Page 132 of The Penalty

“Where’s Colin?”

“This is family business,” Owen replies, folding his hands in his lap.

Well that sounds fucking ominous.

“What happened?” I can’t imagine anything being an emergency that’s not someone dying. But I also don’t want to say that and seem like an idiot. Who fucking knows the kinds of emergencies rich people have.

“The board is moving to undermine Oliver with our company. They are trying to force a sale.”

“What?” I took a minute to process his words. “Can they do that?”

“If they have enough votes.” Owen turns in his seat, meeting my gaze. “This is what he was warning you about. Why you have to stand firm with us at all the board meetings. Because if they see any weakness or any way to push us out they will.”

I hate it. Already. I’ve only been to one board meeting, and it was already too much.

Why the fuck would my father do this to me? Was it to make a fool out of me like he had my mother all those years? He lefthis daughter out of all of this and just gave her money. He could have done that for me.

He fucking raised Owen and Oliver for this and what did I get? Shoved into it.

“So what do we do?”

“We have to be a united front.” Owen turns away. “I know this isn’t what you signed up for and I know Oliver isn’t your favorite person, but I promise you he knows what’s best for this company.”

“Won’t we get paid out if the company sells?” I ask, feeling like I know nothing.

“Not even close to what the company is worth, and then we lose control of it.”

“You mean we lose the power,” I say and I don’t have to ask. I know what the truth is.

“That’s part of it.” Owen isn’t going to sugarcoat this, which I prefer.

“Why does he even want to keep doing it?” I can’t wrap my mind around it.

“What do you mean?” Owen asks.

“Even if we are paid out pennies on the dollar it’s still more money than we can spend in a lifetime. We’d be set and we wouldn’t have to deal with any of this anymore.”

Owen laughs but it’s oddly sad. “He likes it—no, it’s more than that—he loves it. He’s good at it. He was born to play the game and at times he’s hated it but once he was allowed to step into the part fully with his husband by his side he embraced it. He doesn’t want to lose that.”

“And if I want out?” I ask, needing to know what Owen will say before we’re in front of Oliver.

Owen shrugs and looks at his hands. “I don’t know if he’ll forgive you but I will.”

“Really?” I ask, my eyes suddenly burning.

He nods. “It will kill him, and I’ll hate it because he’s half my soul. I can’t change that but I get it. You don’t owe us anything and our relationship isn’t based on what you can do for me. I don’t want it to be. I want you to be my brother.”

I pull him into a hug. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you.”

We pull back and sit the rest of the drive in silence.

As we’re getting out of the car, I grab Owen’s arm. “Do you want to keep doing it?”

He searches my face. “I do. It doesn’t take a lot away from me nor you. I trust Oliver to do what’s best for the company and protect our money. I can’t make that choice for you, but if you do trust him, it would be easy to keep yourself out of it and just do as he asks when he needs it.”

We walk into the Godfrey building which just feels weird to even think that my family owns a block of Manhattan. The wealth in that alone is something I have a hard time imagining. I don’t even know what the company really does. Is it a good company?

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