Chapter 14 The Family War
Ultimatum
Evan knew his father would come.
He had known it from the moment Nathaniel's statement went public.
There had been no phone call from Richard that morning.
No message.
No demand to meet.
The silence had been worse than anger.
Richard's silence meant he was thinking.
And Evan knew his father well enough to understand that when Richard finally spoke, he would have already decided what he wanted to say.
By late afternoon, Evan was sitting in the living room when his phone rang.
His father's name appeared on the screen.
Evan stared at it for several seconds before answering.
"Hello."
"Where are you?"
The question was flat.
"At Nathaniel's."
A pause.
"I need to see you."
Evan closed his eyes.
"Okay."
"Come home."
The word hurt more than Evan expected.
Home.
His father's house had always been home.
But lately, that word had become complicated.
"I'll come."
"I'll be waiting."
The call ended.
Evan sat still.
Nathaniel walked into the room a moment later.
"Richard?"
Evan nodded.
"He wants me to go home."
Nathaniel's expression tightened.
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No."
Nathaniel didn't argue.
"All right."
Evan stood.
"I don't know what he's going to say."
"I do."
Evan looked at him.
Nathaniel's expression was tired.
"He'll ask you to choose."
Evan's stomach tightened.
"You think so?"
"I think he's frightened."
"That's not the same thing."
"No."
Nathaniel walked toward him.
"But whatever he says, you don't have to decide anything tonight."
Evan nodded.
Nathaniel touched his shoulder.
"Come back when you're ready."
Evan looked at him.
"What if I don't?"
Nathaniel's face changed.
"You will."
The certainty in his voice nearly broke Evan.
He leaned forward and hugged him.
Nathaniel wrapped his arms around him.
"I'll come back," Evan whispered.
"I know."
Evan left.
The drive to his father's house felt longer than it should have.
Every familiar road brought back memories.
His childhood.
School.
His first job.
Family dinners.
His father's laughter.
Nathaniel had been part of those memories too.
That was what made everything so painful.
Nathaniel wasn't a stranger who had suddenly appeared.
He had been one of the most trusted people in Richard's life for decades.
And now Evan was in love with him.
When Evan arrived, the house looked exactly as it always had.
That somehow made it worse.
Richard was waiting in the study.
He didn't offer a greeting.
Evan closed the door behind him.
"Dad."
Richard looked at him.
"Sit."
Evan sat across from him.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Richard said, "End it."
Evan's chest tightened.
He had expected anger.
He had expected questions.
He hadn't expected the first words to be so direct.
"What?"
"You heard me."
Richard leaned forward.
"End your relationship with Nathaniel."
Evan stared at him.
"No."
Richard's jaw tightened.
"You haven't even let me explain."
"I don't need an explanation for that."
"You think this is a joke?"
"No."
"You think I don't understand what you're doing?"
Evan's voice remained controlled.
"I'm not doing anything to you."
Richard stood.
"You are involved with my oldest friend."
"I'm aware."
"A man eighteen years older than you."
"I'm aware."
"A man with enough money to change your entire life."
"I know."
"A man who knew you when you were growing up."
Evan flinched.
"I know."
Richard's voice became sharper.
"Then how can you possibly think this is acceptable?"
Evan stood too.
"Because I'm an adult."
Richard stared at him.
"That doesn't make every decision a good one."
"No."
"But it means they're mine to make."
Richard shook his head.
"You don't understand the situation."
"I understand it perfectly."
"No, you don't."
"I understand that you don't approve."
"Approval has nothing to do with it."
"Then what does?"
Richard's eyes were filled with frustration.
"Power."
Evan went quiet.
Richard continued.
"Nathaniel has money. Influence. Experience. Connections. You are twenty-three."
"I have my own career."
"That doesn't change the imbalance."
"I know there is an imbalance."
"Then why are you ignoring it?"
"I'm not."
Evan's voice shook slightly.
"I'm thinking about it every day."
Richard looked at him.
"I've known Nathaniel for years. I know what kind of man he is."
"So do I."
"You don't know him the way I do."
"Maybe not."
Evan took a breath.
"But I know him differently."
Richard's expression hardened.
"That's exactly what worries me."
Evan looked down.
Richard's voice softened for a moment.
"I am your father."
"I know."
"I've spent your whole life trying to protect you."
"I know."
"Then let me protect you now."
Evan's eyes burned.
"Dad, protecting me doesn't mean deciding who I can love."
Richard looked away.
"You're confused."
"I'm not."
"You've been through a pregnancy, public attention, and all of this pressure."
"And I still know who I love."
Richard shook his head.
"You think you love him."
"I do."
"He's older."
"I know."
"He's wealthy."
"I know."
"He's my friend."
"I know."
"You don't see why that makes this impossible?"
Evan swallowed.
"No."
Richard looked at him as if he had failed to understand something obvious.
"I trusted him."
Evan's heart sank.
"I know."
"I trusted him around you."
"He didn't betray that trust by forcing me into anything."
Richard's face tightened.
"You don't know that."
"I do."
"How?"
"Because I was there."
The room fell silent.
Evan stepped closer.
"He never pressured me."
Richard didn't answer.
"He never told me I owed him anything."
Still nothing.
"He tried to walk away from me."
Richard's eyes lifted.
"Why?"
"Because he thought the age difference made it wrong."
Richard looked stunned.
"He tried to end it before the pregnancy."
Evan's voice softened.
"I was the one who refused to pretend what happened between us meant nothing."
Richard sat down slowly.
For a moment, the anger in his face was replaced by something more complicated.
But it didn't last.
"That doesn't make this acceptable."
"I'm not asking you to approve."
Richard looked at him.
"What are you asking for?"
"Respect."
Richard laughed bitterly.
"Respect?"
"Yes."
"For this?"
"For me."
Evan's voice broke.
"I am still your son."
Richard's expression softened for a fraction of a second.
"Of course you are."
"Then trust that I can make decisions about my own life."
Richard looked down.
"I don't trust this decision."
"You don't have to."
Evan wiped at his eyes.
"But you have to understand that it's mine."
Richard stood again.
"No."
Evan froze.
Richard's voice was quiet now.
"I can't stand by and watch you destroy your life."
"I'm not destroying it."
"You don't know that."
"Neither do you."
Richard stared at him.
Then he said the words Evan had been afraid of since the beginning.
"If you stay with Nathaniel, you are choosing him over your family."
Evan's heart stopped.
"Dad."
"I'm serious."
"Please don't do this."
"I have spent weeks trying to understand this."
"So have I."
"And I've decided."
Evan shook his head.
"You can't make this decision for me."
"I'm not."
Richard's voice became colder.
"I'm telling you what my choice is."
Evan stared at him.
"If you continue this relationship, don't expect me to accept it."
Evan felt tears gather in his eyes.
"I never asked you to accept it."
"You asked me to respect it."
"Yes."
"I can't."
The words hurt.
More than Evan expected.
Richard continued.
"You have to choose."
Evan's breath caught.
"Choose what?"
"Your family."
Richard's eyes were wet now, but his voice remained firm.
"Or Nathaniel."
Evan stared at his father.
He suddenly felt like he was a child again.
Like one wrong answer could make everything disappear.
Except he wasn't a child.
He was twenty-three.
He was going to become a father.
He had his own career.
His own money.
His own home.
His own choices.
And he loved Nathaniel.
"I shouldn't have to choose."
Richard looked away.
"Maybe not."
"But you're making me."
"I am."
Evan's chest tightened.
"What happens if I choose him?"
Richard didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, "You know."
Evan closed his eyes.
He did.
The threat wasn't physical.
It was emotional.
The loss of family.
The loss of his father's trust.
Maybe the loss of the home he had always been able to return to.
Evan opened his eyes.
"I love you."
Richard's face crumpled slightly.
"But I love him too."
Richard turned away.
Evan waited.
He wanted his father to stop him.
To tell him he was angry but still his son.
To tell him they could work through it.
Instead, Richard remained silent.
Evan felt something inside him break.
He walked toward the door.
"Dad."
Richard didn't turn.
"I hope someday you understand that I didn't choose him because I stopped loving you."
Richard's shoulders moved slightly.
"I chose him because I love him."
There was no answer.
Evan opened the door.
He stepped into the hallway.
His vision blurred with tears.
He made it outside before he finally broke.
The evening air hit his face, but it did nothing to calm him.
He stood beside his car with one hand resting over his stomach.
The baby moved beneath his palm.
Evan closed his eyes.
He had wanted his father's understanding.
He had wanted his family and his love to exist in the same world.
Instead, he had been given a choice he never wanted.
Family or Nathaniel.
Evan wiped his face.
Then he got into the car.
For several minutes, he couldn't start the engine.
He simply sat there and cried.
He wasn't crying because he regretted choosing Nathaniel.
He wasn't crying because he doubted his love.
He was crying because sometimes choosing your own life meant hurting the people you loved most.
And tonight, there was no way to make that pain disappear.
Eventually, Evan started the car.
He drove away from the house where he had grown up.
But for the first time in his life, he didn't know if he still had a home there.
He only knew where he wanted to go.
Back to Nathaniel.
Back to the man he loved.
Even if his heart was breaking on the way there.
Evan Walks Away
Nathaniel knew something was wrong before anyone told him.
The house was too quiet.