Page 59 of His Master

I felt Victor’s surprise before he said, “You actually want to be involved?”

Vivien snapped her gaze away from the random spot to stare hard at Victor. “I’ve always wanted to be involved. Dad never wanted me to be more than a rubber stamp. He said female betas have no place in business and that I should enjoy the fruits of his labor.”

“That needs to change,” Victor said seriously. “A lot of things need to change.”

“Starting with the bylaws?” Vivien asked, her smile downright wicked.

“Starting with the bylaws,” Victor agreed, grinning right back at her. “In fact, as soon as we get back to Barrington, I’ll draw up changes immediately. If the board approves them, this whole thing could be over by lunchtime.”

Vivien took out her cell phone and started tapping. “I’ll call for a mandatory board meeting later this morning,” she said. “Let’s see if Dad can wiggle his way out of this.”

I smiled at the buzz that filled the limo. It felt like Victory Holdings had just turned a major corner and like I should strap in for the final ride of the roller coaster we were all on.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Victor

Iwanted to trust Vivien. I’d spent my entire life wanting to trust Vivien and feel as close to her as a brother should feel to his sister. She listened as, between me and Simon, we explained the bigger picture of what was going on with our family and with Victory Holdings, and as we set out a framework for what we wanted the new bylaws to contain, but I wasn’t a hundred percent certain she would stick to the plan.

“I’m sure Dad can be talked around,” she said as we drove into Barrington, the very first rays of dawn painting the eastern horizon in shades of violet and pink. “He’s not the unreasonable ogre you claim he is.”

I tightened my hand on Simon’s head. My poor, brave omega was so exhausted after everything we’d been through in the last few days that he’d slipped down to rest his head on my leg and had been dozing off and on as the conversation had wound up.

“Are you sure about that?” I asked. “Because a hell of a lot depends on assuming your father won’t fly off the handle and try to seize control of the company over my dead body, literally.”

Vivien made a dismissive sound and waved her hand. “I don’t think Dad was responsible for whoever you think chased you through the night and tried to get you to drive off a mountain,” she said, far too ready to forgive her father for wrongdoing.

“Then who else was it?” I asked her pointedly.

Vivien didn’t have an answer. “Well, whoever it was, I doubt they were actually trying to kill you. Maybe, if Dad was involved, which is a huge maybe, they were just trying to run you off the road so you would have to call for help, and then the police would have come and snatched you up. Then Dad would have arrived at the police station on his white horse to explain how it was all a big misunderstanding so that you would owe him for your freedom.”

I had my jaw clenched throughout her explanation, and it twitched in frustration at her theory. Because it was plausible. I hated it, but it was definitely plausible that Uncle Vincent was trying to embarrass me instead of kill me to weaken my position with the board.

“Whatever the case, I’m not taking any risks,” I said, stroking Simon’s head in my lap.

That made me think of an entirely different set of risks I wasn’t willing to take. We’d reached Barrington, but I didn’t know where to go when Vivien asked where the limo should drop us off.

“We can’t go back to my place,” I said with a sigh. “The police were already there when we left, and they’ll be watching the entire condo complex.”

“We could go to my house,” Simon said, lifting his head and sitting up straight, proving he’d been listening to the entire conversation. “I don’t think they would be there.”

I smiled, feeling so proud of my omega’s intelligence and quick thinking.

“That’s a good idea,” I said, hooking two fingers through the ring at the front of his collar and tugging him close for a kiss. “My clever boy.”

Vivien made a sound, and when I peeked at her, she was rolling her eyes.

That expression changed when she raised both hands and said, “By all means, live whatever lifestyle you want, whether I think it’s weird or not.”

I frowned at her, taking the comment harder than maybe I should have. Her dismissal of my and Simon’s relationship was one clue that we could never be as close as I might have wanted us to be.

I wasn’t sure how much that mattered, even if it hurt in a core family wound sort of way. I had Simon now, and from our earlier visit to Mason and Hayden, I had them as family now, too. I just hoped I would be able to say the same about Simon’s parents.

That whole thing came to a head way sooner than I’d hoped it would as soon as the limo dropped us off at the bottom of the drive leading up to Simon’s family’s house. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the Kipling family home was practically a mansion in the ritzy section of Barrington. Both of his parents were lawyers, after all, and corporate law was extremely profitable.

The house was an attractive and stylish brick colonial-style building that would have been right at home on a Christmas postcard, covered with snow and decorated with lights. The yard was beautifully landscaped, and the whole thing smacked of people who took pride in their accomplishments.

There was also an unmarked police car sitting in the driveway.

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