“What do you think I did with it?” Gabe sounded offended now, which was astonishing to Ethan.
“How the hell do I know?” Ethan shouted, and when he heard himself he made a valiant effort to lower his voice. “I didn’t think you’d take our heritage out of the safe and make a copy, so for all I know, you sold the original on eBay!”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Gabe went to the safe, hit the dial lock, spun it a few times, then swung the door open. “There’s the recipe. Right where it belongs. Do you really think I’d risk everything we are to prove a point?”
“Isn’t that exactly what you did?” Ethan shouted again.
Sadie squeezed his hand once more, but this time he barely felt it. This was over the top. He felt betrayed by his own damn brother. He and Gabe had argued a lot over the years, but this was something he hadn’t expected.
“Hell no!” Gabe went toe to toe with his brother, and met him glare for glare. “I used the recipe, but the chef involved already works for us. I trust him as you should, too, since he’s one of our top guys.”
Ethan gritted his teeth so hard he should have had a mouthful of powder. “Jeff isn’t the issue here.”
He heard the man’s sigh of relief.
“Fine.” Gabe threw both hands out in supplication. “I’m a traitor. Have me drawn and quartered tomorrow. But today, try the damn chocolates.”
Stunned, Ethan could only stare at him. Gabe was still pretending this was no big deal. “Seriously? You expect me to go along with this when you went behind my back?”
“You didn’t give me a choice, Ethan.” Gabe pushed both hands through his hair, looked over at Pam, then back to his brother. “I wanted to do this with your approval. Hell, your involvement. But you’re so damn stubborn. So resistant to change—”
“So really it’s all my fault,” Ethan said wryly.
“Well, I wouldn’t have put it that way, but since you did...”
“You’re something else, Gabe.”
“Is it so hard to see my point of view, Ethan?” Gabe’s voice was low and tight, filled with frustration that Ethan could sympathize with, since he was feeling it, too. “I’m not trying to wreck the company. I’m trying to make a difference and fighting you every damn day to do it.”
“But you don’t see it from my side, either. I don’t want to change with the times,” Ethan said. “Forever trying to figure out which way the wind’s blowing in this business. It doesn’t pay to chase trends.”
“It doesn’t pay to ignore advancements, either,” Gabe argued.
“You guys...” Sadie tried to intervene, but neither of them acknowledged her.
“I’m not ignoring anything,” Ethan said. “And I won’t risk everything we are, either.”
“I wanted him to use a chef I know,” Pam said, speaking up for the first time. “But Gabe refused. He wouldn’t risk that recipe. Instead, he insisted on using a Heart chef to protect it.”
She still looked familiar to him and it was irritating to not be able to identify why. Still, she was emphasizing the point Gabe had made earlier. Mollified a bit, Ethan nodded and took a deep breath. He folded his hand around Sadie’s and didn’t even question why he was using her as a touchstone of sorts.
Gabe seemed to sense that the worst was over. He gave a signal to Jeff, who cautiously moved closer to the desk. Deftly, the man opened up the boxes, displaying the candies he’d personally created the night before.
“They’re beautiful,” Sadie whispered.
That they were, Ethan admitted silently. The variety of chocolates were artistically presented—everything from cocoa powder to the white chocolate bonbons decorated with a rainbow of colors.
“Thank you.” Jeff grinned, pleased at the response.
“They’re not just pretty,” Gabe said, with satisfaction. “They’re delicious.”
Ethan scowled at him and Gabe grinned. “Admit it. You want to know what they taste like.”
As angry as he was, Ethan also felt a ripple of pride in Gabe. He had his own vision and wasn’t afraid to follow it. His brother had believed in something and found a way to make it happen. Not that stealing the family recipe was the way to do it, but Ethan admired that his brother believed in his own vision enough to risk everything.