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“He’s right,” Hawthorn says, and I twist around to face him. “Money is in our veins. We know how to make it, invest it, spend it, and take it. If we’re taking it from your parents and getting your dad kicked out of his family’s business, well, that’s just a nice little bonus. If it doesn’t work, then shares of Rhodes Corp. will always be a good investment, and we just started our own legacy,” he says with a wink.
“So you guys would own all the shares?” I ask.
“No, we all would,” Gulliver says. “Izzy and I are getting married, what’s mine is hers anyway, and you and Hawthorn…”
“I…” I start, then trail off, unsure what to even say.
“Same for me and Penelope,” Hawthorn interrupts, speaking over me.
My mouth falls open, and I stare at him like he’s an alien, because is he suggesting that we’re as permanent as my sister and her fiancé?
“Then it’s decided, the six of us will be equal partners,” Kip announces, like it’s just a given that these four guys and my sister would all just want to start a business with me.
Looking at each of them in turn, I wait for someone to protest my inclusion in this little plan, but even though Davis scowls at me in disgust, he doesn’t offer any objection about me being a part of this.
“Yes,” my sister announces loudly. “I think we should do it. Fuck Mom and Dad, and fuck Great-Grandfather too. Rhodes Corp. is the reason he wrote that will. His stupid company is why both of our lives got so messed up. So fuck him and his stupid family legacy. Let’s try to buy the shares, and then even if we can’t get the board to kick Dad’s ass out, it’ll still drive him nuts to know we own something that won’t ever be his,” she says gleefully.
All eyes turn to me, and I swallow thickly before I nod, slowly at first and then more decisively. “Yes, let’s do it,” I say quietly, sagging against Hawthorn as the reality of what I just agreed to sinks in.
“Hell yes!” Davis hoots. “So, what are we calling ourselves?”
“I already thought of that,” Gulliver says, tapping at his cell phone for a moment, before turning the screen toward us and showing us a roughly-designed crown with six points, with the words Ultio Inc. beneath it.
“Revenge,” I whisper reverently, translating the word from Latin to English.
The next hour passes in a daze, with lists of investors being handed out and familiar names discussed while I just watch it all happen around me, still a little shell-shocked at the way my little revenge plan has exploded into so much more.
I never expected anyone in this room to accept me, and not even in my wildest dreams did I think that they’d be willing to include me like this. I told them I wanted revenge and I knew I’d need their help, but I assumed my presence would be merely tolerated for Hawthorn’s and my sister’s sake. Yet somehow, I’m now an equal partner in a company with these five powerful, single-minded people, and even Davis is being a little less hostile to me.
Hawthorn’s arm is around my waist, and the quick kisses he keeps pressing against my neck are the only reason I know I’m not hallucinating or dreaming right now.
Everyone in this room was born into a powerful, old-money family. It’s ironic how Great-Grandfather’s will wanted me to force alliances with just the kind of people I’m now starting a business with, yet it’s only after I walked away from his rules and influence that I found them.
“Okay, so Ultio Inc. now officially exists, with the six of us holding equal shares,” Kip announces, looking up from his iPad with a huge grin on his face.
“So do our four new shell companies,” Davis announces.
“Four?” I question.
“That way, if anyone looks into who’s buying the shares, they’ll find the shell company, which will just loop through the other three and then back to itself before it links to Ultio Inc.,” he tells me, without even a single scowl or insult.
“What do we know about the families on the investor’s list?” Gulliver asks, picking up the paper with the names on it. “Hudson Holdings?”
“That’s Elliot Harrington’s family’s business,” I tell him.
“It is?” Hawthorn asks.
“Yes, his family inherited it from his great-grandmother’s side of the family, they’re in rail, mainly commercial freight,” I reel off as the others stare open-mouthed back at me.
“Nouman Batrich,” Gulliver says next.
“That’s a partnership between the Astells and the Parks, fairly new, I think they started the business about five years ago. They own property in New York, half a dozen high rises, and loads of commercial space,” I tell the group.
“Vagnerwarmen?” he asks, his brows furrowed together.
“The Goodwins, they’re in pharmaceuticals,” I say with a shrug.
“How do you know all that?” Izabella asks.
