“Branson…” This time Finn’s tone was soft and filled with sympathy. “You’re withdrawing from everyone. It’s not good for you, and you know it. We had to trick you. It was our only chance to talk to Stephanie. We had to find out what was going on.”
“And did you?” Bran asked, scrunching his eyebrows.
“Not really,” Finn confessed. “She didn’t even realize what you used to be like. You should’ve seen her face when we told her how you used to travel all over the world with us and do every single extreme sport.”
Finn paused, but Bran fumed silently rather than respond.
“What happened to the old Branson Knight?” Finn asked. ‘You used to shake your fist at society and prove you could do anything a sighted person could do—usually better. Now you hide away with your treasure like an old dragon in his cave, and all you think about is business.”
“Maybe I don’t have anything left to prove,” he said, sullenly. “Maybe I don’t need that anymore. I’m happy here, and I don’t need anyone else.”
“Not even us?” asked Cole, his words tinged with hurt.
Bran groaned. “That’s not what I meant. You guys are my brothers.”
From across the table, Jarrett’s voice came closer. “Then, as your brothers, we’re telling you to stop shutting everyone out. You’ve written advice to our disabled kids, and that’s one of the things you always warned them against… cutting themselves off from society.”
Is that what I’ve done? Why didn’t I recognize it?
“Next weekend, we’re going to Vegas,” Finn announced.
“Vegas?” Bran’s heart pounded in his chest. He couldn’t handle the crowds. The noise. “I think I’ve got meetings—”
“Sorry, bud. Stephanie checked your schedule, and you’ve nothing important planned,” Jarrett said.
“I don’t think—” He choked, his mouth as dry as if he had a mouthful of flour.
“You can even bring Carina. Make it a trial run, of sorts.” Finn’s hand gripped his shoulder and his voice lowered. “You can do this, Bran. We’ll be right there with you. You need to let loose and have fun again. You’ve got to get back out in the world.”
Bran’s throat constricted, and he felt like a vacuum had sucked all the air from his lungs.
“It’s going to be a regular thing,” Cole added. “Phantom Enterprises is going to hold a corporate meeting at a different location every month, just like we used to, and you’re going to come. No excuses.”
Footsteps announced the entrance of a fifth person in the dining room. Bran recognized Fordham’s gait. “Mr. Knight, I have a report for you. Two items.”
Bran rubbed his aching temples. “I hope it’s good news, Fordham. I don’t think I could handle any bad.”
“We’ll let you be the judge.”
From his buddies’ chuckles, he could assume Fordham made a funny expression.
“First,” said Fordham, “Ms. Stephanie has reluctantly agreed to move into the complex. I believe she used the term, ‘financial rock and a hard place.’”
“I pay her well,” Bran stated, wanting to defend himself before his friends.
“Yes, but she tells me her doctor recommended a new prescription drug for CF, and her insurance doesn’t cover it.”
“Stephanie has cystic fibrosis?” Finn asked, incredulous. “I would never have guessed.”
“Not Stephanie,” Bran explained, inexplicably worried this piece of information would cause Finn to pursue her on a more personal level. “It’s her six-year-old daughter, Ellie.”
He could almost hear his friend swallowing hard before whispering back, “Stephanie’s right. There’s a new breakthrough med, and it’s costing me about three hundred grand a year. I was planning to bring it up at our next board meeting. We can’t afford to give that much money to every CF kid, but how do we decide which one gets it and which one doesn’t?”
I don’t know. But I’m making sure Ellie gets the drug she needs. Bran pressed his lips together, keeping the thought to himself. To Fordham, he said, “When is she moving in?”
“I hope I wasn’t presumptuous, but I convinced her to move this week, on Tuesday. Her lease renews this month, so it’s now or next June. She was concerned about missing a morning of work, but I assured her you’d be accommodating.”
“Excellent.” Bran rubbed his hands together briskly, imagining how his life would improve with Stephanie close by. “Hire a moving company. I don’t want her to lift a finger. Give them connecting suites in the east wing, by the rose garden. Ellie ought to like that. All girls like roses, right?”
“And Ms. Fields? Where do you want her to stay?”
“Ms. Fields?”
“Laurie Fields, their live-in nanny.”
He faltered, embarrassed to have forgotten the nanny’s name, since Stephanie talked about her almost every day. “Yes, Laurie Fields. Right. She’ll need to be next door in the same wing.”
“And Ms. Parker?” Fordham inquired, in the same impassive tone.
“Carina? What about her?”
“She’s here, waiting for you.”
“What?” Bran choked, gasping to catch his breath as his mind spun. Why is Carina here?
“She’s in the parlor, asking where she can put her things. Shall I have her trunks moved to your master suite?” This time, Bran noted the edge of a laugh in Fordham’s voice.
“She can’t move in here.”
