Page 37 of Lau Ahi
Avery.
My eyes were on the screen now far more interested than they had been before. When the man started to speak I could feel heat crawling up my neck in the worst way. This can’t be.
Mr. Miller had gotten straight to business but ceding the floor to an outsider wasn’t something I thought we normally did. Hell, outsiders knowing anything about us wasn’t really done so now I was even more concerned by what the hell was going on.
The man who was clearly of East African heritage gave a nod to Mr. Miller before he spoke.
But when he spoke about being from Eritrea, the country of the flag around Dr. Avery’s neck in her office, and with that same ultra-posh accent, I knew this wasn’t a coincidence.
I tuned back in just enough time to hear Auntie Babette talking about revolts before Mr. Avery continued.
“I understand that it’s not my business. My issue now is how to get help to the people despite the obstacles. I know that there are many people who have influence, but yours is the largest.” He looked hesitantly at the screen as though he didn’t want to speak too much on who we were or what we did.
“I don’t know if I should be proud of that fact or pissed that someone is speaking about us in ways they shouldn’t.” Mr. Miller’s face proved it was pride but you could only tell if you knew him.
“It was a compliment let me assure you.” Mr. Avery didn’t hesitate to smooth over any confusion, but he didn’t kiss anyone’s ass.
“The thing is, our family, our extended family, was founded because of a mutual connection. There isn’t any room for new connections because that isn’t how we work.” As I spoke the feeling of dread increased in the base of my gut.
“Unless, like the Nakoa family, there was a marriage.”
And there it was. The punch to the gut had me fighting to keep myself in my seat and not ripping the screen off the ceiling. I saw Xerxes’ face get tighter at the implication and I knew what he was going to do. The look of being conflicted was on his face and I could already see him getting ready to fall on his sword.
No matter who I was, I wasn’t a selfish man. My brother loved a woman too deeply to enter into a union with anyone else. Never mind the fact that I had already slept with her, that wouldn’t have made her untouchable. I craved Asha and I wouldn’t ever be the type of man to covet the wife of someone else. Especially when he didn’t even want her to begin with.
But marriage?
The entire institute was a sore subject for me. Not sore, it was one that I actively refused to believe in because of the hell it had brought down on my bloodline. Marriage had ruined my childhood and my mother. The last thing I wanted to be was a replica of my father, Ikaika.
“The reason the Cannon and Nakoa families are here is that you both are the only two who are left eligible to marry.” Mr. Miller looked concerned about having to bring this to us, but it was necessary. I was sure by the silence to my right that my grandfather had already bought into this idea and wanted to push me to accept it. He didn’t know anything about this girl but I was sure he would be more than happy for me to take a wife. Part of me felt as though he wanted to undo whatever failures he’d had with my father, but none of them was his fault. Ikaika meant strength but the man he’d turned out to be was spoiled and self-absorbed.
“The Benoit family also has an heiress—” Auntie Babette, with all her love was offering another solution because she knew how her son felt about his lady and how I felt about marriage in general. She’d seen the downfall of my parents’ union up close. Had been there for the arrangement and the subsequent dissolution. I doubted she wanted that type of instability to befall theConsortiumfor yet another generation.
They’d been doing so well and now, here we go.
Their generation had two sets of terrible marriages: the Suttons and the Nakoas. Priest had broken his generationalcurse but my desire to break it was to end it. I might want to head the family as it stood but I had no pressing need to pass this down to anyone. Besides my grandfather, my brothers were the only ones I’d do this for. They loved their wives more than enough for me to hand over this seat at the table to one of their children. I’d already planned this out.
“As progressive as we are, Ms. Benoit is not into women. We asked.” That was Mr. Miller’s way of letting us know he’d done his best to avoid this and it hadn’t worked. I glanced at my grandfather this time because now I was sure he’d said something to convey I might be alright with this.
And now I had to wonder just what the old man really knew.
“And the alliance with her brother as second wouldn’t be strong enough for us to throw as many resources behind this.” Xerxes spoke up then seeing the problem that was going to be presented if he tried to get anyone else in the family to do this but us. I appreciated his not automatically throwing me up to slaughter, it showed his heart. There were enough younger siblings, including Lucky, within the organization who could handle this. But they wouldn’t have the pull to influence votes, since that was still left up to the head of each house.
“And so you will propose marriage to one of us. I thought you had a son who was to be the heir to your empire.” I had to speak on what I knew because he could easily have offered his son to marry Jemma Marie. Sadly, she was so eager to get back to the business of running her family and theConsortiumthat she would do whatever was necessary. That eagerness was the main reason we wouldn’t let her do it. But this man didn’t know that.
“He is. But one thing I’m more than keenly aware of is his faults. My son has a tendency to want too much control and sadly he has been granted it by his affluence throughout the world. He’s not a bad person, but I wouldn’t want him to messup the entire foundation of your organization simply because he couldn’t or wouldn’t allow his wife the control of what her family built.”
“He sounds like an asshole.”
Auntie Babette’s words were spoken without a fuck to give and I had to smile internally at how she had no qualms about talking shit to this man.
“He absolutely takes after his mother in his arrogance. Another reason a more powerful hand is needed with my daughters.”
“You don’t trust them around their own mother?” Mr. Miller was now sitting forward and I glanced over at my grandfather who was already looking at me.
Now I was wondering what he was getting at because something wasn’t right in his statement.
“There is a lot to say to that which could be discussed further. Patriarchy is a thing in every part of the world touched by colonization. Eritrea is not exempt from it. But I have come with a proposition. I understand that moving money around is something that needs to happen on a larger scale because of the amount of influence and revenue you all bring in. I have the capacity to do that. I’m more than happy to waive any fee that would customarily be provided in exchange for the assistance needed with helping Eritrea.”
