73__Reunion

73__Reunion
“That’s enough,” Julius said. He pointed at Harvey and the others. “Stand aside.”

Exchanging glances, they turned scornfully away and grouped themselves to the right of the office, staring across at Braden and Erin.
Harvey scoffed, smiling. “I hope you’re not angry about our little email to Ms. Moore, Braden. No hard feelings.”

“It’s just business, eh?” added the other one.

Braden stared at them in stony silence, arms crossed over his chest.

Julius leaned back in his seat, well at ease. “Well, Braden? What do you have?”

Blinking, Erin looked at Braden.
His face was expressionless, but he looked at his grandfather. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Julius made a face at him. “Oh, quit it. You think I don’t know you? If you didn’t dig up every sin these bastards have committed the very day they emailed Erin, you wouldn’t be Braden Stone. Don’t waste time and do what you’ve wanted to.”

Erin looked back at Braden but he still looked clueless. Then, finally, she saw a wicked grin spread slowly across his face, his eyes glinting with malice.
“Shall I?”

She blinked. Shall he what?

Pulling out his phone, he pressed a single button and moment’s later, Mr. Clint entered. He held a thick, brown envelop in his hands and walked over, handing it to Braden.
“Thanks.”

Mr. Clint quietly left and Braden walked calmly to the center of the room, dropping into the sofa that sat before the Chairman’s desk, facing the four men.

He smiled cruelly at them and dropped the envelope on the table with a thud. “Gentlemen. I’ll make this short. I want you out of Stone Holdings. Not just out of Stone Constructions, or Stone Estates or Stone Towers, I want you out of Stone Holdings as a whole.”

One of the other’s clutched Harvey’s arm, looking at him with a frown of question.

“What makes you think you can get rid of us?” questioned the one who’d annoyed Erin. “We’re important shareholders of—”

“We’ll buy you out,” said Braden. “And you’ll take the money, give us your shares and then fuck off.”

Harvey forced out a scoff, intimidated but refusing to show it. “You’re just a kid. What are you? Twenty-five? What m-makes you think—”

“Money laundering,” Braden started. The men paused and he saw them go pale. “Embezzlement of company funds, tax evasion, fraud, bribery… the list goes on. This is without mentioning your moral sins, of course. I know all about the island you guys spend most your time and money on. If I exposed the shady shit you do there, not only would you be in jail, you would all end up divorced and abandoned by your families.”

If they hadn’t been worried yet, they were worried now.

Not a hint of smugness could be found amongst them, their faces looking ashen as they stared Braden.

He scoffed, the corner of his mouth curving. “You’re just four sick men who’ve been leeching off our company like goddamn viral infections. Check the content of this folder if you want. You fix the mess you made by selling our ideas and then you get the fuck out. I’m giving you twenty-four hours. If you think I’ll give you even a minute extra… you clearly don’t know me well enough.”

“So, they’re fired?” Phoebe asked, shoving sushi into her mouth.

Erin nodded, pouring herself more soy sauce.

They were having lunch together in Erin’s new office, discussing the events of that morning.

Phoebe snorted. “I find it so funny that this happened. My dad used to say ‘That Harvey Jacobs bastard will get what’s comin’ to him’. Guess dad was right.”

“I just want my idea back,” Erin said. “Of course, I want them to also pay for their crimes, but I want my idea back even more. Apparently, the board chose both.”

Her friend’s eyes went wide. “Both you and Braden’s ideas? How?”

“They’re going to make the island retro as Braden wanted and then they’re going to put in a giant oriental therapy spa on the other side of the island.”

Phoebe’s eyes were shining with excitement. “Oh, my God! We’re going as soon as it’s done!”

Erin smiled, nodding. She reached for another piece of sushi and eyed Phoebe. “Okay, but… besides that, how’re you doing?”

“Hm? Me? I’m great. My dad’s trying to get me to start working, but being a lawyer’s stressful and I didn’t come to this world to stress.”

“First, your dad’s right. Second, that’s not what I was talking about. I’m talking about Jackson.”

“No.”

Erin blinked, raising her hands, palms-up. “I didn’t even say anything—”

“I know what you’re going to ask me and I’m telling you no. It’s not funny anymore, this is going to make our friendship awkward and I don’t want that.”

“Me asking about it can’t possibly make your friendship more awkward than you guys made it when you slept together. Twice.”

Phoebe pressed her lips together and glared at her. “It was a mistake! Jackson and I are friends and I love him to death, I refuse to risk our friendship. Agh! If only he wasn’t so hot!”

Erin choked on her sushi, covering her mouth as she laughed. “What the hell?”

“Forget it! I told him to stop taking things too far and he says he was joking about the ‘marrying’ thing, so we’re good. We’re gonna be friends till we die and… it… is never going to happen again.”

Holding her chopsticks to her lips, Erin looked at her, studying her. Finally, she sighed. “Okay. If you guys say so. This means we’re still friends, right? Us three.”

“Of course. Besides the occasional addition of Braden, it’ll be the tree of us till death, that’ll never change. Not unless I stop protecting our trio, which I never will.”

Sighing, Erin leaned in. “You don’t have to reject Jackson just to protect our—

“We’re just going to stay friends, babe. We both agreed on that, there are no feelings. So, don’t worry, we’re fine.”

Erin pursed her lips. Giving up, she nodded and picked up her water bottle. “Okay. Fine.”

Two months went by and it appeared that Phoebe and Jackson were sticking to their friendship agreement.

The three of them met up whenever they could and it was just like old times. The vibes were immaculate and their bond was just as strong as it had been in high school. Erin didn’t know if her friends were really that mature or if they just had Oscar-worthy acting skills.

Either way, she was grateful they were still together.

Sighing, she slid an ice cube from her now-empty coffee cup into her mouth and bit down on it.
Braden walked into the downstairs living room to find her curled up on the couch, chewing ice.

“That’s bad for your teeth.” He lifted her chin and leaned over, pressing his lips to hers for a kiss.

He pulled away and she blushed, clearing her throat.
She was still so shy to kiss him in the house, it made him want to kiss her repeatedly just to see the cute reaction.

“Y-your mom?” she asked.

He glanced up at the ceiling. “Having tea with grandpa. They've finally become more comfotable with each other. He wants to offer her to stay here instead of the hotel, but he’s too shy to.”

She laughed. “How cute!”

He squeezed into the sofa beside her, throwing her legs over his. “He’s worried she’ll think he’s trying to force her in again.”

“He should probably just let her be then. Or you can ask her to come and stay here. Please do, we only have a month before she goes back to Hawaii. How nice would it be to spend the whole day with her instead of having to drive back and forth from the Stone Towers?”

He looked pensive for a moment and then looked at her. “Right, we do only have a month with her. Makes me want to have our wedding before she leaves.”

Erin choked on ice. “What?!”
He smiled at her and it was blindingly beautiful, enough to hypnotize her. She stared at him. “I… I do?”

Braden blinked. “Hm?”

Erin shook herself out of it. “I mean… stop being ridiculous, we’re literally halfway through the Ribeiro Island project.”

He sighed. “Oh, yes. We’re up to our eyeballs in work. I just want to do it as soon as possible.”

Smiling, she snuggled up against him. “Same. How far is the house?”

He smiled. “Almost done.” They were building a home exactly like Erin wanted, on the east part of the Stone estate.

Braden had made the idea a part of his marriage proposal three weeks ago in Greece, he hadn’t known she’d love it so much. Stephanie had been going for a home design project and they’d spontaneously chosen to tag along.

Braden hadn’t thought they’d return engaged, but during that sunset while they’d been shoulder-deep in the ocean and he’d had her in his arms, he hadn’t really thought of anything but making her his.

At first, he’d wanted to make it an incredibly fancy moonlight dinner with five different diamond and emerald rings for her to choose from, but he hadn’t been able to. That moment before the sunset had just felt so right, the words had been coming out of his mouth before he could stop them.

He didn’t regret it one bit. Hearing Erin say ‘my fiancé’ when she referred to him was the most butterfly-inducing thing he had ever experienced in his life.
He could only imagine what it would be like to hear ‘my husband’. His head fell back against the sofa, a giant smile pulling at his mouth.

Erin blinked up at him. “Hm? What’s wrong with you?”

Braden made a long sound of blissful contentment and she watched him in puzzlement. “You’re getting stranger by the day, Braden Stone.”

“I don’t care, lemme alone!” he shouted, smiling as he wrapped her in his arms, rocking violently from side to side.

“Ah! I’m gonna spill my ice!”

“Spill it! Spill everything! We’re gonna be husband and wife! Aaaah!!”

Erin couldn’t stop laughing, rocking like she was on a funfair ride. “You’re crazy!”

A loud slam made them jump.
Sitting silently, they looked at each other.
“What was that?” whispered Erin.

“Hello?!” called an obnoxiously slurred voice.

Braden instantly went tense. Erin’s eyes widened, looking at him. “Braden it’s—”

“Hey!” The French sliding doors to the living room slammed open. The force made them slide back together and Michael Stone got pissed, shoving the doors apart again.
He spotted them sitting on the couch and grinned, coming inside. “Ay, there’s my boy! Braden, daddy’s here!”

Braden stared flatly up at him as Erin glanced worriedly at his father.

“Won’t you say hi?” Michael asked. He looked around. “Why’s it so fucking empty?”

“What are you doing here?” Braden questioned.

Michael looked back at his son but then paused. His gaze took in Erin’s legs over Braden’s lap before zooming in on the rings on both their fingers. A sharp huff nearly caved his fragile chest in. “Would you look at that?! You two are together! And the old man let it happen?!”

Braden’s jaw clenched. “I asked you why you’re here.”

“Where else would I be?!” roared Michael, glaring down at them with bloodshot eyes. “So, this is what you’ve been doing, Braden? Sitting here with this girl who took everything from us! After having me sued?!”

Erin shrunk away.

Michael nodded. “That’s right. I know you got me sued! My own son… Well, now that I know you’re together, I can take revenge— Ow!”

His ear was caught in a tight pinch.

“What the hell—” Michael squinted painfully to the side and stopped when he saw who held his ear.

His eyes widened, his expression falling. “Sh… Sharon…”

Braden’s mum tightened her grip on his ear and Michael yelped, hunching over.

“Michael Stone,” she started crossly. “How dare you threaten my son?”

Michael’s entire body was screaming in agony just from her grip on his ear. “Sharon, wait. L-let’s talk about this.”

“You cruel jerk. I nearly lost my business because of you and you still have the audacity to…”

She huffed angrily and jerked his ear, making Michael scream.

“Woahhh!” Braden shot to his feet. “Mom, mom, you’ll tear it off. Calm down.”

“I ought to tear his damn ear off!” yelled his mom. “It’s not like he uses them to listen!”

Michael tried to pull his ear away but her grip was too tight, so they went swaying about the living room, Braden between them trying to save his father’s ear.

“Mom, it’s turning red!”

“You jerk!” Sharon spat. “I’ll deal with you!”

Erin raised her gaze from the fiasco and spotted the Chairman standing silently on the stairs. He was completely transfixed by the sight before him and Erin wondered if he knew he was smiling. In fact, he was beaming, looking more delighted than Erin had seen in a long while.

After all, it had been all he’d wanted. To see his son together with his family. Even if it was happening years later and after much pain, he was still happy to see it.

“Aaaaah!” screamed Michael.

“Mom, he’s bleeding!”

“Say your prayers, you devil!” Shouted Sharon, red-faced with anger. “I’m sending you to Jesus!”