Chapter 52
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Donovan
The best disguise in a situation like this is no disguise at all.
I’ve debated for months how I’d get by the security in the building that houses the offices of the company my brother owns, but it turns out all I had to do was smile at the security guard.
He tossed me a wave and with a stroke of his hand over his beard, he called out, “You’re looking good, Mr. Hunt. I like the no beard look.”
As do I. It’s the reason why I always shave at least once a day.
I did just that before I left New York a few hours ago. Delia was perched on the edge of my bed watching as I got ready for this daytrip.
She helped me chose the dark blue suit I’m currently wearing. She was the one who tied my silver tie to perfection and when she kissed me and told me that regardless of what happens today, she’ll love me forever, I knew I was ready.
I board the elevator alone. I’m grateful for that because as it shoots up to the twelfth floor of this building, nerves own me.
The doors slide open on the ninth floor. Two women board. One looks right at me. “Really, Victor? When we were together I asked you to shave the beard. You do it now? Months later.”
I haven’t heard my brother’s voice in years, so I have no clue if it’s similar to mine. I answer her with a shrug.
I don’t want to blow my non-cover now that I’m this close to face to face time with him.
“You’re a bastard,” she tosses that at me before she departs when the doors open on the tenth floor.
The woman who boarded with her looks at me. “I happen to like the look, sir.”
With that she steps off, too. If I knew her name I’d pass that sentiment onto my brother.
As soon as the doors are shut again I look at one of the mirrored walls. I look like me but I also look like him.
I haven’t had to deal with that directly in years. I can’t say I’ve missed it.
When the doors open on the floor that I know is home to the executive offices of Hunt & Associates, I’m greeted with stares from at least a half dozen people.
“Mr. Hunt?” A dark-haired guy around my age approaches me. “I thought you were in a meeting, sir.”
I brush past him and start walking straight toward what appears to be a massive office with glass walls.
It’s opaque so I can’t see who is behind the closed door, but I’d bet everything I own Victor is in there.
I feel him near me. Call that twin intuition or false hope, but I sense he’s close by.
“Mr. Hunt is in a meeting.” A woman’s voice trails me. “In his office.”
“Hey, Mr. Hunt.” Another woman crosses my path. “I love the new look. You look at least five years younger like that.”
It’s just another note to pass onto my twin.
I’m just a few steps away from the closed office door when it swings open.
Wearing a white button-down shirt, dark trousers, and suspenders, I see my face reflected back at me. The only difference is the beard covering his.
Victor finishes rolling one of his shirtsleeves to his elbow as he casually studies my face.
Gasps punctuate the silence behind us. It lures my brother’s gaze past me toward his dozens of employees. “Get back to work.”
The scurrying I hear behind me tells me that they’re all doing as told.
I swallow hard and finally take Delia’s advice when his gaze lands back on my face. “Hi.”
“Hi,” he says back. “Come in and take a seat.”
“Is it Mom?” Victor asks I settle into one of the three leather chairs that face a large steel desk.
I’ve followed his career closely enough to know he owns one of the largest residential real estate firms on the Eastern coast. My brother has made a success of his life. I’m proud of him. Maybe one day I can tell him that.
“Mom’s good,” I assure him. “She’s living…”
“In Montana,” he finishes my sentence the same way he used to do when we were kids.
“You’ve kept tabs on her?”
He rakes his hand through his hair the same way I often do with mine. The simple gesture catches me off guard. “I worry about her, Donovan.”
That shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. He left with our father after our mom realized he was cheating on her. Our dad crawled into bed with our mother’s best friend whenever he had the chance for years.
Our mom wanted out of the marriage, but she wouldn’t say why in front of Victor or me, even though we were old enough to understand. I didn’t learn the full truth until years later when she confessed it all. She didn’t want to tarnish my image of my dad even though he had broken her heart.
Protecting those she loves, or once loved, had proven to be her downfall.
She may have lost a disrespectful partner when she split with my dad, but she lost a son, too.
Victor left town with our father because the lies he told my brother outweighed his ability to see the situation for what it was.
He believed it was my mother who broke her vows. Victor saw her actions as the source for the decimation of our family. I tried to reason with him, but all that got me was a black eye.
“She worries about you.”
That lures his gaze back to my face. “What does that mean?”
If it were decades ago, I’d snap back that I’ve always been the smarter one, but Victor held his own. He graduated with a business degree from a college in Indiana. He started working at a real estate office then, handling rentals.
He got married, but was divorced within eighteen months. A short engagement to another woman followed that, but that didn’t lead anywhere. From what I could tell by scouring social media and every online article I could find about him, he’s devoted his time to his business since relocating to Boston and building this juggernaut of a company that is now worth more than a billion dollars.
His commitment to get to this place in his life is admirable.
“She loves you, Victor.” I scan one of the walls of his office and all of the framed awards and certificates of recognition.
“How do you know that?” His voice is firm and etched with the pain that I often hear in mine when I talk to my mom.
My gaze stalls when I spot a silver frame just to the left of his display of accomplishments. “You love her, too.”
He glances in the same direction I’m looking. “That’s Mom when she was pregnant with us. She was only a few weeks along but look at the glow on her face.”
I stand and approach the frame. I pluck it off the wall and study the image. It was taken so long ago, but the color is still vibrant. Our mom is sitting on a log on a beach somewhere. Her legs are tanned. Her hair is shorter than I ever remember it being.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was the only picture Dad had of her.” He leans back to look toward the ceiling. “Before I cut ties with him, I stole it out of an album he had.”
I want to laugh at his admission that he stole something, but I’m stuck on another part of what he said. “You cut ties with Dad?”
He pushes to stand. “Two, maybe three years ago, now. I ran into an old neighbor of ours from when we were kids. She had a lot to tell me.”
“What neighbor?”
“One of the ones he was screwing behind Mom’s back.” He winces. “From what she said, there were a few of them.”
That’s information my mother doesn’t need to know. The pain of my dad’s betrayal haunted her for years, and even though she’s moved on with Barry, I don’t want to drag up her past for fear it will impact her future.
“Where did you run into this old neighbor?” I question, though it doesn’t matter.
“The Upper East Side.” He clears his throat. “Maybe a block and half from your townhouse.”
I almost drop the frame in my hands. “What? You were there two or three years ago? You know where I live?”
“Yeah to both,” he admits. “I’ve been there a few times since.”
“You’ve been to New York a few times in the past few years?”
“More than a few times in the past few years and at least three times in the past few months,” he admits as he steps closer. “I made it as far as the door of Premier Pet Care before I turned around and walked away.”
I close the distance between us with heavy steps. The picture of our mother is still clutched in my hands. “Victor.”
“What the fuck was I going to say to you?” He shakes his head. “Or to Mom. I broke her heart, Donovan. I destroyed it.”
“She loves you,” I reiterate. “She’d give anything to see you.”
Again, his hand heads to his hair just as mine makes a path to mine. We laugh in unison.
“You need to see her,” I insist. “And you need to meet Delia.”
“Delia?” His dark brows pinch together. “Who is Delia?”
“The woman I love.” I smile. “The incredible woman I love.”
He softly punches my shoulder. “You’re in love?”
“I’m going to be a dad, too.”
“Shut the fuck up.” He launches himself at me, taking me in for a hug I’ve waited decades for. “You’re going to have a family, Donovan.”
I step back to pat his cheek the way I always did when we were kids and sharing a tender moment. “I already do. I have Mom, and now I have you, too.”