1
Were they still running a business? Ethan wasn’t so sure. At least he couldn’t tell by his brothers so called dedication of late. Lawson Steel wasn’t losing any ground, but they weren’t making any either. Normally he’d address it in the conference room, openly. That would require people to actually show up to the office.
This morning brought him to his breaking point. First Seth blew him off for their meeting at eight. When he finally reached his brother, Seth gave him the excuse he’d taken Charlene away to some chocolate convention in Vegas. That was great, but they weren’t in the chocolate business. And Ethan would’ve appreciated a phone call in advance, cancelling. Then Dylan didn’t show either. At least he sent an email notifying them that his baby was sick and Sofia didn’t get any sleep last night so he was going to work from home. He doubted Dylan was going to get anything done with a sick baby. Gareth was still in Tabiq building his own business and although he said he was still a member of Lawson Steel, he wasn’t an active one. That left Jordan who was still MIA. Last he’d heard, Jordan had taken some girl to a hockey game. Since he wasn’t answering his phone, he assumed that meant he scored better than his team.
Even with all his aggravation from earlier, he still was unsure as to what he was going to do. That was until now. This was the final straw. Ethan looked at his watch as he sat waiting for his brother to show up. Charles demanded punctuality. In business, it was everything. Late meant you didn’t value the other person’s time. And since Ethan knew what was behind Charles’ tardiness, it only pissed him off even more. If Charles didn’t show up soon, Ethan was leaving.
Before Ethan could act on that, Charles entered the office and said, “Sorry to keep you waiting. I was”
“I know, meeting with Shaun. What do the Hendersons want now?” Shaun was the Henderson he was concerned about the least, but Ethan didn’t trust any of them. The business world knew the Hendersons had a reputation of always getting what they want. What made Charles think they weren’t the same on a personal level? Cousins or not, they are not to be trusted.
As of late, their long lost cousins were making more and more appearances. It was the unannounced ones that raised the hairs on the back of his neck. He still had a lot of questions as to what the hell Dean had been doing meeting with Seth a few months ago. It wasn’t because Ethan hadn’t asked, but the fact that Seth and Charles were so tightlipped over it, was uncommon. The only response he received was it was a private matter. Lawson Steel was a family business. It had been for almost two hundred years. And as far as Ethan knew, he was still family, still part owner of the company. It was his right to know what was going on. Or at least that was his opinion.
Charles sat down in his large leather seat across from Ethan and said, “He was in the city on business.”
“I didn’t think he was just out for a drive. Did he say what type of business?” It wasn’t any of his business, but the saying ignorance is bliss was foolish. All it did was leave you open to get blindsided.
“He was meeting up with Connor.”
“Connor Falciano? Isn’t he a friend of Sal’s?” Seth had introduced him as such in passing.
“He works for the Hendersons now.”
Fucking figures.“And Connor is in New York?
“The Hendersons have opened an office here,” Charles said.
“Since when?” Ethan asked. And why? They worked out of Boston?”
“I assume it was a recent development as this was the first I heard of it as well.”
“You’re not concerned about that?”
Charles arched a brow. “Should I be?”
“I would think the fact they made such a move without even discussing it with any of us should be a red flag. Then again, what do they do that isn’t one?”
“Ethan, they are not our competition. Maybe if they were, I’d feel differently,” Charles stated.
To Ethan that was the problem. If they were competition, he and his brothers would be prepared. But the Hendersons did business differently. They were known for being a hammer and crushing what they wanted. Lawson Steel wasn’t fragile and the Hendersons would have one hell of a fight if they thought they could take them down. He might not trust them, but Ethan didn’t believe they were after their company. That only made him question even more why the Hendersons were putting an office in the city.
He could tell when Charles was hiding something and right now, it didn’t appear as though he was. If anything, Charles seemed actually in a really good mood for it being a Monday morning. So he asked, “Is that why Shaun stopped by? To inform you of their new office?”
Charles shook his head. “No. He was dropping off invitations for a birthday party.”
Great. Now we’re expected to attend their shit too? Does this end?Holidays were one thing, but birthday parties, were a bit much. Hell, Ethan turned thirty-one last week and only his sisters-in-law seemed to have remembered.
“Hand delivering them? Doesn’t that seem a bit…odd to you?” Ethan asked.
Charles shook his head. “He didn’t want them to get ruined.”
“I’m sure the US postal service can handle delivering a card,” Ethan said sarcastically. It was a lame excuse and Charles didn’t even seem to question it. “Next you’ll be telling me they wanted to save on postage.”
Charles chuckled. “Not quite. These are special. His son Tyler has handmade them all. My secretary was actually walking around to drop them all off. It had slipped my mind that you were waiting in my office otherwise I’d have kept yours with me.”
Forgot me. Nice.It was only making what he’d called this meeting for easier to say. But that could wait a few more minutes. Not that he wanted to hear more about the Hendersons, but Tyler was a special young man. Shaun and Morgan had come as a family to the Lawson Thanksgiving gathering. It was the first time Ethan had gotten to spend time with anyone autistic before. He had sat down at the table trying to keep up with Tyler as he built a fortress out of Legos. What Ethan found most interesting was how detailed Tyler was in making sure everything was perfect, and that Tyler even had stopped working on his and corrected Ethan’s structure to be sound. Funny, since building skyscrapers was supposed to be what Lawsons did best. Maybe just not with Legos.
“It must be a birthday for someone very special for Tyler to have made the invitations.”