Page 2 of Evil Queen

“Well, sir, with all due respect, I really do think you should be at the meeting,” Arden said. “Our board is desperate to get some face time with the next person in line.”

I rubbed my temples. “I’m not the next in line. Connor will be back soon. It’s just a matter of holding until he returns. Do you think you can manage that?”

Arden was silent for a long time and then sighed. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. I’ll be in touch, but for now, please have people route their concerns and questions through the CFO. I still want signing power, but he should have the prowess to handle anything else.”

“Oh,” Arden said, and there was a heightened relief in his voice. “I can do that. Thank you, sir.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

“Bye.”

The line went dead, but no longer being on the phone didn’t help ease any stress I had. For as long as I had no idea where my dad was, I could continue to lie and say that he’d be returning, but the truth was, my half-brother Deon was searching for him, and we were both hoping to end his life. It was either him or the people we loved, and we’d fight to protect them, regardless. It probably made sense that Deon was doing the dirty work while I was attempting to keep the company afloat, but I still wished I knew more.

I lifted my phone again and navigated to Deon’s phone number. We finally exchanged phone numbers when everything went wrong in the fall, but I hadn’t used it once. Deon would definitely contact me if there was a development in his hunt, but I often found myself wanting to talk to him, hopefully, in a way that wasn’t nasty or aggressive. Our father-induced differences aside, I always cared about my brother. When I first learned that I had a brother, I was over the moon, and that year he lived with us was one of the best of my life. After everything that happened, would we be able to salvage our relationship now?

Maybe I should call?

My phone rang in my hand before I could make a decision. I fumbled around and nearly dropped it from shock, but I caught it and answered without checking who it was.

“Hello?”

“Hey, man,” Kyle’s deep, bass-filled voice responded. “I was kind of hoping you were still asleep.”

I snapped my laptop shut and tossed it over to the couch cushion next to me. “Nah, still waking up around four these days.”

“Well, let’s make the most of it, then. Want to meet me for breakfast? I know this awesome diner. I always wanted to take you, but I don’t know, it felt like it might be below you.”

A different person might have been offended, but I just laughed. “Yeah, I get that. Sure. Text me the address.”

“Cool. See ya soon.”

“Bye.”

I ended the call, then stood up, collected all of my things, and made my way toward the door. I grabbed the keys and was just about to head out when I remembered something and turned around. Taking the steps two at a time, I made my way back upstairs, went into my closet, pushed aside some of my piled clothes, and grabbed the box of Cherri’s things that I’d been hiding from Nikita.

Cherri was a bit of a sore subject between us.

My hope was that I could get the box back to Cherri without causing too many issues with either woman. With the box in my hand and nervousness sizzling through me at the thought of returning to school after everything that happened, I left.

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