Page 51 of Mad Rivals (The Bradley Legacy #1)

You’re Out. I’m in.

I’m back in Chicago on Monday morning, and after a quick check-in with SCS, I officially delegate the project to Margot until the end of this season. She came with me to the SCS offices this morning, and she’s been briefed on everything she needs to know for the next phase of the project.

It feels like the final nail in the coffin of my relationship with Kennedy. It was the last loose end that I needed to tie up to really extract myself from having to work with her.

I didn’t have the heart to email her to let her know who I assigned to the project in my place. Instead I gave Margot her details and told her to take care of introducing herself.

It shouldn’t feel as shitty as it does. It’s been four weeks now since I ended things with her. We were only together a couple months. I figured by now I would’ve moved forward, only…I haven’t.

At all. Not even a little.

And it’s why I find myself at the Bradley Group headquarters after my meeting with SCS, waiting outside my father’s office for a quick meeting.

If I get targeted because of my father’s investigations, that’s one thing.

But if she does, I could never forgive myself.

So I’m here to ensure that won’t happen .

I thought I would be nervous to hold a meeting like this, but the truth is that there’s really nothing to be nervous about. I already lost everything. What’s the worst that could happen now?

I’m trying something new. I’m making an attempt.

Four weeks and no healing tells me I have to fight for her. I feel like I always knew that deep down, but I allowed the pressures of timelines and deadlines and legacies to get in my head.

No more excuses now. It’s time to fight, and it’s time to win.

If she’ll even take me back at this point. Maybe she’s already moved on. Maybe she’s dating someone new. Maybe it didn’t mean to her what it grew to mean to me.

Maybe she’s clutching her sheets as some other man makes her come.

“You can head in, Madden.” Darla’s voice helps snap that image out of my head.

I stand and walk into my father’s office, and I slide into the chair opposite him. I casually cross my leg and rest my ankle on the opposite knee so I’m in a figure-four position.

“Trying to give off confidence?” my father guesses as he glances at my casual seating arrangement.

I shrug. “Don’t really care what I’m giving off.”

“What do you need, Madden? I have a lot on my schedule today.”

“Yeah, fighting off authorities, hiding illegal activities. I imagine it’s taxing.”

He sighs. “Was there something you wanted?”

“Yes.” I nod and press my lips together, and then I give him what I came here for.

I uncross my leg and lean forward, elbows on my knees now.

“I want you to finish extracting all traces of your illegal activities from this company today. Once you finish that, I want you to sign Bradley Group over to me, and then I want you to resign.”

“Your new season starts in a week, son. Don’t be ridiculous. ”

“I’m not being ridiculous, and I’m not joking. I have plans for this company, and I want to get started on them immediately.”

“What plans?” he demands.

“As if you’re in a position to ask,” I mutter.

“Excuse me, but I’m still your father, and I’m also still your boss.” He gives me a pointed look, but it doesn’t much matter.

Like I said, I’ve already lost everything, and a relationship with my father was never on the table anyway.

“And I’m the son who was able to fairly easily uncover your underground casinos.

I’m the son who knows your secrets. I’m the son who the other siblings call when something’s going on.

Did you think I wouldn’t find out you’re trying to sign Vivicorp over to Everleigh?

And Peoria and Geneva to Liam and Ivy?” I shake my head as I settle back into the figure-four.

“Leave them out of this. I don’t know what other illegal things you’re doing, but it stops where Bradley Group is concerned. Now.”

“It’s their inheritance, Madden,” he says. “It’s my way of setting them up for the rest of their lives.”

“So you randomly choose three out of the seven of us? That doesn’t even make sense.

And if it’s obvious to me that you’re extracting Mother from the shell companies, it’ll be obvious to the authorities, too.

Find another way to set up the inheritance without involving three of my siblings in your crimes, and get your name off everything to do with this company before you hand it over to me.

I won’t take it if it’s not squeaky clean. ”

“Then I’ll ask Dex. If he doesn’t want it, Everleigh. Ford. Archer. Liam. Ivy.” He shrugs as if he doesn’t give a fuck because he probably doesn’t. “One of them will surely want it.”

“Unless one of the girls wants it, which they’ve expressly said they do not, then you’re going to be waiting more than another year to retire.”

“So you’re done at the end of this year, then?” he asks.

The truth is…I don’t know .

I want to get a feel for San Diego. I want to play. I want to get back on the field and away from all this exterior noise that’s proving to be nothing more than a distraction.

And I want to do all that with Kennedy by my side.

I have a plan, and I’m not leaving here without executing the first part of it.

I lean back a little and fold my hands behind my head.

I guess maybe I am trying to give off casual confidence now.

“Maybe, maybe not. But you’ll do what I’m asking, or I’ll go to the authorities with what I know.

And if you’re paying them off, I’ll go higher. I won’t stop until it’s all uncovered.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” he hisses.

“Wouldn’t I? Tell me, Father , what have you done to ensure I wouldn’t?”

He rises to his feet to move to a power position from behind his desk before he explodes at me. “I’ve done everything for you!”

“You manipulated every aspect of my life to be what you wanted.” My voice is eerily calm, a contrast to his. “That stops now.”

“I gave you advantages you wouldn’t have otherwise had,” he hisses.

“I guess we’ll never truly know, will we?” We’ll never know if I was good enough to play football without his assistance, but the truth is that if I wasn’t, I never would’ve made it in the league for the last thirteen years. I wouldn’t still be playing today if I hadn’t proven myself on the field.

I mean…I don’t think I would be, anyway. Coach would’ve sat me. I wouldn’t have been a starter.

Unless my father paid for that, too.

I feel like there are some things money just can’t buy, though. At least I haven’t become so jaded that I can still believe that to be true.

He sighs. “You wouldn’t turn me in. Think of the legacy, Madden. The house always wins, and it’s your inheritance, too. Bradleys always win.”

“I swear to Christ, Father, if you mention the legacy one more goddamn time to me, I will turn you in so fast your head will spin. You made that whole thing up so you could lord it over me, over all seven of us, and I refuse to sit back and take it any longer. You want a legacy? How’s this: you’re out.

I’m in. Get the hell out of my office by the end of the day. ”

“I didn’t sign anything over to you yet,” he sniffs, raising his chin self-importantly.

“No, you didn’t. But you will. I have the non-emergency line pulled up. Dare me to make the call,” I say, flashing my phone at him for proof.

“Where did I go wrong with you? Dex would never treat me like this.”

I can’t help a snort at that. “No, Dex would definitely support your illegal activities, but we both know the right person to lead this company is me. I’m the one who will treat it honestly and with integrity, even if you never did.”

He studies me, tilting his head a little as he contemplates that. “I suppose you’re right about that. But what good is it to vote me out when you won’t even be here? At least let me close out my current contracts and tie up loose ends.”

That’s not going to work with the plan I have in mind, so I shake my head. “No can do, Pops. You can stay to finish out your contracts and loose ends, but you’ll be demoted from CEO. Like I said, you’re out. I’m in. Sign it over today, or I call my friends over at the police station.”

He presses his lips together. “It’s not that simple, son. It’s going to take me a few days to get things sorted.”

“I don’t have a few days,” I mutter.

He presses his intercom button for his assistant. When she answers, he says, “I need Paul in here. ”

The Bradley Group lawyer appears in my father’s doorway a few moments later.

“Close the door,” my father says, and Paul does it before he sits in the chair beside mine.

My father’s eyes are on me when he says to Paul, “I’m signing over the company to Madden as soon as possible. I need to erase all the shell companies first, and I’ll need your help. We need to get this done before training camp begins.”

“When is that?” Paul asks.

“Six days,” I grunt.

“Six days? That’s impossible,” he says.

“It needs to be done before six days.” I raise my brows at my father, whose eyes are still on me.

He sighs. “Get it done in five,” he says to Paul, and then he turns away from both of us back to his computer.

“Three,” I demand.

Both men turn to look at me.

“Five, Madden. It’s the best we can do,” my father says.

I huff out a breath. It’s not enough, but I guess it’s my only shot.

Paul sits silently for a few seconds before he heads off to do whatever it is he has to do to make this company mine.

My father’s right about one thing.

Bradleys always win. Maybe the younger generation has some advantages there, but I count this as my first win.

Now to figure out how the hell to win back Kennedy.