Chapter Forty-Six
FORTY-SIX
Jake
THE HEIR OF NOTHING
Victoria, Connecticut
“I want to get this done today. Your lawyers said before the end of the summer, and now we’re in October. Do any of them own a calendar?” Trent complains over the phone. “If I have to sit through another earnings call, I might blow my brains out.”
Oh, that couldn’t happen soon enough.
Three months. I haven’t been talking to Hailey in three months. We see each other sparsely, only when she’s on Trent’s arm. And I try not to make this any harder on her by stirring up a conversation that lasts more than a hello and goodbye.
Most of the time, she’s holed up on her side of the Koning estate like Belle from Beauty and the Beast, only the Beast is my soulless brother.
“If you would let me talk,” I say, exasperated.
“I only have one more paper for you to sign. Then it’s finalized.
” Trent had a breakthrough four weeks ago when he realized he’d rather be flying to Malta on a private jet than stuck in a boardroom dealing with investors and managing his stake in Koning.
The Wolfe fortune he inherited by marriage is worth double what he has tied up in the beer company, all without the corporate politics and headaches.
He has convinced himself—or someone has slowly, surreptitiously planted the seeds—that transferring his stake to me, making me the majority owner, is the equivalent of settling me with the world’s worst case of gangrene.
He gets off on watching my limbs necrotize.
He gets off on flaunting his wife in front of me—the woman he knows I love.
But who knew transferring forty percent ownership of a multibillion-dollar company takes longer than a few weeks. The back-and-forth and legal paperwork have been torture. Especially knowing that every day wasted is another day Hailey has to live with him.
“You’re sure?” Trent asks. “Because I’m not coming all the way over there for this to be a joke.”
I roll my eyes. “You live in the guesthouse. Just cross the lawn.”
Even owning Stonehaven, he’s refused to move there. He thinks the inconvenience of living on a rock in the middle of the sea is enough to sell it. He’s been considering offers for months.
Yesterday, Phoebe told me, “Hailey says he wants one big house with less property to manage. They’re thinking of building on the coast.”
Another reason to get this done today.
I already own all of the Koning properties. We closed on them last week. I didn’t need to buy them from Trent. He gave them to me to saddle me with mortgage debt, property taxes, and costs to maintain.
Until he finds a more permanent residence, I’m letting him live rent-free in the guesthouse. Trent knows it’s not out of the kindness of my heart.
I do it to be as close to Hailey as I can be.
Before ending the call, Trent agrees to come over.
“That him?” Rocky leans a shoulder on the doorframe to my home office, his chin dipping to my phone. His black hair is damp, like he just took a shower. He holds his favorite Seaside Griddle mug.
I’m not the only one who’s been trying to be near Hailey.
Her brothers and Phoebe moved into my house months ago so that they could keep an eye on her.
Their presence here has been a saving grace, because I don’t know what would’ve happened to me had I been alone all this time.
Some days I stay up through the night, watching the grounds outside from my balcony.
Making sure I don’t find a platinum-blonde girl running across the yard, chasing a hallucination.
Phoebe has assured Oliver and me that Hailey is sleeping. “She says she’s focused on her health. She wants to carry the baby to term, so that’s where all her energy is going.” Thinking about Hailey sends sharp stabs through my chest, so I bring my attention back to Rocky. He’s watching me quietly.
He knows I’m thinking about his sister. I always am.
“Trent is coming over,” I confirm. “He’s going to sign the last document.”
Rocky pulls out his cell. “It will finalize the transfer?”
“Yeah.” I inhale deeply, trying to let it sink in, but it practically floats over me. It doesn’t feel real. I’m not sure when it will.
Rocky stares at me in deeper concern. “This is where you smile, Jake.”
I lift my shoulders. “Not sure I can.”
“Great. Well…” Rocky texts on his phone. “At least you finally get to see the fun part.”
My brows arch. “There’s a fun part?”
“You think we would’ve been doing this our entire lives if it was all doom and gloom, sweetheart?” He slips his phone in his pocket when a blue-haired girl fills the doorway.
“What’s doom and gloom?” Phoebe asks, and turns to Rocky. “Besides your face?”
He shoves a hand at her mouth, and she grins wildly, snapping her teeth at his palm like a turtle.
Seeing their love so in my face every day hasn’t been as hard as I’d thought it’d be.
I’m really happy they can be together for real.
The months I pretended to be Phoebe’s boyfriend almost feel like a fever dream.
“Trent is coming over,” I warn her.
Rocky drops his hand off her face and rounds his arm over her shoulders.
Her face twists. “Ugh. Thank you for the heads-up.”
“To sign the final paper,” I add.
Her mouth parts in surprise before her eyes light up in a smile. “Oh—wait, this will be fun.”
Rocky eyes me as if to say, Told you so.
It doesn’t feel fun when I spot Trent through the window crossing the lawn with Hailey trailing him like a shadow. It was no surprise he’d bring her. She’s the equivalent of a bulletproof vest and an armed firing squad anytime he sees me.
Her hair has grown to the middle of her back. She wears a baggy black Lamb of God shirt over her cargo pants. She keeps her head down, reading a paperback as she walks. My chest tightens, and the three of us quickly leave my office.
We meet Trent and Hailey on the back patio before he has time to set foot in the house. Trent steps onto the cobblestone with an annoyed huff at the sight of Phoebe and Rocky. “You both are like a fungal infection that won’t go away.”
“What a coincidence. The feeling is mutual,” Phoebe snaps, and then smiles sharply.
Trent returns the smirk before looking at me. “You need to ask yourself, Jacob, why these two keep loitering around you.”
“They’re fine.” I set the paper on the glass table, pen on top.
“They’re leeching off your money.” Trent steeples his hand on the document, his eyes on me. “I don’t want to see my baby brother being taken advantage of.”
I smile tiredly. “Sure.”
Phoebe nods toward the door. “Hey, Hails, want to come inside? I have some cronuts from the new bakery—”
“No,” Trent pipes in. “Hay-Hay is on a diet.”
“I am?” Hailey frowns like this is news to her, but clearly Trent has noticed she’s gained weight and assumed it’s from food.
Trent nods and waves a hand. “And this is what it looks like to protect someone you care about.”
I suck down a more vicious retort. Don’t engage. I need this done. I do the foolish thing and look at Hailey. She’s closed her book over her thumb and watches a caterpillar crawl along the banister. The urge to pick her up is a straitjacket to my soul.
It takes all my energy to look back at Trent. “Can we get this done?” I ask my brother.
“Give me a second.” He takes his sweet time reading over the single piece of paper. He sees how brutal this is for me, being in eyeshot of her, and he’s not wasting the opportunity to twist the knife harder.
I hold my breath when he picks up the pen.
I can’t blink when he signs his name on the bottom line.
“Done?” he asks me.
The question feels so weighted. So heavy. I’m in a fogged haze when I say, “Yeah…done.”
Trent steps back and lets out a deep exhale like the stress of the world just left his body. “Good luck, Jake. You’re going to need it with running all of”—he twirls his fingers—“this.” He turns to Hailey. “Come on, Hay—” He stops when his phone buzzes in his pocket.
He pulls out his cell, his brows furrowing. “Hold on…” He pushes off the patio and steps onto the manicured lawn, walking a few yards to take his call out of earshot.
Phoebe swipes the paper from the table. “I’ll go fax this.” She leaves for my office.
Hailey doesn’t meet my eyes. She doesn’t even look at her brother. She’s focused on the caterpillar.
None of us talk. It almost feels like breaking the silence will stop the momentum.
I just watch Trent. As the minutes pass, he gets more and more flustered. A hand goes to his head. He grips his hair. Flush ascends the back of his neck, rising slowly to his jaw. He starts gesticulating wildly. His expression morphing from confusion to irritation to a darker rage.
“Hailey, get behind me,” Rocky urges.
She brings her book with her and slips behind him without a single glance at me.
Seconds later, Trent grips his cell in his fist and storms over with fury-filled eyes. His anger. His wrath. It’s only directed at one man.