Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
“Well,” Lucas tried to say, more interested in navigating the truck through the three-way at the end of the bridge than coming up with a decent response.
“Well,” the lawyer returned sarcastically, albeit with a playful note. “Come on, Lucas. Ronald is doing what Ronald does best which is poke at you. That soft heart you wear on your sleeve only gets tucked in when he’s around, but that doesn’t mean he’s unaware it exists. If you want to go ahead with some slander or—whatever—we can rattle a cage or two for their side of things, but my suggestion is that you simply continue to hold the wall. Ronald will get bored when he realizes he isn’t getting the reaction from you that he wants.”
Jesus.
Just like a schoolyard bully.
“Why should I do that, exactly?”
Because there was a small possibility that Lucas might enjoy suing the newspaper and his father for their bullshit over the past month. Small, but there.
“You should do that,” his lawyer replied, “because if we get started filing paperwork for anything else, the offer Hanny brought me this morning will be void. Like I said, your father is very aware of the position he’s put himself in. Shame, I think the employees quite miss you, Lucas.”
Yeah, well …
Lucas cleared his throat. “I can’t return there if my father is a factor, so.”
He knew how he sounded. The way his words put more distance between him and the man who had helped to create him, like he needed the extra space. No doubt, Lawrence picked up on it, too. This was how it would have to be from now on.
“Funny,” Lawrence said, his voice echoing through the speakers into the quiet Bronco, “I once sat across a table from your father as he shouted something very similar to your grandfather.”
“I’ll give Ronald that one,” Lucas replied just as fast, “considering his father apparently knocked up his wife—maybe that was due.”
“What about you?” Lawrence asked. “Is your anger due?”
The reasons didn’t have to be the same.
Or equal.
“What was the offer?” Lucas asked his lawyer.
Lawrence sighed heavily into the phone. “Now you’re interested.”
He chuckled. “Actually, I need you to make it quick because I’m approaching a spot upriver with no service for a stretch.”
And on the other side of that mountain?
A woman waited.
His woman.
Lucas just needed to get there.
“I could call back,” Lawrence suggested.
Lucas had a better question.
“Would I want to hear it?”
“The offer?” his lawyer asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s … Frankly, I’m not going to lie to you. It’s a good one, Lucas. I think it’s something you, more so than your father, would personally prefer. In my opinion, it’s a big win for you.”
Oh?
Lucas couldn’t be sure. A big part of him didn’t want to make deals with Ronald. It felt like letting the bastard win. At the same time, how long would a battle of wills like this last, outside or within the courts?
Fuck him for just wanting it all to end.
His last cord to cut.
“Okay,” Lucas said. “Let’s hear how he plans to screw me over.”
“Technically, with this, you’d get what you wanted. He wouldn’t own the shares, but they’ll still remain within the company, and by-proxy, his control.”
Now that made Lucas slightly curious.
What trick did Ronald think he could play?
“All right, I’m listening.”
*
Getting to the farmhouse located on The Flats coming upriver wasn’t quite the same as taking the main road straight from Birch Ridge. The view driving through the mountain he had once flown over with Delaney in a helicopter truly made Lucas appreciate the size and vastness of the tree-capped range. The gully road, weaving around tight turns all the way through the mountain, eventually spit Lucas and his Bronco out on the other side to a view he recognized.
Snowy fields stretched on for as far as his eye could see. It wouldn’t be very long before rain and warmer weather came to take the snow away, but the familiar stretch of land made it easy for him to find the first driveway on the right, cutting from the crest of a hill, after leaving the gully road behind.
Lucas made it halfway down the long driveway when a figure emerged from the barn off to the far left of the property. His hand lifted from the steering wheel to return the wave Malachi Anders greeted him with. The man smiled wide once the Bronco got close enough for him to see who sat in the driver’s seat.
Parking the Bronco where Malachi directed Lucas next to the line of vehicles in front of the two-door garage situated between the house and barn, he didn’t even get the engine turned off before his companion came up along the side of the vehicle.
Lucas rolled the window down with a laugh. “Long time, no see.”
Malachi grinned back. “Yeah, I guess, eh? Imagine, not one of those two told me you were coming down this way today.”