Chapter 21
Ben
Everything was falling apart, but I had something I never had—hope.
It was a small glimmer, but when Sherry didn’t tell me to get the hell out of her life, I saw the light flare, and I clung to it.
I left the uncooked breakfast on the stove, grabbed my pants and shoes, and saw myself out while Sherry went in the shower.
Hopefully, she didn’t do so with the intention of washing me off her…
I couldn’t think about that now. I needed to figure out how the fuck I was going to get out of the mess I was in. How I could tell my father to fuck off without dragging Sherry and her family down with me?
I flung the door open and practically knocked Rose on her ass. I grabbed her, steadying her in place.
Her light brown eyes, so much like her sister’s, locked on me. “You!” she said like an accusation.
“She knows,” I said. “I don’t know how much you found out, but I told her everything and more. More than what you’d be able to dig up.”
“Considering you’re leaving, I gather she didn’t take it well.”
“She didn’t hit me, so I’m taking it as a win.”
Rose scoffed. “You fooled us all.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. But I love your sister, and I love working for your family, and I love Wyatt as my boss.”
“Told you he wasn’t that bad.” Wyatt’s voice drifted up the porch. He leaned against the car, crossed arms, staring up at me.
Rose waved her hand at her boyfriend. “Can you shush?”
“She’s mad that I took your side.” He pushed off the car, walking toward us. “I told her I have a knack for reading people, and you, Ben Wright—or should I say Ben Golde —doesn’t come off as a guy looking to screw people over.”
“I’m not usually, but I did fuck up, and I own it. I’ll make this right, I swear.”
“I believe you,” Wyatt said, but pointed to Rose. “This one, on the other hand.”
“Your father is the man trying to take down our family legacy.”
“And I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen, even if I take my father down in the process.”
“Does he mean that?” Rose turned to Wyatt, and Wyatt eyed me, tilting his head and tapping his chin.
“He does.”
“How can you tell?”
Wyatt shrugged. “I’ve been where he is. Maybe not with a father who was two steps away from being a crime boss, but I know what it’s like to want to be better than the man who raised you. To build something of your own. And to want that more than ever after falling in love with a Grasso.”
“If I have to burn every bridge that connects me to him, I will.” I swallowed at the emotion that suddenly lodged in my throat. “I’ve got nothing left to lose except for her, and I might’ve already lost that.”
Rose studied me, arms still crossed over her chest. “You have a long road ahead of you. She won’t make it easy, and neither will I.”
I nodded. “I don’t want easy. I don’t deserve that. I just want the chance to prove I’m capable of being a man worthy of Sherry, and a man your family can rely on.”
“Then show up. Do the work and don’t mess up again. If you do, I’ll have Lainey make a voodoo cake of your face.”
“A voodoo cake?”
Wyatt winced and shook his head. “Don’t ask. Just don’t screw up.”
I took the warning and headed down the stairs.
“Hey, Ben?” Wyatt called after me. I stopped and turned. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”
Relief flooded through me. Wyatt was willing to give me a second chance, and Rose was… kind of.
Now I just had to earn the trust from who really mattered.
There was only one way to do that.
I hopped in my truck and reversed onto the road. Ten minutes or so later, I whipped into Robin’s Landing and pulled into my parking spot. I got out of my truck and hurried toward my door.
“Oh, Ben, sweetie!” Odette’s voice rang out across the parking lot.
I tried to pretend I didn’t hear her, but she called my name again and again.
I glanced toward her, and she barreled at me in a highlighter green matching set with seashells embroidered on it.
I couldn’t miss her if my eyes were closed.
She stopped in front of me, hand on her thigh as she gasped for breath.
She held her finger up to give her a second, and I exhaled, not wanting to be rude, but wanting to get into my place.
She smiled, hot pink lipstick on her teeth.
“Did you not hear me?” she asked. “You made this old broad jog. The last time I jogged was nineteen-ninety-seven at the Lilith Fair when I thought I was going to miss Tracy Chapman’s performance.
See, she was on the main stage, and I was all the way by the—”
“Odette,” I cut in. “Is there a reason you chased me down?”
Odette straightened. “Yes, sorry. I got sidetracked. First… There is a board meeting coming up, and I wanted to see if you would come.”
“I already told you board meetings aren’t my thing.”
“I keep hoping you’ll change your mind. Second…” She held up two fingers. “We’re having a get-together in the clubhouse next Saturday. We’re going to have a nice charcuterie board and some wine and whiskey. I hope I’ll see you there.”
“Maybe,” I said, knowing damn well if I said no, she wouldn’t let me leave. “Anything else?”
“Oh, and third. Heard you and Sherry had a sleepover last night, and I need to know if I should be planning on buying a wedding gift, or is it just a friends-with-benefits type situation? It can go either way with you two.”
I blinked. “How do you know I slept over Sherry’s?”
“Steve drove by Sherry’s late last night and saw your truck there. I drove by this morning, and it was still there. Seeing as you’re just getting back, wearing the same clothes as yesterday, I think it’s safe to say where you were.”
Even if Vine Valley Vineyards had some sort of shady business practices, they’d never get away with it with neighbors like this.
“Is there a neighborhood watch on my whereabouts I should know about?”
“Just small-town nosiness wrapped in good intentions. Got to get our kicks somehow. Now, do you prefer Shen or Bennyberry.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, I’m not sold on either of them. I’ll keep working on it.”
“You do that, but I really have to go.” I managed to get around her and picked up my pace before she cut me off again.
“See you next Saturday.”
“I never said yes!” I called back.
“But you didn’t say no.”
Vine Valley was one thing, but Robin’s Landing should have come with a warning label. Welcome to Robin’s Landing, where your secrets aren’t safe, your neighbors know your business, and group activities are a requirement.
If I didn’t go next Saturday, I’d never hear the end of it, but that was the least of my worries.
I had bigger fish to fry. I fumbled with my keys, then pushed my door open, grateful I was alone.
I guess my father was okay with giving me more time.
Except I wasn’t using that time to help him get intel. I was using it to take him down.
I hurried to my laptop and powered it up. Something had clicked in my head when I was confessing everything to Sherry.
The sudden and rapid failure of my label never made sense. I was too blinded to look at things clearly, to try and get a better understanding of what the hell happened.
I opened the folder labeled Redmark Reserve , clicked into the Fourth Quarter folder, and went through the invoices and shipping logs. I opened the business email and started going back and forth. My stomach churned the more I read and compared.
My eyes scanned over a record of a delivery reroute.
It was approved by someone using an admin login that wasn’t mine.
What the…? Realization dawned on me, and my fingers curved into my palms. The login belonged to one of my father’s long-time assistants, someone I’d foolishly had given access to when we were expanding too fast and needed help.
That backstabbing bitch.
Another email stood out—a cancellation from our second-largest account. It had sounded cordial at the time. Professional. Something about rebranding and narrowing their focus, but the sender’s name poked at my memory. How the hell did I know it?
I searched again. Buried in an older thread, I found it—the link to a restaurant/vineyard recently acquired by my father.
Anger raced through me, a fury so potent I wanted to scream.
Then came the shipping logs. More rerouted deliveries. Sudden hold-ups from warehouses. Missing crates that were never located. All of it pointed to decisions made above my head, through people I had trusted… people he had hired.
He’d been pulling strings the whole fucking time.
I thought I’d failed because I wasn’t good enough.
But I only failed because the bastard didn’t want me to succeed.
He didn’t just fund me. He buried me.
And I let him. If I had paid closer attention. If I had trusted myself and my abilities, I would have looked sooner.
I was pulling myself together, and when I did, I was going to kick him into the dirt where he belonged.