Tell Me You Need Me (Lighthouse Landing #1)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

WEST

“ S ir—” I can tell from the hitch in Jack’s voice that whatever he is about to tell me, I’m not going to want to hear. My head still throbs from last night. I can’t recall the last time I drank that much or why I was so bothered that I felt the need to do so.

“What is it?”

Jack steps farther into my office. As usual, he’s in his normal slacks with a buttoned-up shirt and a bowtie, which is always a different color. It's the most vibrant color my home has ever seen. If not for him, this place would be empty except for a desk and bed. The essentials are all I really need.

“Your brother.”

“Don’t!” I growl, standing from my chair. He is the last thing I want to speak about. In fact, I should never have to hear his name again. I am the only Haven now that he’s dead. I could finally wash my hands of my family and that past. I’d walked away from all of it when I went to college. Left that life behind. Believe me, I couldn’t get out of there quick enough.

“There is more that you don’t know.” Jack comes fully into my office.

The scar that cuts down the center of my brow, down through half of my cheek, starts to throb. It was a gift from my dear brother. The golden child to my father. Karl Haven was set to take over my father’s empire. I didn’t give a shit; all I wanted was out. That pissed our father off more. My indifference to it all.

“I don’t care what happens to the estate. I don’t want it.” I want nothing but to be left alone. Right now, though, I wouldn't be too pissed if my parents were here so they could clean up Karl’s mess. They were good at it.

I walk over to my bar to pour another whiskey, not caring that it’s only early afternoon and I haven’t eaten today. Jack replaced the breakfast he had brought in with an untouched lunch.

“There are heirs to the estate.” The glass pauses at my lips.

“What?” I drop it back down onto the bar, making the liquid splash out.

“Heirs,” he repeats.

“As in children?”

“More or less.” Jack shrugs one shoulder.

"He had fucking kids?" Karl had kids? I run my hand down my face, trying to picture it. Honestly, I thought Karl would go down high out of his mind surrounded by strippers. He might have knocked one up?

"Two."

"Two!"

"Twins." There are not many things that surprise me in life, but I have to admit that this is definitely one of them.

I walk back over to my chair and drop down into it, not sure what to do with this information. “Has the funeral taken place yet?” I told Jack I wasn’t going.

“No, sir. Tomorrow.”

“How old?” My brother was over eight years older than me.

I haven’t seen him since I was a teenager. I had kept my life as far apart from my brother's and father's as I could. Even in business I made sure to take a different path. I had left the country for a time, and when I did come back, it was to the opposite coast.

I didn’t have to hear their names ever again, and I’d forgotten about them for the most part. I could go days without thinking of them. It would have been longer if not for the scar I had to see every time I looked in a mirror. A constant fucking reminder of how my family treated me.

“Recently turned eighteen.”

Okay, at least they’re adults. There must be some money left. They will have a financial cushion to begin their lives.

Given my understanding of my brother, it might be in their best interests for him to be gone. Especially if he ended up the same as my father. The controlling prick. I know it’s because of him that our mother took her own life. She couldn't escape him, and he’d used me as a pawn. I’d often thought he got her pregnant with me to make her stay longer.

“I know what you’re thinking, and that isn’t going to work.” Jack places a folder down on my desk.

“You couldn’t have emailed this?” I flip it open. Where did he even get a folder? Jack does love the theatrics. He ignores my question.

“They can’t touch their money until they finish out school.”

“School? As in college?”

“High school.” Shit. “Lighthouse High.”

“Karl was living back in Lighthouse Landing?” My mom loved it there. It’s where I’d gone to school as a kid. I haven’t been back there since I left. My father often stayed in the city. The only way on and off the island was by ferry or helicopter. There might be a small airport there now.

"Your father never sold the estate. Karl took his twins back there." I rub the scar cutting through my brow. I almost died on that island.

"I still can't picture him as a father."

"I'm sure that is what he was. A father but not a dad."

I pick up one of the pictures. It's the twins together. A boy and a girl.

“Holy shit,” I mutter. “She looks identical to our mother.” I only had a couple of pictures of my mom. I’d taken them with me when I’d left. I hadn’t taken much else. The last thing I wanted were memories of my father or brother. They can rot in hell for all I care.

Mom did give my father one last fuck you before she left this world. She’d made sure I was taken care of. That I had enough money to start a life for myself, and that is exactly what I did. I hate to admit that a part of my drive was proving to my father and brother that I didn’t need them or any of their dirty money. They’d both been convinced I’d burn through the inheritance I’d been given when I’d turned eighteen. Money that hadn’t been known about. It wasn't until a lawyer knocked on my door that I became aware of what my mom had done for me.

It was smart on my mom's part. My father would have spent all the time he had until I came of age to find a way to get that money from me. He wanted everyone dependent on him. His control knew no bounds.

Jack takes the picture from me to look for himself. “She’s a lovely girl. Looks very innocent.” I know he added that last word to dig at me. I’d already had the thought. “What if he’s like them?” Jack knows some about my past. We have worked together for years, and he can be a nosy bastard. That had been my other thought. My brother and I stood in stark contrast. What if I could save her? The striking resemblance to my mother gnaws at me.

“Find out how we can get to Lighthouse Landing. We might need a helicopter.” I hate that I’m in this fucking position, but now that I am, I know I won’t be able to stop thinking about this. I also know Jack somehow knew that I would be uneasy once I saw that picture. Bastard.

“There is a small airport there now.” Of course he’s already looked into it. “We can be wheels up when you’re ready, sir.”

“Stop with the sir bullshit.”

“Got it.” Jack smirks. “I already packed my bags and got most of your things together for you to check over.” I round my desk to leave my office but stop at the door.

“How were you so confident I’d go back?” I find myself asking.

“Because unlike your father and brother, you only pretend to be an asshole.”

I shake my head, not so sure that I believe him.