Page 30 of Hard Deal

“Done.” He clapped a hand down on his brother’s shoulder. “Looking forward to it.”

“Now, we need to talk about the executive retreat since you decided to skip the family dinner on Thursday.”

Cue older sibling judgement. Caleb looked up. Yep, Jase was giving him the “big brother” face. “What? I was busy.”

“We could have rescheduled. You didn’t have to no-show.”

Caleb shrugged. “I don’t see what the big deal is. They give all the leftovers to the dogs anyway.”

Truth was, after their meeting last week he’d needed a break from the family drama. Normally he was better at brushing off his father’s antics, but lately they’d gotten under his skin and stayed there.

Jason sighed. “In any case, Dad went over the one-pager and I’ve convinced him that we should proceed. We need a team to take care of the event management side of things, so I’ve got the HR team onto it.”

Caleb’s cheery mood soured in an instant. His father had laughed the idea off as “pandering” and now all of a sudden Jase had the tick of approval. What a fucking surprise. This was why he didn’t bother turning up to dinner. “When was that decided?”

“We talked about it on Thursday but we finalised it this morning.” Jason shifted on the spot. “I would have invited you to the meeting but you weren’t in yet.”

“I wasn’t in because we didn’t have a meeting booked. If I’d known we were going to discuss my idea then I would have come in early.” Tension pulled at the muscles in his jaw and he bit back the rest of what he wanted to say, which was that he was sick of being left out of Gerald and Jason’s little club.

“Does it matter whose idea it was? It’s a great thing for the company, regardless of who delivers it.”

Says the son who always gets a pat on the head.

“I’m not trying to shut you out,” Jason added. “But you know what Dad’s like. Sometimes it takes hearing things from a few people before he sees the value.”

“You mean it takes him hearing it from you.” Caleb shook his head. “Fuck it. I’m over it, anyway. I’m quite happy not to carry the mantle of golden child.”

“Don’t be like that.” Jason frowned. “Anyway, I’m not stealing your idea. We got it over the line, that’s all that matters. You can run point with HR to get it organised.”

“Trying to palm work off to me now,” Caleb teased.

Jason punched him in the arm. “You can’t have it both ways.”

“Watch me,” he said with a grin as he picked up his laptop and headed to the door. “Being difficult is my superpower.”

He sauntered through the office as though he didn’t have a care in the world, but all the while his blood was beginning to boil. It wasn’t about the retreat, exactly. Rather, what it stood for. For Caleb’s entire life his father had criticised his work, torn down his ideas and generally made him feel worthless. Why? Because he’d never wanted him to be born? Because his mother was supposed to be another decoration on Gerald’s mantel?

Part of him wished that he could be as “zero fucks given” on the inside as he projected on the outside...but he wasn’t. The key, however, was not to ever let anyone know.

It was bad enough to be the unwanted son—he wasn’t about to let people pity him on top of it.

“Caleb!” Mary trotted up behind him. “I know you’re supposed to be in a meeting, but Mr. Allbrook has called a management team meeting. Now.”

Caleb bristled. “Am I supposed to keep the ad team waiting?”

“I’ll ask Mina to send an apology on your behalf and reschedule. I was told to...” She bit down on her lip. “I was told everyone had to be there. No excuses.”

He could only imagine what his father had actually said. Caleb sucked in a breath and changed direction, heading toward the boardroom. There was no point getting shitty with Mary. It wasn’t her fault. But the idea that everything should be dropped because the old man bellowed got under Caleb’s skin.

Like everything else he does. Calm blue fucking ocean.

By the time he got the elevator to the executive floor, the room was already full. There were two spots remaining at the long, glossy black table and one of them was next to Imogen. His bad mood dissolved as her gaze connected with his, eyes widening as she figured out he was going to take the spot next to her.

“Thanks for saving me a seat.” He dragged the chair away from the table and sat. “Very kind of you.”

“No problem.” She appeared to study her notepad...her blank notepad.

Gerald was at the front of the room, fussing with some papers and talking quietly with Jason. It appeared like they were waiting for someone—whoever was supposed to fill that last empty seat.