Brody - Ellie Masters Page 0,116
smile. All the while, I feel like I’m going to throw up. “We’ve got some time before lunch. Do you want to go over the suggestions now? Or wait until after lunch?”
“We can do it now. I don’t have a ton of time, but when you said Abbie was cooking, I couldn’t resist.”
“Perfect.” I wave him over to sit beside me on the opposite side of the massive kitchen island. Sterling Enterprises sent everything over electronically, a part of their zero-paperwork philosophy, but I printed everything out. My brain simply works better with real paper.
“I pulled out the important bits, but here’s the full report if you want to look at it.” Four stacks of paper sit in front of me. One is the full file. The other three are the different tier recommendations. “Do you want to start with Tier One or Tier Three?”
“Have you looked them over?” His warm gaze settles on me.
I can’t tell if the worry lines are real or an act. I hate everything about this. Conflict is not my friend, and I’m not a suspicious person by nature. I rub my palms on my jeans, trying to scrub off the sudden sweat.
“You look worried.” He takes the Tier One list of requirements and glances at them.
“I am.” I gesture vaguely at the piles. “It’s a lot to take in, and honestly, I don’t know how we’re going to meet all their requirements.”
“Well, give me a moment to take a look.” His attention turns to the papers while I share a look with Abbie.
She’s been silent this whole time but is ready to support me as I need it.
“Hmm…” He scans the list. “This is a bit more than I anticipated.”
“A bit?” With no idea whether Brody doctored the requirements or not, knowing this confrontation was coming, I agree with Mark. It’s far more than I anticipated too, and those are Tier One requirements. We have no choice but to implement them. “It’s way more than I thought it would be. Honestly, it’s overwhelming.”
He nods and continues scanning.
I pick up the Tier Two recommendations. “These aren’t much better, but at least we can counter with some of these.”
“I don’t think their idea of a counter is the same as ours.” He holds his hand out and I give him the Tier Two list.
Abbie busies herself with lunch preparation while I sit and wait. I can’t push too hard. I’m not that good at deception. Finally, he lowers the papers and leans back.
“What’s your gut say?”
“My gut?” I play up my nerves. Not that it’s hard. I’m a nervous wreck. “My gut says, cut and run.”
“You can’t be serious?” His brow arches, but all I see is the eager gleam in his eyes. I’m suspicious of everything and hate it.
“You know I’d never walk away from Atwood Estates, but I’m nervous.”
“Look, I know you feel like you owe it to your mother to keep this place afloat, but maybe that’s not what you need to do.”
“What do you mean?”
“Only that she wanted to give you something, and I don’t think that was a sinking business.” He points to the papers. “We can get all this done. Nothing is too far out there, but if you’re not one-hundred percent positive this is what you want, there’s always a way out.”
“How?”
“My offer still stands. I can buy you out. You deserve to pursue your dreams, rather than keep your mother’s afloat.”
“I don’t know.” I squirm in my seat. “How would that work exactly?”
“A simple transfer.”
“You’ll keep the business going?”
“I’ll definitely try.”
“So, I hand over my interest in the business? What about Mom’s home?” I want to know if he’s after the land.
Businesses come and go. If Atwood Estates goes bankrupt, I can start something new. That’s not what I want, but I have the education and skills to run any business; at least that’s what my diploma from Stanford says.
“Well…” He rubs at the back of his neck. “We’d need to transfer everything.”
“Everything?”
“The land and business.”
And there it is, proof he wants my land.
“Oh, I just assumed that was part of it.”
“Technically, it is, but we’d want to transfer all of it.”
Technically, Uncle Mark, they are two entirely different things.
But I don’t let on that I know he’s trying to swindle me out of my family’s legacy.
My legacy.
Not his.
For the first time, I no longer see Mark as part of my family.
“And you would do that for me?”
“I can get something drawn up by the end of the