Page 30 of When the Last One Falls
My father was doing his best to stare me down, but age had shrunken his once-imposing frame, and since I looked just like him, he didn’t intimidate me much. Plus, I’d read each page of that marriage contract and the mines were mine, no matter what happened between anyone else. If my father were to try to yank Kingston Industries from me to make me come to heel, I would still own the mines. Keris wasmywife, so those mines were untouchable by anyone but me and her.
“You know just as well as I do that you need her to give you children, Brantley,” he repeated for the millionth time. “If Keris doesn’t give you children, then those mines will fall into the hands of the Central American government. We can’t have that happen.”
“We haven’t even been married two months,” I reminded him. “There’s no rush.”
“She could always divorce you,” he pointed out, and I didnotlike hearing that. “It might bankrupt her parents, but she can still divorce you, Brantley.”
“As long as her sister is ill, Keris will never divorce me,” I practically hissed. “Her sister’s illness is the reason that she married me in the first place, remember?”
“And do you honestly think that your new wife isn’t smart enough to be biding her time?” he suggested, and Ireallydidn’t fucking like hearing that. “She makes a good living working at that gallery of hers. I bet if she looks hard enough, she can find some health insurance that will work for what her sister is dealing with.”
“Keris is not going to divorce me,” I stated a little bit more forcefully than before.
“Why? Because she loves you so damn much?” he mocked. “Just because she’s letting you fuck her in public restrooms doesn’t mean that she won’t leave you.”
“Say one more word about my wife and I will fucking end you,” I threatened.
“You need to hurry up and get her pregnant, Brantley,” he repeated. “And once she gives you an heir, you need to make sure that your child favors you over her. It’s the only way to maintain control of those mines.”
“I have control over them now,” I pointed out.
“But so does she,” he stressed. “That’s the part that you don’t get. We need absolute control of those mines, and as long as she can take them back, our position is precarious at best.”
“Keris would still have control, even after giving me a child,” I reminded him. “The daughters don’t inherit until they’re married and ready for a family of their own.”
“You need to get her pregnant,” he repeated again, and I could feel a headache coming on.
“What would you have me do?” I challenged. “We’re already sleeping together, so what else do you suggest I do, Father? Hmm?”
“When Edmund and I made this deal, we had health reports pulled on the both of you-”
“Oh, for fuck’s sakes,” I bit out.
“-I’m not sure how he got her records, but since your health insurance is covered by Kingston Industries, it wasn’t hard to get your information,” he continued.
“Because that’s not against the law or anything.” My mood was officially ruined.
“Anyway, Keris is on the pill,” he announced, and I hated how he knew something so personal about my wife. “Hide them, toss them, or have them filled with placebos…I don’t care. She never needs to know.” He tried to stare me down again. “Just get her pregnant and soon.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, calling for patience. By the time this whole thing was over, I was probably going to end up beating the shit out of my own father. At this point, it was worth signing the mines back over to Keris just to get him to shut the fuck up and stay out of my marriage. It wasn’t like I needed the damn money. Sure, we were talking potential billions, but so the fuck what? How much money did one person need anyway?
Like a goddamn freight train, that’s when it hit me.
For years, money, power, status, and control had been all that mattered to me. I’d been raised to win at all costs, holding the top position being the only acceptable outcome. Kingston Industries was what it was today because I never fucking slept. It was one of the top powerhouses in the country because I didn’t know how to lose. There was always going to be a mountain to conquer, and no one did that better than I did. For most of my entire life, I had lived, breathed, and bled for Kingston Industries, and the plan had been to keep living, breathing, and bleeding for the place.
Not anymore.
Somehow, someway, somewhere along the line, the woman asleep in my bed upstairs became more important than the next deal, the next opportunity, the next million dollars. When I’d made the decision to marry her, I’d still been in Kingston Industries mode. After coming home from examining the mines, I’d fallen into Keris Bishop mode, and it was surprising how everything else had faded into the background. I was in love with my fucking wife and that was definitely not anything that I’d seen coming.
Staring back at my father, I said, “Look, I know what’s expected of me. I know the will and contract for the mines better than you do. I know very well what will happen if I don’t get her pregnant.”
“I don’t think-”
“Stay the fuck out of my marriage, Dad,” I ordered, close to really losing it. “In fact, stay away from my wife while you’re at it. The last thing that I need is you fucking this shit up because you don’t know how to keep your goddamn mouth shut.”
“You better watch how you talk to me, Brantley,” he threatened, and I just let out a dark laugh.
“Or else what?” I taunted. “Like you said, I have control over the mines on paper only. Keris can always file for divorce. So, unless you want her to walk with the billions that you think belong to Kingston Industries, then I suggest that you step back and let me handle my wife. It wouldn’t do well to piss her off, and it certainly wouldn’t do well to keep asking her if I’m fucking her enough to get her pregnant.”
