Alec had cut it close with the appointment time.

“Finally,” Drew drawled from his seat between his older brother and Alec’s eldest half-brother, Zander, and one of their three lawyers. They had a whole team on their end, and Alec had his mother’s retainer, an old family friend, and an infatuated fan of his mother’s from her supermodel days.

“Where’s your mother?” This question came from Zander, his mouth downturned, his long hair in a man bun. He wore a perpetual scowl, and loved stroking his pointed beard. “I’d expected Annalise to be here this time.”

“She was busy.” Alec dignified his curiosity with a response…for now.

Alec’s lawyer drummed the desk, calling the attention of Alec’s older half-brothers. They cooled it with their glowering. “We’re here today to discuss the contents of the will of William John Edwards.”

Despite having attended the funeral two months ago, Alec let it sink in properly now; after struggling with stage four cancer for nearly three years, his old man was dead, and his usually emotionless mother was grieving more than Alec ever thought possible.

As his lawyer rattled on about having to postpone this will reading for the last seven weeks due to a grave family incident, Alec glanced at the camera propped on the desk, preserving the memory of this moment.

“As to the contents, William John Edwards made it clear that a quarter of his fortunes were to be bestowed to charities of his choosing.” The lawyer listed the charities. For such a generous man, Alec wondered how his father forgot to visit his mistress and the bastard son staining the otherwise perfect family history. It wasn’t until his cancer diagnosis that he turned to them for discreet care. Death had put a lot of perspective on Alec’s father’s choices.

Digging his nails into his thighs, Alec fixed his gaze on the floor-to-ceiling windows behind the trio of lawyers representing his half-brothers. The idea of launching himself out of the tall building satisfied him with each excruciating slow breath he inhaled.

“And to the rest of his fortune,” the lawyer finally said, stirring Alec from his macabre thought. This was it. This was the part they’d all been waiting for. Like him, Drew and Zander sat up in their plush leather chairs, their attention rapt on Alec’s lawyer.

“William John Edwards wanted his properties split between his sons.” He listed properties at this point and who they respectively belonged to. Alec was astonished to discover he now owned a New York City penthouse, and Drew let slip a whoop at learning he was the new, proud owner of a Caribbean private island.

“As for the two-hundred-million fortune,” the lawyer said, the whole table sitting forward, the room sucked of air for the suspense, “William John Edwards deems it worthy of the first son who provides the Edwards legacy with a marital union and a male heir.”

“A what and a what?” Drew snapped, shoving to a stand. “What did you say? Repeat that last part again.”

The lawyer repeated it slowly, his stoic face aimed at the camera. Then he gestured to the copies in front of everyone. “Copies of the will for you to do with what you like. The original remains with me, as per William John Edwards retaining my services for this purpose.”

“You’re only the lawyer because of his mistress,” Drew gritted the poison out, biting off the words with a growl. He slammed his fists down, spinning on the men and one woman on their end. “Do something.”

Wordlessly, Zander grasped his wrist, and tugged him down, Drew complying with a grumble. Once he had his younger brother’s temper managed, Zander locked his gaze onto Alec’s lawyer, his hawkish nose rising up as he assessed the pair of them, the lawyer and Alec, with a baleful stare.

“So, as we’re to understand, our father, William John Edwards, wants us to produce a male heir—”

“And be in a legal marriage, yes.”

Zander tilted his head. “My daughters don’t count?”

“A male heir, Mr. Edwards,” the lawyer reiterated. He nodded at the sheaths of paper in Zander’s grasp. “All of the particulars are in the will.”

“Of course they are,” Drew muttered loudly. He stood this time, shrugging off Zander’s hand and marching from the room.

Zander followed suit, but he lingered, staring down Alec. “This has been a most enlightening meeting, has it not?”

He breezed after Drew, their lawyers following.

Alec sagged into his chair, turning to his lawyer and meeting the older man’s sympathetic small smile. “What now?” he asked bluntly, feeling more clueless than when he breathlessly raced the clock to the meeting, having nearly forgotten the new appointment .

“Now you settle down, young Alec. Unless you plan to forfeit and give your brothers a duel for the family wealth.” The lawyer drummed the long conference table, then his fingers stilled. Clearing his throat, he looked to the glass wall giving them a view of the gray clouds hanging a threat of a snowstorm over Pittsburgh. Blizzard warnings had heralded Alec’s morning; that and the alarm reminder for the appointment with the lawyers on his cell phone.

“I should say, your father was a friend of mine. We might have been mere acquaintances through most of our long, tired lives,” the lawyer smiled, “but we came to understand each other. Which is why I’m going to say,” he paused, glancing at the door. Discretion lowering his voice several octaves, and in a heated whispered, he continued, “He would have wanted you to have it.”

“He said that?” Alec couldn’t tamp the shock raising his voice.

The lawyer leaned back, fingers locking over his rotund belly, the buttons to his suit straining from his portly build. “Not exactly.”

Alec deflated. What had he expected? His father to pay him any heed from the grave? He’d ignored Alec for a good part of his twenty-one years, and only the last three years had he attempted one decent conversation with him. Even then, it was hijacked by the cancer, and if not the cancer, his mother playing at nurse and guard keeper, ensuring no one strayed too near her much older lover.

“I know your mother…and I know the money would help.” The lawyer’s brows swooped down, his piercing stare gripping Alec, forcing him to forget to breathe. Understanding what he meant, and recalling the facial surgery clinic in Switzerland, Alec nodded dumbly.

Standing, he shook hands with the lawyer and departed with the man.

In the foyer of the building, Alec was surprised by the sight of his brothers. They turned in unison once he neared. The plan had been to ignore them. It had been three years since he’d stayed with Drew, and neither of the men had bothered to reach out much past asking for funeral details once their old man had croaked.

“Hey,” Drew said, reaching out to grip Alec’s wrist.

Alec hadn’t seen it coming, and he was trapped. Drew tugged him in, refusing to let go when Alec snapped, “I have nothing to say.” It had been his automatic response, drilled into him by his mother’s lawyer.

Shadowing behind him, backing him up, the lawyer echoed the sentiment for Drew to relinquish his hold on Alec. Building security closing in quick, Zander raised his hand, stilling their hasty movements to intervene.

“My client isn’t up to discussion at the moment.” Dividing his cool look between Zander and Drew, the lawyer added, “You’re free to call my office to make an appointment to further discuss today’s event.”

“No thanks,” Drew sneered. He wasn’t being fake polite today. Where had his usual manners gone? Apparently the talk of all that money had shed his typical scruples for public decorum. Alec had lost count of the number of times Drew had pestered him about remaining pleasant in front of strangers.

But he counted up to eighty-three seconds before Zander stepped in, forcibly grasping at Drew’s fingers and tearing Alec free.

Drew fisted his hand, shoving off Zander and settling back.

“We only want to talk.” Zander smoothed his features, but he remained the scarier of the two. At least with Drew, Alec knew exactly the ill will his older half-brother wished for him. But Zander, he couldn’t read. What exactly did he want, other than their father’s two hundred million.

“Fine.” Alec rubbed his hand, ignoring his lawyer. “Let’s go to the café outside.”

“Mr. Edwards,” the lawyer began, sucking in a sharp breath when Alec turned to him, with what he hoped was a disarming smile.

“I got this. We’ll talk later. Thank you.” Leaving him with that cordial closing, Alec led the way out of the towering office building, aware of Zander and Drew dogging his heels. The café outside the building was warm and cozy, the only available booth right in front of the electric fireplace.

Brushing the snow from his dyed black hair, Alec sat alone on his end, Zander and Drew squishing in their tall, lanky frames. “Should I grab the drinks then?”

“I will,” Zander said, stressing, “after we talk.”

“What do we need to talk about?” Alec looked between them, blinking and feigning calm he didn’t feel. Inside, he screamed in fear, floundered and flailed for help. Perhaps he should have listened to the veiled warning in his lawyer’s parting gaze. “I thought it was pretty clear: dad left us money and he wants one of us to have it.” He didn’t go over how he was forcing them to get married and produce a male heir to get to it. That part Alec figured they’ve heard enough about. He certainly continued to reel from the two crazy clauses attached to the significant wealth dear old dad amassed.

Drew scoffed. “Since when did he become your ‘dad’ exactly?”

Zander cupped his hands on the table. “What Andrew means is our father hasn’t acknowledged you at all. At least not until these past few years.”

“When he got sick,” Drew highlighted with a sneer. “I didn’t think he much cared to air his dirty laundry to the media. No, he wouldn’t want his company’s stocks to plummet.”

“Again, what Drew means is it’s best if you let us handle this.”

Which meant they wanted Alec to roll over. And if that wasn’t most insulting, that they’d thought he would give in so easily, Zander said, “We’d be willing to give you compensation, of course. We’re brothers, after all. Our parents’ actions shouldn’t dictate how we treat one another.”

Drew muttered something that sounded closely like, “Speak for yourself.”

“Well? What do you say, Alec?” Zander tilted his head, one hand lifting to pinch his beard. “If I have a son this time, I’d be happy to talk and get a new agreed-upon, fairer percentage for you.”

“And if I have the kid?” Drew interjected.

“If one of us,” Zander gestured to Drew and himself, “have a child, then we’ll ensure you…and Isolde are taken care of.”

That pause, and the mention of his mother turned Alec around. Zander had to force himself to utter her name, grinding the syllables around his clenched teeth. That was a wake-up call if ever there was one; a loud reminder that Zander and Drew weren’t to be trusted.

Also, Alec wasn’t about to be bullied by them. Two against one was hardly fair. Seeming to sense the change in his mood, especially when he refused to take part in this conversation, Zander nodded curtly. “I suppose we can leave the rest for next time.”

Drew opened his mouth, preparing to argue.

But Zander stood, motioning for Drew to clear his way out of the booth.

Alec rifled into his pocket for his phone, and busying himself until he thought it safe to look up. Last thing he needed was for them to catch his curiosity. Seeing the café cleared of his half-brothers, Alec sighed. His relief was short-lived, about four minutes of waiting out the cab he’d called. The snowstorm had slowed traffic, already the world covered in a blanket of the fluffy, white stuff.

“Alec?” the barista called from the counter. She looked around until Alec stood and approached her. She beamed then, holding out the cup in her hand. She turned, leaving to answer another customer, not asking Alec for payment.

Staring at the cup, Alec startled, fingers tightening around the plastic.

Zander had etched a final message: Let’s chat again.

Alec nervously sipped at the frothy chocolate drizzled frappé, not one to waste a free drink. But the rush of sugar did nothing to help revive him from the chilly note on his cup, nor did it help to picture Zander as a cartoon caricature of a villain.

Because in cartoons, the bad guys didn’t win. And yet it was looking like Zander might have both him and Drew beat. All he needed to do now was impregnate his omega mate and have a boy instead of a girl this go around.

Where did that leave Alec?

Nowhere, he thought glumly.