He winces, shaking his head. But his smile thaws. He glances at my parents, then back at me with a raised eyebrow. He knew my parents were coming. He knows exactly who they are, but he’s still going to make me introduce them.
“Ransom, this is my mother and father. Danielle and Henry. Mother, Father, this is Ransom Kyle. And beside him is Jonas Lee.”
Everything about them changes. Their backs straighten, their smiles warm, and I swear my mother flutters her eyelashes. They know exactly who he is. This is the billionaire they thought I was dating. I have no idea how they came to that conclusion, but there it is.
“Mr. Kyle,” my mother says, “it’s such a pleasure to meet you. Evelyne, maybe your friend there can leave and we can invite Mr. Kyle for lunch. We’d love to get to know him a little better.” The way she waves her hand at Colt dismissively pisses me off, but when I get a look at Ransom’s face, I realize she’s made a big fucking mistake.
I’ve seen lots of Ransom’s faces. I know what he looks like when he’s annoyed with his brothers. I know the smile he reserves for Mia. I know the warmth in his eyes when he’s around us. But I’ve never seen this kind of frost on his face. I hope I never do again. He’s got his daggers out, and it looks like my mother’s about to be gutted.
Colt’s gleeful ‘here we go’ confirms my belief that I’m about to witness a bloodbath.
“You would like us to go to lunch?” He asks stiffly.
Mother fucking beams at him. “Why, yes. My Evelyne does not always show the best judgment. You’d never know it from the way she’s gallivanting withthatman, but she was a debutant. With a little work, she could be an excellent match for a man of your stature.”
“A little work?” He echoes, jaw ticking.
“A diet, and a personal trainer. Of course, her judgment has not been the best lately, but I’m sure she can overcome her past indiscretions with your support.” She turns, hissing at me. “Get off that man’s lap, Evelyne. Right now. You look ridiculous.”
Her diet comments roll off me. I’m so used to that shit from her. But the way she says ridiculous almost succeeds in making me shrivel. It’s too close to the way those women from the restaurant spoke about me. The warmth of Colt’s arms around me, the way he squeezes me, keeps me from spiraling too far. His reaction tells me he’s putting absolutely no weight into anything they’re saying.
Ransom looks carved out of ice. And Colt’s laughing, not even trying to hide it anymore. I elbow him in the ribs, completely mortified by my family. I can feel the tears pricking my eyes.
“I am so sorry.” I think I’m apologizing to all of them. How am I still surprised by how awful my parents are?
“I don’t like your mother Evie,” Jonas says flatly, refusing to look at her. “She seems like a shallow person fixating on Ransom because she believes he’s the richest man in the room. It is rude and I don’t like it. She’s also clearly intellectually disadvantaged.”
Colt laughs so hard, I tip off his lap. He catches me, pulling me back for a quick hug, then stands us both up.
“Let me see if I can straighten this out,” Colt says, still laughing. “You came all this way, after essentially disowning your daughter for adopting Mia, because you thought she was dating Ransom. And you figured ‘hey, maybe we can convince him to give us some of that money’. But you still think she stole from the hospital in Columbus, and have absolutely no interest in being grandparents to Mia. Anything I missed?”
Jonas shakes his head and goes to Mia’s room. Chris has his hand plastered over his mouth, holding back his laughter. And a grin is starting at the corner of Ransom’s mouth. My embarrassment is slowly fading as I realize that the people I actually care about see through my mom’s shit. They don’t see her unacceptable behavior as anything more than a reflection of her worth as a person. It truly has nothing to do with me.
My mom looks and sounds like a gasping fish. “How dare you,” she says, pointing a dramatically shaking hand at Colt. Turning her teary eyes on Ransom, she tries to play on his sympathy. “Are you going to let these men talk to me this way? I have never been so rudely spoken to in my life.” She presses her hand on her chest, blinking dramatically.
“If you mean,” he says with a smirk, “am I going to let my brothers speak to you that way? Then yes, I am.”
37
EVIE
Mother drops her hand and quits the blinking. “Pardon me. Your brothers?” She scowls, looking between Colt and Jonas, who just walked back in with a smiling Mia, helmet strapped on, in his arms.
“Yes. Well, brothers and business partners.”
It’s still not computing. “But…but you own Brash Group. It says so on the website.” Of course she’s been on the website. I’m sure if Ransom’s underwear size is posted anywhere on the internet, she knows it.
Colton steps forward with a grin. “It’s ‘cause he’s an attention whore. He likes to be the face of the business and forces all of us into the background, so he can shine.”
Ransom’s smile breaks free. “I think your exact words last time I brought in a photographer were, ‘you can take my picture if you can catch me motherfucker,’ then you ran away.”
Jonas nods. “Yes, you did do that. I remember. You ran straight out of the building and spent the rest of the day hiding in a box at the loading docks.”
Colton raises an eyebrow, crossing his thick arms over his chest. “Um, yeah, cause when you run away, you want to make it hard for people to find you. At least I didn’t lock myself in my office likesomepeople.”
Jonas frowns. “I had work to do. Why would I lock myself anywhere else?” He shakes his head and throws my giggling daughter over his shoulder, striding to the door.
“Oh, Colton, I finished running those numbers for you. To purchase the apartment blocks, fully fund them for five years, and increase the agency’s budget to staff them, you’ll be looking at an investment of two-hundred-and-seventy-five million.”
