Chapter Six
Duncan
On Monday morning, I met with my brothers for our general meeting.
It was the only time when all of us were at Sterling Investments.
After the staff finished their weekly report, they filtered out.
My brothers and I stayed behind. Usually, we used this time to brainstorm ideas about each other's current businesses and potential new ones.
My second-oldest brother, Chase, was sitting between Griffin and Wyatt. Knox and Finn, the youngest ones, stayed together as usual.
"All right, who's got anything to bring to the table?" Griffin asked.
Chase went first. He usually had the most ideas. He mentioned the articles he'd read about the wine business. This was something we'd discussed in passing before. A winery in Napa Valley wouldn't be bad, but it might be a lot to look after.
"I agree," I said. "I’ll look into it."
"Honestly, I'd be in, but only if we did it as a family venture," Knox said.
"Why?" I asked. We each had separate businesses. Although, owning a business together had its perks, especially with the logistics of this venture being more complex.
We were a powerhouse together. We fed off each other’s strengths when setting up Sterling Investments. Knox and Finn had still been in college, but their coding skills were unparalleled. They rest of us were thankful when they’d joined us too.
"I just feel like that would be a cool family business. Then we could all fly out to Napa Valley together. Though, on second thought, I guess we can do that even if only one of us owns it," Knox said.
Wyatt smiled slyly. “Anyone want to fly out to Napa this weekend… for research?”
That was surprising coming from Wyatt. He usually wasn’t impulsive—that was more like Griffin.
Griffin shook his head. "I'm out of this one. I promised Mom and Dad I’d stop by the store and help them with renovations."
Wyatt straightened. "What? You didn't tell me that."
"I went back and forth with them," Griffin said, "and they finally agreed."
"What do you mean?" I asked. I'd been out of the loop about this. “Last I knew, they were redoing the foundation.”
Griffin looked at all of us. "They’re doing more than that. The place needs refreshing, and Mom has very specific ideas about what she wants."
"Why didn't she tell us? Why didn't she tell me?" I asked. I'd seen her a few times last week, after all. “Why aren’t they hiring someone?”
“They did. And then decided not to use them.” Griffin turned to me. "Maybe she figured you’d have enough on your plate with Jeremy."
"But now things are getting back on track. I've hired a new nanny for him.”
"Really? Mom didn't mention anything,” Wyatt said as Chase glanced at me suspiciously.
"Another sixty-year-old who tells Jeremy how young men should behave," Knox teased. "No wonder we’re his favorites."
He looked far too full of himself. It was time to put my smartass brother in his place.
"First, fuck off. Ms. Williams does her job well. Second of all, no. Riley is young—she's twenty-four. I think she's amazing. She bonded with him instantly, and as a perk, she's a great cook."
Chase looked at me intently but didn't say anything. Wyatt narrowed his eyes. Griffin glanced at Wyatt and then at Knox and Finn, who looked stunned.
Yeah, I smelled victory. I’d put them in their place.
"You're attracted to her," Knox stated matter-of-factly.
What?
Fuck.
My.
Life.
That was not what I thought he would say.
I cleared my throat. "Sorry, what?"
"Yeah," Finn said. "That whole speech you just gave about her? Holy shit, man."
"What are you talking about? I just told you why she's a good fit." Yeah, she was gorgeous, but I was over that. I was in control.
"For Jeremy or for you?" Chase asked.
"Really? What made you even think that?" I asked him.
"I don't know what to say. The way you talked about her took me by surprise too. I just couldn’t put it into words until Knox did.”
"Thank you. Always nice to get credit for things," Knox replied.
"All of you are out of your minds," I said.
"So, you're not attracted to her?" Wyatt asked. He was usually the most cerebral of all of us, weighing pros and cons, and never jumped to conclusions.
I took a deep breath.
"He's hesitating," Wyatt said.
I looked around the table, and the fight went out of me.
Why would I want to keep this from my siblings? They’d hound me about it until the sun went down. Besides, it wasn’t as if I was going to act on anything. But I could admit to them that she was attractive.
"I'm not indifferent to her," I hedged.
"Ha," Knox said, victorious.
"But I am behaving perfectly professionally," I added.
"Good, as you should," Griffin said, "because she's your son's nanny."
Wyatt looked at him. "Since when are you the fun police? Chase usually does that."
Chase jerked his head back. "That is in no way true. However, I don’t think it would be the best idea?—”
"Look, no one at the table thinks it would be a good idea, okay?" I concluded. "Let's forget about it and move on. We've agreed that we’ll look into the Napa Valley idea. Anyone else want to contribute ideas?"
I liked that we scheduled these meeting Monday mornings. It set the tone for the entire week, and I always walked out of here full of energy and ready to take on the world.
"Yes," Chase said. That was to be expected. He was a genius and always had great concepts. “Ever since that whole debacle with Hannah’s inn, I've taken an interest in the hotel business.”
Debacle was putting it mildly. His fiancée had needed funds to invest in it but refused to take money from him, so he tried to pose as an investor.
"You saw an investment opportunity?” Wyatt asked, straightening up.
"Yeah, it's a chain that made Hannah an offer recently. She turned it down because they don’t actually focus on B&Bs but rather luxury hotels.
But it got me thinking that we could invest in the chain itself.
I'm going to work on a proposal this week if you all agree to it.
I don't want to waste my time otherwise. "
There was a murmur of agreement around the room.
"I, for one, thought the hotel business was a good deal ever since we tried to fake-invest in Hannah's inn," Finn said with a grin.
Chase groaned.
"No, we’re never going to let you live that down," I said.
Hannah had had financial troubles when she took over her grandmother's inn, and my brother had this idea to set up a shell company to pose as an investor in order to buy shares in her company.
I told him I wasn't going to be part of it.
I was low-key still annoyed at the rest of my brothers for not taking my side in wanting to talk him out of it.
Of course, Hannah found out eventually, but she ultimately forgave him.
"All right, we have two very clear directions," Griffin said. "It makes no sense to continue brainstorming. Let's look into both these things and regroup next week. And if we really want to pursue them, we'll hit the ground running."
"I agree," I said. "But in the meantime, we could also make a plan to help our parents. I can even drop by with Jeremy. He likes when I show him construction things."
"Here's a thought: why don't you drop by with Riley too?" Knox asked.
"Why would I do that?"
He shrugged. "Is she attractive? If one of us asks her out, you’ll resist temptation more easily.”
"Now, you listen to me. Riley is completely off-limits to every single one of you bozos."
Chase was fighting laughter.
"What?" I asked him.
"Take it from a guy who was sitting where you were only a few months ago—being completely professional won't pan out."
"You have no idea what you're talking about," I replied.
"I actually do. You were pissed at me for creating that shell company to help out Hannah. But when you're crazy about a woman, you do crazy things. I suspect that you're about to find that out for yourself."
I scoffed at the idea. I knew I was stronger than that—and was determined to prove them all wrong.