When Empires Fall (7 page)

Charlene eyed her daughter, who was taller than her by at least three inches, especially with both of them currently in killer sharp heels. She noted the sleek black dress Madison wore, form fitted to every slender and well-sculpted curve. Envy flooded in briefly to settle resentfully in her stomach.

“I’m having lunch with Linc, but I wanted to stop by and see if you wanted to join us.”

Madison glanced over her shoulder, to where Raoul was hovering in silence, pretending to be engrossed in re-plating his creations. But she knew him well enough to know he loved a good dramatic moment, and usually when her mother and herself were in a room together, there were more than a few cat scratches inflicted, a fact he knew all too well.

“Raoul, could you give us a moment?” She asked, keeping her sultry voice level and calm. He gave her a somewhat pleading look that abruptly turned to frustration when she didn’t waver. Resigned, albeit bitterly, he fled the room, exiting out into the restaurant. Madison watched him go, and then turned back to her mother. “What are you
really
here for?”

Charlene faked a look of confused hurt, but years of Botox had hampered her ability to show such skilled emotions. “Madison Stella Vasser, why do you always have to assume I have any motive other than the one I explain to you?”

“Because you do always have an ulterior motive,” Madison purred, her lips curving into a dark smirk. “Let me guess, you’ve come to sniff around for the menu you asked me a week ago to prepare for the fundraiser, assuming that you would catch me off guard and unprepared.”

Charlene pouted disdainfully, lifting her chin with both pomp and prestige. “Well, if it is ready, I would like to see it.”

“Of course you would, but you haven’t allotted enough time to review the samples that I had Raoul prepare this morning, just on the off chance that you might stop by. Instead, you were hoping I wouldn’t be ready and that you could rub my nonexistent unreliability in my face.” Madison watched the indignant heat flush her mother’s cheeks, and was glad for it. “I know how you love any chance to criticize, mother.”

“Ladies,” Marshall interrupted suddenly as he burst through the stainless steel doors, a cheerful and sunny smile on his face, shaded by his ample moustache. “I believe it’s lunchtime.”

Charlene whirled around to face him, her face clear and filled with grace and good humor, though Madison spotted the anxious tick flickering over her mother’s left eyelid.

“Marshall, how lovely to see you.” Charlene tilted her face up for a cheek kiss. Marshall obliged her, though he maintained a polite distance. He was wary enough of her advances to not want to give her any encouragement. In his tried and tested experience, once a gold digger, always a gold digger, and a man with any amount of wealth was better off not getting involved with trouble. Even
if
she was already in bed with the family.

“Will you be joining Linc and I for lunch?”

“I’d love to,” Marshall beamed, tucking his hands into the pockets of his slacks and winking at Madison, knowing the two women had been up to their usual antics. It was best when stopped prematurely, before too many breakables were thrown. “I’m sure my girl is hungry.”

“I am rather hungry. Mother, I hope you don’t mind if I join you?”

“Of course not, dear,” Charlene preened, avoiding looking her daughter in the eye again, instead focusing on that vindictive mouth of hers. When she saw those lips quirk into a politely disinterested smirk that somehow managed to convey the very deepest, darkest disdain, Charlene found she had to look away completely. “Let’s go find Linc. And maybe we can convince Grant to come down from his cave. That boy could use a good meal.”

Marshall chuckled with good humor and placed a hand softly at the small of Charlene’s back, leading her out of the kitchen in peacekeeper fashion. As he did so, he shot a knowing look over his shoulder to Madison, shaking his head and smiling. She returned the smile, and winked at him as they left the room.

It was all nothing but a game at times, one that had become so normal that none of them even thought twice about it. It gave credence to the age-old saying, “old habits die hard.”

“C’mon, John, you
know your wife loves coming to these things.” Linc grinned into the phone, currently held between his cheek and shoulder while he played with a well-worn metal slinky, his feet propped up on his desk and his tie casually loosened. “It’ll make up for all those golf trips you’ve been taking.”

John Berringer, founder and CEO of Berringer Logistics, laughed on the other line, knowing he was caught. Forty years as a loyal Vasser Hotel customer meant he couldn’t turn down the invitation to the fundraiser, regardless of how much he hated such events. Besides, the boy was right, his wife would be over the moon delighted to go. Then maybe she’d let him off the hook for forgetting their anniversary the month before.

“
You sure know how to play to a man’s weaknesses, Linc. You can count me in.
”

“Just looking out for ya, John. Thanks.” Pleased, Linc slipped the phone from his shoulder and hung up, then proceeded to play with the slinky some more, his eyes flicking down the list of VIP clients on his computer screen.

“Hey man, your mom’s here.”

Linc glanced up as Walter, his glorified intern slash assistant, stalked in looking much too chipper for a guy who was working literally for free.

Brows furrowed, Linc swung his legs off of his desk and sat up, eyes narrowing in on the kid. “Thanks…why the shit-eatin’ grin, Wally?”

Walter froze, his smile faltering as he ran a hand nervously through his hair. “Nothing, man. Just saw your mom and your sister come in and thought I’d let you know they were here.”

“Ah.” Linc nodded, laughing now as he rose to his feet and swung an arm around Walter’s shoulders companionably. “Kennedy’s here. You know she’s my baby sister, right? Ergo, off limits to greasy little college boys like you?”

Walter grinned at Linc and shoved him away playfully. “Hey, she’s eighteen.”

“And that doesn’t make her any less my kid sister.” Linc ruffled Walter’s already messy cap of russet hair and waltzed from the office, tucking his hands comfortably into the pockets of his designer jeans. Since it was more convenient for him, he kept his main office directly behind the front desk of the hotel, which was where he spent nearly all of his time. Being in charge of customer relations meant, well, being accessible to customers. And Linc figured it kept things simpler all around to be closer to the action.

When he swept through the door that opened up to the employee side of the front desk, he spotted Kennedy lounging on one of the lobby sofas, texting away on her cell phone, oblivious to the world around her. His smile instinctive, he went around the counter and loped over towards her.

“Hey, stranger.”

Kennedy glanced up, her light blue eyes focusing on his as her lips curved into a brilliant smile. “Linc!”

Jumping to her feet, she leapt into his arms as he spun her around once in a big circle, before setting her lushly back on the ground.

“I didn’t expect to see you for lunch. Or did you just come to torture Walter?”

Kennedy smiled up at him sweetly, adjusting her multicolored patchwork purse on her shoulder. “Walter’s nice, I guess.”

“Yeah, nice and horny,” Linc mused, draping an arm over her shoulders as he spotted his mother, Marshall, and Madison enter the lobby from the restaurant. “Looks like mom’s rallied all the troops for lunch today.”

Kennedy’s faced scrunched in annoyance, but she said nothing. She reluctantly released Linc so he could greet their mother with a polite kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, mom.” He grinned, staring down into his mother’s eyes.

“Hello, dear. I hope you don’t mind, we’ve got company on our little lunch date.”

“Nope. It’s rare that all of us get together like this on a whim.” He shot a glance to Madison, who smirked at him knowingly before swiftly ducking away to answer a call on her cell phone.

Charlene attempted a smile and lifted her eyes to Marshall, who looked comfortable and good-natured as always. Linc had always admired Marshall for his innate ability to roll with the punches and take things as they were. In fact, he didn’t think he had ever seen his uncle get horribly upset about anything in his entire twenty-seven years of knowing the man.

“If we could just get Grant down here, maybe I’ll…oh, good, there he is.” Marshall beamed as he spotted Grant emerging from one of the elevators across the lobby, heading for the front desk.

Grant turned when Marshall called out his name and the irritation he felt was momentarily clear on his face. He paused and stared at his family, noting they were all looking to him expectantly, even Madison, who had just hung up her cell phone. Kennedy was hovering beside Linc, and his mother was standing regally next to Marshall, with Madison off to the side, the rogue. Knowing she would want him to suffer through what was clearly an impromptu family lunch with her versus making some excuse and retreating upstairs, he walked purposefully towards them, his gait long and crisp.

They were his family, after all.

Charlene watched her oldest son approach, and she beamed up at him, filled with pride. Grant was a leader, sturdy and capable, and she had this boundless faith in him that she had never had in anyone else in her entire life.

But he still had his faults, certainly. He could be distant, cold, stuffy, immovable, and downright rude at times. But she loved him despite those faults, just as she loved all four of her children, in her way. After all, they were her legacy; her key to the prestigious Vasser family empire.

Linc was her second son and had been gifted with impeccable charm, boundless energy, and unwavering faith and pride. Yet he was also often forgetful, impulsive, and at times fiercely temperamental, all of which got him into trouble more often than not. But he had a big and generous heart, and more compassion than the rest of the family combined.

And Madison, her eldest daughter, was strikingly beautiful, headstrong, and cunning, with a sharp mind that had intimidated Charlene since the girl had been an infant and first locked eyes with her. It had been like being silently but directly evaluated and judged, and the feeling had been incredibly uncomfortable. To this day, it was nearly impossible to know where she stood with the girl, for Madison had inherited her grandfather’s flawless poker face.

Then there was Kennedy: young, idealistic, aloof, and naïve. She was all the things that Win had been when Charlene had first met him; for that reason alone she kept a close eye on the girl. Win had swiftly turned to drugs and other vices when his fantastical ideals had failed him, and she had to ensure that Kennedy did not go down the same dangerous and destructive path.

None of them were perfect, including herself, despite how hard she worked to achieve perfection in every aspect of their lives. But even if Marshall dodged her advances, Grant callously ignored her, Linc carelessly forgot about her, Madison outsmarted her, and Kennedy disappointed her, they were all still under her wing, and she would protect them with every ounce of energy she possessed.

They say the most dangerous animal in the forest is a mother grizzly protecting her cubs. Well, that bear had nothing on Charlene Vasser.

T
he minute Quinn Taylor stepped out of the cab and set foot before the grand Vasser Hotel of New York City, she knew she had, quite simply,
arrived
.