Brock didn’t respond. He didn’t trust Mitchell. Hell, for all he knew he had a recording device under his desk that he could edit to make Brock look guilty and Mitchell innocent.
There wasn’t an innocent bone in this man’s body.
“Fuck,” Mitchell said.
“Pay me what you owe me, and we’ll leave tonight.”
“What does she know?”
“Nothing.”
They stared at each other. Clive looked from one to the other and said, “What the hell is going on?”
Mitchell opened his desk and took out a large manila envelope. He threw it at Brock. “Don’t come back.”
Brock left without another word.
“What the hell, Mitch?” Clive said. “What is going on?”
“Don’t play ignorant,” Mitchell said. He was angry at Brock Jones for shooting Baldwin and grabbing the McKenna brat, but he had all four contracts back, and that’s all that mattered.
He walked over to his fireplace and burned each and every one. He turned, a smile on his face until he saw Clive’s expression.
“Oh, please,” Mitchell said. “You knew we had to get the contracts back.”
“Because your bimbo screwed everything up!”
“I’m sending Nicole to Europe. We’re through, she just doesn’t know it yet.”
“Avery McKenna ismissing. The police are involved. It’s going to come out— Dammit, Mitch, Rick Perez isn’t an idiot. He’s going to put two and two together.”
“How? And even if he suspects something fishy, there is no evidence. None. I paid Brock in cash. I have no connection to him on paper, never been seen with him other than in front ofyou.” Mitchell looked pointedly at his brother. “Do I have to worry about you, Clive?”
Clive shook his head. Mitchell took it as a sign he was on board, but his brother was annoying him more than usual.
“Grow a pair,” Mitchell said. “This is business. If it weren’t for me, Dad would have run the ranch into the ground. As it is, until we launched Verdacorp, we were in the red. Now, we’ve even exceeded Grandfather’s vision. If I didn’t save our land, you would be repairing cars down in Dallas for snobs, and you damn well know it.”
“At least it would be honest work,” Clive snapped.
Mitchell slammed his fist on his desk. “Our father squandered his legacy on booze and women. I saved it.Me, not you, because you have no business sense whatsoever.” He might have gone a bit too far, so backtracked just a bit. “We make a good team, Clive. I have the business sense that Grandfather had, and you are good with people. They like you.”
“You don’t. You have no respect for me, or for the people we’re screwing over.”
“Don’t go soft on me now, Clive,” Mitchell said, his voice now a warning. “This deal is too important to blow right now.”
“Blow? We don’t have a deal if Ellen McKenna doesn’t sign over those two hundred acres.”
“I’m not letting one woman screw this up.”
“What are you going to do? You can’t force her to sell.”
“Then you need to do a better job convincing her to make the trade. I’m giving her the moon, Clive—eight hundred prime acres for two hundred. It’s a steal, and I’m not happy about it, but it’s the only option on the table right now. You need to get it done.”
Did he sound panicked? Maybe. A little. He needed that land. Presley was working on a forgery, but right now, it wasn’t good enough. But if Ellen went to court it wouldn’t matter—because what judge would think Mitchell was lying when clearly Ellen was getting the better end of the deal? At least on paper.
“I hope this is worth it, Mitchell,” Clive said as he opened the door. “I really hope you can live with yourself.”
He shut the door firmly. Mitchell hoped Clive didn’t do anything stupid.
