Page 19 of Galen's Redemption
FOR THEsecond time, Robert left Galen flummoxed. He would say somethingthat got Galen’s dander up, and then he’d dismiss him like he was a servant or something. The desire to charge after Robert and give him no small piece of his mind tore at Galen, but why? What good would it really do? Robert had already decided what kind of person Galen was. From the fact that he was the one who took a quarter million dollars from the mouths of the people Robert had been protecting,to his behavior after, what reason had Galen given Robert to think differently?
Galen sighed as he stripped out of his clothes. He needed a shower and sleep. It was a good thing he hadn’t gotten drunk, because he would be in rough shape come morning, and he needed to be at the top of his game if he was going to talk to his father about Wayne.
He padded into the bathroom and turned on the waterto the four-headed shower he loved so much. It had been one of the things he insisted on when he bought his own house. Standing beneath the spray, he let the jets beat down on him, hoping they’d take away that unpleasant feeling in his stomach. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he didn’t like it.
After he’d cleaned and rinsed, he dried off with one of the fluffy towels Margarite had stocked thebathroom with. He strode into the bedroom, turned on the air purifier, which scented the room with lavender, and crawled under the covers. A sharp pain in his stomach had him gasping for breath. When it subsided, he made a mental note to contact Dr. Willis, because that wasn’t normal.
Sleep, when it finally came, was interrupted several times by nebulous images that flitted through his mind.They weren’t exactly dreams, but they weren’t bad enough to be nightmares. The only ones Galen could recall clearly were of how much Olivia would be disappointed if she knew the kind of person he really was. And he couldn’t think of why he should care. He never had before. Recently, though, people’s opinions of him had bothered him.
The clock on the nightstand said it was only a little afterthree. Way too early to be awake, but Galen was certain he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he tried. Instead, he got up and grabbed his laptop, determined to know everything about the company by the time he walked into his father’s office for their Monday meeting.
Ledgers, financial statements, employee records—Olivia had done an amazing job putting all this together. She truly was the best assistanthe’d ever had, and she deserved to be recognized. He went back to the bedroom and pulled his phone off its charger, then flipped through the contacts until he found the florist he liked. He dialed and left a voicemail message that he wanted to purchase something special for his assistant and have it ready first thing in the morning. He was sure they’d put together something spectacular, especiallyconsidering how much money he spent with them.
Thoughts of the florist had his mind drifting back to a comment Lincoln had made a few weeks ago. It had shocked Galen when Lincoln said, “You mean, the guy who paid a woman to sleep with him? Well, I mean, I assume it’s a woman.”
The first thing in Galen’s mind was that Lincoln had actually known he paid women, not for sex, but to escort him towork functions. Father expected him to have someone striking when he entered the room, and since Galen had no desire for a girlfriend, he contacted an escort service. He would take the young lady out for a nice dinner, buy her something pretty, and walk into the room, pleased when all heads turned in their direction. Then, at the end of the night, he would ensure she got into a cab and was takenhome.
Coffee. That would help. It always did, after all. He went into the kitchen, slipped a pod into his Keurig, and set it to brew. He inhaled the aroma, his mouth watering. He and coffee had long been in an affair, and it was the one thing in his life he truly loved.
Well, except for Lincoln. Despite their differences, he did love his brother. Usually.
“Maybe that’s why I’m so out of sorts.The depths that Father sunk to in trying to get him back was disgusting, even for him.”
Sure, Galen wanted Lincoln back at Primal, because he’d been the best at everything he did, even if he overshadowed Galen’s own accomplishments. Early on, Lincoln would lord them over him, tell him how he was so much better than Galen could ever hope to be. Even family was a stepping stone, according to theirfather. But then Lincoln changed. It was a sudden switch of personality. He stormed into the office, told his father he quit, and when Father said he would cut Lincoln off completely, Lincoln told him he didn’t care.
True to his word, Father shut off Lincoln’s access to everything—bank funds, credit cards. Whatever he could do to hurt Lincoln, Father did it, expecting his errant son to come crawlingback with his tail tucked between his legs. Even Galen was shocked when he’d heard Lincoln had gone out, sold his cars, his house, and liquidated everything he could lay his hands on, then bought a building where he intended to open a diner.
A diner? Galen gave him a year, tops, before he realized it wouldn’t work out. Once Lincoln started to miss the Armani suits, the limousines, the heady power,he would be back.
Then one year became two. Two became three. And Galen grew more and more confused over the change in his brother. He was hiring people who were beneath him—drunks, addicts, homeless—and giving them jobs. And how many times had he been screwed over? Yet hestillpersevered. Galen could never understand why.
He started going to the diner for breakfast, tossing out a few jibesabout the company, and never once did Lincoln say he missed it. In fact, quite the opposite. He seemed happier, more content than Galen had ever known. But he also seemed sad. If Galen had to ascribe a word to it, he would have said Lincoln was lonely.
At least until Noel walked into his life. For the first time in years, Lincoln did something he rarely did, even when he worked at Primal. Hesmiled. He laughed. And for some reason, it pissed Galen off. Lincoln wouldn’t admit it, but Galen could see the way he looked at Noel. Even though the kid had just started there, he already had Lincoln wrapped around his little finger. Galen was certain that once Noel got whatever he wanted, he’d dump Lincoln and move on. But he didn’t.
Galen had read the reports by the private detective theirfather hired. He knew about the kind of person Noel was. How he’d stolen money from his parents, who claimed Noel had a history of theft. Still, Lincoln stood by him. It might have been wrong, but Galen was jealous of the fact a homeless kid was closer to Lincoln than Galen had ever been.
Galen had been pissed that Lincoln would choose Noel over family, and he waited for the day that he was provenright, that Noel would drop him. And that day came when Father offered an insane amount to get Noel away from Lincoln. Even though he had no love for the kid, Galen didn’t want to see Lincoln hurt, so he went to him and told him what had happened.
That Noel was gone and wouldn’t be coming back.
And Lincolnstillhad faith in Noel. Even hours after Noel was supposed to be there, Lincoln believedhe would show up. Galen tried to get Lincoln to face the facts, but just as he was about to try once more, Noel walked in, ready for work.
Galen couldn’t tell which was worse, that Noel had played Jonathan Merriweather for a fool or that Galen looked stupid. The thing that pissed him off the most? When Noel called the waitress over and put an arm around her, then wrapped his other around Lincolnand told Galen thatthatwas what family was. How dare he try to judge Galen’s family.
Even if he had been right.
The alarm on Galen’s phone went off at six on the dot. He groaned. He’d been letting these thoughts consume him for three hours, and he hadn’t even had his first cup of coffee yet. He rushed into the kitchen and put the mug in the microwave. When it beeped, he poured the coffee intohis thermal mug, snagged his laptop, then hustled down to get his car. He drove down Wisconsin, heading toward the lake. When he hit Tenth, he glanced down the street, then turned. He had no idea why he was doing this, but there he was.
He pulled up in front of the shelter and was surprised when he saw Robert out front, talking with a police officer. He wondered what had happened. He was gettingready to go see when he realized what he was doing. He put the car in gear and sped off, ignoring the cop’s stare. Why the hell had he gone there? He needed to get his head on straight; otherwise he’d be useless in the meeting. A quick stop at the florist to pick up the flowers, and he was ready to face the lion in his den.
When he arrived, he pulled into the underground parking lot, drove tohis designated spot, and backed his Alfa Romeo 4C into his stall. He grabbed his notes and computer as well as the flowers for Olivia, got out and locked the car, then made a beeline for the elevator that would take him to his office.
When the doors opened, a cute young woman with a tiny button nose, red hair, and green eyes, who Galen had seen before but never really met, smiled at him.
“Goodmorning, Mr. Merriweather.” She glanced at his hand. “Those are lovely flowers.”
“Um. Hi. Thanks. How are you today?”
