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He pulled me into his arms, rested his head on top of mine, and didn’t say a word.
“If I’d known you were going to kick his ass, I’d have gone with you.”
“You’d have handled it better.” He sounded so bitter. This situation was awful.
“Easton?” Loretta rushed over and touched his cheek. “Let me get you an ice pack.”
“I don’t need it,” he said, trudging over to the dining room table where Harris sat.
She made a dissatisfied noise but joined us. While Easton had gone to confront Drew, I’d filled in Harris and Loretta on what their youngest son had been up to, but we hadn’t come up with a solution to the problems.
“What now?” I asked. None of us had bothered to bring the meal Loretta fixed to the table. I couldn’t eat.
“We have to go to the authorities,” Easton said, staring over my head out the windows.
“No.” All eyes went to Loretta. “By all appearances the two of you took the money. What if that backfires? We can’t risk any of you being in jail. Not when I may not have much time left.”
“Mama.” He reached for her hand.
She took it and squeezed. “Please. I know if Drew did wrong he should pay for the crime, but I can’t spend my last days worried about this, whatever kind of person that may make me.”
“I can’t understand what that boy was thinking,” Harris said, almost dazed. “I thought you were in trouble.” He looked at Easton. “I thought if I could sell the company and secure all of us a position, we’d be okay. How did this happen? Did I go wrong somewhere?”
Silence descended on the room. Unable to sit still, I bolted to the kitchen for a bottle of water and finally settled in front of the windows.
“He kept saying Mulaney shouldn’t have been named CEO.”
“Mulaney absolutely was the right person,” Loretta said. “Any of you would have been.”
“Is that why Drew did this?” I asked incredulously. Drew was an asshole, but this was beyond petty.
“I think it has something to do with it.” Easton looked at me apologetically.
“He can’t get away with this,” I said, more determined than ever to bring justice to this family, especially if all of this had happened because of Drew’s jealousy toward me.
“Please. Isn’t there something we can do without bringing the authorities into it?” Loretta’s voice cracked.
I rested my forehead against the window, defeated. “We can’t get the money back. We can’t change anything. We might as well move forward.”
I thought about what I’d do if it were my brothers in this situation. As much as I wanted Drew to burn for what he’d done, if I were in the Carters’ position, I couldn’t turn him in. More than that, I couldn’t hurt Loretta. I loved her. It wasn’t fair to make her suffer just to make me feel better.
“The paperwork came back today for Renegade. Muriella gave it to me when I went to the apartment a second ago to look for you,” Easton said.
“So we’re in business?” I asked, a hint of excitement zipping through me. These past few weeks had been shit, and this was a glimmer of the future I wanted for us.
“Yeah, we’re in business.” He tried to smile, but it fell flat. “Dad, we’d like you to be part of the new company. Just the basics. Chasing oil.”
“Of course he will,” Loretta answered for him. He opened his mouth to protest, but she stopped him. “The two things you loved about Carter Energy was working with your family and striking it big.” She pointed a finger at him. “You’re still like a kid when you do. It’ll be good for you to go back to what you enjoy most.”
Harris cleared his throat. “I’d like that.”
What wasn’t said was Drew was missing from the new venture. While it didn’t bother me, I knew both of them would have preferred him to be part of it.
“I found a promising prospect,” I said.
“When did you have time for that?” Easton canted his head.
“I did what I’ve always done, only I didn’t share anything I found with SPE.” I shrugged. Doing what I did best was stress relief in its finest form.
