Chapter 1
Chapter One
ASTON
The Cages are the most prestigious family in Denver—at least according to the patriarch of the Cage Family.
And the Cages have rules.
Rules only they know.
I always knew that one day my father would die. I hadn’t realized that day would come so soon. Or that the last words I would say to him would’ve been in anger.
I had been having one of the best nights of my life, a beautiful woman in my arms, and a smile on my face when I received the phone call that had changed my family’s life.
The fact that I had been smiling had been a shock, because according to my brothers, I didn’t smile much. I was far too busy being The Cage of Cage Enterprises.
We were a dominant force in the city of Denver when it came to certain real estate ventures, as well as being one of the only ethical and environmentally friendly ones who tried to keep up with that. We had our hands in countless different pots around the world, but mostly we gravitated in the state of Colorado—our home.
I had not created the company, no, that honor had gone to my grandfather, and then my father. The Cage Enterprises were and would always be a family endeavor. And when my father had stepped away a few years ago, stating he had wanted to see the world, and also see if his sons could actually take up the mantle, I had stepped in—not that the man believed we could.
My brothers were in various roles within the company, at least those who had wanted to be part of it. But I was the face of Cage Enterprises.
So no, I hadn’t smiled often. There wasn’t time. We weren’t billionaires with mega yachts. We worked seventy-hour weeks to make sure all our employees had a livable wage while wining and dining with those who looked down at us for not being on their level. And others thought we were the high and mighty anyway since they didn’t understand us. So, I didn’t smile.
But I had smiled that night.
It had been a gala for some charity, one I couldn’t even remember off the top of my head. We had donated between the company and my own finances—we always did. But I couldn’t even remember anything about why we were there.
Yet I could remember her smile. The heat in her eyes when she had looked up at me, the feel of her body pressed against mine as we had danced along the dance floor, and then when we ended up in the hallway, bodies pressed against one another, needing each other, wanting each other.
And I had put aside all my usual concepts of business and life to have this woman in my arms.
And then my mother had called and had shattered that illusion.
“Your father is dead.”
She hadn’t even braced me for the blow. A heart attack on a vacation on a beach in Majorca, and he was dead. She hadn’t cried, hadn’t said anything, just told me that I had to be the one to tell my brothers.
And so, I had, all six of them. Because of course Loren Cage would have seven sons. He couldn’t do things just once, he had to make sure he left his legacy, his destiny.
And that was why we were here today, in a high-rise in Centennial, waiting on my father’s lawyer to show up with the reading of the will.
“Hey, when is Winstone going to get here?” Dorian asked, his typical high energy playing on his face, and how he tapped his fingers along the hand-carved wooden table.
I stared at my brother, at those piercing blue eyes that matched my own, and frowned. He should be here soon. He did call us all here after all.”
“I still don’t know why we all had to be here for the reading of the will,” Hudson whispered as he stared off into the distance. Neither Dorian nor Hudson worked for Cage Enterprises. They had stock with the company, and a few other connections because that’s what family did, but they didn’t work on the same floors as some of us and hadn’t been elbow to elbow with our father before he had retired. Though dear old dad had worked in our small town more often than not in the end. In fact, Hudson didn’t even live in Denver anymore. He had moved to the town we owned in the mountains.
Because of course we Cages owned a damned town. Part of me wasn’t sure if the concept of having our name on everything within the town had been on purpose or had occurred organically. Though knowing my grandfather, perhaps it had been exactly what he’d wanted. He had bought up a few buildings, built a few more, and now we owned three-quarters of the town, including the major resort which brought in tourists and income.
And that was why we were here.
“You have to be here because you’re evidently in the will,” I said softly, trying not to get annoyed that we were waiting for our father’s lawyer. Again.
“You would think he would be able to just send us a memo. I mean, it should be clear right? We all know what stakes we have in, we should just be able to do things evenly,” Theo said, his gaze off into the distance. My younger brother also didn’t work for the company, instead he had decided to go to culinary school, something my father had hated. But you couldn’t control a Cage, that was sort of our deal .
“Why would you be cut out of the will?” I asked, honestly curious.
“Because I married a man and a woman,” he drawled out. “You know he hasn’t spoken to me since before the wedding,” Ford said, and I saw the hurt in his gaze even though I knew he was probably trying to hide it.
“Well, he was an asshole, what do you expect?” James asked.
I looked behind Ford to see my brother and co-chair of Cage Enterprises standing with his hands in his pockets, staring out the window.
With Flynn, our vice president, standing beside him, they looked like the heads of businesses they were. While they wore suits and so did I, we were the only ones.
Dorian and Hudson were both in jeans, Hudson’s having a hole at the knee. And probably not as a fashion statement, most likely because it had torn at some point, and he hadn’t bothered to buy another pair. Theo was in slacks, but a Henley with his sleeves pushed up, tapping his finger just like Hudson, clearly wanting to get out of here as well. Ford had on cargo pants, and a tight black T-shirt, and looked like he had just gotten off his shift. He owned a security company with his husband and a few other friends, and did security for the Cages when he could, though I knew he didn’t like to work with family often. And I knew it wasn’t because of us. No, it was Father—even if he had officially retired . It was always Father.
And he was gone.
“Can’t believe the asshole’s gone,” I whispered .
Ford’s brows rose. “Look at that, you calling him an asshole. I’m proud.”
“You should show him respect,” Mother said as she came inside the room, her high heels tapping against the marble floors. I didn’t bother standing up like I normally would have, because Melanie Cage looked to be in a mood .
She didn’t look sad that Dad was gone, more like angry that he would dare go against their plans. What plans? I didn’t know, but that was my mother.
She came right up to Dorian and leaned down to kiss his cheek. She didn’t even bother to look at the rest of us. Dorian was Mother’s favorite. Which I knew Dorian resented, but I didn’t have to deal with mommy issues at this moment.
No, we had to deal with father issues at this point.
“I’m going to go get him,” Flynn replied, turning toward the door. “I’m really not in the mood to wait any longer, especially since he’s being so secretive about this meeting.”
As I had been thinking just the same, I nodded at Flynn though he didn’t need my permission. However, just then, the door opened, and I frowned when it wasn’t just Mr. Winstone walking into the conference room.
I stared as an older woman walked through the door following Mr. Winstone, and four women and another man with messy hair and tattered cut-up jeans that matched Hudson’s walked behind them.
The guy looked familiar, as if I’d seen him somewhere, or maybe it was just his eyes.
Where had I seen those eyes before ?
“Phoebe? What are you doing here?” Ford asked as he moved forward and gripped the hands of one of the women.
“I was going to ask the same question,” Phoebe asked as she looked at Ford, then around the room.
Those of us sitting stood up, confused about why this other family—because they were clearly a family—had decided to enter the room.
“We’re here to meet the lawyer about my father’s death, Ford. Why would you and the Cages be here?” she asked, and I wondered how the hell Mr. Winstone had fucked up so badly? Why the hell was he letting another family that clearly seemed to be in shock come into our room? This wasn’t how he normally handled things.
Ford was the one who answered though—thankfully—because I had no idea what the hell was going on.
“Phoebe, we’re here for my dad’s will reading. What the hell is going on?” he asked. Phoebe looked around, as well as the others.
I stared at them, at the tall willowy one with wide eyes, at the smaller one with tears still in her eyes as if she was the only one truly mourning, and at the woman who seemed to be in charge, not the mother. Instead she had shrewd eyes and was glaring at all of us. The man stood back, hands in pockets, and looked just as shell-shocked as Ford.
But before Mr. Winstone or anyone else could say anything, my mother spoke in such a crisp, icy tone that I froze.
“I don’t know why you’re acting so dramatic. You knew your father was an asshole. He just liked creating drama,” she snapped.
As I tried to catch up with her words, the older woman answered. “Melanie, stop.”
This couldn’t be happening. Because things started to click into place. The fact that the man at the other end of this table had our eyes, and that everybody looked so fucking shocked. I didn’t know how Ford knew this Phoebe, and I would be getting answers.
“We had a deal,” my mother continued, as it seemed that the rest of us were just now catching on. “You would keep your family away from mine. We would share Loren, but I got the name, I got the family. You got whatever else. But now it looks like Loren decided to be an asshole again.”
“What are you talking about?” the shrewd sister asked as she came forward, her hands fisted at her side.
“Excuse me,” I said, clearing my throat. I was going to be damned if I let anyone else handle this meeting. I was The Cage now. “Will someone please explain?”
“Well, I wasn’t quite sure how this was going to work out,” Mr. Winstone began, and we all quieted, while I wanted to strangle the man. What did he mean how the hell this would work out ? What was this?
This seemed like a big fucking mistake.
“Loren Cage had certain provisions in his will for both of his families. And one of the many requirements that I will go over today is that this meeting must take place.” He paused and I hoped it wasn’t for effect, because I was going to throttle him if it was. “Loren Cage had two families. Seven sons with his wife Melanie, and four daughters and a son with his mistress, Constance.”
“We went by partner,” the other mother corrected.
I blinked, counting the adults in the room. “Twelve?” I asked, my voice slightly high-pitched.
“Busy fucking man,” Dorian whispered.
Hudson snorted, while we just stood and stared at each other.
This could not be happening. A secret family? No, we were not that cliché.
“I can’t do this,” Phoebe blurted, her eyes wide.
“Oh, stop overreacting,” my mother scorned.
“Do not talk to my daughter that way.” The other mother glared.
“It was always going to be an issue,” Mother continued. “All the secrets and the lies. And now the kids will have to deal with it. Because God forbid Loren ever deal with anything other than his own dick.”
“That’s enough,” I snapped.
“Don’t you dare talk to us like that,” the shrewd sister snapped right back.
“I will talk however I damn well please. I am going to need to know exactly how this happened,” I shouted over everyone else’s words.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Phoebe run through the door. Ford followed and then the tall willowy one joined.
“Shit,” I snapped.
“Language,” Mother bit out .
I laughed. “Really? You are going to talk to me about language.”
I looked over at James, who shrugged, before he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled that high-pitched whistle that only he could do.
Everyone froze as Theo rubbed his ear and glared at me.
“Winstone,” I said through gritted teeth. “I take it we all have to be here in order for this to happen?”
He cleared his throat. “At least a majority. But you all had to at least step into the room.”
“Excuse me then,” I said.
“You’re just going to leave? Just like that?” my mother asked.
I whirled on her. “I’m going to go see if my apparent family is okay. Then I’m going to come back and we’re going to get answers. Because there is no way that I’m going to leave here without them.”
I stormed out the door, and thankfully nobody followed me.
Of course, though, I shouldn’t have been too swift with that, as the woman who had to be the eldest sister practically ran to my side, her heels tapping against the marble.
“I’m coming with you.”
“That’s just fine.” I paused, knowing that I wasn’t angry at these people. No, my father and apparently our mothers were the ones that had to deal with this. I looked over at the woman who Mr. Winstone and the mothers had claimed was my sister and cleared my throat .
“I’m Aston.”
“Is this really the time for introductions?” she asked.
“I’m about to go see your sister and my brother to make sure that they’re fine, so sure. I would like to know the name of the woman that is running next to me right now.”
“I’m running, you’re walking quickly because you have such long legs.”
I snorted, surprised I could even do that.
“I’m Isabella,” she replied after a moment.
“I would say nice to meet you Isabella…” I let my voice trail off.
She let out a sharp laugh before shaking her head. “I’m going to need a moment to wrap my head around this, but not now.”
“Same.”
We stormed out of the building, and I lagged behind since Ford was standing in front of Phoebe who was in the arms of another man with dark hair and everybody seemed to be talking all at once.
“I just. I can’t deal with this right now,” Phoebe said, and I realized that something else must have been going on with her right then. She looked tired, and far more emotional than the rest of us.
I looked over at the man holding her and blinked. “Kane?” I asked.
Kane stared at me and let out a breath. “Wow,” he said with a laugh.
“We’ll handle it,” Isabella put in, completely ignoring us. “And if we need to meet again later, we will.” Then she looked over at Ford and I, with such menace in her gaze, I nearly took a step back. “Is that a problem?”
I raised my chin, glaring right back at her. “Not at all. However I want answers, so I’d rather not have the meeting canceled right now. But I’m also not going to force any of my,” I paused, realization hitting far too hard, “ family to stay if they don’t want to.”
And with that, I turned on my heel and went back into the building, with Isabella and Ford following me. Everyone was still yelling in the interim, and I cleared my throat. As Isabella had done it at the same time, everyone paused to look at me.
“Read the damn will. Because we need answers,” I ordered Winstone, and he shook like a leaf before nodding.
“Okay. We can do that.” He cleared his throat, then he began going over trusts and incomes and buildings and things that I would care about soon, but what I wanted to know was what the hell our father had been thinking about.
“Here’s the tricky part,” Winstone began, as we all leaned forward, eager to hear what the hell he had to say.
“The family money, not of the business, not of each of your inheritance from other family members, but the bulk of Loren Cage’s assets will be split between all twelve kids.”
“Are you kidding me?” Isabella asked. “What money? We weren’t exactly poor, but we were solidly middle class.”
“We did just fine,” the other mother pleaded .
My mother snorted, clearly not believing the words.
I glared at the woman who raised me, willing her to say anything . She would probably be pushed out of the window at that point. Not by me, by someone else, but she probably would’ve earned it.
The lawyer continued. “However to retain the majority of current assets and to keep Cage Lake and all of its subsidiaries you will have to meet as a family once a month for three years. If this does not happen, Cage Enterprises will be broken into multiple parts and sold.” He went on into the legalese that I ignored as I tried to hear over the blood pounding in my ears.
“You own a town?” the other man asked.
I looked over at the one man in the room I didn’t know the name of. “Not exactly.”
“Kyler,” Isabella whispered.
In that moment, I realized that I had a brother named Kyler—if this was all to be believed.
“This can’t be legal right?” the tall willowy person said.
“Yes Sophia, it can,” their mother put in.
Oh good, another sister named Sophia.
Only one name to go. What the hell was wrong with me?
I forced my jaw to relax. “Are you telling us that we need to have all twelve of us at dinner once a month for three years in order to keep what is rightly inherited to us? To keep people in business and keep their jobs?”
“We don’t need the money, but everyone else in our employ does,” James snapped. “As do those we work with. ”
“Damn straight,” Dorian growled.
“How are we supposed to believe this?” I asked, asking the obvious question.
“First, only five must attend, and two must be of a different family.” The lawyer continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Of course you are all family…”
“Again, how are we supposed to believe this?” I asked.
“Here are the DNA tests already done.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Isabella asked.
I looked at her, as she had literally taken the words out of my mouth.
“Isn’t that sort of like a violation?” Kyler asked, his face pale.
“We need to get our own lawyers on this,” James whispered.
I nodded tightly, knowing we had much more to say on this.
“There’s no way this is legal,” the youngest said, and I looked over at her.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Emily. Emily Cage Dixon,” she said softly, and we all froze.
“Your middle name is Cage?” I asked, biting out the words.
“All of our middle names are Cage,” Sophia said, shaking her head. “I hated it but Dad wanted to be cute because our father’s name was Cage Dixon, or maybe it wasn’t. Is he also a bigamist?” she asked.
Her mother lifted her chin. “We never married. And no, your father’s name was not Dixon, that was my maiden name.”
“What?” Sophia asked. “All this time…are our grandparents even dead?”
“Yes, my parents are dead. The same with Loren’s.” The other mother’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry we lied.”
“We’ll get to that later,” Isabella put in, and I was grateful.
I let out a breath. “In order to keep our assets, in order to keep the family name intact, we need to have dinner . For three years.”
The small lawyer nodded, his glasses falling down his nose. “At least five of you. And it can start three months after the funeral, which we can plan after this.”
“This is ridiculous,” Hudson murmured under his breath, before he got up and walked out.
I watched him go, knowing he had his own demons, and tried to understand what the hell was going on. “Why did he do this?” I asked, more to myself than anyone else.
“I never really knew the man, but apparently none of us did,” Isabella said, staring off into the distance.
“Leave the paperwork and go,” I ordered Winstone, and he didn’t even mutter a peep. Instead, he practically ran out of the room. James and Flynn immediately went to the paperwork, and I knew they were scouring it. But from the way that their jaws tightened, I had a feeling that my father had found a way to make this legal. Because we would always have a choice to lose everything. That was the man .
“It’s true,” my mother put in. “You all share the same father. That was the deal when we got married, and when he decided to bring this other woman into our lives.”
“I’m pretty sure you were the other woman,” the other mom said.
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Stop. All of you.” I stared at the group and realized that I was probably the eldest Cage here, other than the moms. I would deal with this. We didn’t have a choice. “Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it.”
“You’re in charge now?” Isabella asked, but Sophia shushed her.
I was grateful for that, because I had a feeling Isabella and I were going to butt heads more often than not.
I shrugged, trying to act as if my world hadn’t been rocked. “I would say welcome to the Cages, because DNA evidence seems to point that way, however perhaps you were already one of us all along.”
Kyler muttered something under his breath I couldn’t hear before speaking up. “You have my eyes,” he said.
I nodded. “Noticed that too.”
The other man tilted his head. “So what, we do dinners and we make nice?”
I sighed. “We don’t have to be adversaries.”
“You say that as if you’re the one in charge,” Isabella said again.
“Because he is,” Theo said, and they all stared at him.
I tried to tamp down the pride swelling at those words—along with the overwhelming pressure.
Theo continued. “He’s the eldest. He’s the one that takes care of us. And he’s the CEO of Cage Enterprises. He’s going to be the one that deals with the paperwork fallout.”
“Because family is just paperwork?” Emily asked, her voice lost.
I shook my head. “No, family is insane, and apparently, it’s been secret all along. And it looks like we have a few introductions to make, and a few tests to redo. But if it turns out it’s true, we’re Cages, and we don’t back down.”
“And what does that mean?” Isabella asked, her tone far too careful.
Theo was the one who finally answered. “It means we’re going to have to figure shit out.”
And for just an instant, the thought of that beautiful woman with that gorgeous smile came to mind, and I pushed those thoughts away. My family was breaking, or perhaps breaking open. And I didn’t have time to worry about things like a woman who had made me smile.
The Cages needed me and after today’s meeting there would be no going back to sanity.
Ever.