“That’s a whole different conversation.” Jenner flattened his hand against the table. “Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know if I want to destroyeverysingle one of them”—the emphasis on that specific word told Troy I wasn’t just speaking about the Gordons because they didn’t act solely on this; they had influence and mentoring from Sophie—“or if I want to put our name on every one of their properties. Both entice me equally.”
“You do realize how many restaurants that would be?” Walker’s movements stilled as he gawked at me. “We’re already at fucking capacity, Colson.”
“We could handle it,” Hart offered.
“Only if we doubled our support staff,” Walker countered. “We’d need a whole new corporate office to handle the number of employees we’d have to hire.”
“We could take over their staff,” I recommended.
“You mean a group of people who hate us?” Walker’s back shot up straight. “How exactly do you plan on winning them over? Paying them double?” He laughed. “I’m all for suing. A takeover? I’m not sure I would survive that. And I question whether any of us would either.”
Walker was only one vote. With an odd number of siblings, there was never a tie.
But even without Beck here, I already knew whose side he would be on. His answer was growth and expansion by any means necessary.
“If a buyout is the winning direction, Jenner and I won’t file the paperwork. I just need you to tell me what you want.” Troy’s face didn’t reveal which idea he thought was best.
“I don’t think we know what we want.” Eden’s voice was so soft. “Some of us are hurt. Some feel destroyed. Some want revenge.”
Troy nodded. “Understandable.” He quickly glanced at Jenner before he continued, “Why don’t you take a couple of days and think about it as a family? When you come to a decision, you can get back to me. If suing becomes the ultimate plan, we have plenty of time. We don’t have to file the paperwork immediately.”
I leaned forward, stretching my arms onto the table. “Let me ask you this … what if we want to do both?” I could feel Eden’s eyes on me, and I nodded at her as I turned my concentration to Troy. “If we sue and we win and the public finds out what the Gordons did to us, it’s going to hurt their revenue the same way it just slashed ours. So, that’s when we sweep in and make an offer. I don’t think any of us are interested in their actual restaurants. We want the equipment and the real estate and possibly their employees.”
“I like this idea.” Eden was facing me, smiling. “But their profit has to sustain a dip—that’s what will put us at an advantage. If it lowers and rises again, that won’t help us.”
“That’s where a PR team comes in.” Hart was reclined in his chair, the change in conversation pleasing him. I could tell by his relaxed posture and the way he was grinning. “Our publicist is excellent. But for a project like this, we’re going toneed someone ruthless, vindictive. Who can think of things no one has ever thought of. Once that person’s on our payroll, we’ll be able to achieve exactly what we want.”
Eden looked at me again, and I immediately knew what she was thinking.
The person Hart had described already existed. We just had to convince them to come on board.
Walker’s head fell back, and he moaned. “I think you’re all fucking high to even consider this.”
“Walker, expansion has always been the plan,” I told him. “We were in the midst of doing that with Horned before this bullshit with the Gordons exploded.”
He lifted his head. “Did you ever think all this bullshit is the universe’s way of telling us we need to slow down?”
“No,” Hart, Eden, and I said in unison.
The room turned quiet, all eyes on Troy and Jenner.
“Again, why don’t you take some time and really think this through?” Troy suggested. “Like I said, there’s no rush. We could file suit now, in a week, or even in months.”
Troy was right. This wasn’t the place to argue. We needed to meet as a family and hash this out.
“Does that mean we’re done here?” Walker asked. “Or do you have more you’d like to throw on me?” He was eyeing me.
“I think we’re good.” I smiled.
As my siblings began to stand, Troy said to me, “Did you drive separately?”
I responded, “Yes.”
“Do you mind hanging back for a second?”
I turned to my family. “I’ll see you back at the office.”
