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Aldous

A ldous leant back in his chair, contemplating the empire that would be his for the next year.

This office was one of the more luxurious he’d seen in his time. The views were expansive, the furnishings grand, the artworks cultured, the private bar stocked with the finest wines. Aldous hadn’t grown up with such luxuries; more often than not, his office was the dining table in his London flat.

One look out of the sleek, uninterrupted windows told him that he was very far from home. The heavy sun was slowly setting over the Pacific, throwing a beguiling array of colours into the sky. Dark yellows steadily morphed from orange to pink to purple, mingling with the oncoming darkness.

No, London didn’t get sunsets like this .

The company he would be managing, a metal fabrication business called Alpine Ridge, had pulled out all the stops to keep him happy. A penthouse office with panoramic views. A truly breath-taking beachfront estate. A top-of-the-range company car.

This wasn’t the first acquisition he’d overseen, but it was proving to be one of the oddest.

Aldous frowned as he glanced over the scant paperwork Alpine Ridge’s previous CEO had supplied. The profit margins? They were almost too good to be true. The number of employees? Almost suspiciously low.

On the black glass desk, his phone buzzed. A quick look at the family group chat showed yet another good luck message. This time, it was from his cousin Jensen. A photo sat below it—Aldous’s older brother, Rhys, sat holding Jensen’s toddler, Felix. It drew a rare smile from Aldous, and already his heart panged for home. For England.

America was certainly a long way from home.

But it wasn’t as if he was entirely adrift. Their company—Stone Holdings—owned a private jet, and if he wanted, he could fly back home every weekend. It was a quarter his, after all. With a wry smile, he could only imagine the response once he sent photos of his new beachfront home to the family group chat. They’d be on the next plane over.

There was a knock on his office door.

“Come in,” he called.

His new personal assistant, Declan, entered the room, carrying an armful of folders and an expression that suggested he was sucking on a lemon. “Here are the records you asked for, Mr Stone.”

Aldous nodded his thanks, tapping his desk. “You can put them here, Declan. Are these the only ones?”

“That I’ve found so far, yes.” Declan’s jaw locked to the side. Aldous wondered whether his personal assistant had resting bitch face or if he just hated him. If he had to choose, he’d bet on the latter. “Is there anything in particular I can help you with?”

“Nothing in particular, but I’ll want everything you can find.” He wanted to cross-match the official financial reports and the company’s own records, but seeing as Alpine Ridge was established twenty years ago, it was going to take him a while. “ Everything ,” he emphasised.

The vagueness of the documentation he’d seen so far had his hackles up. Stone Holdings was a holdings company; a company that owned other companies. Alpine Ridge was simply the latest in a long line of subsidiaries that Aldous had overseen the purchase of.

He was experienced enough to know that something was wrong here.

But then it wasn’t as though the Stone family were strangers to the wrong side of the law. Of the four owners of Stone Holdings, Aldous was the only one who hadn’t seen the inside of a prison cell. His cousin Jensen and brother Rhys had both been convicted of murder. So had Warren, come to think of it, albeit for a separate murder..

Declan’s expression pulled into a sharp moue of annoyance, even if his tone was light. “Of course, I’ll get right on that.”

Aldous let out a long exhale as Declan shut the door a little more firmly than required. On the desk, the ice in his drink gave a gentle tinkle. And Declan wasn’t the only employee who stared daggers at him whenever he was within eyeshot.

From what he could gather, Alpine Ridge had been a family-owned business since its inception. Was that the cause of all the employees’ animosity? They were being loyal to a single family? But it wasn’t as if Stone Holdings had stolen Alpine Ridge when they weren’t fucking looking. The deal had been worth millions, making the previous owners even wealthier than they already were.

Whatever it was, Aldous had no patience with it. He’d put up with a certain amount of flack, but his understanding had a limit. He wasn’t reducing anyone’s salary; he wasn’t laying anyone off; he wasn’t forcing extra work on anyone. They could put up with it or fuck off.

Out of the four owners of Stone Holdings, he admittedly had the least patience, but Jensen and Warren had families and couldn’t uproot their lives, whilst Rhys was dealing with chronic migraines. Aldous was the only one in a position to oversee the acquisition from start to finish, to ensure the company’s management was coping with the changes—and to get to the root of any rot taking hold.

Pulling the first folder towards him, Aldous flipped it open and got to work.

It wasn’t until he was halfway through the third folder that his alarm went off, reminding him of his upcoming meeting with the owner of a company Alpine Ridge worked closely with—their chief supplier. Is this where the rot begins?

He sighed, giving the document he’d been halfway through a parting glance. So far, he’d only unearthed more questions, but hopefully he’d have more of an idea of what he was dealing with after this meeting.

Hopefully.

Marking his spot in the folder, he flicked it closed and stood to leave.

The corner office afforded him a breath-taking view of the sun setting over the ocean. Palm trees lined the street below, the approaching night painting them in an inky black silhouette. The cloudless sky was a dizzying array of pinks and purples, melding into one another like a watercolour painting come to life.

He let out a small, humorous chuff. It was worlds away from the grey drizzle he was used to.

Thankfully, the journey from Alpine Ridge to the other company’s offices was on his way home anyway. He was still getting the hang of driving on the other side of the road, but he made it to their address with time to spare.

Darkness was falling in earnest as he left the car. He’d been surprised on his approach; the peeling paint and flickering street lights didn’t fill him with a barrage of confidence, but then appearances weren’t everything. Even so, a steady thread of tension worked its way around him as he drifted through the business park, accompanied by the unsettling feeling of being watched.

Movement to his right drew his eye, but it was just a stray cat slinking down an alley to the side of the building. That had been another thing that he’d had to get used to upon arriving. There were stray cats everywhere , lean, scrawny animals that tugged at his heartstrings. At home, there were cats everywhere too; relaxed, pampered little buggers wearing collars, roaming where they pleased and likely trying to guilt a second family into feeding them.

Aldous approached the entrance to the offices, wondering if they’d given him the wrong time. Were they even open? He couldn’t see any sign of life within thanks to the blacked-out glass on the door, but he pressed the buzzer all the same, half hoping it was dead and he could get out of this place.

“Yep?” came a male voice.

“Aldous Stone here to see Vivian Yarborough.”

The only answer was the door making a metallic click , so he made his way inside. The reception area was clean, but bare. At the very least, it looked slightly better than the outside. A few chairs and a painfully artificial potted plant occupied the space.

Up ahead, a sharply put-together woman was striding towards him, her heels thudding along the tiled floor. “You must be Aldous,” she said, holding her hand out to him. “I’m Vivian. It’s great to finally meet you.”

He looked down at her outstretched hand, simply offering her a nod. “Likewise.”

Her eyes narrowed at his rejection, as he’d expected. Most people were offended at first, but he’d long since stopped caring. His family understood—even those of them who didn’t know the full story—and that was all that mattered.

“Call me Vivian,” she said, recovering from his rejection. “Come in and sit down.” She set off back down the corridor, her icy blonde hair jolting with every step she took.

The corridor took them deep into the building, until she eventually turned off into a large meeting room stained a sickly yellow. Cigarette smoke. Just like the walls of the room in his worst nightmares.

“Please sit. Can I get you anything to drink?” A wide, grimy looking circular table took up most of the space, and Vivian smiled, gesturing to the seats on the opposite side.

“No, thank you,” he replied, his expression a rictus of politeness as he sat. He swallowed, trying to ignore the ash tray on the table. He should have insisted on meeting in Alpine Ridge’s offices. At least he knew they wouldn’t kick up the sediment of his most traumatic memories.

“So,” Vivian began, getting comfortable in her own seat, “I thought it would be good to have a quick introduction to our business operations, especially as Alpine Ridge is the biggest distributor of our steel.”

Good. Then he had some leverage. “I do have some questions about the way things are run.”

“I’m sure you do.” She picked up a small remote, aiming it at a projector on the ceiling. It buzzed to life, lighting up the wall to their left. It took a moment to load, the colours coming through as a blurred mass of tones before sharpening. “And I have a proposal for you in turn.”

He recognised it instantly, sitting up straighter in alarm. It was Hyde Park, with the Serpentine a sparkling blue in the background and Londoners on picnic blankets coating the grass.

And Jensen, Talia, and Felix in the foreground, beside Mum and Euan.

“What is this?” he whispered. The video was clearly taken from a distance, blurred foliage hovering at the edge of the screen.

Vivian just smiled, icy and frigid. “Your family, I believe.”

And why the fuck did they have a recording of his family? “When was this taken?”

“Oh, this is live, Mr Stone, give or take a few seconds. I believe they’re meeting up for lunch. Very picturesque, I must say.”

Aldous schooled his face into a mask of composure. “What do you want?” he snarled. Uncertainty and rage warred against each other.

“Put simply,” Vivian clasped her hands together, her scarlet claws on display, “the organisation I represent intends to continue operations without your interference. The owners of Alpine Ridge and I have long had an arrangement about product distribution, but Stone Holdings acquired it right as we were ramping up operations.”

Product distribution? There was a sinking feeling in his chest. Despite his cousin and brother straying beyond what was legal, Aldous had always been on the right side of the law. If steel was the only product being distributed, then Vivian wouldn’t need to bring his family into this to gain leverage. “Why do I have the feeling the product you’re talking about isn’t of the legal variety?”

Her smile was as serpentine as the lake on the projector. “Because I’m assuming you have half a brain, Mr Stone. Your position as part owner of Stone Holdings offers me a unique opportunity far beyond that of Alpine Ridge, however. Your company has the potential to distribute my product all over the Americas.”

Definitely not just steel. “And if I refuse?”

“I would prefer to do this bloodlessly, Mr Stone. Truly.” Her jaw ticked. “But I won’t hesitate to retaliate against anyone that threatens my business, do you understand?”

“I understand.” His heart thumped, pumping adrenaline through his veins. He was being backed into a corner here. Fuck, he wished Jensen was here. Jensen would know what to do—and he had friends on both sides of the law. “What are you wanting from me?”

“An alliance,” Vivian murmured. “A permanent alliance between our families that solidifies my operations with Alpine Ridge and gives me power to utilise Stone Holdings’ assets as and when I need.”

Between our families? That pulled Aldous away from his mental plan to call Jensen the moment he was back on his motorbike. “Surely you don’t mean—”

“Marriage, Mr Stone, yes.”

Aldous tried not to let the revulsion show on his face. “To you?”

That made Vivian laugh. “No. To be perfectly honest, I doubt you’d meet my standards.”

He couldn’t have cared less about the insult. The last thing he wanted was to be married to this woman. “Then… who?”