Page 138 of See You Maybe
“I built this company. You have no idea the things I’ve done. You think because I handed the position to you, it makes you more qualified than me?” His father sneered across the wooden desk in his study at the Rhode Island estate.
Declan clenched his fists. “The acquisitions of the last few years are entirely due to me. We are now positioned to be the most influential media company in the world. I earned it.”
“You don’t know what it takes to run a company like this. Raised up in prep schools, playing at being a gangster every time your brother gets in trouble. Look at that mess I had to clean up with the Albanians. Do you know what that could have cost us? Not only you. The company? Your brothers and sister?”
Red mist curled at the edge of Declan’s vision. “You’ve made hundreds of millions as a result of that deal. You may have had to pay them at the time to ‘help Seamus,’ but don’t fucking sit in front of me, like the two of us don’t know exactly how that agreement gave you access to Eastern Europe.”
His father’s eyes turned to flint. “Your brother would be dead if not for me.”
“And you’ve never let me forget it. My benevolent father,” Declan mocked.
Something passed across the older man’s face but was gone too quickly for Declan to identify. “You don’t know what it means to sacrifice for this company?—”
“Sacrifice,” Declan shouted. “You gave them money. Money that made you more money. I sacrificed everything that night.”
Declan hadn’t waited for his father to respond, worried that if he stayed in the room a minute more, he might do something he couldn’t come back from.
He didn’t know that argument would be one of the last times he and his father would ever have a private conversation. A year later, his father had married Courtney and refused to meet with him alone. A year after that, he was dead.
Declan felt Olivia’s arms wrap tight around his waist, and he ran a hand down her hair. “I’ll never know what he was thinking at the end.” He closed his eyes and rested his cheek on the top of her head. “It’s almost worse to think that if we’d had a little more time…”
The phone in his pocket buzzed. He ignored it not wanting to let go of Olivia, but when the phone kept buzzing, he released her and frowned.
“It’s my brother.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Atlanta—Present Day
“Are you sure this is okay?”
“No, but we’re doing it, anyway.” Declan smiled, and squeezed her hand on the center console where their fingers were laced together.
Last night, when his brother called, Olivia could clearly hear the man shouting through the phone. Another voice soon joined in.
“Why is Chris Keller still in Atlanta?”
“Why didn’t you tell us Courtney is in some sort of rehab? And don’t even try to fucking pretend you didn’t know.”
Two similar voices fired rapid-fire questions.
Declan pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know the two of you share a brain, but could you try not to speak at the same time?”
“Twin jokes. Hilarious.”
“This is serious. Luke and I had dinner at the Magnolia Club, and Chris Keller was sitting at the bar like he belongs there.”
Olivia widened her eyes, and Declan sighed, realizing she could hear the conversation. He pressed the button for speakerphone so that she could hear more clearly. Warmth spread through her at the obvious sign of trust.
“We really need to talk about your taste in women. Your girlfriend was there with him, chatting away like they were best friends. Though Dahlia says you are actually in love with?—”
“Shut up, Luke,” Declan snapped.
Olivia grinned as she jerked a thumb at herself and said, “He’s talking about me, right?”
Declan rolled his eyes at her, but the stunned silence over the line had Declan glancing at the phone and then back up to grin at Olivia. “Never made them speechless before,” he mouthed at her, and she bit her lip to keep from laughing.
“Are you still there?” Declan asked.