Inked Persuasion (Montgomery Ink Fort Collins #1) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,63

Mom said from the doorway, tears running down her cheeks, her hands shaking. “You need to come with me, Russell. Because if you don’t let our children thrive, if you don’t step away and realize what you’re doing to this family, it’s over. We’re done.”

I leaned into Beckett as my knees went weak at my mother’s words.

“You’re threatening to divorce me?” Dad spat, his face going ashen.

Mom looked down at her hands and let out a breath. Archer moved forward, and she met his gaze and shook her head. My twin stopped, and I reached out and took his hand. He squeezed mine hard, and the tears finally slid down my cheeks.

“I’m not threatening divorce, Russell. I love you, and that won’t change. It hasn’t all these years. But it’s time to retire. It’s time for us to move on and let our children thrive. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why you hate my brothers so much. We’re going to talk about that more later. But you need to stop. I love our children, and I don’t want to lose them. So you and I are going to officially step down like we planned in the beginning. It’s time you and I have some time for ourselves. And it’s time for our children to be the next Montgomery Builders.”

“Pamela, I don’t understand,” Dad whispered.

“Don’t let your misconceptions about my family hurt ours,” Mom whispered. She held out a hand. “Come, let’s figure this out, and then you’re going to apologize to your children.”

“Not today,” Beckett said. “You two talk. We can have a family dinner or whatever later and figure this out. But you’re right. It’s time to step down. It’s time for Montgomery Builders to thrive, and we can’t do that if we hate each other.”

“I love you, Dad,” I whispered. “I don’t want to hate you.”

My dad’s eyes widened at that, and he looked at all of us as if seeing us for the first time. He swallowed hard. “Okay, okay. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“I think you love us, and you want what’s best for us, but I think you forgot how to make that happen,” I whispered.

“Come on now. You kids say you’re adults. So get to work,” Mom said, her voice shaky. “I love you all. We’ll work this out. All of us.”

And then they left, and I looked over at my siblings and just shook my head. “Did that just happen?” I asked.

“I think I need to sit down,” Paige said.

Benjamin pulled out a chair as she sank into it. He kissed the top of her head and then put his hand on her shoulder. “Well, shit,” he said.

“I’m really glad Clay wasn’t here today,” Archer said, and we all looked at him. “I mean, we keep inviting him into the family, but this would’ve just been awkward.”

I snorted, and then we all looked at each other and laughed, even though Archer hadn’t said anything funny.

“What are we going to do?” I asked, looking at all of them once we quieted down. But I answered my own question. “No, I know what we’re going to do. We’re going to get to work, and we’re going to be the best Montgomery Builders ever. Because that’s what dad taught us. That’s what we’ll remember. And we’re going to forget that Dad seems to have lost his mind.”

“I just hope he means it this time,” Beckett said, looking over my head at the empty doorway.

I reached out and hugged my brother. It took a moment, but Beckett hugged me back.

“I hope so, too,” I said before I rose to my tiptoes to kiss his chin.

“Okay now, Mr. Project Manager. Let’s get this shit done.”

He grinned, rolled his eyes, and I somehow knew that everything would be okay. At least, with some aspects.

For everything else? Well, I didn’t have any answers there, but I didn’t need them. Not yet.

Chapter 17

Jacob

“Once again, I am questioning how I got talked into this,” I said, looking over at Annabelle’s twin. Archer just grinned and fixed his imaginary cuff. Considering that Archer had rolled up his sleeves, I knew he was only doing it to annoy me.

“Well, you were asked to come to the Montgomery cabal. And, here we are.”

“We’re at Riggs’, a bar where I’ve seen you all before. Are we sure Annabelle and the girls aren’t coming?” I asked, hoping they would be here later. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for a guys’