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“He’s still my uncle,” I reply sharply, not that I owe the dumb fuck a response. “And even if he wasn’t, I’m the president of the foundation. It’s my job to make sure there are no wrinkles in this year’s production.”
Tomas taps his foot against the faux wood floor, not like he’s jonesing to throw a punch, but like he’s a nervous little bitch.
“Give us a moment, please,” I tell the young nurse, fiddling with one of the wires attached to a monitor.
After she scurries out, I turn a hard gaze on my cousin.
“Do you need help running the company?”
If he were almost anyone else, I would broach the subject with more sensitivity. No one likes their competency called into question. And men, especially, hate asking for help.
“From you?” he scoffs. “I’m all set.”
Bullshit.“What provisions are in place to secure Premier’s holdings if he dies?”
“If you’re asking if Rafael will get his hands on any of the property, the answer isno. Not the lodge, the vineyards, not a bottle of Premier Port, not a single goddamn grape. My father saw to that the day the little traitor went to live with you.”
This is his little brother he’s talking about. What an asshole.
“That’s not what I’m asking. Rafael doesn’t need a fucking thing from you. That time has long passed.”
“No, he doesn’t need us, because he has you to hold his hand and turn him into a huge pussy. I’m surprised you let him come to see my father without you. That must have been so hard. I bet you were chewing on your nails the whole time.”
I take a step closer to Tomas, and he steps back, almost stumbling on a chair. There’s nowhere to go without getting past me. We’re the same age, but I’m taller and stronger. He’s not going anywhere unless I let him.
“Rafael is a man. He doesn’t need me to protect him from a sniveling coward who gets his little-girl feelings hurt at the drop of a hat.”
After a few seconds, I step back, and he slithers into the center of the room so he can’t be boxed in again.Yeah, that’ll save you from me.
“We’re all set. Premier is on top, as always.”
With my grandfather’s blessing, my father took the Huntsman brand for himself. The Premier brand was left for Abel. But in his hands, Premier has never been thepremierPort.
“Not on top,” I say with all the smugness he deserves.
He opens his mouth as if to respond but then thinks better of it. “My father needs peace and quiet. It’s time for you to leave. And you don’t need to come back.”
I glare at him from several feet away. “I come and go as I please. Always have. I don’t recall ever needing your permission for anything.”
He sneers.
“Any word on your mother?” I bring it up every time I see him, because I know it’s like pouring salt into an open wound.
He buries his hands in his pockets. “No word.”
“You still looking for her? Because I’ve got some good people on my team—the best. I’m happy to help. Offer still stands.”
He shifts from one foot to the other. “My mother got involved in things she should have kept her nose out of. And then she ran off when she got caught.”
“If you couldn’t convince her to stay in her lane, it was your fucking job to protect her. She was your mother, and you let the bastard murder her. Or maybe you did it. Maybe you were so jealous of the way she fawned all over your baby brother that you killed her.”
“She took off,” he barks defiantly. “I don’t know how many times I need to tell you that.”
“It doesn’t matter how often you repeat bullshit. It doesn’t make it true. I don’t believe you.” I take a step closer. “What I do believe is that there’s a special place in hell for men like you. Men who fail to protect the women who are important to them. She gave you life. I don’t know how you live with yourself.”
“You’re a fine one to talk. How many people have you killed while they begged for their lives?”
“I look at myself in the mirror every single day. I never shrink. And you know why that is? Because I didn’t murder my mother, or stand around holding my dick while someone else killed her.”
