Chapter 4

Sure enough, right about then, messages started popping up one after another in the family group chat.

It was Agnes, firing off a string of voice messages. I hadn't meant to listen, but I tapped one by accident, and her booming voice nearly blew out my eardrum.

"Mason, you get over here right now. Something's happened on Saul's end, and you're going to take responsibility for it!"

"If you hadn't insisted on cutting corners, we'd never have switched hotels at the last minute. Now that it's blown up, it's all your fault!"

"Saul's bosses have already been rushed to the hospital, and one of them's still in the ER. You did this to them!"

"And Saul might lose his job over it. They're saying it's on him that the gala turned out like this. You get over here and shoulder the blame, or you're no relative of ours!"

I thought about it, then went ahead and typed back: "I offered you the cost price, fifty thousand, and you two insisted I was gouging you, that ten thousand should cover four days at my hotel. That wouldn't even cover my labor costs, so there was no way I could do it. That's why I had to cancel, unfortunately."

The moment she read that, Deborah Dickerson, who had never gotten along with Agnes, jumped straight into the chat: "Agnes, that's on you. Mason's hotel is the most luxurious one in the whole city. When my college classmate's son got married, one day alone cost fifty thousand. And you think ten thousand should buy you four days? Dream on. You never know when to stop mooching."

Charlotte Dickerson chimed in right behind her: "Exactly, Agnes. I know Stanley's place. That lift platform is for the bride's entrance. It can only hold one slim little girl. You put three grown men on it, so what did you expect it to do besides collapse?"

Getting piled on by her two sisters-in-law only made Agnes angrier: "You're just taking his side because Mason's got money now, sucking up to him! Let me tell you, I asked an AI. If Mason hadn't insisted on canceling, Saul never would've moved venues, and if he hadn't moved, none of this would've happened. When you get right down to it, Mason caused all of it!"

"Pay up. You have to pay up. And paying isn't even enough. You'll come to the hospital and kneel down and apologize to Saul's bosses, and beg them not to fire him!"

"Mason, get over here this instant, or I'll bring a crowd to make a scene at your hotel and let everybody know Mason Dickerson is a black-hearted, rotten piece of work who screws over his own family! I'll shut your hotel down!"

I actually laughed out of sheer anger. Right then my dad called me on voice chat to ask what was going on. After I told him, he went quiet for a moment, then said, "Mason, I'm staying out of this one. You just handle it by the rules."

My dad has always been the peacemaker among the relatives, and I'd honestly been afraid he'd tell me to go apologize just to smooth things over. Now that he'd said that, I actually felt better about it.

I was about to switch back to the group and say a few things, but my sharpest mouthpiece, Deborah, had already fired off another snide voice message.

"Oh, aren't you trendy, using AI and all. Well, did you ask your AI whether your precious brother Stanley bears any responsibility in a situation like this? Whether he ought to be paying up?"

"Right, I think so too. Your brother going down on his knees to Saul's bosses would definitely be more useful!" Charlotte piled on, needling Agnes right alongside her.

Back when Agnes married into the family, Charlotte was still young, and Agnes bullied her plenty, openly and behind her back. Deborah was always defending Charlotte, so she and Agnes fought constantly.

That's why, even now, with Deborah married off to D.C. and Charlotte living abroad, neither of them gets along with Agnes and they poke at her in the chat at the drop of a hat.

Watching the three of them go at it, my third uncle, who always loves a bit of drama, dropped in a sweating emoji.

I hesitated a while, then decided not to deal with her for now. Agnes was clueless, but my cousin Saul had at least clawed his way up to middle management. And if I wasn't wrong about the Stanley situation, Stanley had taken plenty of kickbacks himself.

To keep himself from getting investigated, he'd definitely try to stop Agnes from blowing this up.

Zachery had heard the whole thing, and he was looking at me, at a loss for words. "Mr. Dickerson, this..."

I shook my head. "Leave them be. Go handle the reception for Mr. Perry's people."

Zachery nodded and left, though he kept glancing back the whole way, clearly not easy about leaving me.

I figured that was the end of it. But as it turned out, I'd thought too simply.

Just as Frank was thoroughly pleased with our hotel and getting ready to sign a long-term partnership agreement with me, Agnes showed up with a crowd to make a scene.