Fucking clear.

Immature, I’ll admit. But the asshole deserves it. He cleared my calls for the first two weeks after I moved here from New York. Now he’s decided it’s imperative that he speaks with me, knowing I’m here for Preston’s wedding. Prick can wait until I get home.

My phone vibrates again. I look down, seeing my father’s name. My little bitch of a brother is siccing our dad on me. Wonderful.

“Mr. Fox,” I answer.

“Cut the shit, Aleck. Why are you ignoring your brother?”

“I’m not ignoring him, Father,” I say dryly, knowing it will piss him off, but in the interest of being irritated as fuck today, I don’t care. “I’m on vacation. He couldn’t be bothered to answer or return my calls when I moved back. He canceled meetings when I took over the Crate-Pafford merger. Files mysteriously disappeared, and the list goes on. He can leave a message with Trent if he needs to get ahold of—”

“Aleck, I’m going to say this once and only once: get along with your brother. I don’t care if he’s the biggest prick on the planet—”

“Which he is,” I immaturely add.

“Nevertheless, you will be the face of Fox and Latham. You are to transcend the immature bullshit. What if there was an emergency? What if something had happened to myself or your mother?”

“Nothing happened to you or mom, obviously. He’s a self-serving little asshole. When he says jump, I say go fuck a cannoli.”

My father takes an exasperated breath. “Is that the way the vice president of one of the biggest law firms in the country would behave? Your uncle Bart hit on your mother. Have I told you that? I hated that asshole for years for pulling all the shit he pulled when your grandfather handed me the company. You know what happened after Bart died? I regretted every ounce of retaliation I took part in. You know why? Because life goes on and death doesn’t give a shit if you’ve rectified your behavior or not. Life comes, then it goes. Now, I’m sick of getting calls from Hayden complaining that you’re ignoring him.”

“He’s an asshat for even calling you. What, is he seven?”

“Son, be the bigger, more mature person. We cannot choose our family.”

I don’t know if he meant to say it, or if he truly has forgotten about adopting me. Forgotten that I’m not actually his flesh and bone, but Hayden is.

“Except in this case, you can, and you did. Hayden has hated me since the moment you brought me home. This isn’t your typical sibling rivalry. You know how much hell he put me through.”

“I wish I could change that for you two, I really do. You had a rough start together. But he’s the only brother you’ve got, Aleck. Buck up and put it behind you, Son. Because when I’m gone and you two are running this company together, your relationship needs to be solid or the firm will suffer for it.”