Page 6 of Incoming Layne Shift
The banking rep, who sounded like someone’s sweet little grandmother who baked cookies every morning, took Liam’s personal information. After several long moments, she responded with an apologetic voice. “I’m sorry, Mr. O’Reilly, but you don’t have access to that account.”
Liam gave a huff. “Someone over there obviously made a big fuckin’ mistake.”
Layne leaned forward and interrupted Liam before he went on a tirade stating how important he thought he was. “I’m sorry, I know you said my brother doesn’t have any authority on the account, but could you check to see if I do?”
“Of course, I will just need your name and a few other pieces of information to check.” The lady seemed pleased to be dealing with someone who wasn’t ready to berate her for doing her job.
After taking all of Layne’s information, it didn’t take long for her to check it against the account. Layne’s green hues never left Liam’s face while they waited.
“Ms. O’Reilly, yes, I see here you are the sole authority listed on the account. Is there a transaction you would like to make today that I can help you with?” Now, wasn’t that funny? Liam had zero control over the accounts their father had left behind.
As much as Layne wanted to flash a snarky grin at Liam, she refrained since she was trying to handle this situation with as much grace as humanly possible. “No, that’s all. Thank you so much for all your help.” Her finger tapped the phone screen to end the call.
Liam’s face was riddled with confusion. “What the hell? Why didn’t you tell her to put me on the account instead?!” He pushed away from the desk and began to pace as his irritability increased.
Her eyes tracked each step he made knowing that this was about to go from bad to worse. “Li, it’s not just the account.”
He paused and looked over at her, his jaw hanging open slightly. “What the fuck do you mean it’s not just the account?”
She handed the blue envelope over to him containing everything he needed to know. It held everything she found out months ago and had opted to keep close to her chest until things settled with the business. Going from being on the verge of collapse to freshly stabilized, Layne hadn’t wished to shake up the mix too soon.
Angrily, he yanked it from her hand and pulled the contents from it. His eyes quickly read over page after page. The documents contained their father’s final wishes and distribution of assets, including some that were never known to either of his children. It was all dated the day before his passing. Layne had full control of all the O’Reilly enterprises.
As Liam stood there soaking in the information, she was predicting a volcanic eruption. When it never came, it was more frightening than if he had flown off the handle.
He finally tossed the collection of papers onto the desk. “You think these mean anything? Nobody is going to listen to you. You don’t even have a damn clue how to run things.”
She stood up from her seat, her temper prickling at the length of her spine. Layne’s gaze hardened as she stared at his body language. Then, it finally hit her. “You knew, didn’t you? You’ve known this entire damn time?!” Her anger was spreading to her limbs now.
His silence and lack of denial said it all. Rounding the end of the desk, she scowled at him. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, right? You knew and you didn’t say anything?”
He shrugged at her. “I knew you couldn’t handle things. You’re too busy playing house.” His dislike of Joey living there or even existing grated on his nerves.
Not taking the bait on his dig on her personal life, she stuck to the topic at hand. “Dad didn’t seem to think so. We were on the brink of utter devastation for months, and you kept telling me to keep out of it! We had one foot in the grave and you still chose to be a selfish asshole?! Even now we are just barely coming out of that hole that you put us in!” Each word that exited her mouth grew more heated.
The nagging ache of his head didn’t stop him from barking back at her. “All of this belongs to me, it always has!”
“Not anymore it doesn’t. Either you can accept that and help or you can get out of my way.” She was willing to give Liam the chance she never got, but hell if she was going to let him think he was going to continue as the head of this organization.
He gave his answer to the idea of sharing leadership by laying his hands on her. Liam shoved her back hard enough that had the desk not been behind her to brace against, she likely would have landed on her ass on the floor.
Layne charged back at him, returning a shove using every ounce of her body weight behind it. He only budged a couple of steps, but she didn’t stop there. She gave him another push and immediately followed with her right hook colliding precisely on target with the hinge point of his upper jaw. The impact knocked his sunglasses square off his face.
If she hadn’t been so pissed off, she would have immediately recognized the pop of pain in her hand. Thank God for adrenaline surges.
Liam’s face got rocked by her strike and it only took him a moment to recover and take a swing right back at her. She dipped down, causing his hand to swipe above her head. When she stood back up, she drove her fist up into his stomach.
He doubled over and heaved. Last night’s hefty overindulgence of booze had left his stomach queasy, and her fist assisted in pushing it over the edge as he coughed and expelled whatever was in his stomach onto the floor.
Layne stepped back from him, shaking her hand as that second hit didn’t get the full benefit of adrenaline that the first one had. She clutched onto her trembling fist which was now feeling the intensity of the injury it had sustained upon that first punch.
Her brother coughed and spit out the last bit of vomit onto the floor. He used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe off his mouth while glaring at her. His breathing was ragged while he spoke through the continued waves of nausea, “You should have just stayed in your own damn lane.”
She bent over to look at him, resting her good hand on her knee. “Well, it’s my highway now. So, you can get off at the nearest goddamn exit.” Straightening up, she walked over to the office door. Layne shook her head, leaving him there to contemplate what he wanted to do.Either he was going to answer to her or could fuck off.
Now the real work was going to have to happen. There was a new face to the O’Reilly faction, and she was going to take back the respect and power that had been lost since the death of her father.
CHAPTER FOUR