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“I still don’t.”
“Trust me, you’re going to want to hear what I have to share with you.”
Intrigued, my eyes shifted to Tristian. “Email me Grandfather’s contract. I’ll have my lawyers take a look and see if there’s anything you can do to avoid his stipulations.”
“I appreciate that, Caleb.”
We shook hands, and he walked away.
Once he was out of sight, I glared at my brother. “You have ten minutes. Now let’s go.”
With that, I led him out to the garden, away from everyone at the party. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t on edge as we walked outside. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what his urgency was about.
“You’re going to want to sit down.”
I shook my head. “Enough with the cryptic bullshit, Joseph. What do you want? More of my money?”
“No, but your ex-wife sure as shit does.”
“Tessa?” I questioned, utterly baffled. “What does she have to do with this?”
I never expected him to reply…
“Everything.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
—Caleb—
Our stares locked.
“I need you to know that no one has to find out what I’m about to tell you.”
“Joseph, what’s going on? What kind of trouble are you in now?”
“I’m not the one who’s in trouble.” He opened his suit jacket, grabbing what looked like a photo. “This time it’s you.”
Before I could reply, he handed the photo to me. Almost instantly I tried controlling my temper. However, I failed miserably as I stared at a photo of him kissing the woman I least expected.
Tessa.
“When was this taken?”
Feeling the shift in my demeanor, he coaxed, “Caleb, what I’m about to divulge will make you hate me, but I need you to know I was beyond fucked up back then. Drinking, drugs, gambling. You name it, and I was doing it. I…” He shook his head, stumbling over his words. “If I could change what I did, I would.”
“Enough with the pep talk.” I glared at him, holding up the picture. “When the fuck was this taken?”
“A year before she got pregnant.”
My heart began beating at a rapid pace, a mile a minute with each word that drew me closer to what he had to confess.
“After Grandfather didn’t even consider me for the business, I was lost, blaming all my fuck ups on you. You were always the good son. All my life I’ve felt as if I’m walking through your shadow. Nothing I did was ever good enough, compared to what you could accomplish.”
My hand fisted at my side while anger coursed through my veins. The audacity of this piece of shit to blame me for his insecurities.
“I owed a lot of people money, and I didn’t know what else to do but con you.”
I jerked back. “Con me?”
