“I knew,” I agreed grimly. “I wanted Hi-Tech to be safe in my hands before she found out.”
“Your reasoning sucks,” Nolan grunts. “Even if you’d never made the deal with Grant to start with, he would’ve just found someone else to sell it to. Dad would never have got his hands on it.”
My brows climb my forehead at his naiveté. “Do you really believe that? Because Dad was already making moves while I was on my honeymoon. He was tanking Hi-Tech by going after the material suppliers and contracts, even though Silvia had to have told him about me signing off on the sale when I got back.” I sit up. “It wouldn’t have mattered who owned Hi-Tech in the end, Dad would’ve tried destroying it just because he knew what the company meant to Grant.”
Darcy shifts closer, leaning against my side. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Her voice is soft, wounded. “If we hadn’t overheard you and Dad arguing last year about Lily, we never would’ve known any of it. Even now, it feels like you’re still keeping us in the dark.”
“There was nothing you could’ve done, Darce,” I protest. “There was no point in you knowing. I was just protecting you.”
“It’s not your job to protect us,” Nolan says firmly. “And it’s not your job to protect Lily. You’ve got to stop shutting people out and expecting to do everything on your own. Look around you. Look where it’s got you.” He drops the cereal box to his side, his other arm sweeping out around the room before landing the finishing blow. “Where’sLily, Dec?”
Sleep is hard to come by that night. Standing in the hotel hallway the next morning, it feels like my eyeballs have been scrubbed with sandpaper.
Mom opens the door at my knock. She’s dressed for the day already, in a silk blouse and linen pants. Her makeup doesn’t quite hide the stress lining her mouth as she beckons me inside.
“Declan,” she greets softly as I hug her, hating how frail she feels.
“Mom,” I murmur into her hair. “How are you?”
She steps back, lifting her shoulder in a dainty shrug. “I’ve been better,” she admits, leading me over to two armchairs set up in front of the large window.
A coffee cart has already been set up, with a selection of pastries and fruits. I grab a coffee, but she shakes me off, her brow clenched in thought.
“The lawyer’s already been in contact. He says—” she clears her throat, eyes wary. “Hesaidthat it’s an open and shut case, and there’s not much he can do. The evidence they’ve compiled against your father is…” She frowns down at her hands. “He says the best way forward is for your father to take a plea deal, and that a judge might be sympathetic enough to reduce the sentence. He wants us to provide testimonial and character witnesses to show another side of him.” My stomach sinks, but I don’t interrupt, waiting for her to spill it all in black and white for me. “He suggested you by name, Declan. As the eldest son and heir to the Masters empire, and the CEO of Nexus.”
“I’m not the CEO anymore.”
She waves that off. “I’m sure that won’t matter.” Her smile is expectant, but Darcy’s words ring through my ears.It’s not your job to protect us.
“I can’t do that.”
She blinks, her eyes puzzled. “Why not?”
“I’m the one who compiled the evidence, Mom.” I lean forward, bracing for her reaction. “I’m the one who turned Dad in.”
For a long moment, she doesn’t move, and then she blows out a quiet, long breath, until it seems like every ounce of air must’ve left herbody. She slumps in her chair, and I get up to crouch in front of her, taking her cold hands in mine.
“We’ll get through this,” I tell her firmly. “Darcy, Nolan, me and you. We have each other and we don’t need him. We let him control us for too long.”
Her eyes glimmer wetly. “And Lily,” she whispers. “We have Lily too, right?”
“Right,” I agree, praying it’s not a lie. “And Lily.”
Just saying her name sends my mind racing back to her, wondering how she is today after last night. After Nolan had asked me where she was, neither of them had spared a breath when they had started in on me, insisting that I fix what I broke.
When I’d asked them for suggestions, they’d been surprised, but it was—shockingly—Nolan who’d said, “You need to prove you’re trustworthy, right? And that she means something to you. So, it stands to reason you need a grand gesture. Something symbolic or meaningful.”
But sitting here with my mother, an idea pops into my head. Not agrandgesture as such, but something that will show Lily that this time, I’m sticking to my word and choosing the right side of the war.
CHAPTER 25
Lily
Istep through the front door. “Dad? Julie?”
My voice echoes back, but there’s a quiet murmur to my right, just as Julie calls back. “Living room, Lily!”
I head towards her, feeling lighter than I have in weeks.
