The Billionaire’s Rebellious Lover (The Maxfield Brothers Series Book 2) (13 page)

For a long time, he stared at the door. Fifteen minutes ago, he was thinking about a future with her, and now he was in danger of losing everything. His job. His family.

His woman.

S
tephen was
the first to call him. Gabe had stayed up for hours tossing back Scotch, but by the time Stephen called, his buzz was long gone.

“What the fuck is going on?” Stephen demanded. “I told you to handle Daisy. Now, I find out from Nathan that she has files that show we’re just like Greenman’s Corporation. Do you have any idea what this could do to our credibility?”

“Stephen,” Gabe said tiredly. “Now is really not a good time.”

“Not a good time? When is a good time, Gabe? After Daisy takes her findings to the press? After we are demolished by public opinion? When, Gabe?”

“What the fuck do you want me to do?” Gabe shouted suddenly. “You and Angie told me to give her whatever she wanted. Angie gave her the files. Angie approved the agreement for her to go to the media. Angie had to know that she would find this information.”

“She thought all Daisy wanted was Nathan. She thought she was doing something good for our family,” Stephen roared back. “Don’t you worry; Angie and I have already been through this.”

Great. Gabe cradled his head in his hands. Stephen and Angie were fighting. Sure, they bickered all the time, and usually it was in front of everyone, but they didn’t fight.

“Stephen, I’m sorry. There’s really nothing I can do,” Gabe muttered.

“Go back to Plan A. See if Nathan is what she really wants. Christ, maybe we can pimp out our own brother and…”

“Really?” Gabe said with a dry laugh. “That’s your plan? Daisy gives us damning proof of something we’re doing wrong, and you want to pimp out our brother to cover it up? You are more like Duncan than you will ever know. Besides, she doesn’t want Nathan. She made that very clear.”

“What?” Stephen grumbled. “You already tried it?”

“She doesn’t love Nathan.”

Stephen must have heard the strain in his voice. He heaved a sigh. “Gabe, please tell me that you didn’t sleep with Daisy.”

“It’s early, Stephen. I need some time to figure out what to do.” Gabe didn’t even listen to Stephen’s response as he disconnected the call. He already knew what Stephen would say anyway, and his eyes slid to the bottle of Scotch again.

It would be so much easier to push the blame onto someone else. This wasn’t his problem. This wasn’t even his damn idea. Everyone thought they knew what was best for everyone else, and no one actually listened to anyone.

And now, no one wanted to face the consequences.

It was always his job to clean everything up. When they were younger, he covered for Stephen. He protected Nathan. And now that hell was breaking loose, everyone assumed that he would be able to clean it up as usual. Gabe. The good son.

“Fuck that.”

“Drinking by yourself and talking to yourself. I guess you do feel guilty.”

“Speak of the devil,” Gabe muttered as he turned to see Nathan standing in the doorway. “I don’t remember giving you a key.”

“The door wasn’t locked. Angie called. I guess you didn’t handle Daisy like everyone wanted. Rather, it seems like you handled her in your own special way.”

“Well, it couldn’t have been Stephen who told you, because I only just told him,” Gabe sighed and reached for the Scotch. Nathan was faster. Snatching the bottle up, he turned and smashed it against the wall.

“Daisy told me that you tried to seduce her. At first, I couldn’t believe it. You’re a stuffed shirt. You’re the most uptight person I know, and you seduced my ex-girlfriend to keep her from spilling company secrets? That’s the kind of thing Stephen would do.”

Gabe ran a hand through his hair and swiveled his chair around to stare at his enraged kid brother. Physically, the Maxfield brothers didn’t look all that much alike.

“I slept with Daisy before I found about Greenman’s Corporation,” Gabe said with a sigh.

Before Gabe could even react, Nathan moved like lightning and swung. Gabe moved with the punch, but it wasn’t enough. He fell from the chair and sprawled out on the floor, but Nathan wasn’t done. He straddled Gabe and raised his hand for another punch, but Gabe was taller and heavier. Just like when they were kids, Gabe easily got the upper hand and rolled them over. He raised his fist back before realizing that he had no reason to hit Nathan.

Unfortunately, his younger brother didn’t feel the same. When Gabe hesitated, Nathan took advantage and kicked out with his foot. His knee landed dangerously close to Gabe’s groin, and Gabe growled and slammed his palm against his brother’s chest. “Dammit Nathan, stop. I know you’re pissed, but beating me doesn’t change things.”

“It makes me feel better,” Nathan growled as he kicked out again. “I may not be with Daisy anymore, but that doesn’t mean you can use her!”

“I’m not using her!” Gabe scrambled off his brother, but Nathan swung his fist and hit him again. They continued to grapple on the floor, but they weren’t really hitting each other anymore. “Dammit Nathan, I love her!”

Nathan dropped his fists and stared at Gabe. “What the hell did you just say?”

“I said that I liked her,” Gabe said as he blew out his breath heavily. Seeing that his brother wasn’t going to swing at him anymore, he dropped his head against the floor. When he had planned his day, it didn’t actually include getting into a physical fight with his youngest brother.

“You didn’t say, like,” Nathan muttered as he got up and brushed himself off. “Fuck, I need a beer.”

“I had Scotch, but thanks to you it’s now all over the floor,” Gabe said as he also picked himself up. “There’s beer in the refrigerator.”

Nathan snagged a bottle and tossed one in Gabe’s direction. Gabe caught it easily. “You think I’ve seduced your ex to keep her quiet, and you’re ready to kill me. I tell you how I feel about her, and it drives you to drink. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to take this.”

“It’s been a weird few weeks. My ex shows up and threatens to take the company down, and my sister-in-law comes up with a plan to give her access to all the files. Then Daisy finds something and calls to warn me what’s going to happen, and she’s mostly yelling about you. Now, you’re telling me that l…er you, that you have feelings for her. I think that warrants at least one beer.”

Gabe nodded. “Probably two.” Nathan shook his head and chuckled, and Gabe almost felt sorry for him. Nathan had been protected his whole life, and here he was smack in the middle of a huge scandal. “In Angie’s defense, she thought she was helping you. She thought that Daisy wanted to get you back.”

Nathan nodded. “Well that’s nice of her. I guess. Anyway, what exactly does Daisy have on Duncan Enterprises? I’ve been working on all aspects of our company. We’ve made quite a few changes, and as far as I know, we’re not doing anything that the media would deem dangerous.”

“It’s not what we’re doing but what we’re saying,” Gabe said tiredly. “I’m sure you’re aware of Greenman’s Corporation. Apparently, Duncan and Greenman’s were in each other’s pockets at one time. When Greenman’s went down, Duncan made sure that his company was completely uninvolved with them, but he didn’t change our policy on how we handled the media. We touted total change, but we didn’t really change all that much. Usually, we did whatever was trendy. When they went down for how they dumped their waste, we showed everyone the steps we took to recycle our products.”

Nathan closed his eyes and shook his head. Now he was beginning to understand. “But we only showed them one department.”

“Exactly. We recycled from the design department, but we dumped everything from the construction sites. It was a classic diversion tactic.”

“But I’ve made some big changes within the company. She can talk about our policy all she wants. We put our money where our mouth is,” Nathan protested.

Gabe shook his head. “We’re implementing some of your policies, but it’s slow.”

Nathan shook his head. “Duncan Enterprises will survive. We’ll be in the spotlight for a bit, but it won’t kill us. Any press is good press. Unless you’re hiding something else that I don’t know about. Of course, the lawyers can bury Daisy. She says one wrong thing and we can sue her for slander. But I’m sure you already know this.”

“I don’t know what Angie will want to do. If it weren’t for Daisy, we’d be doing that. And I warned her about it. She thought I was threatening her.”

“She doesn’t know how you feel?”

Gabe tipped his beer bottle. “
I’m
not sure I know how I feel.”

“So you don’t love her?”

“I don’t know how I feel about the situation,” Gabe said softly. He was avoiding the question, and Nathan noticed, but he didn’t push.

“You know, you used to be fun,” Nathan muttered. “Stephen might have been my older brother, but I wanted to be you when I grew up. You didn’t care about what people thought of you. You didn’t care about Duncan or Stephen. You enjoyed life. What happened to you?”

“What happened to me? I have a good time. I’ve got the damn pictures to prove it.”

“I’m not talking about your damn sex life. I’m talking about your life!”

Gabe shook his head. “I realized that you were watching. I didn’t rebel because I didn’t care. I rebelled because I did care, and I realized that my little brother actually looked up to me. I didn’t want you to fall in with the wrong crowd like I did.”

“Jesus.” Nathan rolled his eyes. “Gabe, I looked up to you, but I could still think for myself. I would be me whether you grew up to be a stuffed shirt or not. Now you live a painfully controlled life, and I’m considered the rebel. The way my life turned out was due to more than you.”

Staring at his brother, Gabe smiled. “I was always proud of you, you know? Stephen left because of his pride, and I stuck around because of my pride. But you left because of something you believed in. Probably makes you the best man out of the whole bunch of us.”

“You’re kidding right? Stephen went on to start his own company. And when everything threatened to fall apart last year, you were the glue that held us all together. I got a couple of degrees, but I haven’t done anything with them. Daisy might be crazy, but she’s passionate. I’ve never been like that.”

“She’s crazy. And passionate,” Gabe grunted. “But you’re logical. Just because you two execute things differently doesn’t mean that you don’t believe in something.”

“For the record, I think she’s good for you. Daisy might be over the top about her beliefs, but she has a good heart. She’s lovable and spontaneous. It might be good for you to lose a little control over your life.”

Gabe chuckled. “The whole thing is a mess. But this is what happens when we all get together to do something. We end up with one big mess.”

“I don’t have feelings for Daisy anymore. There was a time when I thought I loved her. There was a time when I did love her, but it was because we were working together for a cause we both believed in. We knew long before it was over, but we’d spent so much time together that neither one of us wanted to admit that we were a failure. Duncan had been telling me to break up with her for years. I didn’t want him to be right. She thought if we both went after Duncan Enterprises, it could save us. In the end, it’s what drove us apart. I might have disliked my family, but that didn’t give her a right to attack them.” Nathan shook his head and smiled. “She doesn’t need to be with someone like me. She needs to be with someone like you.”

“I appreciate that,” Gabe said as he took a deep breath, and he meant it. He would never have been able to move forward with Daisy if he didn’t have Nathan’s permission. But now that he was being honest with himself, he had known all along that Nathan would give him permission. “But this isn’t about my relationship with Daisy. It’s about what we’re supposed to do now.”

“Not we. You. This is about what you’re going to do next.”

Gabe glared at his brother. “You come into my apartment, hit me, drink my beer, and then give me crappy advice? Thanks.”

“Did Stephen do any better?”

“He didn’t crash my place, but no. He mostly yelled at me.”

“See?” Nathan winked at him. “Some things never change. Thanks for the beer. Now that I no longer have to do that weird awkward thing where I protect my ex-girlfriend’s virtue from my older brother, I’m going to go to bed. Like I said, weird week.”

Gabe watched his younger brother leave and laughed to himself. At least now, he didn’t have to worry about his relationship with his brothers. No matter what happened, they stayed the same. But that didn’t solve his other two problems

After stewing and sobering up for a few hours, he grabbed his keys and headed for the last place he expected go.

Duncan Maxfield didn’t even blink when he handed Gabe a bottle of water.

“You don’t have anything stronger?” Gabe complained.

“Angie called me. You think alcohol is going to solve your problem, but you don’t have a problem.” Duncan moved slowly as he settled himself into a chair. Gabe watched his father closely. Over the years, after Stephen and Nathan had left, Gabe had watched his father age. Duncan was a man of iron will, and it was hard for Gabe to watch his health decline.

“I
don’t
have a problem?” Gabe asked carefully. He might need to double-check the pills his father was on. Now, on top of everything, he didn’t need to learn that his father was in the early stages of dementia.

Duncan smiled. “You think because I chose Angie over you that I haven’t been watching you.”

“Oh, no.” Gabe shook his head. “I know you watch me. You’ve made that abundantly clear over the past few years. But this isn’t about our relationship. This is about how I fix this media storm that we’re going to face.”

“Boy, don’t interrupt me,” Duncan grumbled. He leaned over and coughed into his hand. “See what you made me do?”

Gabe rolled his eyes and leaned back. “My apologies, Duncan. Continue.”

“I chose Angie for two reasons. The first is that she wanted it more than you did. She worked hard for that position. She had the fire in her that you lacked. And the reason that you lacked it was because you spend so much time surpassing yourself.”

“What?”

“You think I didn’t notice it? You used to be such a little hellion, and then suddenly you cleaned up your act. I suspected it had more to do with Nathan than it did with me, but I was happy. Fewer police calls. Less wondering if you were even coming home. I didn’t like that Gabe, but I also didn’t like the one who replaced him. You threw yourself into the company because it was the only place you fit in with your newly controlled life, but your heart wasn’t in it. It’s never been in it.”