Page 106 of Falling Into Forever
“Lena,” Grady says, and silence fills the line once again. “I was nineteen when Lilly was born, not nine. I’ve babysat before. I can handle it.”
“Right. Okay. Well. I’ll be done around seven. What about dinn—”
“I’ll. Handle. It.”
I’m pretty sure I hear Lena swallow through the phone. “Okay.”
“Okay,” Grady replies, then hangs up.
“Lill, can you pack up Poppy’s stuff?” I’m not even sure if it’s Grady or Dante who asks, but Lilly’s feet sound on the wood, and then the snap of the screen door echoes across the lake.
The Reids pull everything together while Dante and I stay outside, facing each other in silence while we both work through what this news will mean.
I don’t know much about the Kingstons other than Blake has tried and succeeded at keeping them away from us. And Trent is correct that Blake whitewashed the devasting news of my sister from the internet, but he’s wrong about the reason. Blake was trying to protect Ainsley and me, and he’s been a silent force in our lives ever since.
He paid off our student loans. He helped me turn the first floor of my grandparents’ house into a bookstore. And he does it all while drowning in his own pain and with little to no contact with anyone.
The last time we spoke to him, he was still living in a rundown house on Block Island. What will this news do to him?
CHAPTER29
DANTE
It’s been two days since fuckface dropped a bomb onto our fragile foundation, and I’m no calmer now than I was then.
The only thing that has kept me from jumping on a plane and draining the life from my brother with my bare hands is that Saylor has held up remarkably well. So well that even her therapist hugged her.
Will this hit her like a landslide eventually? I don’t have a clue, but I’ve been so damn proud of her. I told her I would always catch her, and I will. But seeing her catch herself? Jesus, that stole the fear from my heart.
The sooner I can cut ties with everything in California, the sooner we can move on with our lives. I don’t give a shit about my legacy anymore. All I care about is ending this and keeping my girls safe.
“What happens if I simply shut down Ascendancy Inc.?”
Grady’s been sitting at our table for over an hour, pouring through contracts, bank statements, and everything else I could pull together without stepping foot in my office.
He sits back and removes his glasses. “You’ll lose a ton of money, clients, and probably your reputation.”
“But it can be done?”
Grady glares at me, and the muscle in his neck twitches. “I don’t advise it, but it can be done.”
“Is there anything in there that could stop me from starting over in New York?”
Papers crinkle when he flips over pages until he gets to the one he’s searching for. “If you sell Ascendancy, yes. There’s a noncompete clause to protect shareholders. But if it simply folds?” He shakes his head and annoyance flows from the action. “No, there’s no contingency for that in any of the documents I’ve seen, but I would be cautious in how you go about informing existing clients of your new company. If Trent or any other shareholders are inclined, they could make a case against you. But, of course, that would take work on their end.”
That won’t be a problem. I’ve already bought back the minuscule shares I’d sold to outside parties.
“Can you start the paperwork for a new PR firm? Name it Sway,” I say, ready to move on, my mind already jumping to the next steps.
“I’m not a practicing lawyer anymore.” He pushes the papers away from himself. “Is there anyone else with shares to Ascendancy Inc.?”
Rolling my shoulders to work out the tension living there, I nod. “Lena has five percent.”
Grady’s expression goes from annoyed to furious faster than I can explain, and he slowly drags the papers back to his side of the table.
“She has five percent that I gifted her, and I’ll buy them from her before I shut down Ascendancy Inc. I’ll do the same thing when I open Sway. I’m doing everything I can to protect her too.”
He pulls on his beard as he watches me. “She could put that money into her salon.”
