Chapter 44
CADEN
I pulled to a stop in front of my parents’ home, idling for a moment before putting my SUV in park. This house held so many memories. The good. The bad. And everything in between. But it was time to let it all go.
Turning off the engine, I slid out of my SUV and headed up the front path. I hesitated for a moment and then rang the bell.
There was nothing at first, and then footsteps came from inside. They echoed, making the space inside sound as empty as it was. The door opened slowly, and my mother appeared.
She wasn’t dressed nearly as formally as usual. Instead, she wore casual joggers and a T-shirt with a slouchy cardigan wrapped around her. But it was her eyes that worried me. They were empty, bleak.
“Caden,” Mom said softly.
I stepped into the entryway and wrapped her in a gentle hug. “Hey, Mom.” I didn’t bother asking if she was okay. I knew she was a wreck. There was no other option.
“How is Grae doing?”
I released my mom and stepped back. “She’s doing a lot better this morning.”
“That’s good.” Mom’s voice shook on the words.
“I wanted to come and talk to you and Dad. Check on you.”
She nodded, but the movement was jerky. “He’s in the living room.”
Mom started walking without waiting for an answer from me, leading the way down the hall and into the living room.
My father sat in his usual leather chair. He had a newspaper in his hands, but he wasn’t looking at it. Instead, his focus was on the back windows as he stared into the forest.
He looked up at the sound of our footsteps. At least a dozen emotions flitted across his expression at the sight of me, but they moved too quickly for me to pin any of them down. “Caden.”
There was no warmth in his voice at my name, no affection, only clinical coolness.
“Dad. I wanted to check on you and Mom. See if you needed anything.”
A muscle in his jaw flexed. “You can start by getting that woman to drop any charges she might be planning against Gabe.”
Every muscle in my body turned to granite. “He tried to kill her.”
My father scoffed. “Hardly. They had a little tussle. It was nothing.”
“There are finger marks around Grae’s throat. He tried to strangle her. He had a damned gun,” I gritted out.
Mom let out a sound of distress, but I didn’t back down. Couldn’t. My father had to see what he’d wrought.
“The police said he doesn’t have an alibi for any of the incidents that have happened to Grae.”
My mom started to cry softly.
Dad threw the newspaper to the floor. “His drinking has gotten out of control. I’ll send him to rehab, but this family doesn’t need our name dragged through the mud. The company doesn’t need it.”
There it was. My father didn’t give a damn about Gabe. Or me. Or the fact that an innocent woman had almost been killed. All he cared about was his precious reputation. His company.
“Enough,” Mom whispered.
“You and Grae will retract your statements, and we’ll make sure the rest of the witnesses sign nondisclosure agreements,” my father continued.
“I said enough!” Mom snapped.
Dad jerked back. “Jocelyn.”
Tears still glistened in her eyes, but there was something else there now, too. An anger I’d never seen in her before. “I’ve stood by for too long. Let you twist this family into something I don’t even recognize anymore.”
My father gaped at her. “What are you talking about?”
“I thought I loved you once. But the way you’ve torn apart our boys, treated them with nothing but cruelty and cold calculation…I’ll hate you for the rest of my days.”
Dad pushed to his feet, redness creeping up his neck. “I won’t allow you to talk to me this way. This is my house—”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Harrison.”
He froze. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Mom clasped her hands in front of her and met my father’s stare. “The land this resort is built on has been in my family for generations. Every building on it belongs to me.”
Dad’s jaw went slack, and then fury flared in his eyes. “Fine. You want The Peaks, you’re welcome to it. You’ll drive it into the ground in less than a month.”
“Not just The Peaks,” she said calmly.
A vein in my father’s neck bulged, but he didn’t say a word.
“I called an emergency meeting of the board this morning. We’ve all decided that you are no longer equipped to lead this company. You’re being replaced. We’ve given you a generous severance package, but you’ll be leaving.”
“You fucking bitch!”
My father lunged, but I stepped in front of him, shoving him back with enough force that he stumbled into that damn chair he loved so much.
“Don’t,” I growled. “You don’t touch her. You don’t even speak to her.”
Dad shoved up to standing. “You’ll pay for this.”
He grabbed his keys from the side table and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
My mom let out a shaky breath. “That went better than I thought.”
I turned to face her. “Mom…why?”
“It was time.” She gave me a sad smile. “My great-grandfather started this company. I wasn’t about to let Harrison ruin it. I just wish I hadn’t let him hurt you and Gabe so badly. I’ve made so many mistakes…”
I pulled her into a hug and felt her trembling. “We’re going to be okay.”
She pulled back a fraction. “Interested in running a hotel conglomerate?”
That startled a laugh out of me. “Honestly? Not really. But I would love to run The Peaks.”
A genuine smile spread across my mother’s face. “We’d love to have you.”
I squeezed her hands. “I think you should come stay with Grae and me for a few days while you sort all this out with Dad.”
She shook her head. “I already have my lawyer filing for divorce. When your father tries to come back onto the property, he’ll find that he’s not permitted on the premises. I’ll box up his belongings and send them wherever he wants.”
I studied her for a long moment. “You’re sure about this?”
Mom gripped my hand tighter. “A part of me died with Clara. I was so scared that if I lost anything else, the rest of me would go, too. I was so desperate to hold on to my family that I couldn’t see it was killing us all.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I’m the one who’s sorry.” She took a deep breath. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
A lead weight settled in my stomach. “Okay.”
“Gabe is adopted.”
Shock swept through me. “What?”
“For a long time, I thought I couldn’t have children. Your father wasn’t happy about it.”
I wanted to deck my dad for making my mother feel worse about something that must have been incredibly painful already.
Mom released my hand and toyed with the hem of her cardigan. “We decided to go the adoption route. Your father demanded it be kept a secret. He didn’t want anyone to know that Gabe wasn’t his blood.”
She fingered a button on her sweater while she lost herself in the memory. “I went along with it because I wanted a child so badly. And after Gabe came along, it all seemed worth it. Imagine my surprise when I got pregnant with you and then Clara.”
“Gabe found out, didn’t he?” I asked, the pieces coming together.
My mother nodded. “When he was in middle school.”
I tried to remember when Gabe had changed, when our relationship had shifted. It was when he was in seventh grade. I’d thought he was just over having a younger brother and sister tagging along, but it was so much more.
“He became fixated. It didn’t matter how much I reassured him that he was ours; he always felt less than.” A tear slid down her cheek. “I failed him.”
I hugged my mom tightly. “You didn’t fail him. There’s a sickness in him that you couldn’t heal.”
“I never thought he would hurt you and Grae.”
“I know. But we’re okay. And the three of us will heal. Together.”
My mom pulled back, her eyes still full of tears. “Together?”
I smiled down at her. “I think it’s time we build the family we were always meant to have. Don’t you?”
Her mouth curved. “I’d like that.”
I stayed with my mother for another hour, making sure she was truly okay. When I was sure of that, I headed for my SUV, calling security on the way. My mom had already brought them up to speed. My father had left the property and wouldn’t be welcomed back.
I shook my head as I turned into my driveway. Never in a million years had I thought this morning would turn out the way it had. I parked my SUV and climbed out, heading up the front walk.
My steps faltered as I took in the entryway. The door was slightly ajar.
Panic lit inside me, surging through my system with a vicious burn.
“Grae,” I called, shoving open the door and heading inside.
There was no answer.
I strode through the house, searching from room to room. She wasn’t in any of them. I pulled out my phone and hit her contact, my heart hammering against my ribs.
A ring trilled from the kitchen. I moved in that direction.
Grae’s phone sat on the island. But she was nowhere to be found.