Controlling Interests: A Step-Brother Romance (The Legacy Series Book 2) by Lana Grayson Read Free Book Online

party.” Reed checked the caterer’s schedules. “Lot more fun when you aren’t in charge of it, and when you don’t have to carve up the guest of honor like the ribs.”
    I agreed but remained silent. Today’s hell would be a far different experience from the parties we had as children—the one time we were permitted to laugh, play, and rough-house with the other kids. After Mom’s death, the barbecue became a sticky and boring event in the summer heat, stuck in tailored suits and attached to my father’s side as an awkward adolescent. The past few years offered entertainment, at least. Good food, pleasant conversation, and a chance to interact with them men I hoped would lead me against my father and change the course of the Bennett Corporation.
    That opportunity was lost before my father gave the welcoming toast.
    I surveyed the grounds for the perfection my father expected in the minutes before the guests were scheduled to arrive for lunch. The caterers set their smokers on the far edge of the property, tinging the garden with the salty-sweet temptation of tenderizing meat. The planners wove thousands of white LEDs into the half acre of rose bushes, and flowers framed the linen-stripped tables, crisp white tents, and the two dozen chairs prepared for an annual display of Bennett hospitality, cordiality, and raw decadence.
    We impressed the same people, courted the same money, and served the same end goal—success.
    Only this time, our lives would depend on the behavior of the tiny Atwood threatened into silence. Sarah didn’t need a weapon to destroy the family, not when a single scream would echo louder than a shotgun.
    “Greet the guests once they arrive.” I instructed Reed. “But Sarah doesn’t leave my side. Our father doesn’t touch her, and she doesn’t talk to anyone on the board alone.”
    Reed frowned. “But—”
    “Don’t let them near her.”
    Max didn’t like his orders. “It’s trouble enough having an Atwood at a Bennett Corp picnic, but she can’t deliberately ignore the investors. There’s enough bad blood without causing more trouble.”
    More trouble than he realized. “It’ll be safer for Sarah if she’s kept away.”
    “What the hell is going on? You aren’t telling us something.”
    He was right. I hadn’t told them of the encounter with the board or my father’s knowledge of the takeover, and I wouldn’t. Not yet. Not until I knew exactly what was happening. Not until I had assurances they wouldn’t be harmed. If I revealed the board’s conspiracy, Reed might have stayed calm, but Max?
    His greatest inheritance was our father’s temper. If he learned the board threatened him and Sarah, we’d be washed in blood—and most of it would belong to him.
    “I have it under control,” I said.
    I meant it to end the conversation, but Max intercepted me before I could turn. The coiled, tribal tattoos spiraling over his arms might have intimidated others—or intrigued Sarah—but they didn’t threaten me. No matter the intricate thorns scarring his flesh, the ink didn’t bleed into his veins. Max was a Bennett, and, despite his hesitancies, he was second born.
    He was meant to obey me without question.
    And yet he still resisted.
    “You gotta get your head out of your ass and start figuring this shit out,” he said. “I can ram her all day and night, but if she doesn’t miraculously get knocked up, Dad’s gonna figure it out.”
    “I said I have it under control.”
    “You moving on the takeover?” Max flexed when he should have retreated. “You think you can have it all? Get the Bennet Corp, breed an heir, take Atwood Industries, and keep the girl?”
     “Yes.”
    “Christ, you sound like Dad.”
    He was fortunate Reed interrupted us, swaying the conversation as Max overstepped his bounds. Somewhere between the house and the party setup, Reed stole a piece of cornbread. He took a bite, motioning to the rushing caterers and servers.
    “Why is Dad even