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“When you tried to fuck your brother’s wife?”
A familiar anger swam through my veins. It was always there, lurking in my depths, waiting for a moment of weakness to take control. “Like I told you and Charlie back then, she came on to me and I shut it down immediately.”
My sister-in-law had cornered me at a gala and tried to stick her hand down my pants. I had pushed her away and told my half-brother what had happened, but she had cried to him that I was the one who tried to make a move on her. It had been an easy choice for my family to make. I was cast out, and I hadn’t been back since. Until now.
“Your word means nothing to me. Why would I believe the son of a whore?” he snapped.
“I’m your son, too.” I fought down the glare that threatened to take over my face. “I’m not here to fight. I’m putting every dime I make into her care, but it’s just not enough. I’ve already moved her from the old facility, and anyone cheaper than this can’t give her the level of care she needs.” I took a deep breath. “Please. I need your help.”
I kept my eyes down, unable to look him in the eye. I was pathetic. I couldn’t even take care of my own grandmother, the woman who raised me.
The quiet crept between us, growing larger and larger until I feared it would suffocate me, and then he laughed. My father laughed.
It took him a solid minute to get himself under control. By the time he was done, I could feel the molten rage roaring beneath my skin, and it was all I could do not to shake.
“I have one son. One heir.” He reached out and flipped around the sole photograph he kept on his desk. There were four people. My father, my stepmother Vanessa, my half-brother, and his wife. They looked happy. There was no room for me in that picture.
“You were a mistake.” He said it so easily, with so much confidence I could almost believe him. “You were born out of a youthful indiscretion and only kept because we didn’t think Vanessa would ever be able to carry a baby to term. I did what was required of me. I took you in and cared for you, even though it hurt my wife.”
I scoffed. “You had nannies raise me till I was four, then shipped me off to Jeanie as soon as Charlie was born. Don’t pretend like you fulfilled any fatherly duties.”
“I did what was needed.” His voice was firm. Jonathan Graves did not bend. “I paid your fool of a mother $50,000 and she ran off with it. She didn’t want you; she wanted my money. Just like you do now. I sent your grandmother money each month for your keep, and I put you through college. When she got sick I paid for her care. When she chose to stop chemo and went into hospice I paid for her. I could have cast you off at any moment, but I didn’t. You are in no position to criticize me. I would still be paying for you and your pitiful grandmother if you hadn’t tried to seduce Eliza.”
My palms stung as I dug my nails into them, trying, and failing, to calm down. “I’m still your son. Your oldest son.”
It was a sore spot for him. Jonathan had the same dreams as his father, as all the rich villains seemed to have. He had longed for an heir to take over his company; an eldest son to inherit the earth. The idea that his wife could never carry children was the only reason he hadn’t forced my mother to abort me. He had been given a chance and he had taken it. It didn’t matter that they all despised me. It didn’t matter that his wife only saw me as a reminder of his infidelity. It didn’t matter that my mother had disappeared with the money, never to be heard from again. All that mattered was that he had his heir.
And then he had Charlie.
I was no longer needed, but they couldn’t get rid of me. I had spent the first four years of my life in their house. Their friends knew me, and their clients knew of me. It would have been impossible for them to make me disappear without questions, so they did the next best thing: pretend I didn’t exist.
Grandma Jeanie raised me. She was the only mother I had ever known. I never stopped trying to be enough for them, but I never was. I went to good schools and got my MBA. Jonathan gave me a job in his company and I did good work. It wasn’t enough.
“You are a disgrace.” His voice was as empty as I felt. I meant nothing to him.
There was one final card I had to play, but it was dangerous. “I may be, but I’m still your son. Everyone knows I’m your son.”
His brow twitched, the first line of a frown starting to form. “What are you hiding?”
I straightened my spine and pushed back my shoulders. If I had learned one thing from him, it was how to command a room. “I’ve had a few offers that would help me cover the debt. So far I’ve rejected them, but if you don’t help me I may be out of options.”
The frown went deeper. “Offers?”
“I wonder how much your competitors would pay to watch videos of your oldest son getting fucked. I’m sure your clients would want to know about Logan Graves entering the porn industry. I don’t think I’d even need a stage name, that way whenever someone Googles ‘Graves Investments’ they can find my videos. What do you think would be most popular? Gay porn? Gangbangs? Maybe I could wear a suit like this and fuck some girl over a desk. Everyone loves watching a secretary get railed by her boss, or maybe the boss gets fucked by the secretary.”
For once my father’s face was pure emotion.
Rage.
He had stood during my monologue, his hands gripping the edge of his desk. Smoke might as well have been blowing out of his ears for how red his face had become. “If you dare do anything to jeopardize my name, I will destroy you and everything you care about. Do you understand me?” His voice had started to rise, but he caught himself. “You think I don’t know about that club you work in?”
I sucked down a gasp. I had hoped he was in the dark about Requited, but I should have known better.
I had failed to hide my reaction, and he leaned toward me, the fire in his eyes turning into a blazing inferno. “It will be as easy as stepping on an ant to burn that place to the ground.” For a second I wondered if he meant literally or figuratively. I decided he probably meant both. “I will ruin the lives of everyone who works there, especially your boss. Reese, isn’t it? The man you live with. Or Katie. She seems like a sweet girl. I know everything that you do, Logan. You will never beat me.”
His last words hung between us, a threat and a promise. With slow movements, he sank back into his chair and smoothed down his shirt. “Now get out of my office.”
If it wasn’t for my father, I would never have known how it felt to be made small. My lungs struggled for air, but my body knew to take over.
