Page 17 of In the Heir (Westerly Billionaire 1)
Dereck looked sadly from his mother to Brett. “I hoped she didn’t know. I thought only your mother and I did.”
“You were wrong, and Spencer paid the price for that cowardice.”
Brett’s voice brought his father’s eyes to his with anger. “You think I said nothing because I was afraid? I didn’t care that Spencer came from an affair your mother had. He is my son.”
“How many times have you seen him in the past ten years? A handful, I’d guess. Don’t try to sell a version of this where you are the victim. He deserved to know that he was living with his real father.”
His father’s shoulders slumped. “When he left with your mother and she married Mark, I did close a door on him. It was too much. That doesn’t mean I don’t consider him my son or that I would have had him find out this way.” He rubbed a hand over his chin as his eyes blurred with emotion. “I have never denied him a single thing. He has always been in my will as well as your grandmother’s. We’ll fix this. You and I have always been good with damage control.”
Brett shook his head as the full extent of how little his father understood became clear to him. “Dad, the last thing Spencer is thinking about right now is your fucking will. There is no damage control plan for this. He just found out his life has been a lie.”
“I never lied to him.”
“You never told him the truth. That’s the same thing.”
“Your mother made that choice, and I honored it.”
“What about Nicolette?”
“Mine,” his father said in a low tone. “At least I believe so.”
Brett was temporarily finished with lies that seemed to have no end or justification. “Stay with Grandmother. She needs you.”
“I realize that.”
Do you? Brett wasn’t so sure. “For as long as I can remember, you’ve been telling me that family is all that matters. What we want comes second. You also said you learn a lot about a man when you step into his shoes. I can’t imagine what you went through when your father died and you learned the truth about him. I know it forced you to do things you wouldn’t have. Maybe you had to close off a piece of yourself to do it. I don’t know. But I’m standing in your shoes now, and your legacy is also a tragedy. You need to make sure your mother understands that this was not her fault. You left her in the dark, and her assumptions were valid. We do many things well, you and I, but this is where we fail. You taught me to never give up. Fight for what I want. Fight for the family. Where’s your fight now? Because I don’t see it.”
“Your mother . . .”
“Needed you. Just like Grandmother needs you now. Just like Spencer needed you. You raised me to not accept excuses. I don’t accept yours. We can’t fix this, Dad, but we can sure as hell be honest with each other from this point on. You and Mom made choices that you’ll soon have to defend, but not to me.” He turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” his father asked.
“To find my brother.”
Chapter Nine
After leaving Delinda’s house, Alisha drove to her lake cabin. She needed the peace of that place to sort through the storm of emotions swirling within her. Her heart was breaking for Spencer. Mark couldn’t have known. He wouldn’t have been able to keep something like that a secret from his own son.
Could he?
Why wouldn’t Stephanie want Spencer to know Mark was his biological father? It wasn’t about money. She’d turned her back on that.
Alisha couldn’t imagine how confused Spencer must be.
And it’s my fault. I never should have gone there.
On the drive over she rehashed the conversation she’d had with Rachelle. She’d told her what had happened in a rush, afraid if she didn’t say it all, she’d find a reason to say nothing. They didn’t keep secrets, and Rachelle deserved to know what she’d done, especially if it helped her prepare herself, Nicolette, and Stephanie for what was surely coming.
She hadn’t told Rachelle about Brett because she didn’t know what to say when it came to him. Technically, nothing had happened between them. She didn’t need Rachelle to forgive her, but her friend had to know what happened and deserved to hear it from her.
When Alisha had finished talking, Rachelle was quiet for several long minutes. “You must have misunderstood what was said.”
“I didn’t. Your grandmother kept saying that she thought Spencer knew. That your mother had married Mark.”
“You’re wrong. Did you actually hear her say Mark was his father?”
“No, but—”
“Then there’s a chance that this is one big misunderstanding. We all loved Mark. If it were true, why wouldn’t my mother tell us?”
“I don’t know, but Spencer took it hard.”
“Where is he now?”
“He’s not answering his phone.” After another long pause, Alisha said, “I shouldn’t have gone to your grandmother’s.”
“Now, that I agree with.”
“I’m so sorry, Rachelle. Do you want me to help you look for him?”
“No, I’ll find him.”
“Should I say something to Stephanie?”
“We don’t even know if what you heard was true. The best thing you can do right now is nothing. We need to figure this out.”
In other words, without me.
And just like that, a frightening truth hit Alisha. I’m alone.
> I should have said no when Rachelle joked that I should marry Spencer.
Once I said yes, I should have stayed away from Brett because how he makes me feel clearly confuses me.
Only I know the truth: I didn’t want to marry Spencer because I didn’t want to lose the chance that I could be with Brett.
There, I said it.
I’m a selfish, awful person who probably deserves to lose all of them.
And I just may have.
Alisha sat on the grass near the water and waited for peace to come, but it didn’t. Instead, she flashed back to her childhood.
“Don’t tell your teachers, Al.”
“But Mommy, Daddy h-hurt you again.”
“Don’t get involved; it’ll only make things worse. Baby, this needs to be our secret. Can you do that for Mommy? Be brave for me.”
I stayed quiet, Mom. For you. It didn’t make anything better.
I thought keeping my silence was wrong. I vowed to never quietly stand by again.
How can that be equally wrong?
No answer came, but Alisha hadn’t expected one. She knew that, whether it was deserved or not, she was alone.
Brett went to Spencer’s office. His secretary said he wasn’t in, but Brett knew he was. Work was where Brett would have gone if he’d been handed something as big as Spencer had. When you need to find your footing, you go to stable ground.
“Tell him I’m not leaving until he sees me.”
“I would if he were here,” his secretary, or engineer—really it didn’t matter—said firmly.
When Brett walked past her desk, she rushed to stand in his way. “He told me that he was not to be disturbed for any reason.”
Brett looked her straight in the eye and said, “I’m his brother. I’m going in.”
She looked uncertain, then stepped aside. “I should at least tell him—”
“No need. I’ll do it myself,” Brett said as he opened the door.
“I told you—” Spencer looked up from his computer with irritation. He stopped as he saw Brett. “Whatever you have to say, save it. I’m not in the mood to hear it.”
“Then we don’t have to talk.”
Spencer told his secretary to close the door, and she left. “Grandmother must have told you. Oh, wait. I can’t call her that anymore. Delinda.”
