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I wished I could have Sara invite Beth. Maybe if she saw that our family wasn’t only filled with rabid Raven men, she’d feel better about me.
“You work it out. Kade, I want a stellar restaurant there,” my father continued.
“Of course.” He frowned. “What do they eat in Romania?” For once he wasn’t being snarky and instead pulled out his phone presumably to research Romanian food. His passion was food, and being a pain in all our asses.
“There’s no club per se, Ash, but I think there’s space.” I looked over the specs. “Is this the only building you bought?” Why all the big hoopla for one place?
“No. We’ll be doing the same thing in Riga.”
“What?” Kade said.
“Latvia?” Hunter asked.
“Yep. Listen. This is a big project. We’ll be creating the premier spot in both cities. Hotel, restaurant, and club all in one spot. It’s taken much of our available cash to make it work, with a payoff in a couple of years. I need each of you to tighten up a bit and perhaps look for faster cash turnarounds here.”
“That’s a problem,” Chase said turning to the financials. “We’ve been revamping the offices here and a few of the regional operations. Plus, we’ve been implementing a new health and wellness program.”
Cam pursed his lips and narrowed his steely stare at Chase.
Chase shrugged. “You agreed to all of it. Remember you don’t trust any of us to run this place without you.”
“Maybe you need to spend more time working instead of coddling your young wife,” my father said.
My brows shot up.
“Oh my God,” Kade said. “Does that mean your crazy inheritance plan is off?”
“He’s right,” Chase said, narrowing his own hard stare right back at my father. “Getting married and having babies was your idea too.” He looked at the rest of us. “I distinctly remember something about how all work and no play wasn’t a way to live.”
We all nodded. “Yep,” Kade said. Then he looked at me. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were excluded.”
I couldn’t respond because the fact was, I had a woman I wanted to be with. I didn’t like my father’s rules and dictates, but I wasn’t averse to having a family the way Kade was.
My father turned his stare on Hunter. “What is this about the thefts? Has that been resolved?” I guess he wanted to change the subject.
Hunter’s jaw tightened. It was strange to me that my father wanted us to be different, but when we were, he did things to make us act like we did before. I wondered what Hunter’s fiancé, Grace, a former therapist would think about that.
“We know they worked for the linen company, but they left and as of yet haven’t been found. But security has been beefed up. We’ve rescreened our vendors and workers,” Hunter said.
“At an additional cost, I see,” my father said.
“It was either let them steal from us or make it harder for them to steal. Which would you rather?” Hunter maintained his cool, although I could see the tension building in his shoulders.
“You going to blame that on Hunter’s love life too?” Kade asked sarcastically. He really wanted out of dad’s nutty new inheritance deal.
“Since she’s working on giving away my money, maybe I should.”
I looked at Hunter. He was taking several deep breaths. “Grace and I would be happy to leave.”
I wasn’t sure that was true. I’d seen Grace and Sara talk about this foundation, and they both were very passionate about it. And since Hunter had been part of the reason Grace lost her license to practice therapy for six months, she probably wouldn’t be happy to lose this project.
“There are the tax benefits,” Chase reiterated.
“And goodwill,” I reminded him.
“Don’t want to come off looking like a Scrooge, do ya, Dad?” Kade said. As I looked around the room, I realized that for once, my brothers and I were all aligned. Granted, it was against my dad, but still. In the past, there was always one or two brothers out, assuming even two were in agreement.
“Seriously, you’re reaping what you sowed,” Chase finished.
My father looked at Alex. “This is all your fault.” He wagged his finger at her. “This whole ‘life is too important to be business-only.’ Changing the inheritance idea.”
“What?” all four of us brothers said in unison, turning to Alex.
“Is that true?” Chase asked. “You’re the one that came up with the idea that we needed to get married and have kids?”
Alex’s eyes widened, clearly not expecting my father to throw her under the bus. But she pulled it together. “You’re missing the point. It doesn’t matter who came up with the idea. The point is that it’s working.”
“Depends on your idea of ‘working’” Kade said.
“Chase is happily married and expecting a baby. Hunter is happy for the first time in years, and has a beautiful fiancé.”
