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Their laughter faded, and Virgil nodded. “Sadie,” he guessed correctly, adding a solemn nod.
“Yes. We need to discuss what we’re going to do if she doesn’t wake up. The doctor said she has to wake up on her own, so all we can do is just wait. Just fucking wait.”
I wasn’t a patient man, and waiting for something like this, to see whether my mother would live or die, pushed my ability to wait to the limit.
My office door banged open, and Cal finally stumbled in, drunk and smelling like a distillery. “We can start now,” he slurred and flashed a crooked, toothy grin.
My nostrils flared at the sight of my youngest brother, drunk at the ass crack of dawn, acting like a buffoon. “Sit the fuck down, Cal. You’re drunk and you’re late.”
Cal threw his head back and laughed, nearly falling backward on unsteady legs. “Fuck, I thought I was early. What do you need me for anyway? I’m just your little fucking keyboard monkey,” he said and mimicked typing on his computer. “So,” he slurred, “what did I miss?”
“Sadie. She woke up for a few minutes yesterday,” I growled. “A few seconds would be more accurate, but she opened her eyes and said a few words.”
I didn’t want to get into that trauma, that fucking mindfuck from yesterday. “If she doesn’t wake up, we all need to step up, especially you two, in different ways.”
I had been thinking about it all night, and this would have to be a family effort.
“You’re already in charge of everything, so what the fuck difference does it make?” he sputtered.
“Goddamn right, I’m in charge. Who should be? You? The asshole who’s drunk at six o’clock in the fucking morning? I don’t think so.”
I didn’t even know why I was arguing with Cal. I didn’t argue with my employees, and I definitely didn’t argue with drunk fuckers.
“But Sadie built this. After everything Colm put her through, everything he did to her, forced her to endure, she still built this up, and she did it for us. Maintaining it isn’t a one-person job.”
“So you finally admit it?” Cal’s lips curled into a sneer, and I balled my hands into fists. “You hear that, guys? Jasper can’t run the whole fucking empire on his own without help from us lowly peons.”
He snorted and laughed like this was some fucking party instead of an important meeting about the future of the family.
“I never said I could do it on my own, Calvin. But your skills are so limited that the rest of us have to do everything you can’t, which is every fucking thing.” I shook my head. “Why the fuck are you drunk this early in the morning?”
Cal went over to the bar and grabbed a bottle of whiskey, not the fresh bottle of Velvet Fire, and dropped down in the nearest seat.
“Because, dear brother, my mother killed my wife, leaving me a widow and a single father, and I’m fucking coping. Is that all right with you, or are you the only fucking person in this family allowed to drink from sunup to sundown?”
“This isn’t about me, Cal. I’m doing what the fuck I’m supposed to do. This is about Sadie and how the Ashby Organization will change if she doesn’t pull through. Is that something you give a fuck about? If not, get gone. Now.”
I pointed toward the door because I was tired of his shit. He could leave right now, and I wouldn’t give a fuck. If Sadie woke up, she would bring him back into the fold. If not, then there would be one less member of the family. Two less if you counted Ava Rose.
Cal smacked the table as hard as he could, fury turning his skin red.
“She killed my fucking wife! Why should I give a shit what happens to her?”
“Because she’s your goddamn mother!” Terry’s words came out on a roar that reverberated around the room. He glared hard at Cal. “She’s the reason we’re all here. The reason we all have what we have.” He shook his head. “Grow the fuck up, man.”
“Fuck you, Terry.” Cal was at the brave stage of drunkenness, with his chest puffed out and shoulders broad like a peacock. “You don’t know the half of it.”
Terry smirked and shook his head, dismissing Cal’s words.
But Virgil sat up tall and leaned in. “If we don’t know, tell us, Cal. Tell us what you know.”
Cal shook his head, taking another long pull of the whiskey bottle. “You don’t want to know. Not really.”
“And I thought Kat had a flair for the dramatic.” I shook my head, knowing Cal was enjoying this little bit of theater, his moment in the spotlight. “Just fucking tell us what you think you know.”
Cal kept on shaking his fucking head like some shitty little school kid who had a bit of grown-up gossip to share.
