The Forgotten One (The Heirs #2)

Chapter Five

It had been two painstaking hours since Max shook the hand of Chase’s trusted friend, Busa, and watched him drive off to determine Max’s future.

Several times in those two hours, Chase had attempted to tell him about Aaron Stone and the company he’d built. Max either didn’t listen or cut Chase off. “I don’t need to know any of this if that test comes back negative. Let’s just sit here and talk about football.”

Turned out, neither of them was into football.

Chase kept up most of the conversation. He talked about how he got started in shipping, without the help of his rich father and maybe even in spite of the man. And how he’d recently moved the offices of that company to Stone Enterprises’ main hub in order to manage both.

Then, when Chase revealed that Alex had worked for a direct competitor of Stone Enterprises, Max knew that was a big “fuck you” move against her father. One Max approved of completely.

At the two-hour mark of Busa’s departure, the sound of a car pulling up to the house had both him and Chase on their feet.

Instead of Chase’s friend, Alex and Piper walked through the door.

Chase greeted his fiancée with a kiss and his sister with a smile.

Piper smiled with a low hello before darting off to a bathroom.

Alex looked him up and down and said, “Did you leave the bat at home?”

Max nodded once. “That was a dick move on my part,” he said.

“Was that an apology?”

“No. I thought you guys were screwing with me. Obviously, you both think there’s some merit to this missing-brother thing. I can’t imagine you’d go to such lengths if you didn’t believe this was true.”

“And if the DNA says you’re not?” Alex asked.

Max narrowed his eyes. “Then one of you is forking over enough money for the cab ride home, and I stand by my dick move.”

Alex shook her head and glanced at Chase. “Do you ever apologize?” she asked Max.

“I’m not often wrong.”

Alex laughed and opened Chase’s refrigerator.

“The truck is in your name,” Chase said. “Regardless.”

“Consolation prize?” Max asked.

“More like a gift in good faith. We would never have brought this to you if there was any doubt in our minds. If we’re wrong—”

“We’re not wrong,” Alex cut her brother off.

Piper returned. “Sorry. She’s jumping all over the place. I have to pee every five minutes.”

“I doubt Max wants to hear that,” Chase said.

True. Women and babies ... or better, pregnant women, were off his radar.

The unmistakable sound of a motorcycle getting closer stopped the conversation.

Chase crossed to the window, glanced outside. “He’s back.”

“Busa?” Alex asked.

“Yeah.”

A collective sigh echoed.

Chase met his friend at the door. “Thanks for doing this.”

Busa walked in, helmet in one arm and envelope in another. “It killed me not to look.”

Chase glanced at the sealed envelope, then up at Max.

His pulse took flight, and his vision started to narrow.

“Open it,” Piper told Chase.

Chase blew out a breath and tore at the seal.

He unfolded a single piece of paper as the envelope fell to the floor.

His eyes scanned the information for all of a few seconds.

Then he looked directly at Max as he handed the paper to Alex.

She read it and slowly started to laugh.

Jesus Christ ... what did it say?

Alex dangled the paper in her hand, eyes locked on Max. “I hope you’re ready to apologize ... brother .”

The world under his feet gave way as he snatched the paper from Alex’s hand. There were two sets of graphs. One with Chase’s name, the other Alex’s.

Chase and Alex showed the markings of full siblings.

Next came Max’s name and graph in relation to Chase.

It clearly showed half sibling.

Next was Alex’s name and graph ... half sibling.

Then, someone named Vivian Stone and Max were compared: No relation .

“Who is Vivian?” Max asked.

“Our mother.”

Max didn’t look up. Couldn’t tell you who answered his question as he read from the top of the page down. Every word.

The name of the lab, the technician, the time the sample was taken and brought in, and by whom. Along with information indicating that pictures were taken of the samples, one of which had Max’s signature on the vial, the other having Chase’s. The lab result section talked about what would be expected if the test had shown a negative conclusion and explained how this test, without any doubt, indicated that Maximillian Smith was a half sibling to both Alex Stone and Chase Stone. It also indicated that Vivian Stone, Chase and Alex’s mother, was not at all related to Max.

Leaving only one conclusion.

The late Aaron Stone was in fact Max’s biological father.

He turned away from everyone and stared out the living room window.

“Are you okay?”

Piper was the one that asked. The woman with the softer voice.

“I’ll take that drink, as long as it’s stronger than beer.”

“I got you,” Chase told him.

Max ran a hand down his face and lifted his chin before facing everyone.

His eyes locked with Alex’s. “I am sorry.” Three words that simply never escaped his lips ... ever.

Alex smiled. “Apology accepted.”

Chase poured splashes of whiskey into glasses while Piper filled them with ice.

Alex took one glass, handed another to Busa.

Chase brought a drink to Max.

Piper held a glass of water.

“To new beginnings,” Piper proposed.

Glasses were lifted and sips were consumed.

A warm burn filtered down Max’s throat.

With it, the enormity of what had just happened hit him. “Holy shit.”

Busa recovered first and patted Max on the back. “You can say that again.”

\Alex kept her gaze on the window overlooking Chase’s backyard, lost in her own thoughts.

Their brother had been a box. One that needed to be checked off and settled before they could move forward.

Alex wanted to feel some relief, some assurance that they could move forward.

But the tension in her shoulders reminded her she was anything but relieved.

“He’s been staring out at your backyard for thirty minutes,” Alex told Chase and Piper.

On the back porch, Max sat looking at nothing, lost in thought.

They’d toasted the lab results, finally putting to rest the reality of Max’s relation to them, and then he said he needed a minute. Thirty of those minutes had painfully ticked by.

Busa had gone home, and Kit had curled up on the couch and gone to sleep.

“Max thought he was an orphan, now he has an instant family. That has to mess with your head,” Piper pointed out.

“Should we go out there?” Alex asked, really hoping to achieve some movement in a real conversation with the man.

Chase shook his head. “Let him set the pace.”

“We need to make sure he understands a few things before he leaves here today,” Alex said. “We need his cooperation.”

“He’s here,” Piper pointed out. “He’ll cooperate.”

“I hope so. The last board meeting of the year is coming up. We’ve been putting off the expansion vote for months now.” A necessary move since Max hadn’t been found, and he was technically in charge of twenty-one percent of the vote. Voting for him without his permission constituted corporate fraud. Alex wasn’t going to give the board any fuel that could burn her family.

“It’s going to take longer than a few weeks to bring him anywhere close to understanding what his vote means.”

Piper was right, but that didn’t change the facts. “We’ll push for another delay,” Alex said with a sigh. “Use the holidays and maybe even play the sympathy card for the first year without Dad.”

Chase all but rolled his eyes.

Piper flat out laughed.

“Okay, fine ... the baby, maybe? Your engagement?”

The sound of the back door opening had all three of them turning around.

“You okay?” Piper asked Max.

“Depends,” he replied.

“On?” Alex asked.

“Every time I walk into a room, the three of you are in a huddle, whispering. Why?” Max crossed through the living room and placed himself on the opposite side of the kitchen island.

“We’re nervous.” Alex hated beating around the bush.

“Why?”

Alex glanced between Max and the others. “Do you know how corporations work?” she asked.

“As much as anyone who doesn’t work in one, I’d guess.”

She moved around the island and took a seat next to Piper, giving Max the visual of someone lowering her guard as they spoke. The last thing Alex wanted to do was make Max feel inferior in his lack of corporate understanding. “Our father left the entirety of his portion of Stone Enterprises to the three of us.”

“His portion?”

“Yes.”

“Which means the company is public.”

“Yes,” Chase said right away. “But between the three of us, we have a controlling interest.”

“Dad never wanted to take the risk of not being in control of the company he built. No one on the board has enough shares to question our position,” Alex explained.

“What position is that?”

“CEO. Final decisions virtually come down to us. The three of us. Let’s say the board wanted to sell off the Vegas resort. Everyone could vote yes on that, but if the three of us didn’t want it to happen, it wouldn’t.”

Max looked to the side, the wheels obviously turning in his head. “Which means you’re nervous that I might use my vote against the two of you.”

Alex hadn’t really considered that. “I suppose, but no.”

“You can vote however you want,” Chase told him. “Personally, I’m riding on Alex’s expertise right now. She’s worked in the hotel world since college.”

Alex shrugged. “I’m still learning. Dad didn’t spend any time mentoring us on taking this company over.”

“Then why leave it to you?” Max asked.

“We’ve been asking ourselves that since April,” Chase said.

“If you’re not concerned about my vote ... then what?”

Alex glanced at Chase, then turned back to Max. “Selling your shares to someone else. At least at this point.”

“Or someone else on the board swaying you to vote a certain way for their best interests and not that of the company,” Piper added.

Max shook his head. “I know nothing about the hotel world outside of a Motel 6.”

“We know that. And once the news of your existence breaks, everyone on the board will know that. We don’t want them taking advantage of you,” Chase said.

“Why?”

Alex found a chuckle deep in her chest. “Because for better or worse, you’re our brother. If someone convinces you to sell your shares before you know what you’re selling, you’re the one that will suffer. And we don’t want that.”

“Why? Why do you care? You don’t know me.”

Alex looked at Piper, hoping she had a better way to say what was obviously not getting across.

“Max,” Piper started, “ever since your father died, Alex and Chase have done everything in their power to find you. They’ve done so quietly so that when this day came—as in today—you could have time to digest the enormity of what you’re being handed. They have kept everything at Stone Enterprises as normal as possible. When a CEO dies, the vultures circle, looking for a weakness that can be exploited so someone else can take over. Those vultures are circling. But your brother and sister didn’t want to hand you a mess. Or shares of a company that’s dying. We’ve even avoided selling your father’s art because we thought maybe you’d want it.”

“I don’t want someone else’s dust collectors.”

“We didn’t know that.” Alex folded her hands on the island counter. “But maybe you should see it before you throw it away.”

Max ran a hand down his face and turned to the side. “What are these shares worth?”

“It’s a multibillion-dollar company, and those billions are divided among the shareholders,” Piper pointed out. “The three of you earn the majority of that profit annually. It’s not about how much someone will buy them from you for, but the money that having them can earn you over time. It’s like taking the yearly payout of a lottery ticket versus taking the lump sum. You don’t want to take a Stone Enterprises lump sum.”

“Maybe I do.”

Alex glanced at Chase.

Chase shrugged. “We can’t stop you.”

Alex couldn’t help but think Max wasn’t quite getting it. “If it’s millions you want, you already have them. You don’t need to sell your shares for cash. Give us an opportunity to show you what you have. Then, if you want the lump sum, I’ll support you a hundred percent.” She glanced at Chase.

“I agree with Alex. Give us six months.”

“What happens in those six months?” Max asked.

Instead of answering, Alex asked, “What do you want to have happen?”

A long moment of silence filled the room before Max shifted his gaze to each of them and said, “I want to find the woman who took the money and left me to rot.”

His words hit Alex straight in the chest.

Piper winced.

Chase seemed to be the only one not affected by what Max had just thrown out. “Then that’s what we do. We’ll help you find your mother, and you’ll give us six months before the subject of selling your shares is brought back to the table.”

“You think you can find her?”

“We found you.” Alex stared him straight in the eye.

Max nodded a few times as he stared at nothing. “I can do that.”

Alex released the breath she was holding.

Max glanced at his watch. “I need to go. I have things to do and work on Monday.”

“We’ll contact the estate attorney. Is there a day that is better than another for a meeting?” Chase asked.

“I work Monday through Friday. You figure it out and I’ll get the day off.”

He didn’t need to go to work, but Alex wasn’t about to tell him not to. “It’s probably best not to tell many people about this. Not if you want your privacy.”

Piper turned to Alex. “Once we get the okay from the attorney, I’ll bring in Public Relations.”

“The minute anyone in the office is told, it will spread like wildfire,” Alex told her.

“We’ll hire an outside consultant,” Piper said.

“We need to be as prepared as possible. Who do you think is going to have the biggest problem with the fact we’ve kept Max’s existence to ourselves?”

“Everyone. They’re all going to come,” Piper said.

“Great,” Max interrupted. “You guys debate that. I’m hitting the road.”

Chase stepped around the island. “I’ll walk you out.”

Max welcomed the cool air as he and Chase walked away from the house.

“Alex can get a little intense sometimes,” Chase told him.

He’d noticed. “Your sister has balls.”

“ Our sister. And she does. Bigger ones than most of the men I know.”

Yeah, Max wasn’t ready to start calling anyone his sister or brother. They stopped at the truck. “Your fiancée seems to know a lot.”

“She knows more than us.”

“How so?”

Chase rocked back on his heels. “She was our father’s executive assistant for the last five years. Right before he died, he fired her because she didn’t accept his advances.”

“Sounds like an asshole.” Men who preyed on women were the worst kind in Max’s book.

“He didn’t win any awards for being the nice guy.”

“Better off not knowing him.”

“Maybe.” Chase leaned a hand against the truck and looked away. “Listen, we want to give you as much time as you need to come to terms with all of this.”

“That might take more than six months.”

“Then take a year. Honestly. If you don’t want the world to know you are Aaron Stone’s son for a year, we’ll do whatever we can to make that happen. I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that we can keep it a secret forever. You think your world is crazy now, wait until your face is plastered all over the news and tabloids.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious.”

“No one will give two shits about me for long.” No one ever had.

Chase smiled and changed the subject. “If you don’t have plans for next Saturday, I’d like to show you something.”

“And if I say no, you’re going to what ... send me a boat?” The image of a boat on the back of a trailer sitting in his driveway flashed in his head.

Chase tapped the truck with a laugh. “Naw ... you can pick out your own boat. The truck was easy. I love mine.”

Max opened the door to the cab. “I’ll let you know about Saturday.”

“Sounds good.” Chase extended his hand.

Max considered it for a moment, then put his palm in Chase’s.