Ignoring his snarky comment, I make my way toward the table and pull out the seat beside Malachi. “Why didn’t you start without me?” I whisper.
Malachi’s cologne fills my nose as he straightens in his chair. “Father wanted to. He was so angry at your tardiness that he was going to hand the company over to me.”
“So why didn’t he?”
Malachi pulls out a pen from the breast pocket of his jacket. “Because I believe it is the best man who should win, and perhaps the best man wasn’t here.”
My brother’s words strike me deep. Despite him wanting the company above anything he waited, he waited for me to return so I would have a fair chance. For years I thought Malachi and I had a conflict of interests, but the truth is, conflicting or not, we have always been on the same team.
“I do apologise. Finish your conversation first. I’ve only been waiting three and a half hours, what’s another five minutes?” Father says, and turns his attention to me.
“Sorry,” Malachi and I say in unison.
Father takes his position at the head of the room and clears his throat. “It is with great pleasure that I announce Lucian to be the proud owner of Calloway and Sons Housebuilders company. Congratulations, son.”
Chair legs screech against the floor as Edgar gets to his feet and walks across the room with a large stack of papers in hand. He separates the papers into four neatly stacked piles in front of me.
Malachi claps me on the back and hands me the pen. “Well done, brother.”
“I need your signatures on all of the dotted lines,” Edgar says, and points to where yellow Post-it note arrows have been stuck down. “You will also find contracts drawn up for your agreement with Mr Ambrose. He called ahead this morning and informed me of your decision to give him ten percent of the company.”
Ten percent?
Did Josh think I would be so wrapped up in securing the business that I wouldn’t read over the fine print?
Father stands proud. “It is a very noble thing you’re doing, son; on what I have seen so far, I believe you and Josh will make a fantastic team.”
Anger pools in me as I scan over the first of the four contracts. A contract that meant everything, that promised to deliver everything I ever wanted, whereas now all I see is expectation. The expectation to marry a woman my father deems worthy and whom I do not love, the expectation to send my children to private school, and the expectation to become the carbon copy of my father.
“As soon as Lucian has signed the contracts, we shall discuss the hotel chain and the cruise liner company,” Father continues.
“The cruise liner company. The irony of running something that is meant to stay afloat but is sinking,” Gage scoffs.
“Well, I am certainly not running a sinking ship,” Malachi argues.
“You may not have a choice,” Gage fires back.
It would appear the most favourable company after the Calloway housebuilders is the hotel chain, and why wouldn’t it be? It is highly successful, and profits have almost tripled over the last ten years.
“Come on, son, we haven’t got all day,” Father prompts when I’ve made no attempt to put pen to paper.
Malachi places his hand over mine and brings the pen to the dotted line. “Hurry up, Lucian. We have a plane to catch for our skiing weekend.”
Malachi freezes, and glances at my hand, or more specifically my finger. “I see you finally opened your present from our mother.”
I scrutinize Malachi’s blasé expression. “All this time, you knew?”
“Of course, I am the eldest after all, it is my duty to know everything,” he says, and my gaze alternates between our matching heirlooms.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t. It was something you had to do, when the time was right.”
Like Malachi and Gage, I am the proud owner of the Calloway ring. The crest is subtly depicted within a chunky black gemstone. Rings signify the never-ending, like the bond between brothers.
Three rings, one eternal bond.
Malachi leans in close. “I just have one question,”