Logan Chapter 147

-Logan-

I’m stuck in yet another full day of investor meetings because of Cora. I wish Emory had never met her. I’m not sure how we would’ve found each other without Cora’s interference in Emory’s life, but that bitch has ruined everything she’s touched since Emory and I have gotten together. We managed to make it a few days before Cora’s missing persons case hit the news. I guess the friend she was meeting wasn’t a colleague, and the police hate when information about active cases makes the news. I game plan with Anna after the third meeting about “concerns” brought up by my involvement in yet another “legal issue” with the police and we both decide it would just be faster to do one meeting for everyone. It’s time I step down and let these idiots think they’ve won.

I’ll still be the controlling stakeholder in Úlfur Industries, but with a new, hungry CEO at the helm. I’ll have a lot more time for my pack and my mate, and these sniveling babies can have a shiny new figurehead to suck dry. I can tell Anna is feeling nostalgic as we schedule what I’m planning to be my last meeting. I give her a pat on the shoulder as we walk in, then we’re the ass-kicking duo we’ve been for years as I field questions and concerns.

Insultingly, the investors seem mostly relieved that I’m headed out. I gave them a couple of suggestions for upcoming CEOs that I’ve been keeping an eye on. One of them is a shifter, but the others are human. I doubt any shifter would want to take over a company named after a different pack, anyway. They make agreeable noises and promptly ignore everything I say. I’ll be the deciding vote for my replacement, anyway. They think I’m stepping away completely, but they don’t realize that I’m actually just becoming one of them. The one with the most power. I can’t let a company with my name attached to it fail, after all.

Once I triple check all the instructions and advice I’ve been compiling for the different department heads, Anna and I have one last working lunch and walk out the building together one last time. I’ll still have a couple of half days here and there to keep the transition smooth, but we’ll never work together the same way again. It’s a bit bittersweet- I’m sure Anna and I will drift as friends after this, and I could always rely on her to give me the hard truths with no bullshit. There’s no real reason for us to get together regularly, especially with her opinions about my mate. One day she’ll realize that Emory and I are meant for each other, but we will probably be out of touch by then. I hope she gets along with Deek as well as she did with me. They seem like they’ll do well together. I wave to her as I get into the back of the car and Silverson drives me home. We’ve got to go pick up Emory and check on my brother.

Emory is still insisting that Cora could have run. She doesn’t believe her own words, but she desperately wants to. Cora isn’t the type to run from anything- she confronted Landon more than once on his following her, and she was ready to go head to head on the libel suit we leveled against her. She gave no indications she was planning to run, and one of James’ wolves found notes in one of her cabinets and her bedside drawer that if she disappeared, it was because she was kidnapped. Hopefully, he found all the notes of that nature before the police got there. Or if he didn’t, they might just decide she had a psychotic break and left because of her debilitating paranoia. Is it paranoia if they’re actually out to get you? I guess wolves are in a unique position of knowing the exact balance of sanity Cora is teetering on.

Silverson pulls up to the house and steps out of the car. I thought it would be nice for Emory and I to have a road trip just to ourselves. It’s only a couple of hours up to the cabin, so it’ll be a nice day trip for the two of us. I’m excited about the alone time and bonding we’ll have before we have to confront Landon and fix whatever he’s fucked up. We’re both bringing a couple of changes of clothes in case things get complicated, but I’d like to be back home by late tonight. We still have a pack to run, after all, and Emory has been itching to show me the progress she’s made on the organization and budgets for the pack hierarchy. I’m sure I’ll hear a lot about it on the way up.

Emory opens the passenger door and gets in while I’m still adjusting the seat and mirrors for my height. “I still think this is a crappy thing to do. We’re basically crashing your brother’s vacation to tell him that we don’t trust him.”

I pull out of the gates with a wave to the guards. “We don’t have to phrase it like that. We could just say we thought we should tell him the news about it. If we don’t see or smell Cora anywhere around the cabin, he never has to know we suspected him.”

She sighs. “I don’t think he’ll buy it. I think he’s already sensitive to your doubts about him. He’ll see right through it and be insulted. We’ve already offended my family- can’t we just have peace with Landon?” She has a little bit of a point, and I do sympathize.

“Are they still giving you trouble?” Emory shakes her head. I haven’t heard of any of them even contacting her lately. I make a mental note to see what I can do about that before I go back to our previous conversation so she doesn’t have time to get mad at my meddling. “How about we show up and you do the talking, then? I’m sure you’ll find a way to say what needs to be said without stepping on any landmines in my brother’s emotions.”

I can see Emory staring at me in my periphery as I drive. “Are you kidding me? That’s so much pressure, Logan. I’m going to mess it up.”

“Even if you did, he’d immediately forgive you. He’ll know this was my idea. He loves you more than me, anyway.” That finally gets a smile out of her. We spend the rest of the drive going over numbers and jobs that have fallen by the wayside in the pack. It feels a little like work, but in the most invigorating way. I knew I’d be giving up a lot of power and the exhilaration of making important decisions all the time when I stepped down at Industries, but our conversation makes me think that I can still have a taste of it without some of the pressure. Plus, this is our pack we’re talking about. Our family. We have to see them into the future. If Landon didn’t screw us all over again, that future is looking bright.