maybe?”

“Don’t we have a private beach?” I teased, thinking of his house, now ours, an hour away from Pacific Cross. “But we’re going to need another room, you know. For Cori.”

He stilled and shot me an uncertain look. “You’d want Cori to live with us at the beach house?”

My brows slowly climbed. “I mean, yeah. Isn’t that the plan?”

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