Page 4 of Sweet Wicked Vows
My brother’s disappearances were nothing new. He tended to take himself off for days at a time doing God only knew what, and resurfaced moments before I rang the cops and reported him as a missing person.
“Ring Saunders. Tell him to locate Flynn and bring him home by noon.” I popped another cube of sugar into my cup. “I don’t care if he has to knock him out and drag him home. Tell him to do whatever is necessary to get him back here before I go out there myself.”
Normally, I tried not to care what my brother was doing orwhohe was doing during his long stints away from home. But we were weeks away from becoming the new bosses ofReynolds Regality Jewels.Everyone was watching us, waiting in the shadows and ready to pounce at our mistakes for no other reason than to undermine us.
Our father made a lot of enemies on the way to the top. They were never able to touch him, but I knew that, like sharks circling blood, they were biding their time for the opportune moment to strike.
I took a sip of my coffee. “Don’t let Dad know that he isn’t home yet. It will only worry him, and the doctor said he is to try and remain as unstressed as possible. His blood pressure hasn’t been the best this weekend.”
“Will do,” Polly said. “We’ll get him home. Don’t worry another moment about it.”
“I’ll go and deal with the other problem upstairs.” I drained my coffee. “If I am not back in fifteen minutes, come up and save me.”
Leaving the kitchen, I physically dragged myself up the stairs to my father’s office. Was this what my life would become once I was in charge? Meetings upon meetings with people who I disliked, listening to them talk about things that served me no purpose? Having to pretend to care about people who would plunge a knife between my shoulder blades the second I turned my back?
This wasn’t what I wanted.
Don’t get me wrong, being the daughter of a multi-million-dollar jewelry tycoon had done a lot for me in life. It gave me the security to do whatever I wished, paying for my university education and ensuring that I never wanted for anything.
But I never wanted to take over the family business.
I never wanted to be the CEO.
Pushing my shoulders back, I smoothed the creases from my dress and opened the office door. Old books and smoking tobacco greeted me. It smelt like Dad. Despite his absence from his office the past two months, the place still held his presence.
My steps faltered upon entering the room, the air in my lungs seizing and a coat of red-tinged mist lacing my sight.
“Good morning, little niece.”
Stefan lounged in my father’s chair, his booted feet resting on the large custom-made mahogany table before him. Pieces of paper and notebooks were pushed to the side in disregard while he aimlessly toyed with a lighter in one hand.
Hot pricks of anger scorched behind my eyes. No one had sat in Dad’s chair since his illness.
“Stefan.” I forced a painful smile. “Always a pleasure to have you in our home.”
“You lie so sweetly.” Stefan flicked the lighter to life.“Something else you inherited from my dear sister. She could lie through her teeth with a smile that would melt even the coldest of hearts, too.”
There was a lot I got from my mother. Her bright red hair. Her dusting of freckles across the bridge of my nose and cheeks. My quick-to-boil temper and dry humor.
The only thing Reynolds about me was my eyes.
“Please sit.” Stefan motioned to the chair on the other side of the desk. “We have much to discuss.”
I refused to sit, opting to stand behind the chair and gripping the leather cushioned back. Whatever it took to stop myself lunging across the table and wiping the sly smirk off his face.
Stefan eyed me, his lazy gaze trickling from my head to my waist. “It won’t be long now.”
“Be more specific. I don’t have time for your vagueness today.”
“Old Daddy Reynolds. It won’t be long until he is buried alongside my sister.” He flicked the lighter again. “Two, maybe three months from what I hear, correct?”
It wasn’t public knowledge how truly sick Dad was. Many were led to believe that he was simply stepping aside and relinquishing control of the company to his children due to wanting to retire. The true nature of his illness was kept under wraps, with our public affairs team working night and day to avoid it leaking out. The chances it could scare off investors and partners, or plummet the share price, was too risky.
Stefan always was a sneaky fucker. It didn’t surprise me that he knew the truth.
“Are you ready to be the next CEO of a company as large as your father’s?” Stefan mused. “It’s a lot of responsibility. The empire your daddy made… gosh, it would be very easy for it to go wrong with someone with no experience in such fields. After all, what is it you do again?”
I refused to answer him. He knew very well what I did for aliving.