Chapter 27
The truth comes out
Heston
Despite Dad needing plenty of rest, he was awake long into the early hours of the morning, and it was my fault.
I’d dumped so much information in his lap: me and Dev getting married; the arrangement, us meeting by chance; Sebastian paying for his surgery. But that was nothing compared to what I hadn’t told him.
I imagined the conversation.
Hey, Dad. I’ve got news. Devyn, the love of my life, the father of my future kids, has a something inside him.
Oh no, poor Devyn. Can they operate? Many tumors are benign.
Nope, it’s not a tumor. Guess again.
Just tell me, Heston.
Surprise. It’s an animal.
You had me worried thinking he was dying. He just needs a pill and his itchy butt will be a thing of the past.
No, Dad. He doesn’t have worms. It’s a wolf.
What’s a wolf?
The animal. He calls it his beast. Wanna see?
I couldn’t continue, even in my imagination, because I didn’t want Devyn in trouble with the big shifter honcho, and if I was the one who blabbed, would I be hauled before the council? I had no intention of finding out.
“Heston, come here, please.”
Dad calling me reminded me of when I was a kid and I’d done something wrong. I’d put my head down and push out my bottom lip, but pouting never worked on Dad. Father was a pushover for a good pout, but Dad was made of sterner stuff.
His night light was on, and he’d plumped the pillows behind his back before patting the chair beside the bed.
“I love you very much and—”
“I know, Dad.”
He waggled his finger, and we said in unison, “Don’t interrupt.”
That got a laugh out of him.
“While I should be annoyed you went behind my back and asked Sebastian for money, I’m proud of you. Your father would be too. Thank you.”
After what I’d seen at the house, I wasn’t sure my step-father had the cash. Yes, he owned a multimillion dollar company, but the funds were tied up. He couldn’t just demand the accountant hand over a stack of bills.
“You’re not angry.” It was a statement, not a question, and it worried me. Was that a sign he’d given up on getting the surgery or he was too sick to care about where the money came from?
“No. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and my illness has put you under so much pressure. You haven’t had a chance to begin your life.”
“Dad, no.” He pursed his lips. “Sorry, again. I won’t interrupt.”
“You couldn’t raise that much money and I should have agreed about asking Sebastian.” He raised a hand as I made to speak and I closed my mouth. “But I should have spoken to him. I’m sorry.”
I took his hand, noting the translucent skin that reminded me of crepe paper and the blue veins below.
“Don’t. It’s done and in the past and we’re looking forward.”
He nodded, the light catching the tears on his lashes.
“Promise me you have no more big surprises. My heart can’t cope.” He froze. It was the sort of thing people said every day, but for Dad, his heart was in bad shape.
I squeezed his hand. “Once you’ve had the surgery, we’ll go to the movies and take vacations. There’s a whole world waiting for you, Dad.”
He yawned and covered it with his hand.
“Time to sleep.”
There were only a few hours before I had to get up for work. Images, questions and ideas were bouncing around in my head and I had given up on sleep. But my eyes closed and the alarm woke me. Thirty minutes later, I was out the door.
As I made coffees for customers, I ran over the names of people who’d worked with Father. While there were probably tons I’d never met or heard him mention, three names were at the top of my list.
When my shift was over, I sat in the car, scrolling through my phone.
The first person was on vacation. The second was dead, and I mumbled my condolences to his widower.
But the third, Oscar, answered the phone himself, said he was recently retired.
I let him speak of him and Father making deals, staying up all night writing proposals, and the mistakes they made.
There was a tinge of regret in his voice, as though he may have lived his life differently if he did it all again.
“Are you still in contact with people you used to work with?”
“What do you need to know?” His voice perked up, and I wondered if retirement wasn’t what he’d imagined.
I skirted around the subject, saying Sebastian was acting oddly and perhaps he was under a lot of pressure. I hoped I came across as concerned, not fishing for dirt.
“He cut you out of the will, I heard. And now you’re trying to bring him down?”
Ouch. Oscar was savvy enough to pick up that this wasn’t a social phone call.
Not that I’d ever phoned him previously, so that was a red flag.
But bring Sebastian down? No, I was searching for the truth.
But was I? Wouldn’t I secretly cheer if he ended up with nothing except his clothes?
The flip side would be fury that he had thrown away everything Father worked for.
“No. I was at his place, and it was bare. He was eating food he never deigned to eat in the past—cheap food—there’s no sign of the domestic staff.” I could go on but left it there. That was enough for Oscar to chew over.
“I was loyal to your father, not Sebastian, who never had a lick of business sense.” He paused. “But I have heard rumors. The company’s in bad shape and I’m pretty sure he’s itching to sell it. But from your description, it sounds like it’s circling the drain.”
He’d confirmed my worst fears; Sebastian wouldn’t and couldn’t pay for Dad’s operation, unless he got me to marry Devyn and conned my mate’s dad into buying the company Father built.
“Just as well Gerard isn’t here to see this.”
I half expected him to say, “It would kill him.”
Slumped in the driver’s seat, I wondered how much Devyn would get if he sold the car but that was still in his brother’s name. Had he changed it? But the phone interrupted my gloomy thoughts. Devyn! The one bright spot of my day.
He spoke first, not letting me say hello. “I need you here at Father’s office. Can you come now?”
What? I was going to meet his dad. “Did you tell them?” I couldn’t fathom how we got from “Let’s keep it a secret” to “Tell them everything.”
“Not all of it. Just come, please.”
He texted me the address and when I arrived at the gleaming, silver skyscraper with Devyn’s family name emblazoned over the entrance, I shaded my eyes, intimidated by the size.
Devyn was waiting downstairs, and I handed my keys to the valet.
He’d probably never driven a stick shift or had to park a run down car like mine.
And the crunching of the gears seconds later proved my point.
The elevator whisked us upward, leaving my stomach behind, while I stared at the view through the glass panels.
Devyn took my hand as the doors opened, not into a corridor but directly into an office.
“Trust me?”
“Yes.” I did, unlike the last time he’d asked before he revealed his wolf.
He strode into the room where a man who reminded me of Devyn sat at a huge wooden desk, maybe an antique.
The only time I’d seen his face was on the computer when I’d been researching the family.
Two younger men stood on either side of him.
The stomach I’d lost in the elevator found me, but roiled as their eyes registered surprise and their mouths gaped, revealing their gleaming white teeth.
“You.” That was Roy, the one who I wrongly assumed was my groom. He was just as surly as in his photos. The second one was Devyn’s other brother.
“You spoiled the surprise.” The older man steepled his fingers. He studied our clasped hands. “Are you here to break the deal or something else?”
“No.” I cleared my throat. A croaky voice didn’t belong in this room. “We love each other.”
Roy snorted, his lips arranged in a sneer.
“While you are obviously an astute businessman…” Devyn’s father leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his middle. “You remind me of your late father.”
Devyn flashed me a glance and grinned.
“Sebastian is fooling you.” I straightened my spine.
“Lies. You’re jealous he got everything in your father’s will, you sniveling little creep.” Roy’s face was the color of beetroot. He’d explode if he didn’t calm down.
“Roy!” The dad slammed his fist on the desk. “Apologize.”
“Father—”
“You heard me.”
He turned his nose up as he said sorry. I didn’t believe him.
“My step-father is living in a manner that suggests he has little money.” I ran over the list I had in my head.
Devyn piped up. “And Roy is chummy with Sebastian. He’s the one arranging this merger, so you’d think he’d have done a deep dive into the company’s finances.”
Roy erupted and charged his brother, his eyes no longer his own but that of his beast.
“Enough!” their father yelled as my phone rang.
Dean’s voice blasted out of the device when I answered it. “Your dad’s been rushed to hospital.”