Page 122 of The Worst Best Man

Ferris agreed that “something” should have been done, just not now and certainly not by making such a statement. “We’re already dealing with enough transition,” he’d argued. “I don’t see why you would have taken on a project of this magnitude that will only take your attention away from more important things.”

In other words, Ferris felt like the women should have toughed it out a little longer, at least until he was on his boat smoking a cigar without a care in sight.

Aiden not-so-respectfully disagreed and said as much.

He wanted to go home. Scratch that. He wanted to go to Franchesca’s and lay next to her in bed until everything felt right again.

“Well, if it isn’t my all-work-and-no-play brother,” Elliot said snidely from Aiden’s doorway.

And just like that, Aiden’s night got worse.

“Look who stopped avoiding my calls.” Since their father had made his decision to step down, Aiden had been trying to schedule a meeting with Elliot. And, until tonight, his half-brother had been avoiding him.

He was dressed for going out. A blazer with velvet lapels and a jaunty plaid bow tie. He looked like an overindulged idiot.

Elliot brushed a speck of lint from his shoulder. “Sorry,boss. I’ve been busy.”

“Doing what, exactly?” Ferris had allowed Elliot to hold a title and kept an office available to him should his brother show any signs of interest in the business.

Elliot slunk into the chair in front of Aiden’s desk and propped his shiny loafers on the surface. “A little of this. A little of that.”

“Let’s cut to the chase. From now on, you’re required to be a contributing member of this family, of this business.”

Elliot sneered at him. “You want more work out of me? I want a bigger office and an assistant. I want to have a say in operations.”

Aiden remained impassive. “Youearnthose things by proving yourself. Not by having the right last name.”

“Fine. Then buy me out.” Elliot crossed his arms smugly. He named a figure that was far too precise to have come from thin air. “That’s the price to get me out of your hair.”

“That is not an option.” As much as Aiden would love to write the bastard a check right here and now, he’d promised his father a year. An entire year to give Elliot the chance to prove himself and fail.

“Then I’ll sell them to someone else.”

Aiden stared his brother down. “You’d better think long and hard before you do anything irreversible. Kilbourns hold the majority. If you sell off your percentage, that would no longer be the case. It would put the company at risk.”

Elliot shrugged, but Aiden saw the beads of sweat on his forehead. Elliot was many things, most of them terrible and offensive, but his desire to be recognized as a valuable Kilbourn came first at all times. If something had him scared enough to sell off his only piece of the pie, it must be quite the threat indeed. It made Aiden almost curious enough to start digging.

“If you want to continue to see a paycheck, you’re going to have to do something to earn it. I don’t care if that means you’re making coffee in the breakroom or you’re emptying trashcans in the conference room. You will contribute, or you won’t have a place here.”

“You’ve been dying to get rid of me since I was born,” Elliot whined. “Now’s your chance.”

“One year. You know where this company is going. What the future looks like. You’d be an idiot to sell now.”

“Some of us don’t have a choice,” Elliot hissed, he dropped his feet to the floor and leaned forward in his chair. “Some of us were never the favorite. Some of us had to settle for scraps. And some of us do what we have to in order to survive.”

“You’ve been handed everything you ever wanted,” Aiden pointed out.

“Not everything. And the rest was never enough. So you’re going to buy me out, or I’m going to that pretty little girlfriend of yours and tell her exactly why your friend Chip broke her best friend’s heart all those years ago.”

Aiden stilled in his seat. “What makes you think I had anything to do with that?”

Elliot sneered. “You’ve been ignoring my existence my entire life. I overheard a lot of things in that house.”

Aiden’s hand tightened on the pen, but he kept his face impassive, disinterested.

“Do you really think that information would have any effect on my relationship with Franchesca now? If you’ll recall, Chip and Pruitt are happily married now. No thanks to you.”

“Ah, but imagine how Franchesca would feel knowing that you were the reason her best friend in the whole world was nearly hospitalized? There were plenty of rumors back then about how hard she took the breakup. Chip didn’t know what you were doing, but I did. I recognize manipulation when I see it. How do you think he would feel knowing you orchestrated his breakup?”