Page 71 of One Quick Obsession

Aston’s shoulders relaxed at that moment, and once again I was grateful for a woman that I didn’t know.

“In front of me is the next step of the will. Because there’s always hoops to go through when it comes to Loren Cage.”

“Do you want me to read them?” James asked, his voice low. “Or we can just burn everything.”

“And break the company? No. Never.” Although there was an odd humor in Aston’s voice as he said it. “This man was a liar. A manipulator. But we’re here. Together. Maybe it’s what he wanted, or maybe he never thought we could, but we found a way to make this work. We are a family. All one hundred and ten of us.”

I smiled as others laughed, Scarlett squeezing my hand.

“So let’s read the next phase.”

He opened the envelope as Blakely wrapped her arm around his waist.

Aston cleared his throat and began, the legal jargon going over my head in some cases, but some things made sense.

Loren Cage was truly a maniacal asshole.

“So, the dinners are done,” Aston said after a moment. “We have a few charity and committee options that we need to perform in order to keep the town and company intact, but we no longer need monthly dinners where a ratio is important.” Aston met each one of our gazes in turn, and I cleared my throat before raising my beer in a toast.

“To figuring out a dinner plan on our own. Because I have a feeling you guys are never going to let me leave the group chat. Or these family dinners.”

And with that, the tension that had risen broke ever so slightly, and people laughed, standing up to hug, and continued the conversation.

Because there was no way we’d be ending these family dinners.

Maybe we wouldn’t have to focus on how many of each family line was there, but we weren’t cutting ties anytime soon.

Hell, my brothers were right. I had brought Scarlett to this, and that meant things were changing.

Only I wasn’t sure exactly what would happen next.

By the time we had dinner and made plans for the next family dinner that would be in Denver, I was exhausted, and I knew Scarlett was beyond tired. She might not have needed stitches, but she was still in pain.

We made our way back to my house, driving up the winding road past her smaller place.

“So are you going to be on a charity committee?” Scarlett asked, her voice fatigued but still teasing.

“If they know what’s good for the family, they won’t. Isabella and Blakely will probably have fun organizing it. They like their spreadsheets.”

“Spreadsheets save lives. I’ll help them too if you want.” She paused. “If that’s not stepping on toes. I mean, I’m not family. And well, you and I are… You know what, I’m too tired for this conversation.”

I reached out and gripped her hand, squeezing. “I’m sure they’d love the help. And you’re right, we’re both a little too tired for this conversation.”

“I suppose we should have it at some point.”

I let out a breath. “Yes. Just not after a Cage family dinner with one hundred and ten people invited.”

“That is true.”

As I took the turn to pull into my house, I frowned, realizing there was an SUV already there.

“What the hell?”

“Who’s here? All of your family was at Aston’s.”

“Stay in the car,” I ordered, knowing exactly who it was.

I frowned, trying to figure out why the hell they would be here, and then the date clicked.