28. Twenty-eight
“Where’s your head been? I can”t believe what you just let slide in the meeting. How dare you not talk them down from walking away when you had the chance,” Hayes growls at me.
Things have been strained between us since the gala last weekend. It’s been a tense week of work, more so than normal with the big grumpy baby holding a grudge against me for upsetting Paige at the gala she worked so hard to plan and put on. It was as much his fault as mine, and I’m not helping matters with my own feelings toward him for what he did to Harlowe.
I’ll never get that instant defensive posturing she took and the outrage that entered her tone when she saw him out of my head. Knowing what put her on the defensive in the first place is enough to make me crack a molar from the strain of grinding my teeth not to deck him every time I think of it now.
I turn to glare at Hayes as we leave the conference room we have spent the better part of the day in. We’re negotiating the purchase of another manufacturing company to replace the Rosenthall deal we lost due to the cyber attack. The Pegasus engines will never get off the ground if we don”t increase our capabilities in this industry, and our timeline is extra tight.
“I’m playing the long game, Hater. They’ll come around in the next meeting. Kanisarek needs a bailout, and we’re the only option with deep enough pockets to make a worthwhile offer.”
“So why did they dismiss ours and end negotiations just now? We need this, Zander.”
“Just trust me. They want this deal as much as we do. They will come crawling back to us accepting the offer in a few days. We won’t have to capitulate or sweeten the deal any more than we have, and we’ll be able to make any demands we want.”
I turn to meet Hayes’s angry green gaze, like his eyes have Hulk rage, and I stifle a laugh at his expression. I learned all about Hendricks’s favorite Marvel characters while we built tracks and now I’m thinking in those terms at work. Is that how fatherhood works? I play with my kid one time and now I’m changed forever? I think I’m good with that.
“What’s so fucking funny?” he snarls as we enter the executive boardroom to reconvene with our team and run a quick analysis.
“Your fucking face is funny.”
“Get serious, Zander.” The big grump takes a seat at the table, continuing to glare at me.
I sit across from him and smile, because I know it’ll drive him crazy. I finally look away and address the assembled team. “Listen up. The clock is ticking on Kanisarek. They will be reopening negotiations tomorrow, or within forty-eight hours, max. We need to have everything ready to go for a much quicker timeline than anticipated, because we’re going to demand a shorter close time since they walked away. I want Pegasus ready to go as soon as we have Kanisarek under our umbrella. Any questions?”
“You’re that confident they’ll change their tune?” Luca asks, his tone cool, matching his icy stare. That motherfucker has sociopath vibes, but Payton vouches for him being semi-normal, so there’s nothing I can do but deal with his penchant for cold affectation.
“That question doesn’t warrant an answer, given what I’ve just said. Anyone else?” I look around and catch Payton’s appraising look. I nod my head in his direction.
“I’ll have the team start working on the press releases and get legal rewriting the contract.”
“Finally, someone who is thinking proactively. Good. You all know what to do. Make it happen and don”t be surprised if they reach out even sooner than expected. They’re salivating for this deal, no matter what they said today.”
When the teams have broken off and everyone but my brothers and the executive team has left, I rap my knuckles on the conference table, waiting for one of them to challenge me. It doesn’t take long.
“You’re insane if you think Kanisarek is coming back and will be looking for anything less than what they originally asked for,” Hayes growls, flattening his hands on the table and standing. “You shouldn’t have let them walk out today.”
“No, you”re just shortsighted and focused on the pretense. They don’t want to let us go, but they think walking away will make us up our offer, which we made sure is over market value. They’re playing on our recent misfortunes and hoping we’re licking our wounds enough over the cyber attack to make concessions we otherwise wouldn’t. They miscalculated. I have no intention of upping anything and I won’t have my hand forced.”
“Sometimes we have to work through a deal. We do it all the time. What makes you think this one will be any different?” Diego asks from Haye’s left. His normally perfectly styled dark hair is a bit out of place from running his hands through it when he got stressed during our negotiations, and his navy suit is looking rumpled. Our entire team is feeling the strain of rushing to get this deal in place before our schematics and plans end up hitting the market before we can make it happen ourselves.
“Kanisarek has been in a steady decline for the last two years, taking in less profits and bleeding out in quality issues. They have a solid manufacturing stream, but they keep trying to diversify into areas that haven’t suited their structure and abilities, like electronics. They’re frustrated and ready for someone to come in and take over, removing the temptation to try another new thing that fails. They’ve separated those areas in this deal, but we’ll still get what we want in the end.” This explanation isn”t new. We’ve all read the same documents, but sometimes it takes pointing out the obvious for the group to see that the simplest answer is often the only one you need to pay attention to.
“Fine, we’ll trust your hunch on this,” Hayes says, pushing away from the table and grabbing his jacket from his chair. “I have a pregnant wife to get home to, and even in her emotional state, she’s far more interesting than you fuckers.”
“Speaking of kids,” Payton says, halting Hayes with an outstretched hand and turning to me. “What do we know about the potential little Maldives souvenir? It was interesting seeing you and Harlowe together at the gala this past weekend, but no news on the paternity front.”
I lean back in my chair and face my brothers. I take a deep breath, and when I blow it out, I feel a smile turning up the corners of my mouth. “He’s all mine.” The statement is far weightier than the words would seem. I’m claiming Hendricks, fatherhood, and everything that comes with it. For once, that doesn’t scare me. It makes me fucking proud. Over the moon.
Payton lets out a low whistle and Hayes tilts his head, reading me more effectively than I’d like him to. Payton strides around the table, a grin on his face as he throws an arm around my shoulders. “Congratulations, I guess? Do you want to make sure, or are you as confident in this as you are about the Kanisarek deal?”
“He looks just like me. And he’s obsessed with Legos,” I answer confidently, taking the hug and beaming.
“Lots of kids like Legos, that doesn”t mean he’s yours,” Javi says in a practical tone that has me shooting daggers his way. He’s supposed to be on my side, not working against me.
“I was obsessed with Legos and building cities. I played with him last week. It was uncanny. He even thinks it out and plans the way I do. That’s not normal for a four-year-old I didn’t have a hand in raising. It’s nature versus nurture type shit.”
“No, I’m with Javi on this. It could be a total coincidence that you liked to play with the same toys as a kid. I’m going to need more than that to believe it,” Hayes says, shrugging into his jacket. “Get a damn paternity test already and either make it official in a way that only DNA can, or know for sure you don”t owe them anything.”
I sink back deeper into my chair, hating that my brother can’t see what I have. Meeting Hendricks in person, talking with him, playing with him, watching him with Harlowe and Lily—it set something in me on fire. I now have a purpose beyond myself, beyond my own aspirations and professional achievements. I have a person who will look up to me, expect me to set a proper example and be there for him when life is anything but easy. I know without a doubt that he is mine. I know Hayes just wants me to be sure that the little boy with soft brown curls and stormy gray eyes that mirror mine is truly my progeny in case something goes horribly wrong between me and Harlowe.
“No,” I say simply. “There’s no need. That kid is mine, Legos or not. It’s not even about money or owing them anything. I could never force a test on them.” I don’t even want to ask Harlowe about it. I trust that the defensiveness she has shown in keeping me from Hendricks is as much of an admission as any test. She wouldn’t be worried about me getting close to the boy if I had no connection to him.
“You actually can force this. It’s not hard to loop in legal,” Luca says, straightening his already perfect tie and rising from the conference table. “Hiring someone to dig into her past would be just as simple. Make sure you have enough dirt for a case should this go wrong and you end up fighting for custody.”
“Damn, that’s dark, even for you, American Psycho,” Javi says, calling Luca the name we reserve for when he’s being his most calculating and cruel.
I bristle and lean toward Luca, leveling him with a glare. “Watch your fucking mouth. That’s the mother of my child you’re talking about. Stay the fuck away from her.”
“Everyone is thinking the same thing, you’re all just too chicken shit to say it out loud,” Luca responds as he leaves the conference room, looking as unruffled as his cool tone implies.
Payton shoots me an apologetic look before following after his SVP. “We have filters that keep intrusive thoughts like that safely inside our heads. We’ve talked about this,” Payton says, ready to discuss what is appropriate in the workplace and what needs to be kept to himself.
“And that’s a great reminder to never get on Luca’s bad side,” Javi says, shaking his head and standing.
“I feel sorry for whatever woman finally tries to settle down with him. He’ll have a file a foot thick on her before she’s even agreed to their first date,” Diego adds.
I shake my head, letting go of the rage that filled me a moment before. He’s not worth the effort. “He’ll probably find someone with as icy a demeanor and even weirder kinks. I bet he’s into electrostimulation or wax play. He needs heat to thaw that iceberg of a personality,” I add, because it’s way more fun to discuss someone else’s issues than have mine be the focus of the conversation.
Hayes pauses in the doorway. “Get the paternity test, Zand. Just to be sure.”
“He’s mine, so shut the fuck up about it, Hater.” Now I’ll just have to figure out how to convince my brothers to believe it as much as I do. Fuck.