Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
brOGAN
After tidying up the beach house, I head back to the family house, the sound of laughter from the living room greeting me the moment I step through the door. Great. Company’s the last thing I need right now.
As I enter, I see Mother holding court as Calvin and his daughter Beatrice hang on her every word. Mother’s eyes light up when she sees me.
“Brogan, darling! There you are. You arrived just in time.”
I force a smile. “Mr. Beaumont, Beatrice. Nice to see you.”
Mother stands, clasping her hands together. “Beatrice was just saying how much she’d love to see the gardens. Why don’t you show her around, Brogan?”
I can see right through her ploy. “Can I speak with you for a moment? In private?”
In the hallway, Mother beams at me. “Isn’t Beatrice lovely? And from such a good family. You two would make a wonderful match.”
“Stop,” I say, my voice low but firm. “Just stop, Mother.”
Her smile falters. “I don’t understand–”
“No, you don’t,” I interrupt. “You don’t understand that you can’t manipulate our lives like this. Preston’s and mine. We’re not puppets you can match up with whomever you deem suitable.”
“But darling, I’m only thinking of your future. Of the family’s future.”
I shake my head. “No, you’re thinking about what you want. Grandchildren, continuing the Hollister legacy. But have you ever stopped to consider what we want?”
“Of course I have. I didn’t stop you from enlisting in the Navy, did I? Even if it meant I was on pins and needles every time I heard about some incident overseas.” She takes a deep breath. “I only want what’s best for you.”
“What’s best for me is making my own choices. Living my own life.” I take a deep breath. “And right now, the woman I want to be with just left for New York.”
Understanding dawns in her eyes. “Willy? But I thought... I mean, she’s gone now, surely–”
“Surely what, Mother? Surely I’d just move on to the next suitable candidate?” The bitterness in my voice surprises even me. “That’s not how love works.”
Mother’s silent for a long moment. When she speaks, her voice is sharp. “Love? Brogan, be realistic. Willy’s gone. She chose her career over you. Doesn’t that tell you how little you mean to her? ”
I freeze, my mind racing. “Wait. How do you know Willy’s gone? She just left an hour ago.”
Mother’s eyes widen as if realizing her mistake before composing herself. “Well, I... I assumed. Given her ambition, I figured she’d jump at any opportunity to advance her career.”
But the pieces are already falling into place in my mind. “Her promotion... the sudden job offer... that was you, wasn’t it? You orchestrated all of it.”
Mother’s eyes flash with a mix of defiance and guilt. She lifts her chin, her posture rigid. “What if I did? I was merely providing an opportunity, one that Miss Genaro was clearly eager to accept. From the looks of it, without any regard to your… relationship.”
I feel my anger rising. “You had no right to interfere in her life, in her career.”
“I had every right,” she snaps back. “I’m protecting this family, Brogan. Our name, our legacy. Do you have any idea what people are saying after you took her to the yacht party? She’s the gardener’s daughter, for crying out loud!”
“Garderner’s daughter or not, she has integrity and grit, and I care about her,” I snap. “She’s smart, talented, and hardworking. She challenges me to be better. She sees me for who I am, not for my last name or my bank account. That’s worth more than any society connection.”
Mother looks at me, her expression a mix of frustration and something else... maybe regret? “And what happens when the novelty wears off? When you realize how different your worlds are?”
“Then Willy and I will figure it out. Together. Because that’s what people do when they care about each other.”
Mother’s expression softens but her voice remains firm. “Darling, I know you think you have feelings for her. But you come from different worlds.”
“So did you and Father.”
Her expression hardens. “That was different.”
“How different?” When she doesn’t answer, I shake my head, disgust rising in my throat. “You don’t get to decide what’s inevitable in my life. Or in Willy’s. What you did is manipulative and cruel.”
“I did what any mother would do,” she insists. “I protected my son from making a terrible mistake.”
“No,” I say, my voice low and controlled. “You made the mistake, Mother. And now, I’m going to fix it.”
As I head toward the wing of the house where Preston and my bedrooms are, Mother calls out her, voice tinged with desperation, “Brogan, please. Think about what you’re doing. Think about the future!”
I pause at the foot of the stairs and look back at her. “I am thinking about the future, Mother. My future.”
Inside my room, I’m pacing, trying to figure out my next move when there’s a knock at the door and Preston steps in, closing the door behind him.
“Heard you had quite the chat with Mother,” he says, his tone casual but his eyes sharp .
I run a hand through my hair, frustrated. “You could say that. Did you know about her meddling? With Willy’s job?”
Preston shakes his head. “Not until I overheard her on the phone earlier. She moves fast when she wants something.”
I scoff. “Yeah, like controlling our lives.”
Preston is quiet for a moment, then says, “You really care about her, don’t you? Willy, I mean.”
I nod, sinking onto the edge of my bed. “I do. And now she’s gone, thinking this amazing opportunity just fell into her lap.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Preston asks, leaning against the wall.
I look up at him, conflicted. “I don’t know. She’s got this new job, this chance to prove herself. I can’t get in the way of that.”
“And you won’t.” Preston shoves his hands in his pockets as he stands in front of my bed. “But it also doesn’t mean you’re giving up on what you want. It just means you have to find a way to make it work, together.”
“How? I’ve got my own job in Virginia Beach to go back to.”
He shrugs. “You’ll both figure something out.”
I exhale. “How can I even tell her that the opportunity she thought she earned was just one of Mother’s manipulations?”
“Doesn’t mean Willy didn’t earn the position, to begin with. I doubt Bryce would have agreed to something without verifying she at least earned it,” Preston says. “Maybe Mother just sped the promotion up a little bit.”
There’s a moment of silence before Preston speaks again. “Look, Brogan, I owe you an apology. About Willy, about how we treated her when we were kids.”
I raise an eyebrow, surprised. “Where’s this coming from?”
Preston looks away, his jaw clenched. “I was jealous of her. She seemed so... free. No expectations, no pressure. Not like us.”
The admission hangs in the air between us. I think back to our childhood, the constant pressure to be perfect, to live up to the Hollister name.
“But that doesn’t make it right.”
“I know,” Preston nods. “It was more than that, though. Willy... she was loved for who she was. No prep schools, no expectations of greatness. Just unconditional love from her parents. I resented that.”
I stay silent, letting him continue.
“And after that first time we bullied her, she fought back. She never backed down, never let us see her cry. It… it became a challenge. To break her spirit, I guess.” He pauses, then exhales. “God, we were such jerks.”
“Yeah, we were.”
Preston pauses, a thoughtful look crossing his face. “You know, I’ve been impressed with Willy since she came back to Love Beach. The way she handled the beach house renovation... that took guts.”
I look at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
He chuckles. “Come on, you know how Mother is. She was pushing for a complete modern overhaul, wanted to erase every trace of Granddad’s vision. But Willy... she stood her ground.”
“She did?” I ask, surprised. As an interior decorator, she’d be following the client’s vision and that had been my fear when I walked into the beach house and realized what was happening. I couldn’t even switch on the lights that first night, choosing instead to head straight to the bedroom and deal with it in the morning.
Preston nods. “She came up with this brilliant compromise. Modernized the place but kept the spirit of what Granddad loved about it. You should have seen her, Brogan. She went toe-to-toe with Mother in design meetings, presenting her ideas with this quiet confidence. Never backed down, not once. And when she did appear to back down, it was Mother who’d end up changing her mind after she’d see the final result and then go with what Willy had suggested in the first place.”
“Like the kitchen cabinets,” I murmur to myself. Now it makes sense why the workers ended up moving on to their next job whether or not the renovation was completed.
“If there’s any woman who deserves to stand beside a Hollister, it’s Willy. She’s got the strength to handle this family, the talent to make her own mark, and the integrity to stay true to herself while doing it.”
“Such big compliments coming from you, big brother,” I say wryly. “You led the charge in making fun of her.”
Preston shrugs. “People change. Not all of us can be assholes forever.” He pauses. “Well, maybe sometimes in business you have to be.”
Preston was still finishing graduate school when Dad died, prompting him to take over the business before he considered himself ready. That had been Dad’s plan, to train his sons to follow after him, but he waited too long. He’d barely mentored Preston before he died. It left the company in shambles at first. I was too busy deploying on missions while Preston was too proud to admit he needed any help.
“You’ve done an amazing job with the business,” I say. “The company’s thriving.”
He laughs but there’s no humor in it. “Sure, on the surface.” He pauses as if debating whether to continue. “But inside, I’m drowning, man.”
I frown. “What do you mean? Is the company in trouble?”
“Not the company. Me,” Preston replies. “I’ve been too proud to admit it, but I need help. Your help. I need you. Brogan. Family. Why do you think I wanted you to listen in on Beaumont’s offer last night?”
The admission hangs in the air between us. I’m stunned by his vulnerability, by the raw honesty in his voice.
“Preston, I... I don’t know what to say. I may have left the SEALs but I’m working with a private firm now.”
He holds up a hand. “I’m not asking you to give that up. But maybe… maybe we could find a way to work together. Even if it’s just part-time, or yo u could look into consulting. I need someone I can trust, someone who’ll tell me the truth.”
I’m quiet for a moment, considering his words. “And Willy? Where does she fit into all this?”
Preston smiles, a genuine one that reaches his eyes. “She fits wherever you want her to, little brother… if you’re smart enough to hold onto her.”