“Well, you know, I figured maybe a little man-to-man might be in order.”
“This about the endorsement?”
Evan pointed. It was unsteady. “See, that’s what I like about you. You get right to the point.”
“Let’s keep that trend going, shall we?”
“Fair enough. I was surprised when Gretchen told me you’d passed on our proposal.”
“It wasn’t the right fit.”
Evan snorted with ugly meaning. “And Gretchen is?”
Colton nearly cracked a tooth. “Excuse me?”
Evan held up his hands, palms out. “All I’m saying is that just doesn’t make sense to me. You and her.”
“Really? Makes perfect sense to me.”
“I mean, you walked away from how much money? Thirty million minimum for her?”
The look on Colton’s face must have deterred Evan from continuing. He laughed again and shrugged. “Opposites attract, I guess, right?”
Colton searched the crowd for her and found her all the way on the other side of the room, standing with her back to him. Her mother was gesturing for Jack and Frasier’s attention, but it was Gretchen’s posture that grabbed his attention. Her spine was rigid, the exposed muscles of her back popping as if she were engaging every single one to remain upright. Against her thighs, she held her hands in tight fists.
“What’s going on?” he asked, facing Evan again.
“I think they’re just delivering the news.”
“What news?”
“Gretchen was hoping to get a spot on the foundation board, but, uh, well, we voted to go another way.” The blood drained from Colton’s head, leaving him light-headed as Evan continued. “We’re announcing the new member tonight, and my parents thought we should give her a heads-up.”
“You unbelievable sonofabitch,” Colton breathed.
He shoved his champagne at Evan and skirted the edge of the crowd to get to her. As he neared the group, her voice rang out, hollow and tinny. “You can’t be serious.”
“Honey, I promise you,” Diane was saying in a beseeching voice. “We tried to intervene. We know how much this meant to you.”
“Bullshit,” Jack barked. “Evan orchestrated this entire thing. That little prick is a vindictive piece of shit.”
Frasier drew up tall. “That little prick is my son.”
“Yeah, some father you turned out to be. Letting your son bully your daughter their entire lives?”
Colton inserted himself into the group and planted his body between Gretchen and the rest of them. Her face had drained of all color. Colton tried to tuck her against his side, but she stood stiffly, unbending.
Colton glared at Frasier. “What the hell is wrong with you people? You call this a family?”
Diane’s eyes darted nervously around them at the curious stares directed their way. “We need to take this someplace private.”
“Yes, because God forbid anyone find out the truth about us,” Gretchen snapped.
Jack pointed at Frasier. “Five minutes. The back office. And bring Evan. This isn’t over.”
The family scattered, but Colton held Gretchen back. He searched her face. “Do you want to leave?”
A spark ignited in her eyes. “No. Not until I hear it from Evan himself.”
“He’s drunk.”
“What else is new?” She gathered the skirt of her dress in one hand to keep from tripping on it as she stormed through the crowd after her parents. Colton had no choice but to follow. He’d never punched another human being in his entire life—except for the occasional scrap between him and his brother when they were kids—but it was going to take superhuman strength tonight to keep his record clean. He’d never met a man more in need of an uppercut to the jaw than Evan fucking Winthrop.
The back office that Jack referenced was yet another palatial absurdity. Like a library from Downton Abbey. Any minute, a butler was going to walk in and bow with a demure your ladyship.
Jack and Diane hovered by the door as Gretchen stormed inside. Jack stepped in front of her with what he probably thought was a reassuring look. “We’ll overturn the decision. I have sway on the foundation board.”
“You have no more sway than I do,” Diane snapped. “You’re just as close to being pushed to the side as I am.”
Jack clenched his jaw. “I have more power than you think around here.”
“Then why the hell have you never used it?” Diane blurted out the question with a rage that suggested she’d been holding that one in a long time.