Chapter 4 #2
I give him a low wave and follow Harlow as she weaves through the restaurant, which is an actual greenhouse.
Trees touch the glass ceiling and potted flowers line the garden beds.
The grounds of the manor are so perfect they look fake.
We finally come to a round table for five tucked away where the windowed walls meet in the corner.
I guess my meeting isn’t a private one with my father. Devon sits next to Patrick, and Harlow takes the seat between Devon and Chrissie, who seems to be the assistant to everyone. That leaves the seat next to my father.
He stands and offers me his hand. “Thank you for coming.”
I shake his hand and lift my chin to greet the others. “I’m not sure I had a choice. Plus, curiosity clawed at me.”
“It’s been two months since the surgery,” Devon says as he motions to a waiter across the room. “That’s something for everyone to celebrate.”
I sit and toss the linen napkin on my lap. Before anyone has the chance to speak, a waiter appears at my side. “What can I get you to drink, sir?”
“Coffee. Thank you.”
He barely has time to walk away before Harlow speaks directly to me.
“It doesn’t matter that I get to see you every day, this is a dream come true.
And when Dad visits, it’s even better. We’re all here and healthy.
You don’t know what it means to me after the last year.
It doesn’t matter how we got here. What matters is we’re together. ”
Patrick clears his throat before he takes over. “Like Harlow said, everyone is healthy. I came back to Winslet to see you both, but there’s also some important business to attend to.”
A cup of coffee appears in front of me at the same time Chrissie hands me a stack of bound papers almost an inch thick. “This is for you to look at today, but we’ll send an electronic copy for your signature.”
I ignore my coffee, and my gut tightens for reasons that have nothing to do with a kidney transplant. The front page has my name and the date on it, but that’s it. “What’s this? Are you making me sign an NDA?”
Harlow gasps. “Oh my gosh, no.”
Patrick doesn’t gasp. He’s all business. “There’s no need for an NDA. Our public relations department has handled the news that our family has grown by one. There’s nothing to hide. I have two heirs, and the world knows it.”
I toss the mountain of papers onto my menu, pick up my coffee, and ignore the unanswered questions I can’t seem to bury no matter how much I tell myself they don’t matter.
And I don’t mince words. “I’m not a Madison, and I’m no heir.
I thought by now, I’ve made myself clear.
I bent over backwards to contact you because I didn’t want to die.
I’m alive because Harlow is more convincing than a trial attorney, so I thought I’d give the wild west a try.
I’m at the manor.” I motion around the five-star restaurant.
“If I like it, I’ll stay. If not, I’ll take my ragtag pets and head back to Iowa. ”
The strays who adopted me as their human can be a pain in the ass, but they’re mine.
Panther is an orange tabby, and Smoke is a mutt who barely resembles a golden.
They wandered up to my door and never left.
It was either feed them or ignore them. I might not be all flowers and unicorns, but I’m no monster.
So I let them in, and they took over my house.
Devon found someone in town willing to take them in until I can find a place to live. They also have abandonment issues, so I visit them daily.
This sends Harlow into a panic. “You can’t leave. You promised you’d give it a try in Winslet.”
Devon reaches out and takes Harlow’s hand. “Baby, relax. Give the bloke a break. He doesn’t understand what this is about. In his defense, you Madisons are an overwhelming bunch.”
I tip my head at Devon since he’s the only other person at the table who gets me.
Harlow glares at her father. “Why are you making this so awkward?”
Patrick pulls in a deep, tense breath, but I put a hand up to stop them all.
“I have no idea what’s in this encyclopedia you just handed me, but let’s get this out in the open, because the word awkward doesn’t do this situation justice.
I have no idea why someone in our past decided to keep us apart, but they did. You say you didn’t know about me—”
“I didn’t,” Patrick interrupts on a bite.
“We can get into that in the future but today is not the day. My attorneys have been working on that file sitting in front of you since the day Harlow told me I had a son. She didn’t even have to show me the DNA results.
The moment she told me your name, I knew. ”
Chrissie pipes in. “I might be stepping out of line here, but maybe you all could benefit from some family counseling.”
“That’s a great idea,” Harlow agrees.
“No fucking way,” Patrick mutters.
Devon just laughs.
“If there’s counseling, I’m out,” I add.
Chrissie throws back the last of her coffee, sets the cup down, and leans forward to rest her forearms on the table.
“You might be good communicators in the board room, but when it comes to family, you might as well be a dial-up modem from the olden days. Look, Patrick and I have a plane waiting, and we haven’t even ordered brunch.
I’m starving, and this meeting is going sideways.
The waiter clearly isn’t coming back while we look like we’re about to implode.
And since family drama is something I’m actually good at, I’m taking over. ”
Patrick glares at Chrissie, but Harlow nods her agreement. “Yes, this is where you thrive. You should take over.”
“Thank you,” the woman chirps with a smile before turning to me and points to the file. “What Patrick is too wound up to say, and what Harlow is too emotional to say, is that this is for you. Call it a trust, a windfall, hell, call it the lottery. But it’s yours.”
“It’s better than the damn lottery,” Patrick mutters.
I sit back in my chair and try to take this all in. “I don’t understand.”
Chrissie goes on. “This is your future. You and Harlow are the sole beneficiaries of Patrick’s stake in Stonebridge. Together, you and Harlow will retain Patrick’s shares of the company when he’s gone. Should you want it, you’ll have a seat on the board immediately. Harlow already does.”
“I strongly suggest you take the seat,” Patrick adds. “We’ve all been close to mortality in the last year. We need to be prepared for it. This is your future. It might be my legacy, but it will be yours and Harlow’s someday. I know what it’s like to lose control. Don’t make my mistake.”
I stare at the stranger who helped give me life. “I have no desire to sit on a board. I wouldn’t know what to do.”
Patrick leans forward and points at me. “That’s where you’re wrong.
I don’t do anything that isn’t thought out and researched.
I’ve done my homework on you, and I have connections.
It might be classified for some, but I know what you did in the Army.
The day-to-day operations of Stonebridge can be learned.
What can’t be learned is the line between right and wrong and doing what you have to do to get shit done.
Harlow has her own strengths and keeps greed off the board.
You will bring an entirely different balance. ”
I wonder if the waiter can sense that my appetite just flew out the glass windows, because he’s still not back to take our order. Patrick Madison might be a billionaire, but it seems he’s also one with connections to demand classified information.
At least he thinks what I’ve done skirts the right side of wrong.
Patrick continues to control this family meeting. “Read the documents, Jett. You’ll see just how serious I am.”
I pick up the file and flip it open. I skim the first few pages. It outlines exactly what Chrissie said. When I skip to the tab that’s ear marked for my signature, I see it.
Zeroes.
A fucking lot of them.
More stacked together next to my name than I’ve ever seen in my life.
More than I ever thought to dream of, which doesn’t say much, because I’ve never dreamed of money. I didn’t come from it, and I sure didn’t pick a path that led to it. I get by and that’s just fine.
“What the hell is this?” I demand.
Devon turns to Harlow. “I told you to give him the heads up.”
Harlow turns and looks at me like she’s afraid I’ll run off into the mountains and never come back. “It’s really not a lot. Okay, I guess it is. But this is yours whether or not you want to be involved with Stonebridge. If that’s your choice, it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” Patrick butts in.
“See? Family counseling would come in really handy,” Chrissie chirps as she picks up a bloody Mary and takes a sip.
Devon smirks at Harlow. “I’m not officially family yet, so I don’t have to participate, right?”
“It doesn’t matter how much anyone might need counseling, let’s give that a rest.” Harlow pulls in a deep breath and turns to me.
“Don’t worry about the board position. I told Dad not to throw that at you today, but he insisted.
Death has been knocking on everyone’s door lately, and we all realize how delicate life is.
But we’re finally past that. This document outlines your trust, how it’s invested, and how you can access it.
Chrissie will need your signatures for you to be added to those accounts.
I get that this is a lot, but it’s yours.
You have what I have, but I grew up knowing it’s mine.
This is a lot to adjust to, and we wanted to get through the surgery and a good part of recovery before presenting you with this. ”
I look from Harlow to Patrick and back to Harlow. “I never wanted this. All I wanted was a kidney.”
She smiles and tears fill her eyes. “I know. The moment I found out you were my brother, I loved the idea of you. But over the last couple of months, I’ve come to love you. The money is yours whether you want it or not. Do with it what you wish within the parameters of the trust.”
“I’m not the easiest man to get to know.
” Patrick says. “I hope to get there with you. When I learned you existed and about the kidney disease, getting you healthy and making sure Harlow was okay in the process was my priority. Now that we’re past that, my next one is making up for a lifetime of missed memories.
Someone stole that from us, but I can sure as hell make the rest of your life easier.
I’m too old to sugarcoat anything. I want you and Harlow to be the future of Stonebridge.
That goes beyond the board of directors.
The sooner we can figure that out, the better. ”
I glance down at the number on the page again. It’s not a billion, but it’s a hell of a lot of millions. Hundreds of them.
And my father, Patrick Madison, wants me to have a hand in Stonebridge. I have no fucking idea why he thinks I wouldn’t run his precious company into the ground. It’s not exactly the kind of operation I’m skilled at.
My only responsibilities in life are my needy pets, keeping in touch with my old squad, and meeting deadlines with my boring as hell online job. It doesn’t matter how hard I force this news to sink in, it doesn’t.
I’m not sure why, but this trust fund doesn’t feel like a gift. It’s heavy, like a burden I don’t have the energy to deal with.
Despite the weight of it, I look at Patrick. A man with the same eyes as me and who used to look eerily like I do right now. I feel like I’m looking into a magic mirror of myself decades in the future.
“Thank you,” I say. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with it or what my future holds, but thank you.”
Harlow picks up her water and holds it out to the middle of the table. “To family and a beautiful future. May our love and devotion to each other run deeper than blood.”
Devon presses his lips to the side of Harlow’s head and lifts his tea. “I second that. Harlow’s family will be mine.”
Chrissie doesn’t need to pick up her drink since she never put it down. “I don’t have a trust fund, but I did get a raise. Here’s to thicker than blood.”
Patrick picks up his crystal glass of water, and his gaze never wavers from me. “To family.”
I have no choice. I pick up my lukewarm coffee, click it to theirs, and say the only thing that’s coursing through my veins. “I have a feeling this will be a wild ride.”
Chrissie throws back the last of her cocktail and the glass lands with a thud on the fine linen. “If there’s one thing I know about the Madisons, if it’s not a wild ride, it’s not their ride.”
Shit.
Who knew getting a kidney would be the easiest hurdle when I found my new family?