Chapter One
Chase
"We have a problem."
We have a problem. Those were the last words I wanted to hear from Charlie Winters.
I didn’t need a problem. I already had enough of those as it was.
I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. "What kind of problem?"
I didn’t have to ask. There were only a few possibilities.
It could be about the family. This was the least likely. Charlie is my half-siblings’ cousin, and while that made us sort-of related, Charlie was never the chosen emissary of family news. She left that to her older brother Aiden.
It could have to do with my sister, Violet, who was dating Aiden and, if my guess was right, would be his fiancée any day now.
I know what you’re thinking, but my sister dating my half-siblings’ cousin isn’t as weird as it sounds.
Okay, it is as weird as it sounds.
Maybe I should explain.
Here’s the short version: Violet and I grew up not knowing we’d been adopted. The Winters grew up not knowing one of their own had been given up for adoption as an infant.
I’d discovered the truth at eighteen, but I told no one, not even Violet.
You’re probably thinking that’s weird, too. Why didn’t I go straight to the Winters and claim my birthright? They’re disgustingly rich, obscenely powerful, and a piece of that should have been mine.
I didn’t want it.
I have my reasons. And I’ve made my way pretty damn well without their influence.
But now, because I’d been careless, the Winters had discovered me and Violet had fallen in love with the head of the entire clan, Aiden Winters.
So here I was, smack in the middle of the family I’d been avoiding since I’d discovered they existed. And now Charlie Winters had a problem.
I fought the urge to sigh.
Charlie is a spitfire. Younger than me, she’s the princess of the Winters clan, a workaholic vice president at Winters, Inc. until Aiden fired her.
Once she’d gotten past her anger, she’d realized she hated working for the company and had gone into business renovating houses with her husband Lucas.
Which brought us to option number three. The problem was my house. I did not want the problem to be my house.
I hadn’t meant to buy a house.
I definitely hadn’t meant to buy a ramshackle pseudo-Victorian cottage in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta. I had a perfectly nice condo in Midtown, thank you very much.
But I liked to hang out with Charlie’s husband Lucas, who worked with her on their renovations when he wasn’t running his division of scary hackers at Sinclair Security.
I’d taken to stopping by their latest project and chipping in when I was tired of staring at a computer screen. I’m a coder and a serial start-up addict. I can fall into my laptop for hours on end, but when I surface, I like to get my hands dirty.
Lucas and Charlie were always glad for the help. One afternoon in early July I’d gone along with Lucas to see a foreclosure.
Mistake.
I never thought the first time I fell in love it would be with a house. I’d wanted it. I’d needed it. It was made for me. Well, except for the part where it was falling down around our ears.
But I’d loved the tiny lot, walking distance to Highland Avenue and shaded with old growth trees. I’d loved the peaked gables of the roof and the detached garage with a studio above that would make the perfect home office.
I’d been instantly at home in the wide-open kitchen, bathed from the light streaming in through the tall windows.
The idea of owning it had gone straight to my head. Before I knew it, I was buying the place, hiring Charlie and Lucas to fix it up, and putting my condo on the market.
I did not have time for a problem. The condo was in a hot location and I’d sold it for above my asking price after an insane bidding war. We closed in two weeks.
The plumbing fixtures were supposed to be installed in the studio today, and Violet and I planned to camp out there until the woodwork and other finish carpentry was done in the main house.
Our bags were packed, stacks of boxes waiting for the moving van. A problem was not on the schedule.
Charlie tucked one of her auburn curls behind her ear and gave me the same grin she used on Aiden when she wanted to get out of trouble. I didn’t envy him raising this one.
I liked Charlie. She was fun, a smart-ass, and one of my favorite Winters. According to her brothers, she’d also been a handful as a teenager.
At least my Vivi had been a sweetheart. She didn’t start giving me older brother heart attacks until…well, right about the time she met Aiden Winters.
"Don’t try the cute grin on me, Charlie. Just don’t tell me it’s the house."
Charlie’s grin dissolved, and she adjusted the papers on her clipboard, rearranging them and tapping them neatly on the edge before re-fastening them in place, avoiding my eyes.
"Well, see, the thing is… Remember that quarter-sawn oak that we special ordered for the living room and the entry?"
I nodded. When she'd shown me the difference in the grains between regular and quarter-sawn oak I'd had to have the quarter-sawn, though I'd balked a little at the difference in cost. I could guess what Charlie was getting at.
"There's a delay.”
"There was a mix-up with the shipments and the one that was supposed to go to us ended up going to another project. It's going to be at least three to four weeks."
Before I could say anything, Charlie held up a finger.
"Unfortunately, that's not the only problem.
We had a delay on the appliances for your kitchen, and the fixtures for the bathroom in the studio.
I know you and Violet were planning on staying there while the woodwork was finished, but we're not going to be able to get a C.O. by the time you close on the condo."
"And we can’t live there without the Certificate of Occupancy? Even if we don’t tell anyone?"
"Chase, you won’t want to. There’s no bathroom. Maybe you’re okay peeing in the yard, but do you think Vivi’s going to like that?"
She wasn’t wrong. My sister was tough, but she liked her creature comforts. She would not be happy with a sleeping bag on an unfinished floor and no bathroom.
"Charlie, you're killing me here. Violet and I are all packed up. We've got to be out of the condo by the beginning of next week," I said, trying to work out the logistics in my head while I glared at Charlie, who managed to look sheepish.
"I can't believe the first time a job really goes sideways and it's yours," Charlie said, shaking her head.
A suspicion tugged at me, and I couldn't stop myself from asking, "Does Aiden have anything to do with this?"
Charlie burst out laughing, the sound light and irreverent.
"I wouldn't put it past him. You know how he’s been scheming to get Violet to move in with him, but I swear this is ordinary bad luck.
I'm really sorry. At least you have a place to go.
There's plenty of room at Winters House for both of you.
You can stay there until your place is ready. I promise it won't be that long."
I wasn’t sure I believed her about Aiden. I’d learned he was honest to a fault, but he was also determined to talk Vivi into living with him. She was equally determined to take things slow.
Heads of state folded in the face of Aiden Winters’ hard glare, but my Vivi put her hands on her hips and glared right back.
Usually, I’d be on her side. I was, mostly. But I also knew she loved Aiden to the depths of her heart. She belonged with him. She was just scared.
All she needed was a nudge. Maybe this was it.
Still, I hated the idea of moving into Winters House. My relationship with the Winters family was a hell of a lot more complicated than my sister’s, and the idea of packing up my suitcases and installing myself in one of their lavish guest suites didn’t sit right.
Ever since they’d discovered Anna Winters had given up her child at birth, they’d been looking for me. The Winters children had lost too much family in their short lives.
First Anna and James Winters in what the police had called a murder/suicide. Then Hugh and Olivia Winters had died in a nearly identical crime years later.
So much loss. So much death.
The remaining Winters were eager to hold on to any scrap of family they could find. Even the bastard son who’d been tossed aside the moment he’d been born.
They’d been looking for me, but I hadn’t wanted anything to do with them.
I’ll admit, I might have been wrong about that.
I’d imagined Anna as a desperate social climber who’d gotten rid of me so I wouldn’t interfere with her pursuit of James Winters and the wealth he could give her.
In my mind, my half-siblings and their cousins had been spoiled, entitled brats who would sneer at the idea I had any claim on such a lofty family.
Instead, they weren’t that different than anyone else. Private jet and mansion aside, they were honest, loyal, and not the least bit superficial.
They’d suffered the worst losses imaginable at a young age, and every one of them knew what was important in life.
Love and family.
Not money.
Not power.
Love. Family.
They were good people. I was glad as hell my sister had found a man like Aiden to watch out for her, glad she’d been welcomed into the family with open arms.
I just wasn’t sure I wanted to be welcomed along with her.
They all wanted to pretend the past was as simple as Anna giving me up and them finding me years later. Everyone wanted to talk about my mother. About Anna.
No one wanted to talk about my father. Anna might have been beloved, but the man whose seed created me had destroyed all of their lives.
Evil.
There was no other word for William Davis. He’d been responsible for Anna and James’ deaths. He’d killed Hugh and Olivia himself. And he’d come so close to killing my half-sister, Annalise, it was a miracle she’d survived.
That man, that monster, was my biological father.
The Winters family thought we could brush that aside.
I knew they were wrong.
Now I’d have to move in with them, to pretend we were the fucking Brady Bunch when we all knew my father was a lot less Mike Brady and a lot more Hannibal Lecter.
It wasn’t my worst nightmare, but it was close.
If I didn't think it would hurt my sister’s feelings, I’d get a hotel. Charlie must have seen what I was thinking because she said quietly, "Chase, it'll be okay. I know it's weird, but it's only for a few weeks. I swear. And if you hate it, you can come crash at our place."
She and Lucas lived in an arts and crafts house Charlie had restored. It was only a few blocks from my new place and I’d hung out there more than a few times.
I didn't answer, just shook my head. Still, in that quiet, soothing tone, Charlie ventured, "Maybe this is a good thing. I know you see Gage at the office, but that's work. We've all noticed you dodging the family. And I get it. I do. But there's no harm in getting to know us better, is there?"
Talk about loaded questions. Whether I liked it or not, Charlie's aunt was my mother. Her cousins were my half-siblings. There was nothing I could do to change that, so I might as well embrace it and take advantage of the opportunity to hang out with my family.
The logical side of my mind laid all that out while the rest of me wanted to take off running and never look back. Our history was complicated and dark and ugly.
Maybe they wanted to forget the past, but I didn't see how we could.