Nate flinches at the simmer, but answers without hesitation. “No.”
Dad deflates in his chair, taking Mom’s hand in his again.
“Answer me honestly,”Uncle Benji continues. “Will you protect Landon with everything you have?”
“Of course,” Nate replies, and his tone makes it very clear how silly the question is in his eyes.
Uncle Benji’s grin grows a bit wicked as he leans further over the table, assessing Nate.
“Uncle Ben—” But I can’t get another word out before he’s speaking again.
“Answer me honestly:do you love Landon?”
We all freeze, Nate included. He stares wide-eyed at my uncle, his hands clenching over and over again on the table.
“Hey! That’s not fair! He never agreed to being coerced into answeringthat!”
“Sorry, champ,” he replies, still grinning. “I just thought you’d want to know.”
I stand so quickly that the chair underneath me scratches against the hardwood. “But it’s not right to—”
“Yes.” It’s a low, muttered sound as it leaves him, but I hear Nate’s response anyway. The whole table does.
“Nate,” I whisper, my own eyes rounding and growing a bit wet as I stare at him. “You… you love me?”
He gives me one sharp nod but refuses to meet my eyes.
Dad doesn’t look particularly thrilled but not angry either. Scarlet is barely paying us any attention at this point, but Uncle Benji looks proud of himself.
“It’s settled then,” Mom chimes in. “Welcome to the family, Nate.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Presley,” Nate finally says, and I fall back into my chair with a defeated sigh.
But I… I can’t really feel anything other than pure, unfiltered joy. Nate loves me? Is it possible?
“You two can sleep here tonight,” Dad adds, though he does seem reluctant about it. “I’d like to keep my son as close to me as possible. We have a lot to go over before you start at Ocean View.”
Oh, right. Ocean View Entertainment. I’m not sure how to break it to my family that I don’t want to be a corporate slave, even for them.
But at this point, after everything I endured, I think it’s time to stand up for myself.
“Dad, I think we need to talk about that,” I reply quietly.
Under the table, Nate knocks his shoe against mine.
“You don’t want to work with us, do you?” Uncle Benji asks, and I shrink in on myself just a bit.
My entire life, I’ve been fighting to make my family proud. To be the perfect son. How am I meant to tell them that the one thing they’ve truly wanted from me isn’t something I want?
Dad sighs, long and loud. “I figured.”
“What?” My head snaps up, our gazes colliding in a whirlwind of green.
“I could tell, Lan,” he says softly. “You’ve been putting it off for so long. But if it’s not something you truly want, I can’t force you to sign a contract.”
“And that’s… You’re okay with it?” I ask hesitantly.
Dad’s blank expression shifts into a soft smile. “Whatever makes you happy. I thought before that you were just playing the wild, twenty-year-old. But now I can see that you’re just not up for it.”
