Page 10 of Morally Black Betrothal

He still wanted to be part of the pack, though. After all, he was here.

“I had a meeting,” Owen said. “You told me to fix the Ivy Ink problem with theHerald, and I wasthiscloseto getting a real name from the editor-in-chief when I got the call.”

“Getting the name of a gossip columnist isn’t more important than seeing our father in the hospital, you asshole. I know you hate her and everything, but obviously this should have taken precedence.” I turned to Liam and Ronan with a scowl. “What about you fucks?”

“We had to drive up from Newport.” Liam straightened his jacket collar. “We got here as fast as we could. Traffic was shit.”

“Newport? Why were you all the way out there?” I demanded. “There’s a board meeting tomorrow. Ronan, you know this. And Liam, I thought you were gunning for chief counsel.”

Owen rolled his eyes and mumbled something like, “Fuck the board meeting.”

Ronan and Liam snorted but quieted when I glared at them.

My hand flexed at my side, but I couldn’t level the punches I wanted. Someone had to hold their temper when the Blacks gathered, and ninety-nine percent of the time, that someone was me.

“Liam and I were just having a little wake before the big announcement,” Ronan quipped as he flopped into the chair next to Dad and started fiddling with the cards scattered over the tray. The guy never did anything but joke, and it drove me crazy.

“Why would you have a ‘wake’?” I asked. “Dad was fine this morning.”

Ronan pushed back his hair that curled more than the rest of ours. “End of an era and all that. Eldest brother is finallygetting his crown when the big man finally steps down. Any death deserves a good round of debauchery.” He glanced at Dad. “Right, big guy?”

Liam was now leaning against one of the windows, arms crossed. “Jesus, Rone.”

“He’s literally alive in front of you,” I added.

Owen glowered at me. “Disappointed you weren’t invited?”

“Fuck you.” I pulled my phone out to message Liza Kelly, the CFO of Blackguard. Yet another person who should be here but wasn’t.

Still, I wasn’t about to get pulled into another pissing match with Owen about the fact that I’d been suggested as CEO over him. Just last week, Dad had told us. He was eighty-two, and it was time for him to step down as the head of one of the biggest venture capital firms in the world. He was supposed to make his formal nomination today.

I also wasn’t about to apologize. Out of all my brothers, I was the one who did everything right. We’d all grown up working for Blackguard Holding in one way or another, but I was the one who had been at Dad’s side every step of the way, even running bets out of the backroom in Southie when he was still barely more than a bookie. I finished business school top of my class. Successfully expanded every branch of the company I’d managed. For the last five years, I’d served as chairman of our largest division, Blackguard Investments. The others had their roles, but no one could touch the work I’d done.

CEO was mine. I deserved it. And until a mere hour ago, I was almost certain that Dad was planning to announce the transition at tomorrow’s board meeting.

Now, who the fuck knew what would happen?

“And just when did The Black Prince get here?” Owen wondered.

Ronan turned over the back of his chair to peer at me. “As it happens, I’d like to know too.”

“I’ve been waiting for the doctor.” I wasn’t about to confess I’d only just arrived myself. My family operated like jackals. Any sign of weakness, and they tore you to shreds.

“Well, did the surgery go okay?” Liam asked. “I talked to a nurse on the way here. He said he had an emergency double bypass.”

I nodded. “He was found near the Pond. The maid said he went out to walk Aengus.”

That elicited a groan from all three of them.

“How many times have we said that damn dog is too big for him to walk alone?” Owen said.

“So it’s the schnauzer’s fault. I told you, that dog is an asshole,” Ronan agreed. “Been an asshole since the day Violeta brought him home.”

“You’re just pissed because he chewed up your shoe,” Liam said.

“It wasn’t just a shoe. It was a Jordan Dior Retro 1—and they were custom, you Philistine.”

Liam chuckled, but Owen and I both rolled our eyes. Ronan’s idiotic obsession with sneakers was one of the few things we agreed on.