Chapter 48 Grayden
FORTY-EIGHT
Grayden
It was almost midnight when we piled into a small conference room. Apparently, Callum had gotten to know several nurses when Zandra’s grandfather had been hospitalized last year. My youngest brother could charm his way into or out of pretty much anything.
But Ashford wasn’t here.
I stood up. “I’ll look for him.”
“No, I will,” Teller said. “I’ll be right back.”
But that same moment, Ashford stepped into the doorway. “I’m here. Was planning to spend the night at the hospital anyway for Piper, so we might as well do this.”
I nodded at him. Ashford avoided my eyes, leaning against a wall instead of taking a seat.
But that was fine. He was here, and that was all that mattered.
Piper sat next to me, a hand on my thigh beneath the table. Teller took the seat beside her. Grace and Callum were right across from us.
I finally had the chance, after all these years, to tell them the truth about everything. Fuck, I was dreading it.
This had been a long, painful day for all of us. And it wasn’t over yet.
I knew I was a strong person. I’d had to be to survive all I’d been through. But Piper’s presence beside me gave me a whole new kind of strength.
She made me feel like the hero she believed I was. A man who made mistakes, but those mistakes didn’t have to define me.
“I had a friend named Aaron Drummond in the Army.”
I started there, and I told them everything. Every brutal detail. All the things I was ashamed of, like throwing the first punch in that bar fight.
Grace gasped, covering her mouth when I described finding Aaron covered in blood, standing over an unconscious Private Ricker.
She cried when I told them about my impulsive confession of guilt. Callum had an agonized look on his face.
Ashford… It was impossible to tell what he was feeling.
The funny thing was, my voice got stronger as I kept going. With every ugly detail I shared, the weight on my soul got lighter. They would know exactly who I was, and if any of them decided it was too much, it would hurt. But at least I’d be living fully in the open.
By the time I got to Aaron’s lawyer father and his threats, Grace hammered her fist on the table. She was just as furious as Piper had been. Callum got up and paced across the tiny room, hands digging into his hair.
“This is fucked,” Callum said.
Ashford shifted his weight, still leaning against the wall. “So this lawyer guy threatened us if you didn’t take the fall? You really think he could’ve done something?”
I nodded. “Silas Drummond worked in Washington. He knew generals and congressmen. I looked him up online once. He was golf buddies with the Secretary of Defense. You and Cal were both in the service. There’s no telling what he could’ve done.
And even if I changed my story, I would’ve struggled to prove my innocence at the trial.
I thought your lives would be better if I played along. ”
“Better without you?” Ashford said. “How the hell could you think that?”
“Because Drummond promised he could help you if I kept my mouth shut.”
Everyone in the room went quiet. Piper’s hand tightened on my thigh. I hadn’t told her this part.
For my sister, it might be the hardest of all.
This, right here, was the reason I hadn’t volunteered the full truth before now. It would kill me to hurt my baby sister.
“Help us how?” Ashford demanded.
“He said he’d make sure you and Callum had good assignments anytime you had a change of station. He could help your military careers. Put a thumb on the scale in your favor.”
Callum dropped his face into his hand.
“And Grace…” I met my sister’s sweet, open gaze. “He offered to give you a full ride to college. He set it up as an anonymous scholarship through the high school.”
The color drained from her face. “No,” she whispered.
“I’m so sorry, Gracie.” My voice broke.
“I didn’t earn my scholarship? That was…blood money?”
“I wish you didn’t ever have to know. I don’t want to hurt you or make you feel—”
Grace got up and ran from the room. Piper squeezed my shoulder and then went after her.
Okay, I’d known this would suck. But it really fucking sucked.
Grace and Piper had great memories of their college days together. Grace was proud of her degree. And I’d just tainted those memories.
“Is that all of it?” Ashford asked. He was staring at the carpet. “Every last thing?”
“Yes,” I spit out. “It’s enough, don’t you think?” Enough for them to second-guess the idea of ever forgiving me. But at least it was done now.
Teller blew out a breath. “And I thought I had some baggage in my past. I have nothing on you, Gray.”
His use of my old nickname gave me a glimmer of hope. He’d used to call me that when we were friends. He wouldn’t be using that name if he was disgusted by my story, right?
But what about my brothers?
Callum spoke first. “I hate everything you just told us. It’s all so wrong. But I’m upset for you and what those people did to you. This can’t be the end of it. There’s no way this Silas Drummond guy and his son can get away with it.”
I shrugged. “It’s been so many years. I just care about you guys. I’ve never wanted to make excuses, but I hope you can understand the choices I made. And forgive them.”
“Anything that needs forgiveness,” Callum said firmly, “you already have mine.”
Teller put his hand on my shoulder, his expression saying everything I needed from him. Maybe we weren’t friends again just yet, but I saw understanding. He nodded once.
All three of us looked to Ashford.
His face was hard as stone. He walked toward me. I saw every ounce of pain I’d felt reflected back at me.
Looking at Ashford had always been like looking into a mirror of my past. A better version of myself.
Instead of saying anything, he opened his arms.
Choking back tears, I stood up and hugged him. He clapped me on the back, pulling me tighter. We had years to catch up on, probably some more difficult conversations ahead. But the wall between us was gone, crumbled at our feet.
A moment later, the door opened again, and Grace was there. Her pretty face was tear-streaked, but she hugged me next, burying her face against my chest.
“I didn’t know where that money came from,” she sobbed. “If I knew…”
“Please don’t feel guilty. If you hadn’t gotten that money, everything else would have turned out the same.” At least one tiny good thing had come from it, though I knew Grace wouldn’t see it that way right now.
I caught Piper’s eye in the doorway. She’d been out there comforting my sister. Her best friend. Once again, I saw no judgment from her. Only a bittersweet, encouraging smile.
I loved Piper so fiercely in that moment. So intensely. We were part of the same history, the same found family, and that just made our connection sweeter.
“I love you, Grayden,” my sister said.
“I love you too. I love all of you. I wasn’t there for you before, but that changes now.”
Callum and Ashford both put their hands on my arms where I was holding Grace.
It felt like I was finally coming out of a long, dark night. The first rays of sun had appeared when Grace and Callum came back into my life.
And then Piper. My heart and my soul had truly come alive because of her.
But now, my new beginning was really starting.