Alessia didn’t take the menu. Instead, she simply told the waiter, “bThe /busual,

    please.”

    Catching on, the two men handed their menus back and ordered a few bextra /bdishes. As luck would have it, they ended up naming the exact same items.

    Five dishes in a row matched perfectly, which made Bhus chuckle.

    “Just add those five to the order. That’s enough,” Alessia said, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose and bringing the chaotic ordering to a close.

    “How’s the mergering along?”

    “Just about done. We’re tying up thest details.”

    “And York?”

    “He’s eating, drinking, and living it up–morefortable than anyone else.”

    Alessiaughed softly, as if picturing York’s smug face.

    “By the way, Alessia, what’s your rtionship with the Quincy family?” Bhus’s question made Alessia pause.

    “They’ve been in touch with you?”

    “To be precise, they reached out to my grandfather. I happened to be home grabbing something and overheard them. They mentioned your grandfather too–it was pretty clear they wanted to pull some strings to get their grandson into the school. Shame about those paintings, though… not much to look at.” Bhus shrugged. Over the years, he’d seen plenty of families trying to use connections to get into Berlington Elementary.

    “What did your grandfather say?”

    Their conversation was interrupted as the food began to arrive, dish after dish.

    “He knows how you are and justughed it off–smoothed things over without causing a scene.”

    “They asked me for a rmendation letter. I didn’t give one.”

    “Got it. I’ll let the old man know.”

    While the two chatted, they didn’t notice that the other two at the table had started drinking. One ss after another, almost as if they werepeting.

    b1/2 /b

    b08:28 /bbT /b

    “Who ordered the drinksb?/bb” /bAlessia asked.

    Without missing a beat, the two in question pointed at each other bin /bbperfect /bbunison/b. “Let them be,” Bhus grinned, thoroughly entertained. “It’s rare to bsee /bbMax /bdrink

    Alessia suppressed a sigh and ignored the childish antics, focusing on her bmeal/b.

    By the end of dinner, two of them were full and satisfied, while the other two were flushed and tipsy. Luckily, both could hold their liquor–if you didn’t know them well, you’d hardly guess they’d had anything to drink at all.

    “How are you getting everyone home? Want me to give you all a ride?” Bhus asked, steadying Max, who stood quietly and obediently–so unlike his usual bself/b.

    “No need. We drove ourselves,” Alessia replied. She’d gotten her license as bsoon as /bshe turned of age, passing every test on her first try. She was a skilled driver.

    “All right, drive safe. We’ll head out,” Bhus said, guiding Max toward the car. But suddenly, Max broke free and walked over to Alessia.

    Seeing this, Cole, still a bit dazed, instinctively stepped in front of Alessia.

    Max didn’t bother with pleasantries. He simply ced arge hand on Cole’s face and pushed him out of the way. Cole bared his teeth, ready to retaliate, but Alessia caught his arm and pulled him back.

    Cole got the message and settled down as soon as Alessia took his arm.

    “What is it?” she asked.

    “Come by Golden Age Holdings in a couple of days,” Max said. His speech was clear, and his face calm–almost enough to make you wonder if he was faking the

    drunken act.

    “What for?” Golden Age Holdings was thepany Max and Bhus had founded together.

    “To sign some papers. Five percent of the shares are yours.”

    “Mine?”

    “Yeah. Your brother arranged it ages ago. You get five percent, York gets three–all from his own shares. He used to be thergest shareholder, but now it’s me.” Bhus shrugged, as if it was no big deal.

    For a moment, Alessia didn’t know what to say. Back in the alley, she’d told Max they’d always relied on each other, and it wasn’t far from the truth. But ever bsince /b

    08.28 1

    bChapter /b327

    bhe’d /bbleft /bbfor /bbboarding /bschool, she’d been bforced /bbto /bblearn /bbhow /bbto /bbstand /bbon /bbher /bbown /b