Chapter 40 - The Billionaire Triplets Take New York

Alexis smiled as Silas carried her mother out of the bedroom. She heard a faint click indicating they switched the light off before leaving. Several minutes later she heard a soft knock on the door leading to the bathroom shared with her brothers. The door opened as she sat up. Sean and Theo entered quietly flopping on her bed.

“So what do you think is up with the servants in this place?” Theo asked.

“You have to admit they are pretty bold to be playing those kinds of tricks right under their employer’s nose,” Sean agreed.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with boldness,” Alexis said. “It’s like they were trying to drive out an invader.”

“And we’re the enemy?” Sean asked.

“What about that other woman? She was acting like the queen of the castle. What was her name?”

“Jenna Ryker,” Alexis said. “We’ll have to do some research. Sean?”

“Yep.” He pulled out his phone for a quick internet search. “Jenna Ryker. Socialite. Looks like her father owns Ryker Holdings.”

“Another big name company huh?” Theo snorted.

“This may take some time. I’ll have to deep dive it,” Sean said. “Are we planning to take it all down or just her?”

“All of it. Do you think you can get in?” Alexis asked.

“Shouldn’t be any harder than getting into Carlisle or Prescott.”

“Do it.”

San nodded moving to the small desk where her tablet was set out. Turning on the desk light he quickly set it up and went to work.

“You think she’s like an old girlfriend?” Theo asked with a frown.

“No. He said she meant nothing and we shouldn’t worry about her. I think that’s true at least as far as our father is concerned,” Alexis said. “If there was anything between them she would have greeted him first but you said she went straight to our grandfather.”

“Yeah that’s right. Grandma-O seemed annoyed with her too.”

“So it’s safe to assume our grandfather is the one who keeps her around,” Alexis said. “I bet he’s been wanting our father and her to get married.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Family businesses thrive when the families who control them do and on the security of future generations. Our father is young but he will be thirty soon. This Jenna is a childhood friend from another prominent family so a merger makes sense.”

“Gotcha. I guess that does make sense,” Theo nodded. “So gramp’s been pestering our father to marry her.”

“But he’s been looking for mom instead,” Alexis said.

“That doesn’t explain the staff.”

“Sure it does. Everyone here has been expecting and planning for them to be married but he suddenly shows up with mom and us. They probably don’t even know about what happened at the hotel ten years ago so they might not even expect him to be a father.”

“Oh…right. Like mom is some single-mother seductress getting in the way.”

“More or less,” Alexis agreed. “I get the feeling he avoids coming here so the staff isn’t as loyal to him as they are to grandpa and his chosen daughter-in-law.”

“Well jokes on them.”

“Not yet. But it will be especially when she tries anything with mom,” Alexis said.

“What makes you think she will?”

“Because she has to,” Alexis shrugged. “She isn’t just going to let our father go.”

“Point taken,” Theo agreed. “So what’s our play?”

“We need more information. She has to have plenty of skeletons in the closet if we look in the right place. We’ll need her phone to get access to her social media. But if we want her to make a mistake we need to antagonize her.”

“You want us to make her mad?”

“Yes. The angrier she is the more reactive she’ll become. She won’t stop to think about her actions like she normally would.”

“So we make her mad. Then what?”

“We need to keep watch so we can be there when she snaps,” Alexis said. “She’s not likely to do it in front of our grandparents so we need proof.”

“What about our grandfather?” Sean asked.

“He’s already hostile to mom so we’re not likely to win him over,” Alexis said. “If he’s going to be judgy like that than it’s only fair to treat him in kind. Besides we need to know just how entrenched Jenna is with him.”

“So we push both their buttons,” Theo said. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”

“I’ll say,” Sean chuckled. “Did you see how nervous he got trying to win a staring contest against Lexi?”

Theo snorted laughter, “I can’t believe it. How has he not figured out Lexi can’t see him?”

“Clearly, he’s not paying attention,” Alexis sighed unimpressed with their grandfather’s observational skills. “Grandma got it right away.”

“This is going to be fun!”

* * *

Richard Prescott woke in a foul mood. Last night was supposed to be a family dinner yet they were entertaining Carlisle spawn. Worse than their company was the fact as long as they were around Silas paid no attention to Jenna. It was clear she had taken considerable time and care to make herself look beautiful but Silas didn’t so much as glance in her direction. His only concern was for the Carlisle seductress beside him and her three children. And, worse, Opal seemed to be encouraging him.

Opal had been there since the very beginning. She knew the trouble Emerson Carlisle stirred and nearly destroyed his company. Silas only knew the story but Opal lived through it. Why then did she encourage his infatuation with the Carlisle daughter? Why was she not consumed with rage at how she took advantage of him to conceive three children without his consent?

His late breakfast did not improve his mood. With most of the experienced kitchen staff dismissed there was no one to run the kitchen or know how he liked his breakfast. After three attempts he gave up and ate what was prepared already having misgivings for lunch as it was unlikely Opal would not have proper replacements before then. Joseph trailed him as they walked down the hall. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for those unruly children. Richard wouldn’t stand for it.

He glanced out the window and suddenly came to a halt as he watched the boys outside. One was on horseback dragging the other on a sled as they plunged through the snow.

“Joseph, what is going on?” Richard demanded but the butler was at a loss for words.

Red with rage Richard flew down the stairs to the first floor and burst out the door leading to the back patio covered in snow. The yard beyond was riddled with hoof prints and sled tracks indicating they had been at it for some time.

“Yahoo!” a shout suddenly echoed as the pair rode around the corner.

The lumbering bay gelding loped through the snow. There was no panic in the equine as it dragged the sled behind with the other boy clinging to it. The sled swung wide as the pair rode around the corner ramming into a drift and flipped over dumping its passenger. The boy rolled coming to rest on his back as he laughed.

“That was awesome!”

The rider slowed the horse to a walk and circled back. Both wore exuberant expressions. Their cheeks were red with cold and joy as they laughed. The horse snorted shaking its head but otherwise seemed calm and unharmed. If anything the beast almost seemed excited to be out and of use.

“Let’s go again!” the boy on the ground declared.

“Now just a moment!” Richard interrupted. “That is a valuable animal. You can’t just ride around on it and risk injuring it!”

“Really? Because the guy in the stable said it wasn’t worth its feed and you stopped using it for sleigh rides ten years ago,” the boy on the horse said.

Richard blinked looking at the horse again. The animal was dark bay with a coat somewhat dull with age. It was a large-boned horse, possibly part draft, with shoulders sloped best for a harness collar. It had a deep chest and wide barrel that made it somewhat difficult to ride though the boy seemed to be making do just fine.

“Sean, don’t bother,” the boy on the ground stood. “He doesn’t care anyway.”

The boy on the horse shrugged but didn’t argue.

“Grouchy old man.”

Richard felt his rage boil up again.

“What are you two doing out here?”

Richard turned to see the girl beside the patio rail. She stood with her hands on her hips and her head tilted to the side. Her bright, green eyes had a strange, unfocused look to them that made him uneasy for some reason.

“Just killing time,” the boy on the ground shrugged.

“If you two break your necks I’m not going to the hospital with you,” she declared. “Mom will be up soon so you should put the horse away. You know she’s terrified of them.”

“We know.” They answered together even as their stomachs grumbled.

“Man, I’m starving,” the boy on the ground complained.

“Well once mom’s up we can finally have breakfast,” his brother said.

“Thank god!”

“…You haven’t had breakfast, it’s almost ten,” Richard grunted.

“Yeah well, your boy there said we had to wait our turn,” the boy pointed to the butler. “Apparently our turn is never because in this household it’s okay to starve kids.”

The boy on the horse snorted back a laugh.

“Next year I say we stay home unless Duncan comes with us,” the boy on the ground declared. “He is the GOAT!”

“I second that,” the boy on the horse agreed as the horse shuffled forward. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“Right,” the other boy flopped onto the sled riding it as the horse lugged it along toward the stable.

“Boys,” the girl shook her head and turned back to the house.

“Your mother is afraid of horses?” Richard asked.

“Yeah ever since she was seven or eight and her horse threw her,” the girl paused to answer. “But that will happen when someone throws a rock at it while you are riding.”

“Who would do that?”

“Our sadistic aunt wanted to be an only child,” she smiled vaguely before heading inside.

Richard lingered in the chill speechless. Was any of that true?