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My head spins. “It’s just getting started. We have investors. I’m going to Italy to secure more funding. You’re worrying over nothing. We’ve got this. We—”
“We haven’t got anything,” he snaps with an uncharacteristic anger that makes Mum gasp. “This project, brilliant as it might be on paper, son, could ruin us. Itisruining us.”
“Dad.” I can’t help the laugh that fires from my chest at the bizarreness of this conversation. He’s a multi-billionaire. My family owns houses around the world, a fleet of luxury cars and a private jet. My thirtieth birthday present was my own private fucking island.
“This isn’t a laughing matter,” Dad bellows.
Mum clasps a hand over her mouth and weeps.
Leonard Rich never shouts. Not when a tree crashed into our house during a storm last year and caused half a million pounds of damage. Not when Mum lost her six-carat engagement ring while swimming in the sea on vacation, and he had to replace it. Not when I was caught joyriding in a stolen car with Drew when we were sixteen.
But now he looks like his head might explode from the mix of rage and fear in his eyes.
He takes a deep breath, threading his fingers together on the table in front of him and fixating on them. “We need to ensure the future success of the business… of the family.”
“I’ll get more investors on my trip. Get them to bring higher buy-ins,” I say.
I know I can do it. I’ve already brought in millions from investors.
“It’s not enough.” Dad hangs his head. “It’s time we made choices for the family.”
Why are the hairs on the back of my neck pricking to attention at the sound of where this is headed?
“You’re thirty-four in six months, son.”
“And?”
He raises his eyes to meet mine and the look in them makes my mouth dry up.
“You need to do things for the family. The same as I have over the years. A union that strengthens the business, strengthens our family.”
A union?
Oh.
“You want me to get married? Hey, I’m working on it.”
I’ve been using dating apps for months. Work is so busy that I’ll never meet anyone without them. I mean, sure it’s been more for random hook-ups. A guy has needs. But in the long-term, I always saw myself getting married and having kids. One day.
“I’ll take dating a little more seriously, I’ll—”
Dad snorts, and even Mum’s weeping halts as she gives me a pointed look.
Okay, so my track record isn’t great. Most people don’t meet and fall in love at seventeen like my parents did. You’ve got to experience what life has to offer, and the right one comes along when they’re good and ready. Tanner and Dax are living examples. Neither were saints growing up, and yet both are now pussy-whipped and grinning all the time. Although Drew is like me and hasn’t joined that camp yet. But I know he has his eye on some hot-shot lawyer he met ages ago. She was my blind date from a double date I went on with Drew. But it was obvious there was no connection there. Drew’s blind date was much more my type… Incredible tits.
“I saw Spencer last week. His manufacturing business is doing well. But he’s still undercut by overseas labor sometimes,” Dad says.
“That’s his company’s strength, though. That it’s all British designed and manufactured,” I say.
Dad’s friend, Spencer North, has a similar story. Both are self-made men. Both built their businesses from the ground up. Both are strong family men.
“Being the best isn’t enough anymore, son. You have a thousand wolves snapping at your heels, ready to take what’s yours given the chance.” His chest sags as though it pains him to say it. “Strong business unions are what’s needed. Exclusive contracts will give Spencer’s company an edge. Something competitors won’t have. He’s going to talk with Gabrielle about it. I’m confident she’ll see that this is what’s best for both families.”
“Gabrielle? Dad—?”
Gabrielle is Spencer’s only daughter. We know one another from all the time our parents spent together as we were growing up. But I haven’t seen her in a few years. Last I heard, she was in Nigeria, working as a UN aid doctor. She’s worked overseas ever since her mother passed away. She didn’t want to take over the family business, which caused a lot of upset for Spencer. I recall him spending many late nights here, talking with my father in his office about it.
“Len, what have you done?” Mum gasps.
