Love Me (The Elites of Cheshire shore #2)

32. Rome

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

rome

I adjust my work satchel over my shoulder as I close the door to my Bentley, locking it before tucking the key in my pocket. With bunched shoulders, primmed and ready, my large angry strides eat up the distance from my car to the elevator. My phone rings in my pocket as the doors close behind me. Breaking down Flo’s walls is proving harder to do than I thought.

“What?” I bark. I don’t even bother to check the caller ID, Dante has already called me three times in the last hour, and this makes it number four.

“Did you get the email?” Dante drawls.

“No,” I reply for the second time. “I’m not in the office yet. Just like I wasn’t in the office five minutes ago. Stronzo . When I get the email, I’ll call you. Don’t go to sleep.” I hang up the phone just as the elevator doors open to my floor. The day hasn’t even started yet, and it’s already gone to shit.

“Rome,” Savannah greets me as I walk past her desk. “You have a visitor waiting in your office.”

This can’t be good.

Resting my thumb and forefinger on the bridge of my nose, I take a deep breath. “Please excuse them, I don’t have time for visitors today, I’m stuck in a last-minute meeting with my brothers.” I don’t bother stopping and walk straight into my office.

“Sorry, but I can’t do that,” her faint voice replies. There is only three people Savannah is instructed to always interrupt me if they enter the building. Since my parents are on vacation, that knocks two people off the list.

“What the fu—” The words die on my tongue when I see my father sitting in my chair. This is bad. Very. Very. Bad. Dad has been difficult about Ven Industries to say the least, we only managed to get him to fully retire last year after a few years of him monitoring emails and requesting monthly reports. He doesn’t exactly see us as ready to take over, no matter how many times we’ve proved to him we are. And finding him sitting in my office, now, when the first project that my brothers and I are going to implement for our company is hanging by the proverbial thread, really doesn’t bode well for us.

“Dad,” I grunt, lifting my satchel higher up on my shoulder. I survey his posture, the way his lips are pulled tight in a thin line. Dad’s eyes stay glued to my computer screen, the tension in the room only crackles more. I open and close my fingers by my side. This is exactly what I didn’t want. So far, all the issues we’ve faced with our shipments have been handled discretely. Croft Racing received their fuel, and Lottie even went on to win a championship point, so there is no reason why he should be even here.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, but I decide to let it ring. “Can I help you?” I ask, cutting through the tension, since it’s obvious Dad isn’t going to say anything. I close the door behind me, only to have it reopened a few seconds later as Savannah steps through with a pile of manila folders in her arm. I stare at her with my lips set in a grim line. Hardening my eyes, I try to convey, Get out of here and don’t set those documents down , but she just smiles at me and places the documents in front of my dad.

“Here’s everything you asked for, sir.” Her voice is sticky sweet, the over-the-top artificial candy kind. Everything. As in multiples? I grind my teeth together. Maybe he is looking at the plans because Dante is making headway with Kadelburg? This could all just be one giant overreaction because Brian is getting into my head as much as Flo is.

“Thank you.” He dismisses her and immediately grabs the folders, opening the top one and thumbing through the documents.

Annoyance starts to bite at my veins. I hold my tongue between my teeth to tamp it down. Everything is sorted. My brothers and I have everything under control, why is Dad now undermining our leadership? I wait for Sav to leave my office, using the time to count back from ten, closing the door with a sharp thud behind her. With large, purposeful strides, I close the distance to the chair opposite my desk, letting my satchel fall beside me. “Wanna tell me what the hell is going on?” My tone is a little angrier than I would have liked, the handle I have on my emotions clearly slipping.

My dad’s gaze flicks up for a split second before it lands back on the page, like he can’t spare a second away from what he’s reading. He holds up a hand, telling me to wait. Counting backward from ten isn’t working; I up it to fifty. My dad doesn’t respond to my little emotional outburst, and I need to cool down if I want an outcome even remotely favorable to me. I run my hand along my jaw, needing the bite of the stubble digging into my palm to distract me while maintaining a casual external facade.

“Bro, Dante is blowing up my phone.” Luca bursts into my office, only then does my father look up.

Luca looks from Dad to me. “Oh hey, Dad. Great to see you. Does Mom know you’re here? Aren’t you supposed to be in Gibraltar?”

I tap my fingers against my thigh, waiting for my stupid brother to stop babbling.

“That makes two,” Dad mumbles, ignoring Luca’s question, which I’ll admit, I’d also like the answer to. Dad gets more comfortable in his chair, sitting back and resting his arms behind his head. “Now we wait for the third.” Just as my father finishes talking, the intercom on my phone beeps as Sav’s voice crackles through.

“Line three.” My dad leans forward and clicks a few buttons.

“Dante.” His voice is sharp like a whip.

“Dad,” he replies, the dread I was feeling earlier now amplified by the fact Dad wants all three of us here. This is really not good.

“Now that my three sons are here, let’s have a chat, shall we?” He indicates to the empty chair beside me. Luca takes that as his cue and sits down. I tuck my arms closer to my sides to hide the sweat that has gathered and is no doubt staining my shirt. I swallow the lump in my throat, my suspicions raised.

“When the fuck were you three going to tell me about the problems we’ve been having with the delay of Croft Racing’s fuel?”

Fuck.

“We are handling it,” I reply through gritted teeth. “They received their shipment; the paperwork issue is something we’ve implemented new strategies for.”

“Handling it? Is that what they call it these days?” My dad’s beady eyes stare slices straight through me.

“We had the ships and cargo tracked the whole time—” My brother’s excuse is cut off by Dad’s glare.

“I guess that is of little comfort. And this new tool you’ve implemented, is that how you were able to inform the client they were running late? I thought you three were capable of taking over this business?”

We are. We’ve proved it. We spent over a decade proving it.

“I put my trust in you. The family has put their trust in you.”

My nails bite into my thighs. Don’t say it.

He continues, “I thought you were all dedicated to the continual growth of our company, and growth of the Founding Five Group as a whole. We haven’t just let down the people in this office, we’ve let down a whole bunch of people who are really important to us.”

Don’t say it.

“A lick of paint and a new desk chair is far from you stamping your mark on this company. And on the Founding Five Group.”

Don’t fucking say it.

“But from what I have seen, that faith and trust have been misplaced. I’m now taking over for the foreseeable future.”

He fucking said it.

Ice fills my veins and dread the size of a concrete ball slams into my gut as I stare at my brother who mirrors my look. A light wrap on my door has us both turning with our breaths held to see who is going to enter.

The door opens, and Sav’s head pokes through. “Mr. Venuccio, your guest is here,” she says, directing her conversation to Dad.

“Dad.” Luca’s wild eyes move between Dad and Sav. He moves fast if he’s already inviting guests to the office. Luca and I can’t work here, not with the level of scrutiny Dad will put us under.

Dad just leans back in my chair and crosses his arms over his chest. “Please show them to the conference room. I’ll be in, in a minute.”

The sound of light laughter carries down the narrow hallway. My pulse hammers at the base of my skull.

“Luca and I will be out of your hair.” I stand, the legs of the chair scraping on the carpeted floor, I grab my discarded satchel and give my brother a pointed look. Luca’s shoulders relax in relief.

“Yes.” He quickly stands as we bid our father a farewell and leave. We can’t stay here, not now.

Luca and I exit our building without looking back. “Where are we going?” Luca asks the second the doors close behind us.

“Away from here,” I reply as we pile into my car. I tear out of the underground garage and straight to the bustling Cheshire Shore street. Luca doesn’t ask any more questions; just remains silent in the passenger seat. To the only place we can go. “Lucky for us we have an office at the Founding Five headquarters. We need to get this deal with Deeter done so Dad can go back into retirement. Or we will never be seen as capable enough.”

“Agreed.” I pull out my phone and send off two texts. The first to Flo.

Rome

Counting down the hours until I see you again

The second to Ryder.

Rome

I hope our office space is still free. We’re coming up

Ryder

Should be.

Ryder

I just messaged Zander he said yes

The automatic doors to the Founding Five offices open, and Luca and I walk in and take the elevator right up to our floor.

My phone buzzes with a message from Flo.

Flo

Hello, Mr. Sappy

Rome

Only for you, baby.

Rome

Say those words and I’ll be the sappiest fuck for the rest of my life.

Flo

Oh lord, save my soul

Rome

See, I’m so good, I’ve got you making up country songs about me

Flo

I have to go, I’ve got lives to save

I pocket my phone and follow my brother to our assigned office down the hall.

“Home sweet home.” Luca sighs, scanning the room.

“For now,” I reply. The office is bigger than Dante’s and Luca’s put together at Ven Industries.

“Should we call Dante back?” he asks. I busy myself, setting my laptop up and plugging it into the two giant screens.

“No, calling him back could damage our relationship with Kadelburg, we need this shipping port with them, and the county is the prime position for it. With the monarchy the way it is, he needs to continue to be present at events if we’re ever going to get ahead there.”

It’s a tough call, but there is no way Ven Industries can continue to expand if we call my brother back at the first sight of trouble. Besides, Luca and I are more than equipped to handle this. Dante needs to maintain appearances.

“Next time I want to be the one to grow our global regions,” Luca grumbles.

“Yeah, because the position is completely a ‘first come first serve’ basis.” I roll my eyes.

“Knock knock.” Zander waltzes in.

“Hey, Zander.” My brother springs to his feet and slaps him on the back. “How’s it going?”

“Not too bad.” He takes a small step backward, placing his arms on his slender hips. “Ryder told me you guys were coming in. Is everything all right? We don’t have a Founding Five meeting for a couple of weeks, so that must mean trouble in Ven paradise?”

I sigh, leaning back in the chair and running a hand down my face, already tired and the day has barely begun. “No, not really. We’re having some issues. And let’s just say the Ven industry office is feeling a little crowded lately.”

“Oh yeah, Henley mentioned your shipping issue.”

“So much for keeping secrets,” I grumble.

“Hey, what are secrets among friends? Likewise, isn’t that why we created the Founding Five? To make sure we could support each other?”

He’s not wrong. The Founding Five was created to offer a safeguard, a protection for our select group with high-net-worth individuals.

“The real problem is the timing of this clusterfuck. The company we’re trying acquire is putting up all these roadblocks for no reason other than they fucking can.” I rub my forehead, an ache forming there.

Zander folds his lips inward. “Shit, guys, that sounds like a lot of shit to sift through. I get why hiding out here is a good option. Let me know if I can help you guys in any way.”

“Thanks,” I reply, my muscles getting tighter by the minute.

“But just remember you have some of the greatest minds at your disposal and a rock-solid support system. Don’t hesitate to send up the Bat-Signal if you need an assist.” Zander leaves us with that final thought.

Poetic. Fucking Fallington. They’re always right.

Luca and I stare at each other. We need to pull our heads together and use the Founding Five to our advantage. Before it costs us our entire future.