“Sure. I’ll trust you to not go back on your word. You’ve been a snake for years.”
Charles shrugged. “I’m a snake who knows how to write a contract. I’ll sign a nondisclosure if you hold up your end. All I’m demanding is a level playing field.”
“That’s such crap, Charles. You don’t want a level playing field because if we have that, I win. That’s precisely why you found a corporate spy and started tanking this quarter’s earnings.” It was obvious this was something his cousin had been planning for a long time.
“If you accuse me at the board meeting, I’ll release the information,” Charles stated flatly. “I’ll release everything I have on your wife. Including this conversation, which I’m recording.” He pulled out his phone to show Rene he wasn’t bluffing. “It might end up hurting me, but it will absolutely take you down, because Sylvie will know you could have saved her.”
“At the expense of my mother.”
Charles’s eyes rolled. “Cricket will be fine. She’ll have to find some other expensive house to live in. My father was born in that house. She’s not a Darois, and you’re not the king of this family. You were handed the crown and never made to work for it.”
“Never worked for it? Are you kidding me? I’ve had to put up with dealing with this ungrateful lot for years. You think they’re going to respect you if you’re sitting in this office? I have news for you—they will not. You’ll simply take my place as the bad guy who doesn’t give them the yacht they want, the job they deserve, the money that’s due to them.”
“They’ll respect me and I’ll finally have my rightful place,” Charles snarled back. “I’ll finally get what should have been mine all along. I won’t let you deny me my birthright a day longer.”
Rene was confused. “Birthright? I know we treat this like a kingdom, but you don’t have a right to this job.”
“I have every bit as much right as you do, you hypocrite.” Charles’s jaw was tight with anger. “And I’m not the only one who believes it. You think this family is hard to deal with? Then hit the road and get out of it. I’ll handle everything from here. Don’t play with me, Rene, or you’ll find yourself left with nothing.”
Charles turned and walked out and Rene was left reeling. What the hell was going on? He’d always known Charles hated him. He’d thought it was about their fathers’ rivalry, but it clearly went so much deeper. It went so deep, Charles was willing to utterly destroy a woman who’d done him no harm.
He was willing to take everything Rene loved.
This was war and he needed to figure out how to win. If Charles was willing to rip his world apart, it might be time to return the favor. Anger burned through him, and he could feel his fists clench. The impulse to run after Charles and get rid of the problem permanently was almost overwhelming. He could see his fist smashing through his cousin’s face.
“Mr. Darois?” Jane was suddenly standing in his doorway.
“Where the hell have you been?” He’d been interrupted twice, and there had been no gatekeeper. That was half of her damn job. Why couldn’t anyone do their job?
Jane went a hard shade of pink. “I was having lunch. I was in the break room. I’m sorry. Uhm, I just got a call. Apparently they tried your cell phone. It’s the clinic.”
Fear suddenly took over anger. “What happened?”
“It’s your mother. There’s been an accident.”
Now he didn’t control his impulse. He took off running.
It looked like Charles might not be the one who took everything from him.
chapter eleven
Sylvie raced into the Papillon Parish Clinic, the door sliding open with a swoosh. Her heart was racing and she still couldn’t get Rene on the line.
“Cricket is fine.” Mabel Jenkins moved from around the reception desk, dressed in a pair of pink scrubs. She’d been the old doctor’s nurse and stayed on when Lila LaVigne had taken over the town’s health care. “She was shaken up, and Lila wants to take a look at her wrist to make sure it’s only sprained. There was a minor car accident.”
Sylvie gasped.
“She wasn’t speeding,” a familiar voice said. “We were at that light on Turner Street. You know the one that changes way too fast, and everyone is certain it’s Armie’s way of ensuring there’s always expensive coffee at the station house. Because he writes so many tickets from that one light.”
Hallie stood in the lobby, her baby in her arms.
“Cricket hit you?” Oh, god. This was worse than she’d thought.
“She tapped my bumper,” Hallie corrected. “I was driving Johnny’s truck because my car is having maintenance done and he’s on the rig for the month. I swear that truck is a tank. I can’t tell where she hit it. If I hadn’t felt it, I wouldn’t have known anything had happened at all. Gracie didn’t even wake up until we decided to bring Mrs. Darois to the clinic.”