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As much as I’d told myself that Kaya needed me, she really hadn't. She was stubborn, mule-headed really, beautiful, and smart as a whip. I had walked away from that complete package of a woman, and I knew there would be no healing from that disastrous choice.
At the office, I found Trevor and Adrianna huddled over some papers. "What are you lot doing here?"
Adrianna wrinkled her nose. "Jesus Christ, I can smell the… What is that, bourbon? You reek of it."
"It's scotch actually. Top shelf. I don't drink bourbon. It’s too uninspiring. No one wrote tales of heartbreak while drinking bourbon."
"Either way, you smell like a distillery. What the fuck is wrong with you? Did you do something stupid?"
"Matter of fact, I did. All for this." I stretched my arms around and did a little twirl, nearly upending myself.
Oh, you're fucking blasted, mate.
Last night without Kaya was a blur. I woke up at Saff’s when she hit me in the face with a couch pillow. After she yelled for a while, I got a ride from Lachlan to the office.
Trevor wheeled over and did aturn around me. "Oh God, your clothes are wrinkled, and Adrianna's right, you smell like a distillery, your hair is disheveled, and let me guess, the headache is phenomenal."
"Why yes, it is. If you could close the fucking blinds, that would help immensely. Not that there's any sunshine anywhere. It’s all gone now. But still the light in the sky is not helping."
Trevor laughed. "Oh, fucking hell, big brother has just realized that he's in love.”
“Yes sir, I’m in love. And your dear brother walked away like an idiot."
My sister sat there with her arms crossed. "You fucked up, Jasper."
"I don't need you telling me that. You think I don't fucking know it? And just what the fuck do you know about love, Trevor? You'd shag any supermodel in a skirt."
"Not true. And I’ll have you know that you can shag a supermodel in trousers, too. Or my personal favorite, a pair of joggers.”
I scoffed. “For all the pussy you get, why are you riding me about Kaya? Why do you care if I have a relationship? You don’t believe in love anyway, so what’s it to you? Besides, if you knew what I knew, you’d stop pushing."
Trevor's usually juvenile nature slipped, and he frowned at me. "I never want to make anyone as unhappy as Dad did mum, so yeah, I'll keep my supermodels. But you? I was waiting for youto show me it was possible. And you were this fucking close. It's a goddamn shame. How did you go about fucking this up?"
"Shut up. You don't know anything. I did what I had to do. You don’t know who her bloody father is. But it’s done. And now I will be miserable the rest of my life. But you two are safe, and that’s all that matters."
Trevor laughed and then rolled back to the desk. "If you're done feeling sorry for yourself and being the hero we didn’t ask for, Adrianna and I think we have a way out of this mess. So bring your sorry, hungover, probably still drunk arse over here, and we can get started on fixing this.”
“There’s nothing to fix. I’m not going to marry some random woman, and the woman I love will never speak to me, rightfully so, because I chose my company. But the hilarious thing is, I still need to get married to save my company. So I can’t fix a fucking thing. It’s like “The gift of the Magi” or something.”
Adrianna shook her head. “That’s what we’re telling you. We found a loophole.”
I lurched forward. The contents of my stomach, which was mostly scotch, lurched with me, and I had to fight to keep the bile down. I gripped the edge of my desk for purchase. “What loophole?”
“A loophole Grandfather designed to save your pompous arse. Yup, right here.” Adrianna pointed at the provision in the incorporation documents. "When the lawyers first pointed it out, we all just assumed you had to get married, but if you look closer, there's a way out."
I frowned and my brain felt sluggish, booze soaked. "I have a way out? How did I not know this?"
"Yeah, mate." Adrianna slapped the papers on the table rather loudly. “Pay attention, little brother. The equity share capital provisions were set up in the incorporation documentswhen the company went public. Grandad stated that in order to takeover full voting rights and be CEO, you have to be married."
"Yeah, I know. That's what got me in this mess in the first place.”
"Well, this little line here says that should you not meet the terms, the board takes over the voting shares. But this hidden line right after that paragraph says that if the primary heir chooses tosharevoting rights, all rights will be split equally among siblings without the need of the primary heir to be married."
I blinked slowly at my sister. "What did you just say?"
"Primary heirs don't need to be married to share their rights. Secondary conditions state that if all heirs share voting rights, the board cannot vote off the primary heir.”
I couldn’t put two and two together. What was going on? “Wait, I don’t have to be married if I share the voting rights?"
