I fought to keep my tears inside.
“The NFL, Wreck. What’s more important than making our own money and cutting ties?”
Wreck looked at me and gave me that same sad smile. “Her.”
I rested my forehead on his and relished being behind his walls for once. The sacrifices he had made for me were too deep to ever truly consider. I’d give his dreams to him, the way I’d give them to Illa, but I wasn’t nearly as unselfish as I wanted to be, and I wasn’t going to push him away. I’m a horrible person.
He shook his head, like he could impossibly read my thoughts. “Stop.” He kissed my nose and then straightened. “Go pro. It’ll make me feel less guilty for being ten times more handsome and successful than you.”
Rip laughed. “You, guilty? I’d never believe it anyway.”
“What’s the secret?” I piped in. “The bros talk is boring me.” I wiped the dampness from my lashes.
Wreck nodded, all business and walls. He opened his mouth, and a few minutes into his secret, I wished he hadn’t. Rip and I had identical expressions of confusion and unease.
“An offshore account?” I lowered my head and talked above a whisper. 6.2 billion wasn’t the kind of money that just floated undetected.
“What’s that got to do with me?” Rip asked, looking sick suddenly, because it obviously did if he had to know.
“Storm and I didn’t think it did. I didn’t figure it out until last night. Hals, you remember how your dad said he had to go to New York because money went missing from that branch?” I nodded. “Well, that money showed up in the offshore account with a trace going back to Brazil. Ben didn’t know about that deposit, which makes me think Ben wasn’t ever in on it.”
“Raul Spinoza is?” Rip shook his head; his brows furrowed the same way mine were.
Wreck shrugged. “He’s a Brazilian kingpin. Carrie was in Brazil with Owen at the same time the money went missing. They’re siphoning money from Goodford Finance from under Ben Goodford’s nose. Why?”
I thought of the way my father looked at his wife and friend earlier. Who better to betray him than his wife? “Maybe he doesn’t have a choice?”
“What do you mean?” Rip asked, since Wreck seemed content to let this secret loose on us both.
“My mom’s sleeping with Wreck’s dad.” His widened eyes told me he hadn’t known that detail either. “When I called Dad the day you went to Athens, Wreck, he didn’t even know Mom was in Brazil. Maybe he doesn’t have a choice but to let Owen dip his hands in the money, since Owen seems pretty interested in his wife.”
Wreck shook his head at the water. “You’re forgetting Raul. The Spinoza’s pop up now? This brunch is a chance for the high players to gather their flocks. We need to figure out what that money is for and why.”
Rip’s olive complexion had lost all its natural color.
Wreck didn’t say anything at first. He sniffed and the hold on my pinky tightened. He didn’t want to know, I realized. There was no way we’d be able to do anything. Maybe all his secrets left no room for more.
“What do you get when you combine Avião Airlines, JR Advisors, Goodford Finance, and Globe Tonight?”
“Best dressed over fifty?” I supplied. They both glared at me. “Sorry for trying to lighten up our messed-up lives.”
“Air, money, perception, and control.” Wreck gripped my pinky harder.
“Spinoza’s got air. Hallie has the money. You have the perception with Globe Tonight. The recent election is a testament to how saying the same lies over and over again can sway the public—what can’t Globe Tonight do? And the Ripford’s have the control. Being one of the largest investment firms makes it easier to control our investments. And we’re their heirs. We three get all of that.”
I rubbed the chill bumps on my arms and peeked through the curtain of my hair to study our families on the deck. All three fathers studied us, watching their army of knights from across their kingdom. To know they were talking the same way we were made it impossible not to get sick.
We looked like them. Heads close, expressions empty. That chilled me further.
“Goodford Finance is the best place to steal from.”
The blood drained from my body. Wreck’s hold on my pinky slackened.
“That isn’t an offshore account and those aren’t investors.” I swallowed hard. “Those are the branches they’re stealing from.”
“But why?” Wreck spoke up, gaze on our fathers. “They’re filthy rich without embezzling billions.”
“No, GF and GT is. The bank and the news are always needed. But the air is a temperamental investment, and Dad’s got his hands deep in that airline. They need GF and GT. What do you give them to keep them?”
“Something they couldn’t get on their own,” I mumbled, catching Owen’s gaze. I gave him a soft smile, one that showed my shield, and he winked back, showing me his. He looked just like his son, but at the same time, they were nothing alike. Wreck had something his father long ago sold. A heart.
“What couldn’t the richest people in the world get on their own?” Wreck thought out loud.
“I don’t think there’s anything they want that they don’t have. It makes sense to keep doing what works. Threaten what they already have, not what they may want.”
“Hmm.” Rip shook his head and stood. “Dad scratched his ear. Mean’s he’s pissed. Let’s go eat salmon and caviar.”
“Wait,” Wreck said, grabbing my elbow and pulling me back when I moved to follow. He gazed up at me with an odd look on his face. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was nervous. “I have one more secret.”
“What…?”
“No hitting.”
“Me?”
He gave me a look like, yeah right, I know you. “You hit.”
“You stalk.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I won’t hit you.”
He took a deep breath and stood, like his height would somehow make him less susceptible to my impending abuse.
“I stole Star Star.”
I stared at him for a second as that sunk in. Then my hands were flying for his face. He grinned, taking off. I ran after him. “How dare you!”
“I’m not sorry!” he shouted back, laughing as he ran from me.
“All these years?” I caught up to him, jumping onto his back and wrapping my arms around his neck. “You’re a serious creeper, you know that? What did you do with him? Huh? Tell me.” I choked him harder.
He didn’t appear to be bothered by my brute strength. “I kept him safe, I promise. If you’re good, I’ll give him back. Otherwise, he’s mine.”
I dropped to my feet with a growl, straightening my flowing skirt and stomping away from him. I ignored our family and sank into my place at the table. I knew what he’d done. Put my mind on harmless secrets so our fathers wouldn’t know where our minds really were.
“Unbelievable,” I hissed, when he sat down beside me.
He inclined his head toward mine as he reached for the bottle of champagne on the table. “Really? I think it’s perfectly aligned with my personality.”
I stewed.
Beneath the table, I felt a shoe tap mine. Looking up, I found my father staring intently at me. He quirked a brow and pursed his lips. Behave, human! Having to do what he said further soured my mood. But when he glanced at the servants standing at attention, my heart stuttered.
“More, please.” Wreck poured champagne over the mango puree at the bottom of the flute, filling the bubbly liquid to the top and then handing it off to me. “I am so mad at you.”
“You’ll get over it.” He sounded sure, or really just uncaring whether I did or not.
I grabbed the flute and drank as Mother cackled at Owen’s joke. Did she know Dad knew? When I told him she was in Brazil, that might’ve been the first time he put two-and-two together. But Wreck’s mother, a tiramisu-haired beauty, sat across from my father and she wasn’t laughing at her husband’s joke. They both looked identical. Miser
able, empty, and perfectly positioned in front of the other.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I grumbled. Wreck choked on his champagne and all eyes turned to glare at me. I held my hand up. “Sorry, this champagne is just so good.”
“Perhaps just one glass then, sweetheart?” Father said, earning a collective chuckle from around the table.
We could force our children together, threaten their love, and cheat on our spouses, but we couldn’t swear at the table? Silly fucking me.
Lara Spinoza caught my gaze from across the table and her glossy lips were struggling to remain pressed together. The sight of her holding in her laughter made a round of my own bubble up. I covered my mouth with my hand and she lost it, giggling into her caviar. Wreck looked between us and took a long drink of his champagne, as if pulling patience from the bottom of his glass. Which only made us giggle harder.
“Go take a walk, eh?” Raul suggested, patting his daughter on the back with an indulgent smile.
The part that killed me was that I believed his smile. My giggling stopped instantly. My heart turned in on itself. I became the Hallie I was supposed to be. Barely existing and ten times emptier. My knight played his part for both of us, making the table laugh with dry jokes, supplying the men with business gabble and the women with sweet compliments. Tressa Wreckmond excused herself partway into the meal. Ten minutes later, so did my father, giving us an excuse about how his job was never done.
Before he left, he kissed my mother’s temple, and then walked around the table to do the same to mine. “We need to talk.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m not in a good mood today.”
“Not about your foul mouth. Come.” He rose and patted Wreck on his shoulders, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. “I’m stealing your girl for the day. I hope you don’t mind.”
He minded. His eyes were a swirl of royal and unease. But his smile was easy, and his handsome face was its own weapon. “Not at all.”
“Meet me out front in five.” He took off for the back doors, nodding at the servants before disappearing back into the house.
“What the hell does he want?”
I shook my head, ignoring the slight shake in my hands when I set my empty champagne glass down. “He’s probably going to kill me.”
Wreck growled low in his throat. “That isn’t funny.”
I got to my feet and touched my hand to his face, gazing into his worried eyes. “I know. Not when I have so much to live for.” I kissed him just once, but our lips fit so perfectly it was one of those familiar aching kisses that made my body hot and my tears burn.
“Call me. Text me. Telepathically tell me where you are. I’ll pick you up.”
I touched my temple and narrowed my eyes in concentration. “What am I thinking?”
He turned away with a grumble. I patted his shoulder and took a deep breath. I didn’t panic until I saw Storm being drug through the Ripford’s foyer by men twice his size.
His face was bloody, and he was barely standing. He met my eyes emptily.
My heart went flying into my throat. “What happened to you?”
“Hallie,” Father snapped, hanging back by the door. “I told you to fucking wait for her!” he roared at the goons who were hauling in Storm.
I tried to grab for him, but they easily shoved past me. “Storm!”
“Come, Hallie. Now.”
I saw high heels in the hall. The women were leaving.
And then I heard the shouting coming from the backyard.
This hadn’t been a brunch.
It had been a setup.
Arms wrapped around me. I heard Wreck’s voice amongst the screaming and everything in my soul screamed back.
“What are they doing to him? Let me go,” I growled, fighting my father’s hold. But he was frighteningly strong, holding my arm so tightly in his fist I couldn’t get far. “Dad!”
“Oh, stop it,” he hushed, dragging me outside and into the front passenger seat of the black SUV his drivers drove him. “Get in. If you want him to walk out of there alive, you’ll get in the car.” He waited patiently.
Because he knew I’d never disobey him now.
I sank into the front seat.
“Your father isn’t the bad guy,” a familiar voice said from the backseat.
“I don’t take advice from adulterers.” I refused to turn around and meet the gaze of Wreck’s mother. Tressa Wreckmond and I had never interacted much. Like most of Charmant, there was a mutual decision between us both to seek nothing from the other. When Dad got into the driver’s seat, I watched him fearfully. He did things slowly, as if I weren’t hyperventilating in the front seat.
He even took the time to move his seat forward. “Your boyfriend’s in a lot of trouble.”
“Why aren’t I?”
He took a second to answer. “You had nothing to do with it. You’re not a liar, Hallie. You’re one of the worst I’ve ever encountered. It just so happens that you don’t bother much with the outside world to begin with, so there was no need to drive that point home. Cage, on the other hand, was born and bred for this world. He’ll make an incredible son-in-law.”
“Nothing to do with what? What’s going on?”
“May I cut to the chase?” He cast me a glance that was impassive and still somehow confident, bored of his façade. “Empires need two heirs. If Owen and I wanted what we built to continue, they were imperative. I loved your mother, Hallie, I really did. But our relationship was one of negotiations. Much like yours. She was unable to bare children. Her father started a small banking company after the Great Depression. It did as well as anything did, but when I met your mother, it was practically run into the ground. I saw the potential. I know money better than I know anything else. I know how to make double out of nothing. I made a deal with her father. If I married her I could have the company. In a year, Goodford Finance swept through the 80’s and the hike in the 90’s and the 2000’s surge of tech companies of wealth. Three of five families bank with GF. We’re a family name. Do you understand the depth of your inheritance? Do you truly get what I’m giving you?”
“Yes.” I did. I always had. That was the problem.
“I believe you,” he murmured, taking the turn for downtown Charmant. “The thing was, I had nothing when I started. I grew up in a house with a WW1 Veteran and a mother who tried her hardest, but with a demon as a husband, she could only try so hard. He was too proud to take money from the government, and too sick to work after war, and he refused to let my mother work. I lost count of the number of nights I went to sleep hungry. I starved, sometimes making loaves of bread stretch two weeks for three people, picking mold off. I left home when I was a teenager and never went back. I promised myself that I’d never be that hungry again. I’d make it, so my wife had everything she wanted, that my children would want for absolutely nothing. That didn’t happen at first. I was hungrier on my own. I never graduated. I worked where I could, cutting lawns with sheers for a dollar a week. One of those lawns was your mother’s house.” For the first time in my entire life, my father smiled warmly. “It was the first time in my entire life I felt something good. I hated her, of course, because who told this woman she could uproot my heart? I wanted her still. She was broken when I met her. Bitter, hateful. Resentful of the fact that she couldn’t have children. Her father wanted her to marry off. I just wanted to marry her. She hated me, by the way. Never loved me, not for a second, especially not when she found out I got her father’s company when I married her. But the money was flowing in, the accounts rose—we were millionaires before we even knew our marriage was loveless. Your mother loved my money, and I accepted early on that that was all I would get from her. And in all honesty, I was okay with that. I never loved before her, certainly didn’t after her. I had my money and my business and that was fine by me. Your mother and I moved to Charmant at the same time the Wreckmond’s did. Owen and I built this town in the 80’s, we created a world
where we had everything we needed. The only thing we didn’t have were children. It looked odd, two successful business men with billion-dollar companies, in every house and home, taking the world by storm. But your mother couldn’t have children, and at 47, she didn’t want them anymore. She had her money and her glam and that was all she needed in life. Who would we leave our companies too? You see these empires fall apart all the time, and we’d given our entire lives to ours—we couldn’t let that happen. Too many people rely on our business. The economical world would collapse if GF fell apart. It would take years before another bank could pick up the slack, and the drop in stocks and buyers would run overseas in the meantime. America would fall apart. I couldn’t have just anyone give me a child. Contracts in court over child-support, surrogate changing their minds. At the same time, Owen’s housekeeper got pregnant.” He glared suddenly, and Tressa snorted in the backseat. “Fucking moron. The bullshit that put us in was exactly why I couldn’t risk impregnating anyone. Thankfully, the housekeeper was a good person, like you. Her heart was the only thing we needed as persuasion. She was poor and homeless. She couldn’t raise that kid on her own. She already had two she could barely support. But she wanted that child with all her heart. I made a deal with her. Sign the kid over to me and she could raise it as long as you didn’t know. When the kid was eighteen, she could retire with enough money to do whatever she wanted. She didn’t want to give it up, but she wasn’t walking away with you either. Owen was threatening to kill her. This was her only way.”
The realization settled in my bones. Illa was my real mother? Tears flowed down my face. The disgusting amount of betrayal and pain I felt made me sick. I shook my head in horror. That meant Owen was my father? And Wreck… was my brother?
“Not quite,” he continued, guessing my thoughts. “Things didn’t pan out. Illa had a miscarriage. There was no baby. We were in the clear. Except I didn’t want to be. I needed an heir. Owen met Tressa six months later and the whore managed to get pregnant almost immediately.”
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