37. Hunter
Hunter
O ur request for an urgent conference call was accepted without question, and Ash and I are sitting next to each other in front of the kit Mace has set up.
We don’t normally use a video link when talking to Alice.
We prefer not to speak to her at all, if possible, but on this occasion, I’m looking forward to seeing the expression on her face.
We’re each nursing a whiskey, and the amber fire-water warms my insides almost as much as the sight of Maddie as she returns from the bathroom.
She’s wearing a shirt and skirt borrowed from one of our flight attendants, but she’s paired it with a woven scarf to make it look less like a uniform.
Her hair is tied back in a French twist, and the make-up she’s acquired leaves her face radiant – or else it’s the afterglow from us breaking Barrett’s table.
I still have an overriding need to protect her, but I have to recognize that she’s not completely defenseless. This woman is formidable, and I should have more faith in her.
“It’s time,” Mace says from the seat behind us. He’s sitting with Reid, who’s watching the missed calls light up on Ray’s cell phone. Ray’s currently in one of the SUVs outside with Jake. He might need our protection. His boss is getting pissy.
“Are you ready?” I ask Maddie as she accepts a drink from Reid.
“Just let me get to my seat.”
Like the other two, she’s going to be sitting out of sight, but Mace has set up a screen so they can watch the action. And my wife is very much part of this meeting. I’m not taking Maddie’s voice away, not ever again. I doubt she’d let me.
Mace chuckles. “Mommy’s waiting.”
Ash raises his glass so those in the back seats can see. “Cheers, everyone.”
Ash and I clink glasses, and we’re smiling as Mace connects the call.
“Hello, Alice,” Ash says as she fills the screen in front of us.
She’s seated behind a mahogany desk. The Emerson’s Chicago home is furnished just as opulently as any of their others, and the matriarch looks as fresh as always despite the late hour.
At sixty, she’s still beautiful by anyone’s standard.
Her complexion is flawless and her deep brown hair shows no sign of grey.
Life has been good to Alice Emerson. She expects nothing less.
“I wish you’d call me mother. We are in private, Asher.”
There’s a splutter and a cough that can only belong to Maddie as she chokes on her whiskey.
I should have told her, but admitting how the Griffin’s bloodline is intermingled with the Emerson’s is something that has meant less and less to us over the years.
My mother, on the other hand, seems to be craving what she gave away.
“Alice, you trained us from an early age not to use that term of endearment,” Ash reminds her. “Forgetting you’re in any way related to us has become second nature.”
Alice’s abandonment of her three young sons has been her dirty secret for the last twenty-eight years. On the rare occasion she allowed us near her, she never acknowledged our relationship, even in front of her staff.
I lean forward. “We don’t think of you that way. We haven’t for a long time. Give it up.”
“Just like you gave us up,” Mace adds.
Alice’s eyes narrow. “Hello, Mason. Aren’t you going to show your face and talk to me?
” she asks. She’s softened her tone, but it would be a mistake to think it’s born from gentleness.
Of the three of us, her bond with Mace is the weakest, and she’s goading him to get a reaction.
Mace had been a baby when she left, and by the time he learned to talk, Alice wasn’t even a memory he could latch onto.
He doesn’t take the bait. Our brother stays in the shadows where he’s most comfortable.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Ash says impatiently.
Alice sets back her shoulders. “Fine. I wanted to speak to the three of you because I think it’s time we joined efforts instead of–”
“Sorry to interrupt,” says Ash. “But you seem to be under the misapprehension that we’re here to listen to you. We called this meeting, and I hate to break it to you, but your favorite child is in a shit load of trouble.”
Alice’s eye twitches. “What do you mean? What have you done to Barrett?” she asks, making all the expected assumptions. Her youngest was spawned from her second, more lucrative marriage. And if there’s trouble, she assumes we’re the cause.
My neck cords. “We haven’t done anything to him, yet,” I say. “Do you know where he is? ”
Alice picks up her cell phone and checks for messages. “He should be in New York. I had hoped to bring him into the meeting, but that wasn’t possible when you switched the location to Chicago. He has important matters to attend to that couldn’t wait.” She looks up. “Why? Where are you?”
“Do you know what was so urgent?” asks Ash, ignoring her question.
From the tilt of my brother’s eyebrows, Alice can tell he knows something she doesn’t. “No. Should I?” she asks. The clipped, impersonal tone she assumes is one we’re all familiar with.
“Barrett was waiting for a delivery,” I explain. I sip my whiskey to loosen my clenched jaw. “That delivery was my wife.”
Alice blinks twice. “The Corbyn girl?”
My mother can be as conniving and two-faced as her son, but her surprise is genuine. Ray was telling the truth. Barrett hadn’t included our mother in his plans.
“What on earth does she want from my son?” she asks.
There’s movement directly behind me, and Maddie’s face appears on screen as she leans over my seat.
“I didn’t want anything from that slimy toad!
” she says. “He ordered Ray Forsyth to take me against my will, and sent your private jet to pick me up. Apparently, he’s under the impression our previous agreement should still be honored.
I’d suggest Barrett looks up the definition of honor .
Sleeping with a hooker and gloating about destroying my company just before our wedding day didn’t look very honorable to me. ”
“Maddison–” Alice begins.
“My name’s Maddie, or you can call me Mrs. Hunter Griffin,” she says. “But hey, given I’m married to one of your sons, do I get to call you mother now? ”
Alice ignores the sniggering from Mace. “Asher, I don’t know what kind of game this girl is playing, but I can assure you that my son wouldn’t stoop so low as to invite her back into his life.”
“Watch your mouth when you talk about my wife,” I warn. “In fact, why don’t you keep it closed and listen for a while.”
A second later, the mute icon appears on Alice’s video feed as Mace silences her for the next stage of our plan. Behind me, Reid’s hand appears as he passes Ray’s cell to Maddie. Now we just need Barrett to play his part.
We hear a ringing tone as Maddie puts the call on speaker.
“What the fuck is going on, Ray! You were supposed to call me an hour ago!”
Maddie’s body stiffens and her expression twists with the fear she needs Barrett to believe is real. It might be an act, but I still reach over my shoulder to take her hand.
Her voice quakes when she says, “Barrett? What– What’s happening? Ray dragged me from my house. He tied me up… I’m scared.”
There’s a hiss down the line, a mixture of relief and annoyance. “It’s your lucky day, Maddison. I’m taking you back.”
On the silent screen, Alice’s body jerks. Her mouth is moving, and I can read her lips just enough to know she’s trying to warn Barrett that it’s a trap.
“Just do as Ray says,” Barrett tells Maddie. He sniggers. “You’ll be delivered to my bed in no time at all.”
Maddie’s grip tightens around my hand – for my reassurance, not hers. She knows I’m about to lose it.
“I don’t understand…” she says. “What about Hunter? ”
Alice is tapping on her cell phone. She’ll be messaging Barrett, but the damage is done.
“That man’s name is never to cross your lips again,” Barrett barks at her.
“He doesn’t want you. He never did. Debasing you was just his way of getting to me.
You’ll have to face the consequences of your actions, but if you’re a good girl, I might forgive you once your divorce is finalized.
Or I might let my friends play with you.
I haven’t decided yet. But just to be clear, you’re mine now. ”
“The fuck she is,” I growl.
There’s complete silence on the other end of the line as Maddie passes the cell to me.
My chest rises steeply as the world turns red. “Please, tell me again what you’re planning to do to my wife, Barrett.” I snarl. “And then, if I were you, I’d run and hide.”
“Is this some kind of trick?” Barrett asks. He’s attempting to regain his composure, but I hear the catch of his tongue against the roof of his dry mouth.
The mute icon disappears from Alice’s video link. “Barrett, do not say another word!”
“What the hell?”
“Not another word! Put down your phone. Now! I’ll talk to you later.”
“I look forward to seeing you again, Barrett,’ I say just before he cuts the line.
Maddie circles our seats so she’s in front of me.
She squeezes behind the table and sits on my lap.
I wrap my arms around her waist and with one look from my wife, she grounds me.
We don’t share any words in front of Alice.
We don’t need to. She’s mine. I’m hers. And I’ll kill any man who dares touch her.
“Everything’s been recorded,” Ash tells Alice. “We can send you a copy if you’d like? ”
“You’ve set him up…” Alice tries, but her voice, like her defense, is weak.
“The way I see it,” Ash replies. “Barrett’s just confirmed he issued the instruction to take Maddie against her will, and I’m sure the FBI would love to investigate it further.
And I hope you have a good explanation for why you tricked Maddie’s husband into leaving the state with his brothers so one of your board members could abduct her. ”
Alice’s cell phone lights up in her hand, but she ignores it. “What do you want, Asher?”
“I want Barrett’s balls on a plate,” I say.
Ash turns to me, then looks to Maddie.
“You’re the injured party, Maddie,” Ash says. “What do you want to happen?”
The way my older brother is respecting her, treating her like one of the family, helps tamp down my anger – for now.
“For a start, I don’t want any dealings with the Emersons ever again,” she answers, looking to the screen and talking directly to Alice.
“Given that we’re family, I have a feeling that’s going to be difficult, but it might help if any potential flash points are removed.
A fight with Barrett could get nasty judging by how angry my husband is right now.
” She rests her head against mine. “So if you want me to put all my energy into keeping him occupied, I’d rather not have to deal with local disputes in Brimstage. ”
“We’ll sell you the land in question. We can have the deeds transferred to Griffin Corps by the end of day tomorrow,” Alice spits out.
“You expect us to buy it?” asks Ash.
Alice’s hands fly up. “Take the land for pity’s sake,” she says, exasperated. “But it’s on the understanding that any recordings are destroyed, and you sign an NDA. ”
“No NDA,” I snap. “You don’t silence my wife. You take her word, and ours. That’s the only offer on the table.”
Alice’s eyes flick to her cell phone and whatever messages Barrett’s sending.
It’s possible our mother’s loyalties are conflicted, but in truth, Alice is only loyal to herself.
When she left us, it was straight into the arms of a man who had a privileged enough background to enable her to take my dad’s ideas and claim them as her own.
Alice had the killer instinct my father lacked when it came to business.
Where Dad’s inventiveness benefited entire communities, Alice used the knowledge she harvested to exploit workers and build empires.
She forsook motherhood and the simple life Dad offered for the hollow comfort of wealth.
She doesn’t look comfortable now.
“Your lawyers will have the paperwork tomorrow,” she says. “But I would still like to see you all–”
Her feed disappears.
“Oops,” says Mace.
Maddie relaxes into me. “Your mother? Seriously?” she asks, her voice loud enough to address all of us.
“Don’t look at me,” Reid says, joining us with Mace. “Not my mom.”
“It explains a lot,” Maddie says, slipping her hand beneath my suit jacket and placing it on my heart. “You should have told me.”
I shrug, playing it cool even though what I’m about to say is as shocking for me to think, as it will be for my brothers to hear. “Maybe I didn’t want you to worry about what personality traits our kids might inherit one day.”
Ash takes a swallow of whiskey, but it’s Maddie’s reaction I’m interested in. She doesn’t look fazed by the prospect.
“That’s something we can work towards,” she says. “ Once you’ve taught me your business inside and out. I want to be part of your world, Hunter. No more hiding important nuggets of information like the fact that…” She blanches. “Barrett is your half-brother.”
“That’s not even the worst of our secrets,” Mace says with more than a hint of mischief.
“I don’t think you fully appreciate what you’re getting into with us, Maddie” Ash adds. “But I do know we’re taking on more than we bargained for with you.” He raises his glass to her. “Here’s to interesting times.”
Maddie searches my face. “After today, I’m beginning to see why you thought life in Brimstage was slow.”
“And we can take it slow for a while longer,” I promise.
Her smile is warm, but ever so slightly wicked. “I like the sound of that, Hunter. Let’s go home and break some more tables.”
“Which home?”
“I don’t care,” she says. “It’s wherever you are.”