Mr. Matthew let go of her arm just as they reached the door to the hallway for her brother and his family. He only had five rooms to himself here. Barely enough for him and his wife to have space to themselves if they desired. But Beauregard had insisted on living as close to his mother as possible. Something her sister-in-law seemed to despise.

Hannah barely got three knocks out before her brother had the door open. “Hannah. There you are. I was worried as high as you were that you’d get lost, or worse.”

“Beau I’m fi- Gah!” She took a step back as he opened one of her eyes, flashing a light into it.

“Pupil response is normal.” He grabbed her hand, looking at it. “No discoloration or trembling.”

Hannah pulled her hand back. This was going to be so hard. She knew she couldn’t trust Beauregard. The number of people he took jobs away from. The number of favors he did in his position that hurt her. The way he backed up their mother despite their crimes?

But the moments of supposed care like this made her love him so much.

“You saw I wasn’t trembling in the video either, Beau.”

“I know but who knows and… Hannah, stop calling me Beau.”

Hannah folded her arms. “Fine, Beauregard. You loved it when I was little.”

He put his hand on Hannah’s back, half shoving her into the living space. Going straight to the living room area. He seemed to be taking time to formulate his words. This was how he worked, throwing you off your game and then taking so long you second guessed yourself.

But Hannah was ready.

“Are you really that worried? I mean, Mother keeps saying that I need to be a stronger leader since you two can’t take charge.”

“That, that is true.” He slowly spoke. “But you could give us the positions we deserve.”

Deserved? That was a laugh. 

No.

In fairness, one could argue her brothers did deserve it. They had learned the business side very well. Hannah was the one that focused on learning the tech side of things. Being the youngest she had assumed there would be a high level position but not ownership of the company. So she focused on learning the tech side of the business to ensure someone high up actually understood what the programmers and engineers were saying.

How was she supposed to know the business degree her father kept suggesting was what she needed?

Maybe because he kept suggesting it.

Hindsight was 20/20 and all that.

“Look. Maybe none of us deserve it. But Dad left in the will how you can get it. If you just do the genetic testing then it’d be fine.” Hannah tried to refrain from rubbing her temple. She didn't want him to have an excuse to take her off the medication. “And even if you don’t, he left you with over 65 million dollars. You could easily start your own company with that if you really wanted to.”

“Hannah. You know that is a pittance compared to what myself or Russ should have gotten.” Beauregard was waving his hands around as he often did when he was frustrated. “And now we have to figure out a spin. I was hoping to go to a different department, but if your medication is going to do… this. Maybe I should go to PR instead.”

“And leave marketing? I thought you wanted to be a manager there. Mother was very insistent recently I give you the positions myself.”

Beauregard suddenly looked embarrassed. “Right. Mother did want me to do that. And it would cause my marketing degree to go to waste. Still. You may have caused the company to become a laughing stock. You didn’t even look professional.”

Hannah had been thinking about that on the way down. While this event didn’t happen, there had been others she had heard about in the future. Where some people were caught in plain clothes shopping or doing different things outside of their normal circles. Whipped all the would-be journalists in the dancing apps and such into a frenzy. 

“Why don’t we just tell the truth. That I was out and about and felt the urge to do something nice. And maybe I didn’t do it the right way, but I wanted to just surprise a bunch of people.”

“Well, I-”

“My beloved husband, what in the world are you arguing about with your sister this time?” An annoyed Jessica Kerr spoke up.

 The short blond walked, … no, waddled at this point… into the room. She was in her third trimester. Hannah remembered it turned out to be twins. They were going to show up about three weeks early. The ultrasound missed it at first. She looked at her husband with an annoyance that only pregnant mothers could muster.

In an instant he was over by his wife, rubbing his shoulders. “My beloved. My elegant swan. My-”

“Right, you aren’t telling me. Hannah, what is he doing?”

Honestly, Hannah prayed Jessica wasn’t in on any of the plans. She was a lawyer with her own firm at 31. She was the one that confirmed the will was iron clad. Won more cases than anyone else. And while she and Hannah didn’t get along the best, Hannah assumed that was because she had always been a pushover.

Jessica despised weak women.

“I started new medication that has helped me overall from just the first dose.” Hannah spoke quickly, knowing Jessica also didn’t like things being long winded. “And as a result I went to Tiny Hat looking like this and spent five thousand dollars feeding people at the store.”

“Anything else?”

“The normal ‘give my brothers the company’ request. Which I am not going to do. Per Dad’s will.” Hannah said firmly.

For once, Hannah thought there might be the tiniest glimmer of respect in Jessica’s eyes. “Without tears? That is a good pill.”

“We don’t know the side effects and Hannah has to go off her diet. Mother will be very upset.” Beauregard countered, carefully following his wife as he continued the shoulder massage. “My goddess of justice, please sit down, your poor feet.”

“Well, I needed to deal with this. You were both too loud.” She finished waddling to Hannah, tilting her head upwards to stare Hannah down. “And I’m supposed to be resting while I work on the case files.”

“I’m sorry, Jessica. Next time I’ll insist we go to his office first.” She glanced to Beauregard, who was looking at his pregnant wife like a love sick puppy. 

Maybe if she could get Jessica on her side, he’d refuse to do any of the plans that her mother had in mind. After all, before finding his wife Beau wanted nothing more than to please his mother. Even to the extent of disrespecting his father at times. Granted, he always apologized, but that didn’t change his choices.

“You’d better.” She glanced at Hannah's shirt before speaking up again. “Please tell me you are going to change before you come down to dinner?”

“I will change. I need a shower anyway. It was a long day. But first I need to see if your husband really wants to switch to public relations instead of marketing.”

 Hannah moved her gaze to meet her brother’s as his wife pulled away. Beau looked like someone had just broken his favorite toy. His wife was now staring him down. Beauregard slowly took two steps back from his wife. Hannah was glad this tiger of a woman was not currently aimed at her.

“I’m sorry, you’ve spend 8 months working your way up in marketing and you suddenly want to switch to PR? When there is a management position opening up?”

“Only because if she’s going to do things like this it would affect how the company is viewed. We could be seen as a lesser company because of this. Our stock value would drop.” The words were tumbling out of his mouth now. 

And as much as Hannah would want to let him continue to flounder, it was time to speak up. After all, she remembered when the public relations manager quit. Another five months from now. He decided to retire and get out of the way quickly. This would be the perfect chance to keep him out of marketing and keep him from cutting the work force in half.

“That was something else. Beauregard, I was nervous telling you this because I didn’t want you mad at me.” Both sets of eyes were on her now. Faking the nerves wasn’t hard now. Her throat felt tight all over again.

“What, Hannah?” Jessica spat out the words. “Because your mother has been bitching he hasn’t gotten a promotion yet.”

“Right. Because to get a management promotion, he has to work within the company for a full twelve months. Neither of them are eligible unless I break some rules.” Hannah rubbed the hem of her shirt. “I want to do what's best for them, but the rules are there to promote fairness and loyalty. If I just promote them…”

Beauregard froze in place, as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him. “It will look like we are manipulating you behind the scenes. If word got out it’d cause far more harm than good.”

Jessica put her hand on her stomach. “Well the baby hates that plan and so do I.  What's the counteroffer?”