Page 6 of Bridesmaid Undercover
Chapter One
HARDY
“Hardy, man!” I hear Ken say right before his arms wrap around me from behind as he pulls me into a tight hug.
I turn around and return the hug. “Ken Doll, congrats, dude.”
Ken’s face beams at me as he adjusts his tie. Ken, my best friend from college, has always felt uncomfortable in a suit—a tie especially—and it’s something we bonded over since I prefer a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt over a suit and tie just like him. But when we need to, we know how to clean up. Like for his swanky engagement party. Having gold-rimmed tumblers with custom ice cubes for whiskey seems a bit much, something my rich-as-shit father would do to impress the people around him.
“Can you believe she said yes?” Ken asks.
“I can.” I chuckle. “Polly loves you, man.”
“I know, but, fuck, that was nerve-wracking. I wish you could have been there.”
“I’m sorry.” I grip his shoulder. “I wish I was there too, but this bullshit happening with my father has really tied me up lately.”
Ken winces, knowing exactly what I’m talking about.
Let me lay it out for you.
My dad: Reginald Hopper, CEO and owner of Hopper Industries.
He’s put me and my two siblings, Hudson and Haisley, through a roller coaster of fatherhood.
Whether it’s a heavy dose of guilt for not performing the way he prefers, or a mountain of praise for making a cutthroat decision under his umbrella of employment, his feelings toward his children have been up and down, never satisfied.
And this past summer, everything imploded. Spectacularly.
You see, Haisley left the family business to pursue her own aspirations. Our prideful father wasn’t happy about it and has been gunning for her to bring her business to Hopper Industries, to the point that he was willing to walk over whoever he could to make that happen. Well, Hudson and I weren’t going to tolerate that. If our dad taught us one thing growing up, purposefully or not, it was that we siblings needed to stick together. So, we came up with a plan to part ways with Hopper Industries.
Since the company has multiple branches of business, one being Hopper Almonds—what I’m in charge of—I used my trust fund to buy it out, and my dad had no problem parting ways. Moron. It’s worth more than he realized, and Hudson and I joined forces with our dad’s competitor to do right in the world.
But it’s been a long-ass process.
It’s taken a toll on us.
On our personal lives.
And on our relationship with our dad.
Let’s just say he didn’t take the news well.
“Yeah, how’s everything going with your dad?” Ken asks.
I take a sip of my drink and say, “Well, Dad is furious, as you can imagine, and has a vendetta against us. Pretty sure he wantsto file a lawsuit against his own children, but he doesn’t have any justification. So that’s where we stand.”
“Yikes. And how is the business going?”
I smirk at him. “Amazing.”
“Yeah?” Ken’s expression turns into excitement.
“Yeah, the farms are flourishing. We restructured a bit and increased pay, which has improved morale, made a better working environment, and has increased production. We’ve had some of the biggest harvests we’ve ever had and are growing with some purchases of other almond farms, but maintaining staff loyalty. We invested in a wedding business and are almost done with the storefront, which is?—”
“Wedding business?” Ken says with a raised brow. “How the hell did you go from almonds to a wedding business? That doesn’t seem like you.”
I chuckle. “I told you about Maggie, right?”
