Chapter 13 Desmond’s Game
Delphine called the family dinner an informal welcome.
It was supposed to give Alex a chance to meet the extended family somewhere that wasn’t a boardroom or Margaret’s sunroom.
According to Delphine, it was simply dinner.
No business.
No formal discussions.
No difficult questions.
Alex should have known better.
Within ten minutes of sitting down, he realized that “informal” meant something very different to the Voss family.
The dining room was large enough to host a small wedding.
A long table stretched beneath a chandelier that looked like it belonged in a museum.
There were too many forks.
Too many glasses.
And too many people Alex didn’t know.
He sat beside Elena.
Across from him were Margaret, Kate, and Desmond.
A few other relatives and family associates were scattered farther down the table.
Alex tried to remember everyone’s names.
He gave up after the fourth introduction.
A server poured wine into everyone’s glasses.
When he reached Alex, Alex covered his glass with his hand.
“Just water, please.”
The server nodded without question.
Desmond noticed.
“So,” he said, swirling the wine in his glass without drinking it.
The glass probably cost more than Alex’s monthly rent.
“Tell us something real, Alex.”
Alex looked at him.
“Not the version Reyes probably coached you to give us.”
Desmond smiled.
There was something easy about his expression.
Almost friendly.
Almost.
Alex wasn’t sure whether that made him feel better or worse.
“What did you actually think when you found out you’d won the world’s strangest lottery?”
Alex considered pretending to think about it.
Instead, he answered honestly.
“I thought it was a scam.”
Kate laughed.
It was quick and genuine.
Even Margaret gave the smallest smile.
Desmond leaned back.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Alex took a drink of water.
“I spent half the morning waiting for someone to tell me I’d been pranked.”
Elena glanced at him.
“You didn’t tell me that.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“I asked if you were okay.”
“I wasn’t exactly in a talking mood.”
She gave him a small smile.
“Fair.”
Desmond watched the exchange.
“So you really had no idea who Julian was?”
“No.”
“Never met him?”
“No.”
“Never saw him?”
“Not that I remember.”
Desmond raised his eyebrows.
“That’s almost impressive.”
Alex frowned.
“Why?”
“Because most people spend their entire lives trying to get close to someone like Julian Voss.”
He took a sip.
“You managed to inherit everything without even trying.”
Alex didn’t know how to respond to that.
Kate spoke from across the table.
“Don’t make it sound like he planned this.”
Desmond looked at her.
“I’m only saying it’s unusual.”
“Everything about this is unusual.”
Margaret’s voice ended the exchange.
Desmond lifted his glass.
“I’m being friendly, Mother.”
His smile didn’t change.
Alex was starting to notice the difference between Desmond’s words and what was hiding behind them.
He didn’t know Desmond well enough to call it cruelty.
It was something subtler.
He asked questions that sounded harmless but somehow always landed in uncomfortable places.
“So,” Desmond continued, turning toward Alex, “what do you miss most?”
Alex thought for a moment.
“My old life.”
The answer seemed to surprise him as much as everyone else.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He shrugged.
“I know that sounds ridiculous.”
“It doesn’t.”
Elena said it quietly.
Alex looked at her.
She was watching him.
“I miss knowing what tomorrow looked like,” he continued.
“I knew where I would be. I knew what time I had to get up. I knew how much money was in my account. I knew which bills were due.”
He looked around the table.
“Now I wake up and people tell me I own things I’ve never seen.”
Desmond smiled.
“You’ll get used to it.”
“Maybe.”
Alex looked down at his glass.
“I still think I’m going to wake up in Ohio some mornings.”
Kate smiled.
“And none of this will have happened.”
“Exactly.”
Desmond’s smile remained.
“Careful what you wish for.”
His tone was playful, but there was something underneath it.
“This family has a way of making people wish they’d woken up somewhere else.”
“Desmond.”
Margaret’s warning was enough.
He raised both hands slightly.
“I’m being honest.”
“No one asked you to be.”
Desmond laughed.
Alex glanced at Elena.
She was staring at her plate.
Interesting.
He filed that away.
Dinner continued.
For a while, the conversation stayed harmless.
Someone asked Alex about Ohio.
Another person wanted to know whether he had ever traveled outside the country.
He answered honestly.
Not much.
Not before the inheritance.
He had never needed to.
He’d had work.
Bills.
His mother.
A life that hadn’t left much room for luxury.
Then Desmond leaned forward.
“I actually have a proposition for our new relative.”
Alex raised an eyebrow.
“A friendly wager.”
“A wager?”
“Nothing serious.”
Desmond waved a hand.
“Nothing that needs board approval. And nothing that puts the company at risk.”
He leaned back.
“Just a little challenge between us.”
Alex looked at Elena.
She didn’t react.
“What kind of challenge?”
Everyone at the table seemed to become a little more interested.
Desmond smiled.
“I want to see how quickly our warehouse-worker-turned-heir can learn the business.”
Alex felt the words.
Not because Desmond had insulted him.
Because he had said them so casually.
As if Alex’s old life was something entertaining.
Alex kept his expression neutral.
“What do you have in mind?”
“There’s a small logistics contract up for renewal next month.”
Desmond reached for his glass.
“Nothing too serious. It won’t affect the company’s bottom line.”
Alex nodded.
“And?”
“You and I review the vendor proposals separately.”
Desmond looked directly at him.
“Then we present our recommendations to Cho.”
Alex considered it.
It sounded simple.
More importantly, it sounded useful.
He needed practice.
He couldn’t spend the next few months sitting quietly in board meetings while everyone else made decisions for him.
“And the winner?”
“Buys the loser dinner.”
Alex blinked.
“That’s it?”
“Not quite.”
Desmond smiled.
“The loser also has to admit, publicly, at the next family dinner, that the other person was right.”
Alex laughed.
“That’s your big wager?”
He looked around the table.
“My family just spent a week fighting over a trillion-dollar inheritance, and we’re betting dinner?”
Kate laughed again.
Desmond nodded.
“Exactly.”
He raised his glass.
“Low stakes.”
Alex shook his head.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Most things in this family look low stakes on the surface.”
Desmond’s smile faded slightly.
“It’s what’s underneath that gets complicated.”
Something about the sentence made Alex stop laughing.
Desmond raised his glass again.
“So, cousin.”
He held Alex’s gaze.
“Deal?”
Alex thought about it.
A small challenge was probably the safest way to learn how this family worked.
A contract.
A few vendor proposals.
A little competition.
Nothing that could destroy the company.
At least, that was what Desmond had said.
Alex nodded.
“Deal.”
Desmond smiled.
“Good.”
He lifted his glass.
“To family.”
Alex raised his water.
“To family.”
Their glasses didn’t touch.
Dinner continued.
But Alex couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed.
The wager was small.
Almost stupidly small.
Yet everyone had reacted to it.
Margaret had gone quiet.
Elena had watched Desmond carefully.
Kate had looked uncomfortable.
And Desmond himself seemed almost too pleased.
Alex didn’t know enough about the family to understand why.
He decided not to worry about it.
Not yet.
Later, after dinner, Alex walked toward the front entrance.
The evening air was cool.
He had almost reached the door when Kate caught up with him.
“Alex.”
He turned.
Kate stood a few feet away.
She looked different without the rest of the family around.
Less guarded.
More serious.
“What is it?”
She glanced toward the dining room.
Then back at him.
“Desmond isn’t as careless as he wants people to think.”
Alex looked back toward the room.
“He seems pretty harmless.”
Kate gave him a look.
“That’s the point.”
She lowered her voice.
“Watch him closely.”
Alex frowned.
“You think he’s trying to set me up?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you think it.”
Kate hesitated.
“I think Desmond likes knowing things other people don’t.”
She glanced toward the hallway.
“And he likes testing people.”
Alex thought about the wager.
“Then why would he give me a chance to beat him?”
Kate’s expression tightened.
“Maybe he doesn’t think you can.”
That answer bothered Alex more than he wanted to admit.
Kate stepped closer.
“Watch him closely. You’ll learn more about this family from Desmond than from anyone else at that table.”
Alex looked at her.
“Even you?”
Kate gave him a small, sad smile.
“Maybe even me.”
She turned and walked away.
Alex remained near the door.
Through the open doorway, he could hear the family talking again.
Laughter.
Glasses.
Conversation.
Everything sounded normal.
But Alex no longer believed normal existed in the Voss family.
He looked down at his hands.
A week ago, his biggest concern had been getting through another shift.
Now he was an heir, a fiancé, a board member, and apparently someone’s new competition.
He had agreed to a small logistics wager.
Nothing serious.
Nothing dangerous.
At least, that was what Desmond had promised.
Alex stepped outside.
For the first time, he wondered whether he had just agreed to something he didn’t understand.
And somehow, he suspected the answer was yes.
