Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“I have no desire to start trouble. I’m here with information. I think you must have lost track of Sharps’s son, Liam.”
O’Keefe scowled. “The boy has never contacted the family. He’s of no use to us.”
Lucien inclined his head toward O’Keefe. “Then you will have no objection to him marrying one of my men and becoming ours.”
“Why is he involved with your family?”
“I suppose he became involved with us because you left him and his younger sister to fend for themselves with no protection from the family despite the years of service his father rendered you.”
O’Keefe’s face darkened. “Sharps and his family were under our protection.”
“Until Sharps died, then the kids were out in the cold.”
O’Keefe slammed a fist on his desk. “Are you challenging me, questioning the way I run my family business?”
Lucien held up his hands, clearly asking for calm. “As I said before, I’m not here to start trouble. I’m here to let you know one of yours is going to marry one of ours and to make clear we expect no interference.”
“If I acquiesce to this request, what’s in it for me except contact with a boy we don’t know who has never shown an interest in learning about his family.”
I spoke up. “Respectfully, sir, he wasn’t aware who his family was. He’d never been told his father’s true identity before today.”
Confusion passed over O’Keefe’s face for a second before he schooled it back into the hard expression that had given me chills. “Are you saying he never received the letter his father wrote for him?”
Lucien looked to me to answer. “I am not aware of a letter.”
“His father placed a letter with his will. It was supposed to go to Liam upon his father’s death.”
“He didn’t receive it or anything else from his father. Once the medical debts were settled, all his money and their home went to charity.”
O’Keefe frowned. “You’re saying Liam doesn’t have his inheritance?”
“The only inheritance he was aware of was taken from him.”
O’Keefe turned to one of his guards. “Get the attorney who handled Sharps’s will on the phone. I’m going to find out what went wrong.”
“Are you saying there was something for him to inherit?” I asked.
“Yes. He should have found out how to contact us. The letter disclosed his father’s true identity and directed Liam to his full inheritance, which his father stashed away when he took on his new identity.”
My head was spinning. All this time there’d been money for Liam and Ava to live on. There had been no need for Liam to come to my family. How had this happened? Why had he never gotten the letter?
“We will see that the situation with Liam’s inheritance is rectified,” O’Keefe said. “We will also invite him to take his rightful place with the family.”
“The McConnells are trying to prevent him from doing that,” I said. “A man nearly assaulted him a few weeks ago, and another man is following him. The new stalker is clearly related to the man I eliminated when he dared touch what was mine.”
O’Keefe snarled, and I knew I’d said the wrong thing. “No member of my family belongs to you.”
I assumed Lucien was going to kill me, but when I glanced at him, he didn’t look angry at me, only at O’Keefe. He took a step forward. “Valentino is the man who saved Liam’s life. He is also the man who is going to marry him. You have no claim on Liam. I’m doing you a courtesy by showing up and informing you.”
“I will not allow this marriage unless there is something beneficial in it for my family.”
I wanted to tell him he had no control over Liam, that Liam would marry whoever he chose. They had no claim on him since they hadn’t bothered to check on him and discover he’d never gotten his inheritance. But I knew arguing with O’Keefe would make the situation worse. I had to let Lucien finish this battle for me as much as I hated standing down.
“Whether this marriage happens is not up for discussion,” Lucien said. “However, I do not object to Liam serving as a liaison between our two families. Whenever there is business that affects us both, he will be in a unique position to assist with negotiations.”
O’Keefe narrowed his eyes as he seemed to consider Lucien’s proposition. Finally, he responded. “I will not make any decisions until I have met Liam and discussed this role with him.”
“Valentino can bring him here in the next hour.”
“I have other business to attend to today,” O’Keefe said.
“I can’t think of any business more important than welcoming a lost family member back into the fold. Valentino, get Liam and bring him back here immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
I didn’t wait for O’Keefe to respond. I walked out as quickly as I could without running and headed straight for my car.