Page 108 of Flirting with the CEO

"There's no traffic at this time."

"Sure," I said.

Maddox had been right—there was zero traffic. I stepped through the doors of Whitley Distillery and Bar twenty minutes later. For some reason, I'd expected them to be at the counter, but instead I saw Gabe waving at me from the other end of the room.

I headed straight there. My brother had made some changes in the bar. It looked good.

Leo, Nick, and Maddox were sitting on a smaller couch, my brothers on the larger one. I sat down in the free armchair.

"And he has arrived," Gabe said mockingly.

I held up my hands, "I owe everyone an apology. I went into the lab, and, well, one thing led to another."

"And yet you checked your phone," Jake said.

"I actually only looked at it after I sent my lead scientist home. We weren't going to finish anytime soon."

Cade whistled, glancing at our half brothers. "Just so you're on the same page with us, this is news. My brother has made a habit of sleeping at the office."

"All right, are we going to gossip about me, or are you going to give me the papers to sign?" I asked.

Maddox took out a thick stack of papers and put them on the table in front of me. I'd already gone through everything yesterday evening when the legal team emailed, so I signed without any hesitation.

This felt cathartic in some ways. Ryan Whitley was getting his money, and we wouldn't have to think about him interfering in our lives ever again.

"Now it's done," Maddox said.

"Fucking finally," I exclaimed.

"Does anyone else feel like we’re rewarding him?" Jake asked.

I was surprised Jake was still beating this drum. I'd thought he finally understood the benefit of ridding Father from our lives.

"I don't think so," I said. "I mean, he did run it for a while.”

"Not necessarily well," Gabe said in a clipped tone. He was usually more forgiving about Father, but he was right.

"True, but he did set it up so we could take over," Nick said. "A better question would be if he actually deserves this much money, but nonetheless, he did contribute to Whitley Industries being what it is today.”

"I think we should all toast," Gabe said. "I'd propose tequila shots, but it’s 9:00 a.m. Also, this occasion needs more than that."

"I agree," I said.

Gabe immediately brought out a bottle of champagne and glasses. He handed the bottle to Maddox.

"Want to do the honors? After all you’re the one who spoke to Father,” Gabe said.

“Sure. I'm going to send this through, and then hopefully I will never have to speak to him again."

Gabe was right. This hadn't been easy on Maddox.

"You really haven't been in touch with him all these years?" I asked.

"No," Maddox, Leo, and Nick said at the same time.

"Since we found out, all we wanted was to put as much distance between us as possible,” Leo said.

"Everything was a lie," Nick pointed out in a cutting voice. "The excuses that he had to go to Boston for work, the bogus stories he told us every time we asked why he and Mom weren't married."

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