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Just had some ideas come to mind while I was fighting with that thing, you call a couch, last night. Jeez, I am starting to wonder if I should be helping you get with my brother, what with you threatening to castrate me and all. Do you know how many fabulous women would die if you were to do such a thing? Heaven forbid,” he mocked with amusement.
    Feeling a bit embarrassed, I lowered my finger from his face and resumed my place on the stool, shaking my head at what a fool he was. That man was completely into himself. Not that I could really blame him, or the quote many women who would die if I castrated him. He was a dream to look at, and any woman with a pulse would surely agree, but he was no Julien Belmont.
    “So what did you come up with?” I asked, once his chuckles subsided.
    He took a large gulp of coffee, placed the mug on the granite countertop, and turned to face me. “I was thinking that there is only one thing that Charlette Delacroix cares more about than Julien... Her precious vineyard, left to her after her father passed. We have to somehow turn her vineyard into the leverage that we need to force her to leave you and Julien alone.”
    I pondered on his plan before responding, thinking of ways we could make this work and came up empty.
    “How the hell am I going to use her vineyard as leverage?” I finally asked. I looked up at him and found him staring at me with a knowing smirk on his face. “Ah... That’s where I come in.”

I wouldn’t really consider myself a ‘nice guy,’ but there was something about the relationship between Julien and Emily that really tugged at my heartstrings. Those kids were crazy about each other. It was so easy to see it, but unfortunately for Emily, Julien had a bitch of a wife.
    I wished I had told him how foolish his arrangement with Charlette had been back when he announced his engagement to the old bat, but at the time I was too busy entertaining . Back then, I hadn’t given a shit who my brother married as long as the wedding would be filled with sexy bridesmaids, and it was.
    Now, I wanted nothing more than to help him do what he seemed incapable of... rid himself of Charlette, once and for all.
    My first stop was at Belmont International to see my father. If my plan was going to work, I needed to raise the old man’s suspicions of Charlette.
    Walking through the office door, I found him seated at Julien’s desk buried deep in paperwork. It had been a long time since my father had to tend to the day-to-day dealings of the business. The look of frustration, as I walked up to him, told me that he needed Julien back in his rightful place.
    “Unless you are here to lend a hand and actually put your very expensive business degree to good use, I am quite busy,” he grumbled without looking up.
    I would never get used to the fact that the man never needed to be announced of my presence. He often said it was because the smell of disappointment was strong enough for him to identify me from a mile away.
    It was no secret that my father was disappointed in my not joining the family business, but I was never one to follow the rules laid out for me. Where others decided that pants should be put on one leg at a time, I was one to pull both legs on at the same time. Why? Because I could and I liked it that way.
    “Is that any way to greet your favorite son?” I jested, with a smirk while holding my hand close to my heart in a wounded manner.
    He grunted and resumed shuffling through a stack on his desk, ignoring me completely. A normal person would be hurt by his dismissal, but the sight of the old man so frustrated made my mission that much easier.
    “I need to talk to you about something imperative. It’s in regards to The Crown Ivy buyout.”
    Hearing the name of his greatest competitor peaked his interest enough for him to raise his head and look me in the eye.
    Taking this as a sign to continue, I moved to the seat in front of the large wooden desk and proceeded.