Page 57 of Boss of the Year

Lucas called after him. “Go to bed, Daniel.”

Daniel didn’t even turn as he replied. “Go to hell, Lucas.”

The oak doors slammed shut behind him, leaving Lucas and his stepmother alone with the sounds of her occasional sips of brandy to fill the silence.

“That went…well.” She sighed.

Lucas returned to the divan and retrieved his abandoned seltzer, suddenly wishing it were something harder. And in the same instant, wondering why.

You wouldn’t either if it killed your dad and put your mom in jail.. Marie’s voice, so heartbreakingly matter-of-fact, stopped him, just like it had been for the last week. He wasn’t sure he’d ever look at a glass of wine again, much less a fine brandy or a scotch, without seeing that look on her face.

“He’ll come around.” Lucas took a sip of his water. “He always does.”

“Will he?” Winnifred swirled her glass, looking out the window toward the circular driveway, as if the Hubbards might reappear like ghosts. “The senator was very angry when Daniel ran off after dinner. And now it looks like you’ve made an already impossible situation worse.” She turned to face him. “Taking the cook away might solve one problem, but it creates another. Daniel will drink himself into another stint at rehab, Emma Hubbard will be left to face her family alone, and thesenator will have every reason to torpedo our legislation.” She shook her head. “I’m supposed to chair the next Sinai benefit, you know. How’s that going to look if our stock is down forty percent?”

It was always about the look, wasn’t it? Not about her son’s health or the family’s actual holdings or even the girl above the garage whose life suddenly hung in the balance.

“It won’t come to that.”

“How can you be so certain?”

“Because I’m going to fix it.” He took another sip of water, then placed his bottle on the coffee table with a clink. “All of it.”

“And how exactly do you plan to do that? By taking the girl on a pretend vacation?”

“Daniel will forget about Marie once she’s out of sight,” Lucas explained. “And a month away will give me time to help her see that her future lies elsewhere. Maybe with another family, maybe another city entirely.”

Maybe another man.Or brother.

No. He wouldn’t even let himself consider it.

“You think it will be that easy? Simply charm her into forgetting about Daniel?”

Lucas bared his teeth in a wolf-like smile. “It will be if I have any skill at all.”

Winnifred’s laugh was soft but sharp. “And if you don’t? If she proves more attached than you anticipate?”

“She won’t.”

“You seem very certain of that.”

“I am.” He leaned back on the divan to peer up at the box beams of the ceiling. The house, a neo-Tudor monstrosity built in the early twenties, was just like every other mansion in Westchester. Built to replicate the grandeur of the past, but never quite held up to the original. “Marie is practical. Once she realizes that her feelings for Daniel are fantasy rather thanreality, she’ll move on. If need be, with a broken heart that we can facilitate into another job.”

Even if the idea of her working in any other kitchen besides his felt wrong. Even if the notion of breaking her heart made him feel physically ill.

It took several deep breaths for the nausea to ebb.

It hadn’t come to that yet.

Hopefully, it never would.

“You know, there’s a much simpler solution to all of this,” Winnifred said, like she was suggesting a different appetizer for a party.

“Which is?”

“Let her go.” She settled back into her chair, regarding him over the rim of her glass. “Tell her we don’t have the budget for a private chef anymore.”

They both snorted. As if anyone would believe that.