“Keep on hoping, little brother,” Finn said.
“Well, this is a pretty classy office,” Brandon pointed out.
“Yeah, way too nice for the likes of you to be stepping foot inside,” their youngest brother, Crew, said as he entered the room.
“Look, Shrinky Dink, I think we’re all here because you messed with the wrong patient,” Hudson said as he entered.
“I’m the only sane one in this family,” Crew pointed out as he sat down.
“Are you supposed to say that?” Brandon asked. “Don’t you have a code of ethics or something?”
“Shut up,” Crew told his brother with a smile.
“Now, I know you aren’t supposed to say that. You make your money off of people talking too much. Should I lie back and tell you all my problems?” Brandon persisted.
“I don’t have enough time in the world to hear your problems,” Crew said.
That got a chuckle from the entire group.
“Man, it’s been a while since we were all in the same room. We can be thankful for at least that much in being called here,” Noah said.
“Well, hopefully someone is going to tell us what in the hell it’s all about,” Finn said. He was impatient and not in the mood to be in the fancy offices.
“If you hold on to your big-boy panties, then maybe we’ll find out,” Crew told him.
“At least I wear proper underwear,” Finn pointed out.
“Have you been going through my drawers again?” Crew asked. “Jealous that I can fill mine out?”
Brandon laughed at that.
“Trust me—there’s no problem in me filling anything out,” Finn growled.
“I don’t know. You seem a bit broken still,” Crew persisted.
“You’re an ass,” Finn told him. “I’m just fine.”
“Knock it off before someone walks in and thinks we’re utterly uncivilized,” Crew said. He was always the calmest of all of them.
“Yeah, yeah, shrink away at us,” Noah grumbled.
“This family needs me more than I’m able to help,” Crew said.
“Wait a minute—” There was a noise at the door that stopped whatever Finn had been about to say.
“Thank you all for coming here today.”
The room went dead silent as all five brothers turned to see the infamous Joseph Anderson filling the doorway of the conference room. What in the hell was a man who was basically royalty doing with them?
This man owned half the businesses in Seattle, provided tens of thousands of jobs, donated tens of millions of dollars each year, and ran many charity organizations. On top of that he was known as a family man. There were rumors he was a meddler, but no one ever had a bad thing to say about Joseph Anderson—and many reporters had tried to dig up some juicy gossip. There was just none to be had.
As the oldest brother, Finn had always taken the lead in any new situation in their lives. Slowly, he rose to his feet, which encouraged his brothers to follow suit.
“Mr. Anderson, is there something we can help you with?” Finn asked.
“Good. You know who I am,” Joseph said as he waved a hand in front of his face. “Sit down. There’s no need for us to be formal.”
Finn had to hide a smile at Joseph’s words. Of course they knew who he was. Was there anyone who didn’t?
Joseph moved to the head of the table, where a seat was still available. No one sat until Joseph was seated; then, with confused looks, they followed suit.
“It would be very difficult not to know who you are,” Brandon said with a smirk. “Considering you own half of Seattle.”
That earned a chuckle from Joseph, which shocked Finn. He hadn’t expected a man as powerful as Joseph to have a sense of humor.
“I wouldn’t say I own exactly half of Seattle,” Joseph said, zero humility in his tone. “But I definitely own a lot of it. I like business, and I like helping others find their calling in life.” He paused for a moment as he looked each of the brothers in the eyes. Finn wasn’t easily intimidated, but he found this moment a bit over the top.
“Well, I don’t believe in beating around the bush, so I’ll get right to the point,” Joseph said. Finn found himself tensing as he waited for whatever words were next to come out of this man’s mouth.
“Your father was my uncle. I won’t talk about him because I don’t see a point in dredging up the past. He took you away, and we weren’t able to find you. Your mother called me on her deathbed, apologizing and explaining it all to me. That means . . .”
There was another long pause as Joseph looked at each of them again. Finn was in total and utter shock. He couldn’t have said anything even if a 9 mm was pointed at his head.
“You’re my family. Technically we’d be cousins, but you’re the age of my kids and nephews, so feel free to think of me as your uncle.” He smiled as if he was bestowing a blessing on them. Some people would think that was exactly what he was doing.
He continued talking. “And as such, I have an inheritance for you. I know your mother didn’t have a lot, but her wishes were for you to have family and have a true start in life. I don’t believe in just handing something over. It’s not how I was brought up, and it’s not how I raised my kids. Money, just like everything else in life, has to be earned. Money comes and goes, as well. But at the end of the day, family is what matters—family is our legacy.”
There was another pause. No one said anything.
“You’re my family, and I want to know you. So I’ve come up with a project that we can work on together. That means we can get to know each other, and I get five new additions to my already beautiful family. I know you might need some time to think about this, and I’m okay with that as well. You’re Andersons, which means you’re stubborn as hell, but it also means I know you’ll make the right decision.”
Still no one said a word. A storm could’ve ripped through the room, and none of them would’ve moved. Yes, they had the last name Anderson, but that was a common name. Lots of people had that name and weren’t related to the one and only Joseph Anderson.
“I’m not going to pry right now. We’ll meet at my place in three days, once you’ve had time to process all of this. Once the shock wears off, I’m confident you’ll be excited to not be alone. Here’s the project we’ll be doing together, and here’s my home address. I look forward to speaking more with you.”
With that a man stepped forward and passed out a folder to each of the boys. Then both Joseph and the man left the room. No one spoke for a very, very long time.
Finn was in utter shock. He’d thought they were alone in the world. Losing their mother had been one of the hardest things he’d ever experienced, and that was saying a lot, considering he’d been shot at nearly daily at some points in his career.
But to find out he had a huge family out there threw him for a loop. He wasn’t sure what to think of it all. Family hadn’t been something he’d thought much about. He’d had a terrible father, a wonderful mother, and pretty decent siblings. But discovering there was a massive number of family members who shared his blood was overwhelming—and not necessarily a welcome gift. And he couldn’t care less about the inheritance Joseph had briefly mentioned. He’d been smart with his money in life. He wasn’t a billionaire, but he could hold his own.