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Derrick had been given a specific time to clean up his reputation. He was also supposed to lure Carter and Spence home, which proved easy enough once Derrick admitted it to them. But he did more than that. He managed to run a multimillion-dollar company, expand its holding, meet their father’s conditions and land the best woman for him.
For Derrick—easy. For anyone else? Likely impossible.
Spence hated to guess what his task was. “Lucky me.”
Derrick dropped the envelope on the desk. “Rip it up without opening it.”
The suggestion didn’t make sense. “What?”
“Walk away from this.”
“Isn’t this my stipulation, the things I have to do? The way you explained it to me before, Dad only turns over the business if we all do his bidding. You had the biggest part and finished. Now it’s my turn.” Still, Spence couldn’t bring himself to touch the envelope.
“Don’t let him do this. It’s manipulation.”
It was. No one debated that. Not the lawyers who drew up the documents. Not Jackson, the only person outside of the family who knew other than Ellie. The requirements were personal and not likely to be legally enforceable, but with controlling interest, dear old Dad could sell the company and take the company that meant everything to Derrick away from him at any time. Spence refused to let that happen, even if it meant staying and working there.
“You deserve to run the company. You saved it.” To Spence, it was that simple. He’d talked to Carter, their younger, California-living brother. He agreed with Spence. Whatever it took to beat the old man and get Derrick the business, they would do it.
Derrick shrugged. “I’ll find another way.”
“I’m thinking it’s time I stepped up and took responsibility.” Something even Spence had to admit he should have done before. Stopped running long enough to help.
“Are we only talking about the job?” Derrick smiled as he asked the question.
“This isn’t about Abby.” It was infuriating how she was the first thing that popped into his mind—always. Spence couldn’t kick that habit.
“Right, Abby.” Derrick made a humming sound. “Do you notice how you brought up her name, not me?”
Spence was not touching that. He knew he had a weakness for her. There was no need to pretend otherwise. “I was talking about being more engaged here, at work.”
Derrick sat back in his chair. “I can’t say I hate that idea.”
“Yeah, well, don’t get excited. I might suck at it.”
This time, Derrick laughed. He’d so rarely done that in the past, but he did it now that he’d found Ellie. “I like the positive attitude.”
Spence never had one of those before. Maybe it was time he tried. “I’m being realistic.”
“I’ll take whatever I can get.”