Cain blinked. “Okay?”
“Wait, okay?” Kenan parroted.
“Yeah.” Achilles exhaled and a weight lifted from his chest. A weight so heavy, he shouldn’t have been able to breathe all of these years. “I’ll stay.”
A smile slowly spread across Cain’s face. “Yeah. Okay.”
“Well, just out of curiosity, what was it that convinced you?” Kenan propped his fists on his hips. “The ‘we’ll fight for you’ or the ‘goddammit’? Both were equally compelling.”
“Never miss a good chance to shut up,” Cain growled at Kenan before turning back to Achilles. “One more thing. Your video game. I don’t know what your plans are for it as far as distribution, but I’d like to sit down and talk to you about it. Because I want Farrell to do it. And not just yours. But more like it. Matter of fact, I want you to do the research on either acquiring or founding a company specifically to design games with the mission and vision you described to us. And I want you to run it.”
Achilles turned to look at his laptop, at the art, the game he’d been working on for a year but that had been in his head for nearly ten. And now he could be part of bringing to life more like them and putting them in the hands of millions of kids?
“Yes,” he rasped. “I accept.”
Cain clapped him on the shoulder, then pulled him into a tight hug. “Welcome home,” he murmured into his ear.
“Does this mean you’re finally going to leave the basement and take an office on this floor?” Kenan asked.
Achilles snorted. Then laughed. And it felt damn good.
“Come on, show me more of this game. And what timeline are we looking at as far as getting it into beta testing. Can I be one of the betas?” Cain rubbed his hands together.
A chime echoed in the room, followed by a loud vibration. Frowning, Kenan removed his phone from his pants pocket. “Sorry, I need to check that. It’s my notifications set to alert me if our name is mentioned in any...” He swept his thumb across the screen and tapped it a couple of times. His frown deepened as he scanned it, then his nostrils flared wide, his head jerking up. Eyes wide, he gaped at Cain. “Oh, shit, Cain.”
“What?” Cain barked. “Kenan, what?”
“The society columns, gossip blogs,Boston Noiseand theBrahmin Postare all publishing a story that Cain and Devon ended their engagement because he cheated on her and she found out.”
“What the hell?” he demanded, his face darkening.
“That’s not all,” Kenan murmured. “They’re all reporting Devon discovered you got another woman pregnant. Mycah Hill.”
“Are you kidding me?” Cain thundered, stalking across the floor and tearing the phone out of Kenan’s hand. “Where in the hell would they get this shit from?”
Shock spread through Achilles like frost on a windshield, dread curdling in his gut. Dread and suspicion. He didn’t know how they could’ve found out about the pregnancy, but he had an idea where the story could’ve originated.
Achilles had promised Mycah he wouldn’t tell Cain and Kenan about the baby, but with Cain facing the potential damage to his relationship with Devon and his reputation, he didn’t have a choice.
“Cain, Kenan.” He waited until he had his brothers’ attention on him. “I have something to tell you.”
Fifteen
Achilles stared at the penthouse elevator doors, waiting for them to open. The security guard had called minutes ago, informing him that Mycah had arrived asking to be let upstairs. He’d been expecting her since the story about her and Cain’s supposed “love child” had leaked three hours earlier.
His brothers had taken the news about Mycah actually being pregnant and Achilles being the father better than he’d expected. And they’d even been happy for him. Hugged him. But they were still confused how Cain’s name had ended up involved in the story instead of his. That part—his suspicions—he hadn’t revealed and couldn’t without talking to Mycah first. But he had promised to try to clear up the mess. And that meant convincing Mycah that they could no longer maintain this secret about the baby. Not if it meant that others would be hurt by it.
You’ll find out if she’s ashamed of you.
He briefly closed his eyes as the ding announcing the arrival of the elevator rang in the apartment.
He’d finally know if he’d been only a dirty secret for the woman he’d fallen in love with after all.
If he’d repeated a history he’d promised himself never to revisit.
If he’d given a woman his heart again only to be told it wasn’t enough. Thathewasn’t enough.
Yes, he would have his answer.
