Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Grandpa stands again and paces behind the desk. I’ve never seen him like this before. The great Graham Rowe was a master of business in his day, a titan of industry, a formidable force, and a terrifying man to grow up with. In all my life, I’ve never glimpsed him worried, not a single time. Angry and disappointed, yes, plenty, but never actively worried. Right now, Grandpa looks like he’s on the verge of pulling out his own hair, and it’s scaring me.
“There’s another option.” He stops pacing and clears his throat. “You have to understand. Your father took millions from the company and burned even more of our personal fortune in his little crypto scheme.” Grandpa makes a face. “All that money evaporated overnight and the family is left in perilous condition. Nobody’s coming to save us, Brice, and Rowe Oil’s not going to survive much longer, not with all this bad press and the money missing. The oil pumps will stop, and once they stop, we’ll never be able to afford to turn them back on. This is the end of our family as we know it, all because your father thought it was smart to invest well over half of our net worth in crypto coins.” He grinds out the last two words like he’s breaking them between his teeth.
“What can I do to help?” I ask, shaking slightly. The idea that our family might disintegrate is too much to imagine. The Rowe family has been in Texas for generations, rich beyond measure, powerful and connected to politicians at every level, and yet it feels like all of that is about to disappear practically overnight. How can a family with such deep roots suddenly topple? It’s inconceivable, and yet, it’s happening.
Grandpa meets my gaze and he looks like a man staring into his own coffin. “There is something you can do, Brice. But you aren’t going to like it. I don’t like it myself. In fact, I find this whole enterprise obscene and distasteful, but an opportunity arose, and—” He stops himself, hand tightening around the whiskey. He tosses it back, drains the glass, and puts it down on the desk. Almost as an afterthought, he says, “Maybe you should have a drink too.”
“No, thank you,” I say quietly, feeling sick, wondering where my uncles are, where my cousins are, why this is falling entirely on me right now. Uncle Ted is the CFO, Uncle Wade is the head of engineering, even my cousin Summer is a top lawyer for the company. Why am I the one sitting here, the daughter of the traitor and the reason for our family’s downfall, and the only Rowe that’s not actively in the company?
Grandpa rubs his face. The way he keeps skirting the problem makes my stomach feel like its eating itself. “You have to understand, Brice. He asked for you specifically. I said there were other deals we could make, other ways, even suggested Summer, for God’s sake, but—”
“What are you talking about?” I sit back, bewildered and overwhelmed. “Grandpa, just tell me what’s going on, please. Who asked for me and why?”
He stares at me levelly. “There’s an offer on the table to invest in Rowe Oil. It’ll be for a minority stake and it’ll include two seats on the board, but it’ll save us, Brice. It’s enough money to keep Rowe Oil going for a while longer and to stabilize the family’s finances. But he asked for you and he said there are no other options.”
“Who asked for me?”
“Carmine Scavo.”
The name hits me like a kick to my chest. Suddenly, I’m back in college seven years earlier, my face being ground into the dirt, and that savage monster’s words ringing in my ears. God, you’re so much prettier with a little dirt on you, you filthy fucking girl.
“I don’t understand,” I say, rocking back in the chair, body tingling and every nerve on fire.
“I’m told you two know each other from Blackwoods.” Grandpa’s barely looking at me now. “The Scavo family is uncouth and uncivilized at best, but they’re the only offer on the table. Carmine’s young, but he’s been buying up gas stations all across the country, and he sees this as his chance to get his family into the oil industry for real. They’re serious people with serious money, and even if that money comes from ugly sources, we need it right now. Beggars can’t be choosers, and for the first time in a very long time, the Rowes are beggars.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head rapidly. “Grandpa. You’re joking, right? You’re going to take money from those gangsters?” The idea is so scandalizing it feels like my entire worldview is crumbling into pieces.
Graham Rowe would never, ever deal with people like the Scavo family. Petty mafioso, criminals, thieves, killers. The Rowe family simply doesn’t make deals with men like that.