Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
COLSON
Troy sat at the head of the conference room table on the executive floor of the Daltons’ law firm, his hands clasped over several files, and Jenner was next to him. My entire family was spread around the rest of the oversize oval, minus Beck, who was on a stretch of away games.
Troy gave Jenner a brief look before he said, “We believe we have a case.”
“Thank fucking God,” I groaned.
Since the Gordons’ PR stunt several days ago, things had been fucking brutal.
Eden, who considered herself a realist rather than having an unwavering positive attitude, became more convinced by the hour that we wouldn’t be able to turn things around.
Beck’s contribution was a slew of fuuucks in the family group chat.
Hart was working the media angle and trying to stay optimistic.
Since we were in limbo with our legal team, deciding whether this was worth pursuing, Hart participated in multiple interviews.
He didn’t call the Gordons liars. He wasn’t about to make anything worse.
But he was responding to comments and attempting to calm the storm.
Walker, the most negative of the group—and we loved him for that—was drinking his face off, just as we’d anticipated.
I was somewhere halfway between Eden and Walker, keeping a bottle of vodka close by while overseeing Hart’s efforts to make sure his public stance was in line with what Troy and Jenner had suggested.
The last thing I needed was for him to go rogue during a live broadcast. I’d just done that with a flask hidden in my pocket.
And every time I thought of her, every time her name was mentioned, every time I thought I saw her, my brain fucking with me, I took a sip.
“There’s a chance the judge will toss out the case,” Troy admitted, his blue eyes gazing across the room to hit each of us. “I don’t know if you’re going to be awarded the millions we’re going to sue them for, but I’m telling you right now, we’re going to fight like hell.”
“The second we file, there’s going to be another media shitstorm.
” Jenner held the base of his tie and turned his neck to the left and right.
“When that happens, I don’t want you discussing anything with the public.
Let Troy and me do all the talking for you.
” He focused on Hart. “I know you’ve been the spokesman so far, but I recommend discontinuing those efforts until after we go to court. ”
“So, you’re saying I should cancel the upcoming interview that I have scheduled?” Hart asked from the seat next to mine.
“If we decide to sue, yes, immediately,” Troy answered.
“And if we do that, how do you suggest we respond to the accusations?” Eden inquired. “The ones that come in through email or DMs from our social media accounts?” She sat on the other side of me, putting her at the head of the table, across from Troy.
“You don’t,” Jenner said. “We essentially want you to ignore everything.”
“That’s”—Eden exhaled—“scary.”
Walker’s chair swung back and forth while he ran his hand over his whiskers.
Days’ worth of unshaved growth had accumulated below his chin, making his face and neck one long, unruly beard.
“Will you explain something to me?” He was glaring at Troy.
“There was an NDA on the Horned deal. How in the hell are the Gordons allowed to disclose the numbers and the negotiation that took place?”
Stats that had unfortunately hit the internet, adding more fuel to an already-blazing fire.
“The NDA you signed was with the previous owner,” Troy said to him. “The Gordons didn’t have one.”
“But how do they know the details,” Walker pressed, “when the only people privy to those numbers are the ones in this room and the previous owner?”
“The previous owner or her attorney must have told the Gordons—that’s the only conclusion I can draw,” Troy replied. “Which means they broke their NDA, but we’ll never be able to prove that. There are too many loopholes.”
I reached for my collar. The top of my polo was already unbuttoned even though it felt like it was strangling me. “I wonder just how much she was paid for that information.”
“Those assholes,” Walker muttered.
The room went quiet until Eden voiced, “What if we lose?” She had her glasses on today, thick black frames that sat high on her nose. “What if our efforts are for nothing and we end up making fools of ourselves? We already look bad, Troy. We don’t want to look worse.”
“That’s always a risk whenever someone files suit.” Troy stared at her, rubbing his lips together. “But I have a good feeling about this. Regardless of being public companies, your competition made a verbal play to ruin your reputation. We just need the judge to see it that way.”
I leaned back in my seat, the beating of my heart making me rock the frame. “What if we say fuck it and just buy them out?”
That was a conversation Eden and I’d had yesterday.
An idea she had come up with during this fucking nightmare.
One that we only discussed between us. We hadn’t presented it to the rest of the family.
We wanted to have this meeting first. But now that we were here, I was curious what Troy’s and Jenner’s stance would be.
“That’s a whole different conversation.” Jenner flattened his hand against the table. “Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know if I want to destroy every single one of them”—the emphasis on that specific word told Troy I wasn’t just speaking about the Gordons because they didn’t act solely on this; they had influence and mentoring from Sophie—“or if I want to put our name on every one of their properties. Both entice me equally.”
“You do realize how many restaurants that would be?” Walker’s movements stilled as he gawked at me. “We’re already at fucking capacity, Colson.”
“We could handle it,” Hart offered.
“Only if we doubled our support staff,” Walker countered. “We’d need a whole new corporate office to handle the number of employees we’d have to hire.”
“We could take over their staff,” I recommended.
“You mean a group of people who hate us?” Walker’s back shot up straight. “How exactly do you plan on winning them over? Paying them double?” He laughed. “I’m all for suing. A takeover? I’m not sure I would survive that. And I question whether any of us would either.”
Walker was only one vote. With an odd number of siblings, there was never a tie.
But even without Beck here, I already knew whose side he would be on. His answer was growth and expansion by any means necessary.
“If a buyout is the winning direction, Jenner and I won’t file the paperwork. I just need you to tell me what you want.” Troy’s face didn’t reveal which idea he thought was best.
“I don’t think we know what we want.” Eden’s voice was so soft. “Some of us are hurt. Some feel destroyed. Some want revenge.”
Troy nodded. “Understandable.” He quickly glanced at Jenner before he continued, “Why don’t you take a couple of days and think about it as a family?
When you come to a decision, you can get back to me.
If suing becomes the ultimate plan, we have plenty of time.
We don’t have to file the paperwork immediately. ”
I leaned forward, stretching my arms onto the table.
“Let me ask you this … what if we want to do both?” I could feel Eden’s eyes on me, and I nodded at her as I turned my concentration to Troy.
“If we sue and we win and the public finds out what the Gordons did to us, it’s going to hurt their revenue the same way it just slashed ours.
So, that’s when we sweep in and make an offer.
I don’t think any of us are interested in their actual restaurants.
We want the equipment and the real estate and possibly their employees. ”
“I like this idea.” Eden was facing me, smiling. “But their profit has to sustain a dip—that’s what will put us at an advantage. If it lowers and rises again, that won’t help us.”
“That’s where a PR team comes in.” Hart was reclined in his chair, the change in conversation pleasing him.
I could tell by his relaxed posture and the way he was grinning.
“Our publicist is excellent. But for a project like this, we’re going to need someone ruthless, vindictive.
Who can think of things no one has ever thought of.
Once that person’s on our payroll, we’ll be able to achieve exactly what we want. ”
Eden looked at me again, and I immediately knew what she was thinking.
The person Hart had described already existed. We just had to convince them to come on board.
Walker’s head fell back, and he moaned. “I think you’re all fucking high to even consider this.”
“Walker, expansion has always been the plan,” I told him. “We were in the midst of doing that with Horned before this bullshit with the Gordons exploded.”
He lifted his head. “Did you ever think all this bullshit is the universe’s way of telling us we need to slow down?”
“No,” Hart, Eden, and I said in unison.
The room turned quiet, all eyes on Troy and Jenner.
“Again, why don’t you take some time and really think this through?” Troy suggested. “Like I said, there’s no rush. We could file suit now, in a week, or even in months.”
Troy was right. This wasn’t the place to argue. We needed to meet as a family and hash this out.
“Does that mean we’re done here?” Walker asked. “Or do you have more you’d like to throw on me?” He was eyeing me.
“I think we’re good.” I smiled.
As my siblings began to stand, Troy said to me, “Did you drive separately?”
I responded, “Yes.”
“Do you mind hanging back for a second?”
I turned to my family. “I’ll see you back at the office.”
Hart and Eden, who had driven together, nodded.
Walker voiced, “You know that’s the last place I’m going.”
“I’ll be in touch,” I told him.
As I swiveled back to Troy, I watched his eyes move in Eden’s direction, following her as she walked toward him and out the door.
There was something in his gaze that told me he liked what he saw.
I didn’t know if this was new or if I just hadn’t noticed before.
Not that it mattered. Eden lacked all interest in dating, so Troy didn’t have a chance.
Jenner laughed as he got up from the table. “Dude, you’ve got to make yourself a little less obvious.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Troy immediately asked him.
“Come on, man. You couldn’t take your eyes off my sister.”
Troy’s head whipped from Jenner to me. “It’s not like that.”
“No?” Jenner pushed, grinning. “How is it, then?”
“Yeah, how is it, then?” I asked.
“Jesus Christ,” Troy groaned. “I’m not going after your sister.” He pointed at Jenner. “I’ll stop by your office in a little bit. Now, get out of here.”
Jenner continued to laugh as he headed for the door. “I’ll talk to you later, Colson,” he said, and he left the room.
“So”—I began to rock the chair again—“is this about Eden? Is that why you wanted me to stay?”
He huffed, holding the back of his neck. “No.”
“Should it be?”
He stared at me silently for several seconds. “No.”
My gut told me there was more he wanted to say but was holding off. I wouldn’t dig it out of him. Time would unravel whatever I needed to know or see.
“All right. Then what do you want to talk about?”
He cleared his throat. “I wanted to ask you about Lauderdale. I haven’t had a chance to catch up with Hayden and ask him. Did you get a boat while you were there?”
“I did. It’s funny, I was dead set on the third yacht I toured.
I was positive it was everything I wanted.
But Hayden kept mentioning a different boat, one that hadn’t quite hit the market, and he asked me to extend my trip to see it.
It ended up being perfect for me.” I exhaled loudly.
“She’s a beauty. I’ll have to take you for a ride. ”
“I’d like that.” He locked his fingers on top of the table. “As for Hayden, he’s good at knowing what his clients don’t realize they want or need.”
“He sure is.” I ran my thumb over my lips. “I appreciate you connecting us. He was great. The whole experience—I really enjoyed it.” My heart began to pound, and I was tempted to reach for my flask. “Well, most of it, I should say. Parts of it certainly had its hiccups.”
“You mean with Hayden?”
“I mean Fort Lauderdale in general.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “I think what you’re saying is that you didn’t expect Sophie to be there.”
I filled my lungs. “Exactly.” My head dropped. “Shit went south. Real fast.”
“That’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about.”
I pushed myself away from the table and stood.
This was where I tapped out. Troy was family to her.
I wasn’t getting into it with him, the same way I wouldn’t talk to Hayden about her.
I respected the two of them and how they had her back, and that was why I wouldn’t drag them into this.
This was my battle, not theirs, and I didn’t need anyone solving it.
“Listen, man, I know you want to discuss her, and that’s honorable. But I’m not going to talk about Sophie, the same way you’re not going to talk to me about Eden.”
I watched his chest slowly rise, and an emotion flickered through his stare. One I didn’t recognize and one I couldn’t come close to comprehending.
“I get that. I just—”
“I’ll see you later, Troy,” I said, and I walked out.