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If it were at all possible for a room to become more silent, then that best described the environment. Cole looked down at the tip of polished handmade boots as he awaited the reaction of his brothers.
“It has been brought to our attention that when I was eighteen, I unknowingly fathered a child,” Phillip Senior said, sticking to his no-nonsense persona. “A son.”
And, like the Fourth of July, the questions and exclamations fired off like fireworks in rapid succession.
“What!” Lucas said, his eyes wide and confused.
“Are you serious?” Sean asked.
Phillip Junior threw his hands up in the air. “What does this mean for Cress, INC.?”
“Ça suffit!”Nicolette exclaimed.
Cole, like Gabe, remained silent. He looked on as his brothers sat, expressions full of shock, as their mother pressed a hand to their father’s chest when he clutched her closer to him.
Phillip Senior pressed another kiss to his wife’s brow before releasing her to move into the center of the room and boldly eyeing each of his sons. “Yesterday, a preliminary DNA was done and the results came in today,” he said. “So far, it has confirmed he is, indeed, my son. Your family. And once the results of the court-approved DNA results return in the next few days, he will also be an heir.”
This time his words brought silence. It was stiff. And awkward. And uneasy.
Even Cole took a beat to accept his father’s declaration. He had never assumed his father would turn over a key to the kingdom with such ease for a man he’d never known.
“Just like that?” Phillip Junior asked, his jaw stiffening.
“Absolutely, son,” Phillip Senior said with a stern expression as he looked at him. “Maybe more so thananyof you.”
Cole’s eyes pierced his profile.
“What does that mean?” Gabe asked, breaking his silence.
Phillip Senior shifted his stance. “You have all benefitted from the legacy your mother and I created. It has served each of you well. He received nothing from me and did it all on his own,” he said, with a rare reveal of emotion.
That surprised Cole. And rattled him a bit.
Displays of affection from their father were only doled out to their mother once the brothers had become young men. With Phillip Senior, there had been nothing but sternness and a steadfast desire to raise men.
“I never turned my back on any of my sons, and I won’t do it now,” Phillip Senior said before looking directly at Cole. “Noneof you.”
“And is this stranger eligible to be the new CEO of Cress, INC.?” Phillip Junior asked, sounding accusatory.
Phillip Senior turned his head to look at him. “‘Stranger’?” he said, his voice filling with coldness. “He is your brother. The same as all the rest.”
“I disagree with that,” Phillip Junior said.
Steps against the hardwood floor suddenly echoed.
Everyone in the den turned their head just as a man stepped into the room. He was tall, with a shortbread complexion like their own, and a similar face to a twenty-years-younger Phillip Senior.
Cole recognized him from Bobbie’s report before their father beckoned the man further into the room with a wave of his hand and introduced him.
“Phillip Junior, Sean, Gabriel, Coleman and Lucas... This is Lincoln Cress. Your brother.”
Jillian pushed up her rarely used spectacles as she gave the sprawling double-height kitchen one last perusal before sliding her cutlery set into her satchel. She was done with her chef duties for the day and ready to get to her tiny apartment for a hot foot soak and then a bubble bath. “ASAP,” she said.
Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz.
She paused to remove her cell phone from the pocket of her chef’s coat. “Hey, Ma,” she said, tucking the phone between her shoulder and ear as she finished buttoning her overcoat before leaving the empty house via the mudroom.
She rushed to her beloved Mazda Miata as the brutal northeast winter wind whipped around. She was thankful there was no snow to tackle on her lengthy commute to Manhattan.
