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Chapter One
Rowan
“Let me get this straight. I’m receiving an inheritance from a grandfather I never even knew existed?” I ask Cayce, our family lawyer, and the closest friend my brothers and I have.
“Yeah, and get this, the estate’s located in my hometown, Magnolia Creek.”
“Aren’t you from Tennessee?”
“Aw, come on. You say that like it’s a bad thing, but it’s cozy. A regular spot for tourists, too.”
“I bet,” I mutter.
He rambles on about the gorgeous views of the Smoky Mountains, and how the people there are the ‘not in much of a hurry’ type while I shuffle through the mail on my passenger seat that I swiped off my desk thirty minutes ago.
“Sounds like the perfect setting for one of those obnoxiously predictable Christmas movies.” I pause when I see an envelope stamped with the Wonder Wish Network emblem, dreading the invite I know is inside.
“Oh, it is, but it’s also got a whole lot of charm.” I can hear the smile in his voice when he adds, “Not even a grump like you could resist falling in love in a place like that.”
Falling in love? Ha. “No chance.”
Besides, out of me and my three brothers, Cayce knows damn well I’m not the grump. That title is reserved for the oldest, Archer.
“Well, anyone’s got to be better than Margaux,” he says, referring to my ex, who’s still living in New York.
The long-distance thing didn’t work out, but I’m not too torn up about it. I once dreamed of the kind of love my parents had—unconditional and sickeningly sweet—but I’m not capable of that level of commitment. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I even kissed a woman during sex.
From inside my Maserati, I glance up to my brother Lucas’s penthouse apartment while Cayce mentions a man named Thomas Radley, my mother’s alleged father. Admittedly, I find it odd that she never spoke a word about him before she and Dad died, but when he says a woman named Patricia is to read the respective portions of the will that are dedicated to me and my brothers, I’ve had enough.
“Will you listen to what you’re saying? Some old man I’ve never met wants to give me his fortune. That sounds fucking fishy to me.”
“Well, he wants to give it to all of you, but yeah… What do you want me to do about it? I got the call, and I’m relaying the message.”
Annoyed, I get ready to head up, but I hesitate with the letter from the cancer foundation weighing heavily in my hand. They’re having a ceremony to honor their highest contributing donors, and regardless of having donated a couple million dollars behind Archer’s back on behalf of Kendrick Enterprises, I’m not making any grand appearances.
Not when it’s only going to dredge up memories of Paige.
Besides, they want to make me out as something greater than I am—a hero, a saint—but truthfully, I’m no one special. I’m just a thirty-two-year-old man who’s married to his job and dedicated to protecting what’s left of his family.
What I thought was left of us until Cayce called, anyway.
“Rowan,” his voice cuts through my thoughts, “are you listening?”
“Not-fucking-really. I’m at Lucas’s to get to the bottom of why he’s blowing off the cover story with Rolling Stone.”
“You’re joking.”
“I wish.”
Once I’ve stuffed the invitation inside my suit pocket, I lock my car, stopping to glance at the reserved spot beside mine, where one of Lucas’s street bikes gleams in the afternoon light.
I should’ve received confirmation from the hotel in Manhattan that he’d arrived already, but when I check my texts and emails, they’re irritatingly barren.
I don’t know what’s gotten into him lately, but he’s been making a scene in the media left and right, and dodging his responsibilities. As the face of our company, and our marketing executive, it’s not a good look.
My mind drifts from the conversation, thinking about the four of us and our days spent together at the office. We’d shoot the shit, talk sports and cars while we worked our asses off to build our portfolio and stock management business. But ever since achieving billionaire status last year, we’ve spent considerably less time at the office, often going weeks without showing our faces there, and while that’s been nice, I miss that quality time with them.
I’ve been in denial about the rift between us for a long time now, but if I’m honest with myself, we’ve been seeing less of each other for way longer than just this last year.
