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I’m no psychologist but it doesn’t look like he’s forgiven Balthazar yet.
Inhaling, Luca continues. “So anyway, slowly, we learned about each other. Occasionally, we met up, our mothers finding friendship. And then we all ended up at Stanford. When I was a senior, Reuben was a junior, Brecken a freshman.”
“It sounds as if your mothers had a game plan here. Emigrating to the U.S? All of you going to the same school?”
“Exactly right,” Reuben praises. “Our mothers wanted us to be invincible, useful. So we studied law, architecture, finance, and business so that we could become the fucking kings of the hotel world.”
For the first time in what feels like ages, I raise a smile. “To what end though?” I ask Luca.
“Dad wants to retire soon. We’re still a privately owned business. We make every decision ourselves, responsible for every single thing about the Balthazar Hotel Group and brand. It’s a huge undertaking. Balthazar Wolfford owns one hundred percent of the business, having bought out his brother and sister fourteen years ago. It’s a competitive market out there, and Sienna wants to sell. She doesn’t want a role in the business, only intent on bringing some glamour to the table. And we’re dead set against selling.”
“Balthazar wants to sell the business rather than have his three sons take it on?” I ask incredulously. “No, there’s no way he’d sell to appease one child.”
“He would rather all his children took it on, and he doesn’t want Sienna to feel excluded.”
“That’s her choice,” I gripe. “Why is your father allowing this? It doesn’t sound healthy.”
Understatement of the century.
“It’s his way of getting her involved,” Reuben clarifies. “Though it’s not working. He can see how the business has taken over his life. It’s destroyed relationships, and created tension. It’s complicated, but he doesn’t want to burden Luca with it alone, and Luca doesn’t want to take it on unless all three of us are with him.”
Roo looks to Brecken, inviting him to speak up. So he does. “I’ve been less keen to get involved. Some months I see myself owning it, others not. During a period when I was happy to take over, Reuben and I agreed that we would change our surname to Wolfford if Dad shared it equally between the three of us, without Sienna. We’d offer Sienna a cash settlement, but it won’t be anything near the multimillions she’d get if we sold. I’m doing this for Luca and Roo, though sometimes, I just want to go off on my own and do my own thing.”
I take a deep breath. There’s a lot at stake here. A lot of mixed feelings and inter-familial negotiations. “What am I missing? Sienna implied you were running out of time for something. What was that about?”
Roo curses. “Sienna’s trying to make Dad commit to a condition. A condition we have to meet if he lets us run the business without her.”
“Like?”
“Marriage.”
My heart kicks out. “How does that help you? That’s nuts and totally unrelated.” She could suggest relevant hotel management degrees, something in tourism or administration. Anything but this arbitrary, unnecessaryqualification.
“We know,” Luca agrees. “We don’t think he’ll care for it. He’s been divorced three times, so he’s not exactly a fan of the whole institution of marriage.”
“And as you’ve gathered, neither are we,” Reuben adds. “We can’t keep girlfriends, let alone wives. We’re not game for that, and Sienna knows it. That’s why she suggested it.”
And she thinks she has her dad wrapped around her little finger. What if she’s right, though?
My brain hurts, but I think there’s still a missing puzzle piece. “Is she asking you to sign up for that condition? And by a certain date?”
Brecken nods. “By his retirement date. In about a year.”
I release a long breath. This has several possible outcomes. One; they don’t agree to it, and it’s not a problem. Two; they agree to it, and they need a wife, which is not me. Three: they agree to it, and I agree to be that wife. Four; they don’t agree to it, and they don’t acquire the business. The business is then sold.
Option four is the riskiest outcome, which makes the reason for a wife just a little more necessary.
I find myself staring at the twinkly lights, each one slowly blurring.
What a fucked-up Christmas Day. Awake for only a handful of hours at this stage I’ve already lived through a full spectrum of emotions. There was the high from this morning where I resigned, and then the happy endorphins flooding my bloodstream courtesy of a good time with Luca. And then there’s the beautiful gift. God, what do I do with that now? And now, I’m free-falling into despair and disillusionment. I feel cheated. Lied to. But strangely, despite all of the negativity, I’m also feeling covetous. “Do you all need a wife or just one of you?”
“That’s unclear at the minute because we just won’t entertain the discussion.” Luca, his voice a rumbling bass-baritone.
“When will you have that discussion? It sounds like it’ll be needed.”
Brecken blows out a breath. “We’re meeting for lunch in two days to discuss.”
Each one of them does that thing they seem so good at, all reacting at the same time. It’s like they have a connection to a motherboard, each of them getting a signal simultaneously. They edge towards me and lean in.
