Chapter 23
Ben
The next day I showed up for work on time, half expecting Wyatt and the rest of the Grasso men to be waiting to kick my ass and toss me out into the street. Instead, I walked into an empty warehouse, except for a few of the men who worked under me.
Relief flooded through me so strongly, I had to take a second to let it.
“You okay?” Wyatt’s voice boomed through the warehouse.
“Fine,” I said, nodding toward him and holding my coffee from Espresso Yourself up to him in greeting.
“Let me guess. You thought we were all going to be waiting to take turns kicking your ass.”
“Well… yes, actually. I did.”
“Good thing for you, I had to iron today, and I hate ironing. There was no way I was going to let this shirt get a wrinkle. Consider yourself lucky.” He punched his fist. “I have a mean right hook.”
“I’ll be sure to stay on your good side then,” I said, biting back a grin.
Wyatt shrugged. “Smart move. Also, I didn’t tell the rest of the family you were still working here. So heads up, just in case.”
“So they do want to kick my ass?”
“Rose does, and she could probably take you. She’s feisty. I haven’t spoken with anyone, but nothing stays quiet for long in this family. I’m sure they all know.”
“They’re not here greeting me with fists, so I’ll take that as a good sign.”
“I’d say they’re probably reserving judgment for now. They’ll want to do their own reconnaissance.”
“That’s fair.”
He slapped a hand on my shoulder with a little too much enthusiasm. “I told you… I believe you. I vouched for you. Don’t let me regret it.”
“I won’t. I swear.”
“Good. Now you might be afraid of fists flying from the Grasso boys, but it’s the women you need to be scared of.
Rose and Sherry are scary in their own right, but Chardonnay is downright terrifying.
She makes little kids cry and can make a grown man fall to his knees.
So stay clear and stay strong.” He slapped my back this time, and I nodded my understanding.
“Now get to work. The inventory isn’t going to count itself. ”
“You got it, boss.”
A ridiculous smile spread across his face. “I am the boss, aren’t I? Has a nice ring to it. Tell you what, you keep calling me boss, and I’ll take one for the team and vouch for you to Char.”
“Deal.”
“Wish me luck then. I’m heading into the lion’s den.”
“Good luck,” I called after him and shook my head as a laugh rumbled in my throat. Little did Wyatt know, I wasn’t scared of Chardonnay at all. She was exactly who I wanted to see.
I grabbed my clipboard and headed to do inventory before a new load of cases arrived to refill the shelves.
There was something oddly comforting about returning to my routine of checking bottles, scanning labels, and making sure everything was exactly where it needed to be.
It made me feel like I was contributing to society, that I was a part of something bigger than me.
It’s how I felt when I had my label before it all came crashing down.
As I moved down the rows, clipboard tucked under my arm and pen behind my ear, I couldn’t stop the smile that tugged at my lips.
Sherry might be far from forgiving me, but I was here, doing a job I had grown to love, in a place I loved even more.
For the first time in a long time, I knew exactly who I was.
The new cases arrived, and I had my men stack them in place as I surveyed each one to make sure there was no damage or sabotage. My father had been quiet, but I wouldn’t put it past him.
The sound of heels caught my attention, and I turned toward the entrance.
Chardonnay strode toward me with precise, confident steps.
As soon as she realized I noticed her, she stopped.
She pointed over her shoulder. “My office. Now.” That was all she said before she turned around and headed right out.
“Ohh someone is in trouble,” Henry said under his breath, nudging Carlo beside him.
I handed him my clipboard. “Make sure you do it right. If I have to redo it, I won’t be happy.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Henry said, and pride filled my chest. I understood what Wyatt meant. It was a simple thing, but the feeling of knowing I was in charge of something big felt good.
That feel-good feeling only carried with me for so long. By the time I got to the door, my feet had grown heavy, dread landing like an angry pit in my gut.
Chardonnay wasn’t one to raise her voice or cause a scene, but that’s what made it worse. I had no idea what the hell I was walking into. I mentally prepared for everything. Sweat prickled my palms, and I wiped them on my jeans.
She was standing in her office, waiting for me, arms crossed, hip cocked, eyes blazing with something I couldn’t decipher, but it was pretty damn terrifying.
“Door,” she said.
I closed the door and stood there, unsure if I should take a seat.
“Well?” she said.
“Which part do you want first? The apology? The explanation? The part where I swear I’m not the enemy?”
“Let’s go with the truth, then we’ll go from there.” She moved to her desk and sat, crossing her legs and leaning back.
“I can do that.” I sat in the chair opposite her and started from the beginning. I needed Sherry to forgive me, but if I was going to take my dad down, I needed Chardonnay on my side.
I laid it all out, the rise and fall of my private label, the debt to my father and his repayment plan which involved me to gather intel, the way I tried to hold him off, the vague threats that turned into subtle sabotage.
Then I moved on to everything I discovered yesterday.
The distributor who mysteriously pulled out, the missing shipments, the deals that fell apart with no good reason.
I explained how I’d been so concerned with trying to save my label that I didn’t see the pattern, but looking at it with fresh eyes, I couldn’t miss it.
My father destroyed any chance of success and now I would help her destroy him.
Her face didn’t change while I spoke, though her foot did stop bouncing, and she shifted closer, so I knew she was really listening.
When I finished, I sat back as if another weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
She put her foot flat on the floor and moved closer to her desk. “You’re either a really good liar or completely clueless.”
“More like a na?ve idiot, but clueless works, too,” I said when she lifted her eyebrow. “But I’m done being controlled.”
“Why? You’re what, thirty-five? That’s a long time to be under Daddy’s thumb. What’s changed?”
“I fell in love with your sister, and in turn I opened my eyes. I don’t think I saw any of those things before because I didn’t want to.
If I saw them then, I would’ve had to believe my father was actually evil and he didn’t want me to succeed.
It was easier to be the failure he expected me to be.
But then I came here.” I held my hands up.
“Granted under not-so-great terms, but I saw what a real family was. I realized I could never live up to my father’s expectations, but mainly that he never should have had expectations on me.
Part of me thinks he didn’t and doesn’t still.
Because if I meet his expectations, then he is no longer in control, he can’t have that. ”
“So what are you proposing?”
“I want to help you take my father down. He doesn’t deserve to be in this town, and I am willing to do anything I can to stop him.”
Chardonnay leaned back again. “That’s a hell of a proposition.”
“I know how it sounds, but I mean it. I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m asking for the chance to earn it.”
Silence spread between us, and I was ready to jump out of my skin when she finally spoke. “You’re right about one thing. He doesn’t belong in this town, but if we do this… Ben, there’s no half-assing it and absolutely no backing out. We play it smart, or we risk everything.”
“Whatever it takes, I’m in.”
“I need you to be sure.”
“I’m sure.”
She held her hand out to me. “Then welcome to Team Screw Gold Crest.”
I accepted her offered hand. “I’m thrilled to be here.”
She let go of my hand and looked around me toward the door. “You can come in now.”
My eyebrow rose as I glanced to the doorway. Sherry’s head popped in, and my entire body relaxed just at the sight of her. She was in a pair of black pants that hugged her ass in the best way and a simple cream top tucked in at the waist.
“How did you know I was there?” Sherry asked as her eyes darted to me.
“Because you’re nosy, and I would have done the same thing.
Does his story line up with what he told you?
” she asked, and I should probably have felt betrayed in some way, but I was just happy she’d heard everything.
When we were talking I was all over the place, desperate to get it all out, afraid I’d say the wrong thing and lose my chance.
Now she knew everything. There was no stone unturned.
She nodded to Chardonnay. “Every word. Except…” She turned to me, and it damn near knocked the wind right out of me. Her eyes were a little red around the edges, and I hoped to all that was holy she wasn’t crying over me. “Is it true? That your dad sabotaged your label?”
“Unfortunately.”
“And you’re going to help us take him down?”
“I am.” I shifted, needing to be as close as she would let me.
“I didn’t come here with the intention of hurting you and I sure as hell didn’t come here to fall in love with you.
But I did, and I’m not walking away from you or this town.
Not now and not ever. You want me to prove myself to you? Here I am, one hundred percent in.”
She didn’t say anything for one too many beats of my heart. The sound grew louder in my ear as I waited for her to speak. A tiny smile curved her lip. “Good. Because if you walked away I would have kicked your ass.”
“She gets that from me,” Char said, pride exuding from her tone.
She took my hand and squeezed. “We’re not there yet, but it’s a start.”
That was all I wanted. A start was something I could work with.