Samuel had often felt it was his father’s back, not face, he would be able to pick out of a crowd.
Parker Kane’s lectures always began this way. With his father staring out of some window, hands clasped behind his suit jacket, silence radiating from him like an arctic wind as he gazed contemplatively into the middle distance.
When he was a boy, Samuel had assumed it was because his father was so disappointed in whatever it was he had done or failed to do that he needed time to search for the words to describe it.
Now he recognized it for exactly what it was.
A tactic to further unnerve him.
He had been summoned to his father’s office by a text from Charlotte at 6:00 a.m.
Your father would like to see you this morning.
Samuel had known it was coming, but it didn’t stop his stomach from knotting all the same. When he’d arrived at his father’s office at precisely eight o’clock, Charlotte had looked at him with the kind of pitying, hangdog expression usually reserved for people being marched to the gallows.
One look at his father’s desk confirmed that was his fate.
Next to a large manila envelope was what appeared to be a print copy of an article on the PhillyGossip website.
“Sex, Lies, and Candy! Not-so-Sweet Scandal at Kane Foods,” the title screamed.
He quickly scanned it, his eyes snagging on a series of words that painted the whole, lurid picture. “A source close to the Kanes” had not only confirmed Arlie’s recent involvement in a “devastating corporate espionage case,” but hinted that her romantic involvement with the CEO of Kane Foods International may not be “purely romantic” in nature. An unstated, but heavily implied, suggestion that Samuel, and Kane Foods by extension, was guilty of shady business practices.
He had no doubt that the “source” was Taegan but given this context, realized Arlie had never been the true target.
“I’ve often wondered,” his father said, not bothering to face him, “exactly what kind of pleasure you derive from humiliating me.”
Samuel’s jaw clenched, his teeth grinding together.
There was no correct answer to this question. It wasn’t even a question, really. It was an accusation. A verdict.
One Samuel had let stand in so many of these conversations.
“None whatsoever.” Samuel dropped into one of the chairs reserved for inferiors who were required to address him across the moat of his desk. “But then, I don’t consider a sensationalized story on a gossip website cause for humiliation.”
“Henry had mentioned that you’d been rather...distracted on the yacht. It seems he’s having some misgivings about continuing with his investment,” his father continued. “Of course, at the time, I reassured him that you are fully committed to our partnership.
“Which makes me look even more foolish. That I wouldn’t know that my own son was consorting with a woman accused of corporate espionage.” His father tapped the pads of his thumbs together, still addressing his remarks to the Philadelphia skyline. The morning sun had crept high enough on the horizon to film the skyscraper windows with molten gold. “At least she had the decency to resign.”
A leaden weight gathered in Samuel’s stomach. Losing the confidence of an investor was one thing.
Losing Arlie Banks was another entirely.
But then, he hadn’t lost her.
He had never had her to begin with.
She had failed to answer any of his texts, or return any of his many calls. Not that he knew what he would say if she had. And in the end, when it came to Arlie, he had never known what to say.
“Of course, I’ve reached out to our media contacts about distancing Kane Foods from her.”
Samuel’s hands tightened on the wooden arms of the chair. “Whatever you decide where I’m concerned, you will leave Arlie Banks out of it.”
At last, his father turned to him. “Do you honestly think you’re in any kind of position to make those kinds of demands?”
“I think I’m in the perfect position to do so.” He met his father’s icy glare. “You forget that I’ve been on the back end of every deal that Kane Foods has negotiated. I know every secret, every cut corner, every oiled palm. However unpleasant you find your current circumstances, I can promise that if I decide to talk to the gossip rags, or any media outlet, for that matter, the Kane family name will be on the lips of those leeches for years to come.”
His father’s tight, parsimonious smile melted into corrosive sneer. “I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that you would so easily turn your back on your family. After all, when Arlie’s mother stole—”
“No!” Samuel’s fist came down hard enough on the desk to make his father’s pen jump. He had no memory of standing, no consciousness of anything other than the blood thundering in his ears. “Your pathetic acolytes may have accepted your accusation without question, but Mom told me the real reason you got rid of Margaret Banks.”
His father’s face looked like a punctured balloon.
“Mom was going to leave you.” Speaking these words out loud filled him with savage satisfaction. “She was going to leave you, and Margaret was going to help. And you know what? I wish she had. At least then she would have had a few precious months of freedom before she died.”
Despite his best efforts, Samuel’s voice grew harsh with emotion at these last words.
Eight days.
Eight days had transpired between the time Arlie’s mother had been fired and his mother learning she had stage three breast cancer. Whatever plans she’d had for an escape had taken a rapid back seat to the endless parade of doctors and specialists who’d made their way to Fair Weather Hall.
His father’s laugh was as thin and dry as rice paper. “With all those books you read, it’s no wonder you imagine your life to be a gothic tragedy.”
Samuel ignored the comment. “You ruined an innocent woman, but you will not do the same to her daughter.”
“But is she innocent?” His father lazily brushed the paper on his desk, a gesture deliberately designed to let Samuel know just how unmoved he’d been by his display of temper. “It seems she’s managed to make a good deal of trouble for herself. And many others.”
“You have no idea what really happened.”
“And no desire to learn. Still.” His father paced around the end of his desk, pausing before a bronze bust of Plato. “If this is where we’re planting our flag, then I suppose what I have to propose might be of value to you.”
“Go on,” Samuel said, his tongue tasting of metal and bile.
“I will make sure that our press agents communicate that we have nothing but positive feelings for Miss Banks and that she departs with our full support. If—” his father paused, clearly relishing his next words “—you are willing to release a public statement that you are not, nor ever were, romantically involved with her.”
“I won’t do that,” Samuel said without hesitation.
“You would deny Miss Banks the opportunity to have that kind of support after her recent difficulties?”
Leave it to his father to make an act of basic human decency seem like a generous gift.
“At the price of my having to lie about her place in my life?” Samuel challenged. “Absolutely.”
“And what place would that be, exactly?” his father asked.
“That’s up to Arlie,” Samuel said. “All I know is that I won’t agree to any arrangement where her exclusion is required.”
A look of shrewd amusement sharpened his father’s features.
“Tell me,” he said, dropping a hand on the back of his desk chair. “If I were to offer you the chance to step down as the CEO of Kane Foods in exchange for Kane Foods’ public media support of Miss Banks, would you accept?”
Weeks ago, the answer to this question might have required hours, maybe even days of thought. For years he had worked, pouring his time, his energy, his soul into his father’s empire. Only to realize that it had never been the title, or the salary, or even the industry prestige he wanted.
He had wanted the legacy.
His father’s legacy.
To be Parker Kane’s heir in the truest sense.
Seen. Acknowledged. Accepted.
Now, he allowed himself to grieve for the loss of that dream.
“I might. If,” Samuel said, mimicking his father’s pronunciation, “I’m allowed an additional condition.”
“Which is?”
Samuel took a step forward to stand directly opposite the man whose shadow had fallen across every aspect of his life. “I want you to look me in the eye and tell me why you resent me so much.”
The Kane patriarch’s gaze narrowed, his cheeks going gray, his lips a bloodless white.
A cheerful succession of raps echoed from the office door, which swung open before he granted permission to enter.
To Samuel’s complete and utter shock, Mason stepped in, a smile on his lips and a coffee cup in his hand.
“Sorry I’m late. That traffic.” Mason slurped from the black plastic lid and shook his head. “Catch me up.”
A hot filament of dread sizzled in Samuel’s gut. He hadn’t seen his brother since he’d revealed the details of his plan to Arlie. But he was almost certain that Mason knew by now exactly what he’d tried to do.
Was that why he had come? To gloat over Samuel’s rapid demise?
The tension on their father’s bearing eased as it so often did when Mason arrived on the scene. “Your presence wasn’t requested at this meeting, Mason. What we’re discussing doesn’t concern you.”
“Oh, I beg to differ.” Mason slid into the chair beside the one Samuel had vacated. “Seeing as my brother hired Arlie Banks as part of an effort to eject me from the coveted spot of CMO, it concerns me deeply.”
Shit.
Their father was silent for a moment, clearly attempting to decide if arguing with Mason was worth the battle.
It never was.
Aware that he was still standing, Samuel resumed his seat, a symbolic acceptance of his presence and admission of guilt. Their father followed suit, pulling out his wide wing-backed leather chair and settling himself into it.
Parker Kane cleared his throat. Something. Important. Would. Now. Be. Said.
“My whole life, I’ve worked to make the Kane name synonymous with quality and integrity. And when something threatens the legacy I’ve attempted to build, I deal with it expediently, regardless of the source. Samuel has refused my offer to mitigate the damage he has caused while retaining his position, and for that reason, I feel that it is best that Samuel step down as CEO.”
Mason leaned forward in his chair, his head cocked at a curious angle. “And what would Samuel receive in exchange for his willing exit?”
Pleasure at Mason’s interest in his plans was heaped on their father’s face like caviar on a toast point. “Miss Banks will receive our full recommendation and support in any future endeavor.”
“Huh.” Mason nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s a no for me.”
“You don’t think we should offer Miss Banks a recommendation?” their father asked, silvery eyebrows raised.
Acid ate at Samuel’s stomach. We. As always, that we included Mason and his father alone.
“No,” Mason said. “I don’t think Samuel should step down as CEO.”
Samuel couldn’t tell who was more surprised, himself or their father.
“I beg your pardon?” Parker said.
“I don’t think Samuel should step down as CEO.” Mason set his coffee cup down on their father’s desk with a decisive thump.
“Perhaps you would be kind enough to share your reasoning behind this.”
In that moment, Samuel felt himself hoping the reasons would be purely selfish in nature. Transition in CEOs could send a red flag up to potential investors. It would be better to force Samuel to stay on during the resulting fallout for his own humiliation.
“Because Samuel is the reason Kane Foods has sustained a 10% revenue growth rate year over year since he was appointed CEO and deep down, you know dismissing him would be cataclysmically stupid.”
Had Mason walked into the room, hauled back, and clocked him in the jaw, Samuel would have accepted this as his due. He’d rolled the dice and lost. Fair was fair.
But this?
This left him more stunned than any knockout punch ever could.
His twin going to bat for him in front of the father whose favor he clearly owned? After Samuel had done his level best to sabotage him?
“Your brother hired a woman for the express purpose of attempting to lure you into an affair that would result in your dismissal. You don’t think that’s grounds for his resignation?”
“First of all,” Mason said, “she’s not just a woman. She’s Arlie Banks, and she’s a wonderfully talented food stylist. I would have hired her in a hot minute, with or without my brother’s scheming.”
An exceedingly unwelcome flush of heat erupted beneath Samuel’s collar when Mason pinned him with a pointed look.
“Second, I’ve personally broken that rule on at least six very memorable occasions. The only difference is that Samuel is too pathetically honest not to get caught.”
“Romances within the workplace compromise productivity. They can lead to potential legal consequences—” their father sputtered.
“Did you or did you not meet our mother working at the soda fountain at the Sunset Drive-in in Conshohocken?” Mason asked.
“Mom never told me that!” Samuel objected.
“She knew it would offend your orderly soul,” Mason replied.
“That was the circumstance of our original acquaintance,” Parker admitted.
Though he couldn’t be certain, Samuel would have sworn he saw a subtle sheen coating their father’s eyes.
“Look,” Mason said. “Every one of us in this room knows that you have the resources to shape this narrative however you want. My personal recommendation is to come down on PhillyGossip like a ton of bricks. And when you find the source of this article, make them pay, and pay again. Make them rue the day they ever typed the name Kane.”
Samuel felt a slick of pleasure at the idea. At Taegan subject to the same scrutiny she’d brought to Arlie.
Their father stood, wandering back to his spot at the window.
“And if I should decide Samuel’s resignation remains the best course of action?”
“Then you’ll have mine to go with it,” Mason said. “Marlowe’s too, if you’re curious.”
Samuel glanced at his twin, not fully sure what he expected to see, his mind buzzing with the one question.
Why would you do this for me after what I tried to do to you?
Mason grinned. The one answer he could and would always give clear in his eyes.
Because I can.
On an exhale that could have moved a mountain range, their father faced them. “I suppose, in this particular instance, maintaining our current structure might be the wisest course of action.”
“That current structure will include Arlie Banks,” Samuel said. “Whether or not she’ll have me after all that’s happened.”
Their father stiffened. “I can’t think of any reason why I should accept such a stipulation.”
“Because it lends credibility to our position about the article,” Mason pointed out. “The fact that you insisted on keeping her with the company despite the rumors is practically a recommendation in and of itself.”
Crafty. Appealing to their father’s ego.
But then, Mason had always been more effective when it came to navigating the waters of flattery.
Heaving a beleaguered sigh, Parker Kane shook his head.
“Fine. But should there be negative consequences to any part of this arrangement, I will hold you both personally responsible.”
There had been times when Samuel had refused to speak and times when words failed him. But never in his memory had there been a moment so pure and rare that words felt like a betrayal.
A victory had been won.
The polite tap on their father’s office door interrupted the tense silence.
“What?” he barked.
The door inched open, revealing Charlotte’s concerned visage. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said. “You have a call with Vibrant Health in five minutes.”
“I believe we’re finished here.” He looked from Samuel to Mason.
“Totally finished on this end,” Mason said. “Samuel?”
“Completely.”
Together, they exited their father’s office. Samuel’s knees were rubbery, sweat drying on his clammy skin. Walking down the hallway toward the elevator, the brothers fell into step. Legs of precisely the same length finding the same stride. Twins after all.
They stood side by side, waiting for the car to come.
“I’m not sure why you did that,” Samuel said, “but I want you to know that I’m grateful. After what I tried to do—”
“What you tried to do,” Mason said, “was get me booted from a role I’ve clearly resented for years by reuniting me with a woman you mistakenly believed I loved. You absolute bastard. How dare you?”
“Point taken.”
Mason nodded to a pair of admins who ducked their heads and giggled the second they passed. “I’m the one who should apologize.”
A sentence Samuel had never in his life expected to hear. “For what?”
“For letting you shoulder the lion’s share of responsibility as long as you have.” His brother glanced toward the expanse of windows at the end of the hall. “I guess I had always assumed that you took on as much as you did because you wanted to. Not because I was such a fuck-up that you had to.”
“You’re not a fuck-up.” Samuel smirked. “Just especially gifted at evading responsibility.”
“Accurate,” Mason agreed. “I just never really wanted this, you know? The whole corporate-owned soul thing.”
“It’s not like any of us were given much choice,” Samuel said. And this was true. From the time they’d been old enough to lurch down their family home’s marbled halls, they’d been guided through a carefully orchestrated regime of activities designed to prepare them for the life their father had in mind. They had arrived at an entirely different territory now.
“So what are you going to do?” his brother asked.
“About what?”
Mason raised an eyebrow at him. “About the fact that you’re madly in love with Arlie Banks?”
The denial rose in Samuel’s throat, but he no longer had the strength to pretend.
He was in love with her.
He had been in love with her.
“She has no reason to forgive me,” he said.
“I did,” Mason said. “Don’t you think there’s even the slightest chance that she might understand how what you did had everything to do with our father and nothing to do with her?”
Samuel just stared at his brother, shocked by this unexpected insight.
“Maybe you could try to look a little less surprised that I’m capable of empathetic thought?” Mason asked.
“I’m sorry,” Samuel said. “I just don’t know how she could want to be with me after all that’s happened.”
The elevator dinged, burnished-metal doors sliding open.
They stepped in.
Mason stepped toward him, dropping his hands on Samuel’s shoulders.
“You are Samuel Kane. You graduated magna cum laude. You have pulled off seventeen mergers deemed impossible by Forbes. Beyond which, I happen to know that you’re remarkably good looking. Go. Get. The. Girl.”