Page 113 of The Irresistible One
Whatever you do, do not tell my daughter we went for sushi. She’ll never forgive you for not taking her too.
Me
Abbi likes sushi?
Sophie
Not likes. LOVES.
Me
How about this? Abbi can eat at Toro for the rest of her life—on me.
Sophie
She’ll love you for that.
Me
And you?
Sophie
For our family meeting, we needed a spot that wasn’t in our corporate building or one of our restaurants, where adult beverages and food could be consumed and we wouldn’t be overheard by an employee. With Ellie at Lindsey’s house for the week, I offered to have it at my place. I hired one of our sous chefs at Charred to whip up several appetizers, and right before my siblings arrived, my housekeeper placed them in warming trays on my island. Raw and chilled options were on ice next to the hot ones.
The first of us filled our plates, and we sat at my dining room table, my housekeeper making sure everyone’s glass stayed full.
Eden hadn’t even taken her first bite yet and said, “We know why we’re here. By the end of the evening, we absolutely have to make a decision about the Gordons. I don’t care how long it takes, no one is leaving until we have a plan. We all agree to that?”
She received four nods.
“Good,” she said. “Now, who wants to start?”
“I will.” Walker hadn’t touched his food. In his hand was atumbler of whiskey, and that was the only thing he had swallowed since he had sat down. “I think we should sue the Gordons and make those bastards pay for what they did to us. But I really believe things should end there. No buyout, no takeover—or whatever you want to call it. I don’t want to double our business overnight. I want to keep things exactly as is. And in ten years, I want to sell our entire empire and live on a fucking island with Alivia, where the only worry I’ll have is what fish I’m going to catch and filet for dinner.”
Eden snorted. “An island would suit you.”
“I’m tired—I don’t know how many times I have to say that.” He looked at each of us. “Even in my new role at our company, I’m exhausted. You know how much work I just put in to curate a new menu for Horned and how challenging that was to roll out. I can’t even imagine doing that at a scale that’s double of what we currently have.” He took a deep breath. “I’m dreaming about the day when we’re all done, and we can hang up our aprons and never look back. I’m not trying to make the next couple of years absolute fucking hell.”
“For you, it’s hell.” I dipped a shrimp into cocktail sauce. “For some of us, like me, what we’ve achieved is a goddamn dream come true.”
“Retirement, Colson.” Walker took a drink. “That’s what sounds like a dream. And that’s what I’m focused on.”
“Within the next couple of years?” Eden pressed Walker. “That’s when you think it’s going to happen? And when we’re going to sell?” She laughed. “You’re funny.”
Walker’s head shook. “I’m not joking.”
Hart clasped Walker’s shoulder. “Eden is twenty-seven years old. Beck is twenty-nine. Let’s calm down with the whole retirement talk, please.”
“Aren’t you happy with what we already have?” Walker asked no one in particular.
“It’s not about being unhappy with our portfolio,” Eden replied. “It’s about wanting more.”
Walker pushed away from the table and set his drink on his chest. “Coming here, I knew I would be outvoted. I knew the four of you were going to agree to sue, followed by a buyout. What I’d like to know is, how the hell are you going to make that happen without me?”
I dropped the shrimp tail on the plate. “Are you telling us you’re fucking quitting?”
“Quitting? No.” Walker finished his drink, and my housekeeper instantly replaced it with a new one. “But how the hell are you going to clone me? Because I handle the most important part of our business. I can’t be at four hundred places at once. I can’t make sure that every fucking chef who works under the Gordons will meet my standards.” He was looking at me.
