Chapter 17
Ben
It didn’t take a genius to know those bottles didn’t fall off the damn shelf. It was plain and simple sabotage, and I knew exactly who did it. Once the bottles were cleaned up and I spoke with Chardonnay, Franc, Laurent, and Wyatt, I jumped in my car and headed into enemy territory.
My father stayed in California most of the time, but if Mario and Stanley were at my place just yesterday, that meant the old man wasn’t far. There was only one place he could be.
Twenty minutes later, I cut the wheel down the long driveway that led to my parents’ place they called their ski house.
As if either of them skied. Besides, they had houses in Aspen and Switzerland, places that actually made sense for skiing.
This place? It was all for show. He was just trying to impress a community that he wanted to weasel his way into so he could profit off a legacy that had already been built.
This mansion settled into the base of a mountain, complete with oversized windows, stone pillars, and a wraparound deck that was cold and sterile just like them.
I parked next to the black Cadillac and killed the engine, surprised Mario or Stanley hadn’t already descended to greet me. Dad knew I was here. He had cameras all over the place.
Without as much of an inhale, I hopped from the car and stormed up the steps. My hand hovered to knock, but before it made contact with the wood, it flew open. Stanley stood there with a too smug smile on his overly squared face.
“He’s in the study,” he said.
Normally, I’d throw a joke at Stanley to cut the tension, but I wasn’t in a joking mood. I walked down the long hallway, filled with expensive artwork and furniture that looked straight out of a museum, and headed for my father’s office.
The familiar scent of leather and Dad’s overpriced cologne smacked me in the sinuses. He stood, staring out the floor-to-ceiling window, smoke from the cigar in his hand swirling above him.
“I didn’t expect to see you so soon,” he said with a hint of a laugh in his tone.
The bastard knew what he did.
I had thought I covered up my feelings for Sherry, but he saw right through me. I wasn’t getting results for him, so he took matters into his own hands.
Dad sat in the oversized leather desk chair—the king on his throne. He poured a glass of whiskey and took it in hand, leaning back as if this was a friendly meeting.
“You look like shit,” he said.
I didn’t take the bait. “Breaking bottles? Sabotage? That seems a little beneath you.”
His brow arched, and the corner of his mouth slightly twitched. “You’ll have to be more specific. I’m not sure what you’re rambling on about, son.”
“Don’t play games with me,” I said. “You sent someone to break rare bottles of wine.”
He sipped his whiskey deliberately, letting the tension grow between us. “If someone wanted to test the stability of your girlfriend’s business, I wouldn’t call that sabotage. I’d call it good strategy.”
“She has nothing to do with this.”
He placed his glass down and met my gaze.
I hated how similar his eyes were to mine.
Hated how all I ever wanted was warmth and love to radiate back to me, but instead, I got disappointment.
“She has everything to do with this. She’s your weakness, dear son.
You know how I love to find a weakness. Get me dirt on them, or your little girlfriend will be sorry she ever met you. ”
Pain bit into my palms as my nails dug deep. He wanted me to lose it. To lash out. To prove he could control me. But I was done playing his fucking games.
“I am not your soldier or your puppet.”
His expression didn’t flicker, not surprised.
The man wasn’t capable of emotion. The leather of his chair creaked as he leaned back.
“You never were which is why you failed so epically when you tried to do something without me. So take that as your lesson. You need me, whether you want to admit it or not. You also owe me, and don’t for a second think that just because you’re my son, I won’t do everything in my power to get what’s mine.
Do what you fucking came here to do, and I’ll leave your little girlfriend alone.
Don’t, and watch as she becomes collateral damage. ”
The silence between us hung heavy with everything I wanted to say but knew wouldn’t fucking matter.
Not to the man who only ever saw people as leverage and love as a weakness.
It’s why I’d gone my entire life never hearing the words I love you from my father’s mouth.
If he loved me, I became a liability, and my father did not do liabilities.
I could stick to the plan—drag it out and hope to hell he didn’t retaliate. Or I could tell him to fuck off for good and hope I was strong enough to weather whatever storm that churned up.
The words were on my tongue, but the strength wasn’t in my soul. Standing up to my father put Sherry at risk.
“So what will it be?” Dad asked, but the smirk in his tone told me he already knew.
“Give me time.”
“I’ve already given you six fucking months!” He slammed his hand on the desk, papers and pens scattered.
“I need more time. These people you are so set on ruining just so you can extend your empire? They do everything by the fucking book. It’s been impossible to find something on them.”
“You aren’t trying hard enough. Keep your dick in your pants and your head in the game. Everybody has secrets. It’s your job to dig, and if you don’t find a way, then make one.”
Any hope I had that there was a line he would not cross vanished.
Fury raged through me, curling my lip in disgust at the man that paraded himself around like a man who loved family instead of the man who didn’t think twice about trying to destroy a family’s legacy. “You want me to frame them? Fabricate a scandal?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
“You’d destroy a family, their legacy, for what?” For your own pride?”
“Man has killed for less.”
“You’re pathetic.”
“And you’re still standing here, so what does that make you?”
Ice spread through me, washing away the fire. I wasn’t angry anymore; it was a wasted emotion on this man. You couldn’t fight fire with fire, but ice? He wanted to be cold, then I could be colder. “You’re right.” I leaned toward him, hands on the desk. “Everybody has secrets.”
“Glad you’re finally seeing things clearly,” he said, raising his glass.
“Yeah, and you better hope yours never come out.”
I sauntered toward the door, taking my time, letting my words settle in. He wanted to play games, fine. But I was ready to flip his board and make my own damn rules.
As I got to the door, I stopped and turned. “By the way. Next time you send idiots to sabotage your competitor? Tell them not to leave footprints in the wine. It’s sloppy. I’d expect better from you.”
Game on, asshole.
***
The bottles at the warehouse wasn’t the only mess I had to clean up.
I pushed Sherry away because I didn’t want to drag her into the black cloud that was my life, but the truth was, I was stronger with her in my life.
I would have never stood up to my father the way I did before I met her, which is exactly why I was in this current predicament.
I didn’t want my father to use her against me, or to hurt her or her family in any way, but I knew my father.
I knew the sick, twisted lengths he would go to in order to get what he wanted.
I could tell him Sherry meant nothing to me, but that wouldn’t stop him from using her.
She was in his sights, and now she was an easy target.
At least if we were together, I could keep an eye on her. Protect her.
Distance wouldn’t keep her safe, not from a man like my father who didn’t respect boundaries.
He saw the crack in my facade. I could have just given Sherry what she wanted, but no, I couldn’t seem to keep her at arm's length.
I just wanted her all the fucking time, and it killed me every time she pulled away.
Yet, I pulled away this time, and she got mad at me… she had every right to.
Because I didn’t just pull away. I shut her out.
She didn’t trust me now, and I didn’t blame her.
I wanted to tell her the truth—God, I did.
But fear had a way of silencing even the strongest voices.
I’d already let it win once; I wouldn’t let it again.
After the wedding, when everything she worked so hard for was exactly as she dreamed, I’d tell her everything.
No more lies. No more shadows. Just the truth.
Even if it meant losing her