Chapter 44
DARCY
S he’s not here. The meeting should have started five minutes ago, and instead of being ready to get this out in the open already, we’re left waiting. For a woman who might never appear.
“Let’s go in,” Tobias says. “She’s not coming.”
“We can’t go in without everyone here,” Junior snaps, lifting his phone to call her again.
Wren’s rubbing circles into my tense back, and I’m ready to storm the building in order to find her.
The ding of the elevator makes us all turn toward the sound, and even though I have no idea if she’s going to fight us or not, just the sight of her is a relief.
Painful or not, it’s finally about to be over.
Her heels are harsh and loud as she crosses the tiled hall toward us. “Everyone here?”
“Only waiting on you,” I grit out.
“Excellent.”
“Where have you been?” Tobias snarls.
“Preparing.”
“Have you made your choice, then?” Junior’s the only one of us game enough to ask.
She sniffs. “I don’t see that I was left with a choice, do you?”
Wren’s laugh is bitter. “Yeah, we all know how you fuck up choices.”
She sends him the usual look of contempt she holds on to just for him.
“I made one choice, when I was young, that I’ve had to pay for my entire life.
If any of you know what’s good for you, you’ll go in there, shut up, and hopefully, we’ll have a chance to walk away from this with the company unharmed.
” Then she pushes past us all and stalks into the meeting.
I exchange a fast, perplexed look with Junior before hurrying to stride in after her.
“Thank you all for coming,” she says loudly, her voice confidently filling the room. “And thank you to my sons for calling this meeting on my behalf.”
“If you’ll excuse me, Mother,” I say, trying to take back control from whatever batshit thing she’s about to say, “I was actually?—”
“Take a seat, dear. These people are important, and we’re wasting their time.”
A round of mutters passes through the full room. Holding a meeting like this with everyone physically in attendance wasn’t an easy thing to do, but when you say something is urgent, and it’s urgent to the tune of billions, people have a way of prioritizing.
My teeth are clenched as I take in Tobias’s shocked expression and Junior’s wary one. Wren looks plain pissed, which is also a look he in return reserves exclusively for her.
“If you don’t mind, I was rather hoping to run this meeting,” I tell her in as pleasant of a tone as I can muster.
“And you will, but I have something to say first.”
Oh, bloody hell, that doesn’t sound good.
But with the weight of all those eyes on me, I can’t do any more than stride to the head of the table and take the seat that has belonged to me for the past few months.
My brothers sit to the right of me, and Wren takes the spare seat to the left.
The four of us sit in a tense silence, prepared to spring up and derail her at a second’s notice.
Mom straightens to her full height. “Since my husband’s death, I’ve been aware of the rumors surrounding him and a certain illegitimate child.
It’s been speculated that he had an affair, and I’ve stayed silent on the matter until now.
The truth is, Warren and I were open to other people before our marriage, and we both took full advantage of that fact.
Until I fell pregnant. Warren did his duty and married me …
even though the baby wasn’t his. But while Darcy might not be Warren’s by blood, he’s still every bit his son.
” Conversation breaks out along the table, but Mother talks over them like she hasn’t dropped a bomb onto the table.
Sweat breaks out along my collar, but she looks like she’s delivering the world’s most boring information.
How is she so calm about this? “Darcy was raised on the company, and he’s run it seamlessly since my husband’s passing.
Despite what people seem to think, I’ve always known about Wren, and Warren’s always known that Darcy wasn’t his, but he did his obligation.
He put the company first, and he raised the best goddamn CEO MediaCorp could have been blessed with.
The only reason I’m giving you this background is because, like their father, my sons want what’s best for the company.
With no biological claim to MediaCorp, Darcy’s shares will pass to Wren, who, quite frankly, has no clue how to run this place. ”
My pulse rate spikes, and I’m about to stand up and put an end to her slandering my husband when she continues.
“And so I’m sure you’ll all agree that Wren’s decision to engage Tobias and Junior in a more official capacity is the best call for the company.”
“And what does this mean?” Jefferson asks. “Junior is already COO. Will they share that responsibility?”
“If I may?”
Mom turns and looks me over once before nodding.
“The company will be split three ways. As an overview, Tobias will take on the social media expansion, Junior will continue to operate from London and will be heading the entertainment media, and …” I take a deep breath and link mine and Wren’s hands over the table.
“My husband and I will take over the news side of things.”
There’s a silence. A very long silence.
“Is this a joke?”
I turn cold eyes on the woman who’s spoken. I can’t place her name off the top of my head as she’s one of the ones who usually doesn’t show up for meetings. “If it’s a joke, would you mind enlightening us to the punchline?”
“Isn’t he your brother?” Jefferson snaps.
“Stepbrother. Barely.” And I figure a small lie to save our asses is worth it. “We were both aware that we weren’t actually related by the time we met.” Met. Fucked. Same difference.
“So you’ve been, what? Lying to us these past few months?” Sasaki asks.
“With my father’s death, my main priority has been integrating Wren into the business and ensuring that things operate as smoothly as possible.”
“Integrating,” someone snorts, but I miss who.
I keep talking. “There was enough upheaval with MediaCorp transitioning to me, let alone what would have happened had I stepped back immediately and let Wren take over before he was ready.”
“I think I displayed exactly what the result of that would be,” Junior adds in a defeated tone.
Faddock points his way. “After the crap this one has pulled, you think it’s wise for him to be taking on this kind of responsibility?”
“Yes. We all have to face the facts. When Warren Ritcherson took over from his father, the world was a different place. Yes, he managed to run this business solo for decades, but I can’t say I’m not convinced the workload is what really killed him.
With technological advances, social media becoming a main source for news, we have to adapt.
All of us. Running MediaCorp should not be one person’s job. ”
“Are we all going to sit here and be okay with Darcy Ritcherson sleeping with his brother?” Rolderheim shouts, standing so fast his chair flings out.
“What would your father think? What will the people working here think? The media is going to make a circus of you, and I for one won’t be waiting around for my money to plummet.
” His cheeks actually quiver as he shouts.
And even though this is the very thing I’ve been dreading, even though Rolderheim is bringing all of my nightmares to light …
all I feel is pity. Pity for the man with more money than sense and every other entitled rich person who thinks they have the whole world figured out.
“By all means, leave,” I find myself saying. “And when this company is stronger and more profitable than ever, your seat at the table will be filled.”
“Stronger, ha! With a pair of … pair of …”
“You might want to be careful with whatever comes out of your mouth next,” Mom snaps. “Because if it’s one thing to do with his sexuality and not business, I’ll have you escorted out of here myself.”
He hmphs , mustache bristling. “You can’t tell me you’re okay with this … this … incest.”
“For god’s sake, they’re not even related,” Toby snaps. He sounds one more dumb comment away from flipping the table.
“At any rate, this isn’t up for discussion,” I say. “We’ve informed you of the steps we’re taking moving forward, and you’ll all be emailed our proposal. I think you’ll find it’s in everyone’s best interest to ride this out until we’re back to business as usual.”
“I won’t stand for it. Your father wouldn’t have either.”
“Hear, hear.”
“Disgusting.”
“Should have sold when Warren died.”
Like each of them is spurred on from the next, their objections keep getting louder. I’m numb against it. Vindicated, actually, because this is exactly what I said would happen.
And I have no idea how to stop it, other than initiate a flat out freeze on selling, which will make this whole thing so much worse.
Sorry, Dad. I let you down in the only way I swore I never would .
Then Mom stands again and clears her throat. “I don’t believe I was finished speaking.”
“There’s nothing you could?—”
Mom hits something on her phone, and a chorus of beeps fills the room.
“I’ll give you a moment to check that,” she says.
I scramble for my phone, but there’s nothing there, and when I glance over at Junior and Tobias, it doesn’t look like they have anything either.
But all around the table, there’s a shift taking place.
Eyes widening, hands covering mouths, more and more tiny reactions until I can place what I’m feeling shift in the room.
Fear.
“You …” Rolderheim gasps. “How did you?—”
“I always assumed the truth would come out, and I honestly thought it would happen a lot sooner than it did. Despite our start, I loved my husband, and I wanted to make sure that I had a contingency up my sleeves. A little something to help you all see things from our point of view.”
“This is blackmail,” he shouts.
“I haven’t blackmailed anyone. I’ve simply sent you all suggestions for our next headlines. Here at MediaCorp, we believe in freedom of information and unbiased reporting, after all.”
That’s when I finally get it. All these years, Mom’s been operating at Father’s side, attending galas, organizing charity events, weekly high teas with the ladies—she’s been using it to her advantage, and if I’m not mistaken … she’s just non-blackmailed every person over the age of forty here.
Holy fuck.
This might actually work.
“Now.” Mom smiles. “Does anyone else have objections to the future of the company?”
A younger guy way down the back of the room raises his hand. “I have no clue what’s going on.”
“I’ll fill you in later,” Tobias says, and the guy throws a double thumbs-up.
Dear lord.
No one else talks.
Communication has switched to glares, embarrassment, and gritted teeth.
Plus, Wren’s hand in mine.
I glance over and find him looking as shocked as I feel.
“If no one has any further questions,” Junior says, standing and straightening his jacket, “I have a plane to catch. Contracts will be drawn up in the coming weeks, and while this is going to be a big change, it will also be a positive one. We’re not going to rush it—this company means too much to all of us—but it will succeed.
” He turns on his heel and leaves, triggering everyone else to scramble for their things.
“Did that really happen?” Wren asks.
Mom huffs as she joins us. “If you think I haven’t been preparing for that moment since the two of you were born, you’re mistaken.”
“Can honestly say I didn’t see that coming,” Wren replies. “Why?”
She levels Wren with the same disgusted look as always. “Because they’re my sons. And no matter what you might think, I’m still their mother.”
I watch her storm off, a mix of conflicting feelings hitting me.
It’s finally out there now. All of it. And she sheltered me from the worst, but I don’t for one second doubt that she was also doing it for herself.
She has as much a stake in this as the rest of us do, and whatever she sent out to people, they’re not going to be happy with her, but it probably just saved her ass as much as mine.
The only thing left to do is the media release and pray that it passes quickly.