Oh. Sweet. Hells.
“When I was a kid, maybe. I’m old enough to be this kid’s mother.” How was that for tactful?
But Violet laughed. “I know. Weird, isn’t it? That’s part of why I wanted to tell you before anyone else. Only Kevin and my doctor knows. I thought you should have a chance to get used to it a little before the gossip columns pick it up.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
She slipped her fingers behind her glasses and pressed against her eyes. She was still smiling. “What else am I going to do? It is what it is. I’ll figure it out as I go. That’s life.” She readjusted her glasses and placed her hands on the tabletop.
Kevin’s fingers stretched slightly, almost but not brushing her hand before he pulled away. I don’t think Violet noticed.
For all her laughter, Violet sounded tired. Maybe even a little weepy. In her shoes, I’d be a big fat pile of panic.
“I’m happy for you,” I said.
“Really?”
“Yes. And I’m happy for our family.”
Sweet hells. I’d just told her we were family. Must be the fever. I mean, I did think I could like her someday-not as my stepmother but maybe as a friend. And if that kid was my father’s child, then he or she had my father’s blood-my blood. That made us family whether I liked it or not.
Violet smiled and her eyes got a little teary. “Thank you.”
She reached over and gave my hands a squeeze just as the waiter showed up for our orders.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Sure.” I ordered a stack of pancakes, sausage, and eggs. Violet went for eggs, toast, and fruit; Kevin chose the omelette and a side of bacon.
As soon as the waiter left, Violet spoke up again. “There are a couple more things I want to talk to you about. Nothing quite so… life changing, I think. First, I want you to take this.” She pulled a cell phone out of her purse. “It’s the same number as the one you have that isn’t working. It’s top-of-the-line.”
I opened my mouth and she held up a finger. “This is coming out of Beckstrom Enterprise’s budget, and it should. I want to be able to get a hold of you easier, Allie. So do other people in the company. Ethan has been trying to talk to you for days.”
“Who?”
“Ethan Katz. Our accountant. He needs to go over some things regarding your father’s estate with you.”
I took the phone. Slick, black, and small. I flicked it open; the screen lit. So far so good. We’d see how long it lasted. I put it in my jacket pocket. “Thank you,” I said. “For some reason, I’m not having much luck with phones lately.”
Kevin shifted slightly. “Batteries going bad on you?”
“How’d you guess?”
He shrugged. “If this phone doesn’t hold up, I have some other ideas.”
Just as I thought. This man played in the magic sandbox with the big boys. Good for Violet. At least she’d have someone who could kick some magical ass and keep her, and my little sibling, safe.
The waiter came back with our food, and no one apologized for digging in. Kevin was attentive to Violet in small ways I don’t think she noticed. Without her asking, he refilled the water of her tea and turned the jam carousel so that the huckleberry was within reach. They moved easily in each other’s space. Something at least I and, when Kevin caught me watching, he was very aware of. I wondered why he hadn’t told her he had feelings for her.
Maybe it was the recently murdered husband and unplanned pregnancy thing? Did they even make a greeting card to profess your love under such circumstances?
Yeah, they probably did. It was probably on the shelf next to the “sorry to hear you got groped by your dad’s ghost, but running him down in the street isn’t the way to pay him back, and by the way, dead people don’t like you” card.
“I don’t know how much thought you’ve put into this,” Violet said. “But I want you to have a part in guiding your father’s business.”
“Interesting. So you don’t like Beckstrom Enterprises?”
“No. I think your father wanted you to step in.” She held up one hand and it cut off my smart-ass reply.
When did I start responding to hand signals? Note to self: work on that.
“I know running the business may not be your goal in life. With the present board and competent heads of all the divisions, things are going fine. Daniel didn’t run the company single-handed, though that’s what he would have liked everyone to think. He hired incredibly qualified and capable people.”
“Sounds like all the bases are covered. What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to think about it. Do you want to follow your father’s footsteps and take the company down the path he chose? Do you want to take the company in a new direction? You have a majority of the vote, Allie. Even if you don’t want to do anything different from what is already happening, you need to at least lend your voice to the company’s future. People are waiting to hear what you have to say.”
Holy shit. I don’t know why I hadn’t ever looked at it that way, but she was right. I had the reins of my father’s dirty, vicious, greedy company in my hands. To make, or break.
Violet ate the last of her toast and stared down at her nearly empty plate.
“Sick?” Kevin asked quietly.
“No.” She smiled up at him, and he was very good at not letting her see what her smile did to him. “Just happy I can eat breakfast again.”
He nodded and went back to sipping coffee, watching the door, and ignoring my pointed looks.
Okay, so I wasn’t just going to grind my father’s company into the ground. Violet, and my soon-to-be sibling, depended on it. Not only that, she had cutting-edge magic technology copatented with Beckstrom Enterprises, and I would hate for the control of her own technology to be taken out of her hands. And I bet there were a lot worse hands it could fall into.
“Let me think about it,” I said.
“Good. That’s all I’m asking. So. How are things with you and Zayvion Jones?”
I carefully did not let my reaction show. “What do you mean?”
“I saw the security tape of you and him in the elevator. Looked like things were getting serious between you. Are you still seeing each other?”
Note to self: find security tape and figure out what she’s talking about.
“We’re going to dinner tonight,” I said.
She smiled. “I think you would be good together.”
“Wait-you know him?”
Kevin had gathered her plate and stacked it on his and then taken mine and done the same. Violet leaned back on the padded bench and tucked one leg up beneath her, cradling her tea in her hands. She looked over at Kevin, and he nodded.
Well, well. They shared secrets. How interesting.
“He’s a part of the group your father was involved in,” she said. “I’m not directly involved, but I am aware of the things that fall beneath their concern.”
“Could you be more vague?”
Kevin brushed off his hands over the plates. It looked like he was getting rid of crumbs, but what he was really doing was casting a very subtle Mute spell.
Holy hells, he was good. This plain-looking guy with eyes that were too big and a chin that was too small was suddenly up there on my list of people I wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.
That Mute spell would allow us to talk, and the people around us wouldn’t even notice they couldn’t understand what we were saying.
“Zayvion,” Violet said, “is a part of the Watch. A branch of the Authority. Has he told you this?”
