Chapter 41
WREN
I ’m trying to keep my cool as Darcy paces by the panoramic windows of his apartment. The orange, purple, and blue sunset as his backdrop doesn’t even factor for him.
His head is down, lips are pursed, and the worry line in his forehead makes me want to kiss it away.
But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shitting bricks too.
He agreed to marry me. Darcy Ritcherson wants to be my husband, and I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen.
We belong together, and I’m not okay with living my life as a brokenhearted spinster like my mother.
She was a great mom, the best, but everything she did was for me, and now that I’m older, I can see that it was because she had nothing else. No one else. I was her happiness, and she deserves more than that.
So do I.
Junior’s flying in from London and should be here any minute, and last I heard from Tobias, he’s on his way too.
We decided to do it here instead of the office because if this blows up in our faces, we’d prefer not to have a building full of people to witness the shitshow that will be the fallout.
From what I’ve seen, from what I’ve learned of my brothers over the last few months, they’re not the greedy, selfish bastards Darcy seems to think they are.
Whether it’s because I’m an outsider looking in with a fresh perspective, or maybe they were once upon a time as kids, I’m not entirely sure, but I hope that I’m correct when I say I think they will support us.
If it weren’t for the vulnerability I saw in Junior over the Ponzi scheme drama, I’d be more hesitant but screwed up. He knows it, and we know it. He owes Darcy to the tune of two hundred million dollars.
There’s knocking at the door, and Darcy flinches.
I stand from where I’ve been watching him fret for the last hour and bring him in for a hug. “We’ve got this.”
“Uh-huh. Sure. We sure do got this. If ‘this’ is watching everything I’ve worked my entire life for go up in flames.”
“I won’t let that happen,” I say.
There’s more knocking, but I ignore it. Whichever brother is out there is impatient and can learn to wait a second.
“But if you’re having too many doubts … if you don’t want to do this …” Please don’t change your mind. Please don’t change your mind.
Darcy cups my cheek. “Oh, I have so, so many doubts, but none of them are about you. I’m choosing myself. For the first time ever. And it’s terrifying.”
“I’m choosing you too.” I kiss the tip of his nose and then move to let the impatient one in. The video camera at the door shows it’s Tobias. And he’s flipping the camera off.
“When was Junior’s flight landing?”
“He messaged an hour ago saying he was at customs, so he should be here soon.”
I open the door, and Toby lets himself in.
“What was so important this couldn’t have been done in the office two hours ago?”
“Junior needs to be here,” I say.
Toby slumps as he takes off his jacket. “Please tell me he didn’t invest in another Ponzi scheme, and our plan to fix it is to throw him off the roof. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the throwing.” He rubs his hands together. “Then I only have you two to kill off before I can take it all.”
Darcy pales. It’s sad that someone who grew up with Tobias can’t tell when Toby is being dramatic for the sake of it.
“By all means, take the company,” I taunt.
And there it is. His real feelings about taking over the company. He screws up his face, says, eww , and then helps himself to Darcy’s fridge.
“Is this a wine kind of brother meeting or a hard liquor kind?”
In unison, Darcy and I say, “Hard liquor.” We’re practically married already.
“Lick her? I barely even know her.” Toby laughs at his joke, but when Darcy and I don’t, his face falls. “Fuck. This really is serious.” He makes drinks, and Darcy goes back to pacing while I silently wish Junior would hurry up.
When there’s a knock at the door, I let out a breath of relief, which doesn’t make sense because I’m not relieved about what comes next.
The unknown.
Where we all go from here.
Will they be supportive, or will they throw both of us under the bus and take MediaCorp for themselves?
Junior looks wrecked when I let him in, jet lag already kicking in, considering it’s the middle of the night in London. “Okay, go ahead. Yell at me for whatever I’ve done now.”
The man I met only months ago is gone, destroyed by one screwup at work.
That’s way too much pressure for anyone to be under, and I’m surprised it’s taken so long for one of them to break.
“Your mistake is nothing on what we’ve done,” Darcy says, his voice quivering. From defeat or nerves. Maybe both.
Junior immediately perks right up. “Embezzle? Send the stock price plummeting? Tell our shareholders to go fuck themselves?”
Darcy looks at me for help, and I cross the room to give it.
I stand behind him, my hand around his shoulders.
“How about steal Wren’s life, lie to you for the last fifteen years, and then fall in love with someone the world perceives to be your brother?
” Darcy holds his breath, and I only have to hope that he isn’t planning to hold it until our brothers react because all they’re doing is blinking at us. Staring. Mouths agape.
Tobias is the first to snap out of it. His gaze travels to me. “You’re not our brother?” He looks distraught, and I have the urge to reassure him.
“I am,” I say.
“It’s Darcy who isn’t,” Junior adds. And he doesn’t seem anywhere near as surprised as Toby.
We all turn to him.
“You knew?” Darcy asks.
“Mom told me.”
“When?” Darcy snaps.
Junior hesitates like he doesn’t want to say. “After Dad’s funeral.”
“Fuuuuuuuck,” Tobias exclaims.
“I didn’t even know then,” I say. “I didn’t know until …”
“Until he got so suspicious he stole my DNA,” Darcy finishes for me. Though, unlike when he first found out what I did, he doesn’t seem so upset about it now. “And I wouldn’t change what he did for the world, because, well …” He takes my hand in his.
I smile at him, and Toby makes a fake gagging noise.
“We know it’s not conventional,” Darcy adds.
“Not conventional?” Toby scoffs. “You do realize that you’re both my half brother. Wait …” He turns to Darcy. “You are still Mom’s son, aren’t you? Or were you adopted?”
“Yes, we both share DNA with you two, but we don’t share DNA with each other. But does DNA really matter when we didn’t grow up together, and we sure as fuck can’t procreate with one another? Unless science has made it possible to mix sperm together to make one baby.”
They both think about it for a second, and Toby seems to relent, but Junior remains quiet.
“Okay, fair point,” Toby says. “I guess. It’s still weird. No matter how you spin it.”
I chuckle. “Try developing feelings for someone you thought was your brother. That’s a mindfuck.”
Toby holds up his hand. “I’ll leave the incest to you two, thanks.”
When Junior finds his voice, it’s not at all what we’re expecting. “I don’t want control of the company.”
First, what? And secondly, fucking what ?
“Where did that come from?” Darcy asks.
“Well, that’s what you’re telling us, isn’t it?
You two are going to be together, which means the scandal will ruin MediaCorp unless Tobias or I step up, and the reason Mom told me about Darcy not being the rightful heir was so that when it got out, I could take the company from under Wren.
I’ve been trying to prove myself. I’ve been working nonstop, twenty hours a day, trying to prove I can do it.
Not only to everyone else but to myself.
It’s made me make stupid mistakes, like Westom Holdings.
It’s made me hate the job. I tried to prove I could do it, and I can’t .
It’s …” He tries to hold back tears as he glares at Darcy. “It’s turned me into you .”
Darcy scrubs a hand through his hair. “What was Mom thinking?”
“She was thinking she didn’t want to see us lose out on the Ritcherson fortune to a …” Now Junior turns his sight on me, but his eyes are soft. Sympathetic. “To someone unworthy of our class.”
I hold up my hands. “Hey, I don’t even want the company. I don’t mind working here, but responsibility? No, thank you.”
“So you’re all giving the company to me?” Tobias yells. “No. Nuh-uh. I’m out too.”
As if we all share a single brain, we turn silent because this is not what I was expecting. None of us want the company?
And now, with it all out in the open, Darcy starts laughing.
“Is he having some kind of mental breakdown?” Toby asks.
Darcy tries to talk, but he can’t. He doubles over.
“All this time, for my whole adult life …” He wheezes.
“I’ve been terrified of losing my place because I’m not a true Ritcherson.
” He stands upright again. “I thought you two would strip me of my inheritance, take over, and try to take everything. Not only my job but my trust fund, my life. I’ve been raised to be wary of you both.
Told you were jealous. And it turns out neither of you want to be in my position anyway.
” He bursts out laughing again, and I have to say it’s damn contagious.
We all join in. Because if you think about it, it really is absurd.
“Seriously though,” Junior asks. “What are we going to do?”
I wrap my arms around my man, who’s still trying to calm down. “I had an idea.”
“It’s an insane idea,” Darcy adds. “But it might work. There will be a fallout and repercussions, but it will give all of us what we want. Especially now I know you two don’t even want the CEO position.”
“Basically, if Darcy and I get married?—”
“The company would be ruined,” Junior says. “Brothers getting married? You thought my scandal was bad. That would be nothing on this.”
“I’m going to tell the truth. That I’m not a Ritcherson by blood,” Darcy says.
I squeeze him tighter. “But with us being married, he’ll still be entitled to keep his position. My shares will be his shares.”
“The company will take a hit, and if it’s too much to recover from, I was going to pass it on to Junior, but if you don’t want it, and Tobias doesn’t want it …”
“We could sell,” Toby says.
Darcy looks up at the roof. “Did you just turn over in your grave, old man?” He huffs humorlessly. “Selling isn’t ideal, and I don’t want it to come to that?—”
“Then we won’t let it come to that,” I say.
“There is another idea.” Junior bites his lip.
“I’ve … I’ve sort of looked into it. Nothing serious, but as a what-if.
A fantasy scenario. The company can be divided up between the three of us.
There’s entertainment media, online platforms, and news.
I’m not comfortable taking over the whole company on my own.
Darce, I have no idea how you do it. But …
it’s possible for us to keep it in the family and not work ourselves to death.
We could restructure the shares, keep the businesses together, but be CEO of our own departments.
Three separate companies, but operating as MediaCorp.
If you want to, I mean. I know I have no right to anything after?—”
“You have every right,” I say. “I never understood the bloodline bullshit in the will anyway. Why does it only go to the eldest child? We’re all brothers. We all deserve a piece of the pie.”
Toby turns to Darcy. “Would you be willing to share?”
“Toby, I’m ready to give the whole thing up if I have to. I don’t want to, but Wren’s shown me there’s more to life than work. There’s happiness, and love, and?—”
Toby starts gagging again. “Sorry. Going to take a while to get used to.”
I pick up a nearby cushion behind me on the couch and throw it at him. “Stop being a shithead.”
He laughs. “No way. We’re in our own soap opera, and I’m living for it.”
Darcy suddenly sniffs out of nowhere, and when I look at him, his eyes are glassy. “This is happening? You two will really support us?”
Junior shrugs. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”
I nudge Darcy. “I think that’s his way of saying he wants a group hug.”
Junior flips me off.
“Group hug!” Toby yells and pushes Junior toward us.
As we embrace each other, all four of us, it’s an amazing moment of solidarity and support. It feels like we can take on the world.
Which is a relief. Because we’re going to have to.