“Sir, your brother’s here,” came Rita’s voice over the intercom.
“Send him in.”
Nate was a couple of years younger than Justin, but he’d never shown any interest in running Sterling & Wilson. If there had been even a hint of such interest, Barron would’ve plucked him out of his happy life and molded him into what he considered to be “executive material.”
Nate appeared in an expensive shirt and slacks. He dressed with more care when he visited Sterling & Wilson, apparently to maintain the image Ba
rron wanted of him. Justin leaned back in his seat. “What’s up?”
“What I was gonna ask you.” Nate took a seat. “What are you up to these days?”
“Busy. You know.”
“Hmm. Yeah. With the sudden relocation to San Francisco and all. You hate the city.”
“I get tired of the weather in Chicago.”
Nate snorted. “Yeah, right. If you liked it any colder and nastier you’d be a penguin.”
“Okay. Which one of them have been whining to you?”
“All of them.” Nate sighed. “I don’t know why they think I can influence you in any way. They’re better off begging Barron.”
Justin scowled. The executives trying to figure out whether they should please Barron or him were annoying as hell. Barron was in Maryland full-time now. That meant it was Justin who was in charge.
It might have been easier if Barron had made his retirement official, but that old dog hadn’t done that yet. If he’d been a petty man, Justin might have thought his great-uncle was delaying on purpose. But most likely Barron just didn’t think it mattered—that it was the executives’ job to figure out who was in charge and behave accordingly.
“But I’m not really worried about the executives,” Nate said. “I’m wondering why you’re flying to L.A. every night.”
“Are you stalking me?”
“Ha. No, I read the auditors’ report and talked to your pilot. You know we have a corporate penthouse in the city, right?”
Justin scowled. He hadn’t expected his pilot to talk, but then again he hadn’t bothered to swear the man to secrecy. A mistake he wouldn’t make again. “Got things to do in L.A.”
Nate chortled. “Things, or a girl? She must be super hot to have you flying out every night. I don’t remember you acting this bad, not even with Vanessa.” He knew about Justin’s on-and-off relationship with her. “And V’s hot with a capital H.”
Justin tried for a bland expression. Telling his brother to watch his mouth wouldn’t do any good, and he’d promised to keep the marriage quiet until July. “You know, I actually do have work to do. Why don’t you go visit Kerri? See how she is? She’s pregnant, you know.”
“Oh yeah, I know. Don’t worry, she’s doing fine. She has Ethan, the prototypical over-protective husband, plus her sister- and mother-in-law fawning over her. Barron, too.”
“I almost feel sorry for her,” Justin said. “Barron must be impossible to deal with.”
“I think Ethan’s doing a pretty good job of handling him.” Nate tapped his lip. “It’s going to be you next, you know.”
“Me?”
“Baby.”
Justin narrowed his eyes, wondering if Nate suspected something.
“You’re the Heir Apparent, so it’s your duty, hahaha. Barron’s already muttering about it. Carry on the family legacy, and all that. I’m not interested, of course. Gonna be single forever and leech off my inheritance.” Nate smiled like a cat with a bowl of fresh cream. “Anyway, I’m leaving now. Got a party to catch.”
Which explained why he was in San Francisco.
“And if you want to keep your little affair a secret,” Nate leaned in from the doorway and affected a stage whisper, “you might not want to expense the trips.” He left, waving a hand.
Justin cursed. Rita generally took care of his expenses—personal and otherwise—and she’d probably assumed his trips to L.A. were work-related. Besides, her default mode when it came to his expenses was to assign them to Sterling & Wilson. He made a mental note to talk to her about that. Hopefully Barron was too distracted to read the auditors’ report carefully. He didn’t want his great-uncle wondering what he was up to.