Page 85 of Prince of Lies


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When we adjourned, Landry, Zane, and Kenji moved to the kitchen to make lunch, Dev wandered off to check in with someone at the stables, Silas made some business calls, and I watched Rowe trek back from the beach with a dopey smile on my face. We had a plan to handle Austin and Sterling Chase, the brotherhood had opened their ranks to Rowe, and it felt like puzzle pieces I hadn’t realized were misaligned had begun clicking into place. But there was one more thing I had to do.

As soon as Rowe stepped in the door, all sun-warmed and disheveled, I immediately pulled him into our bedroom, shut the door, and lavished his face and neck with the hours’ worth of kisses I’d been storing up.

“Bash!Mmmpfh.Your friends are right th—shit… right there! And I…oh!Oh god.” He tilted his head to the side, panting slightly. “I… you… what was I saying?”

“You were worrying about my friends’ delicate sensibilities.” I bit his earlobe lightly. “Don’t.”

“But I get soloud.”

Yes, he really did… and I really fucking loved it.

But tempting as it was to take him right there against the bedroom door—Rowe would require almost no convincing, and I’d make sure he loved every noisy second—I knew he wasn’t secure enough around my friends to appreciate the teasing that would ensue. Besides, he and I had other things to discuss first.

Reluctantly, I stepped away. “Sorry. I really did have a reason for hauling you in here.” I ran my hands down my shorts nervously.

Rowe remained standing against the door. He ghosted his fingers over his lips dreamily. “I thought kissing was a solid reason, just so you know. I would not be averse to more kissing.”

I laughed, but it came out short and tense, and Rowe straightened up right away. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing bad,” I said quickly. “I promise.”

But of course, Rowe wouldn’t be pawned off so easily. “Is it about Daisy Chain? About your meeting with your friends? Because as much as I’d love to work with Sterling Chase, I knew it wasn’t a given, Bash. You don’t need to let me down easy. You guys have processes, and the legal ramifications are probably a nightmare. I get it. I don’t expect—”

“We founded Sterling Chase,” I blurted.

“What?” Rowe whispered.

Jesus. I could have handled this so much better. I wondered for a second where polished, urbane Sebastian Dayne who had no fucks to give had wandered off to.

And then I remembered. This was scarybecauseI gave a fuck.

“Those guys—not Kenji; he came on board after—but my other friends and I, we developed ETC our final year at Yale.” It felt weird to say it out loud. Like a dark confession and a vow to Rowe all at once. “We own Sterling Chase together, through various pass-through companies. We’ve kept that knowledge away from the public for a lot of reasons, some of which you can probably guess and others that aren’t my story to share. No one outside this house knows the whole truth, though.”

Rowe’s eyes were huge. “But you’re telling me.”

I nodded. “Because I know I can trust you. Because I wantyouto know that I trust you. And because…” I took a deep breath. “Because Sterling Chase is going to offer you a deal for Daisy Chain, and I want you to know that’s not because I brought undue influence on anyone as a board member. It’s because I, and the other four guys who founded the company, believe in you and in your project.”

“Bash,” Rowe said softly. He took a step toward me and then another, like he was a lifeline towing me to safety. He lifted a hand to cup my cheek. “Baby. I already figured it out.”

I froze. “What? How? There’s no way…”

“Silas mentioned something in the office the other day about Sterling Chase being ‘our’ company. I put two and two together.” Rowe shrugged. “As soon as the idea occurred to me, I realizedof courseyou’d invented ETC. You’re passionate about emergency medicine. You’ve invested your soul in the company. You care about people. And, honestly… you’re one of a very strange mix of people on the board of directors. I bet it’s not as much of a secret as you think.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Oh, I assure you, it is. No one else knows. Not Clarissa or Austin or any of our employees. Even our lawyers don’t talk about it openly.” Another thought occurred to me, even more overwhelming than the last. “Wait, so if you knew—”

“Well,stronglysuspectedmight be more accurate—”

“Then you know that when we sold ETC, I—”

“Became a billionaire?” Rowe took a deep breath and smoothed my hair behind my ear. “Yes. Yep. That was… trippy.”

“And you’re fine with it?”

“I mean, no? Because I still cannot comprehend what a billion ofanythingwould be like, let alone a billiondollars. But also, yes. Because I like you.You, Sebastian. And I’d like you even if you didn’t have a cent—”

“You’d probably like me better.”

“Not better,” he insisted. “I like you the way you are. Confident. In charge. Very, devastatingly…”

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