“Rhys,” Sebastian repeated. “Is…is that true?”
“What part?”
“All of it.”
He scrubbed a hand down his face, not willing to let his father out of his sight.
“Yes,” he answered, not sure of how much Sebastian had heard, but nothing he’d said to his father on the sidewalk had been a lie.
“This whole time…I thought…we thought…”
“It doesn’t matter, Sebastian.” And there might have been a time when it did matter, or when it had mattered, but the time wasn’t now. Rhys had made the decisions he made and taken the actions he had for the reasons he had. Whether they were good or not would be up to God or some other higher power to decide. But Rhys knew what was in his heart every time he’d had to make a choice. All he’d ever tried to do was keep their father away from Sebastian, and keep the businesses together until his father died so Rhys could liquidate everything.
“It does,” Sebastian protested.
“It doesnot,” he snapped, turning to look at his brother. “It doesn’t. Not right now.”
“This is cute, but…” their father interrupted. “It’s time to go. Rhys, get in the car.”
He turned back to his father, suddenly tired and weary down to his bones. “Did you not hear a single thing I just said?”
“Lovely story.” Marcus St. George offered him a slow and condescending golf clap. “But the same thing I told you when we discussed your affair with Callahan stands now. You’ll lose it all if you don’t fall into line.”
“Are you serious?” Sebastian balked, stepping forward and standing shoulder to shoulder with Rhys.
“Quite,” his father hissed.
“Rhys’s home is here now,” Sebastian said, chin dipped toward his chest. “With me. With Beckett. With our friends.”
Rhys wanted to correct his brother, that he didn’t have any friends, but he bit back the comment. He could save that for another time. His father didn’t need to know how hated he truly was.
“Are you going to support him?” their father taunted. “I can cut both of you off with a single phone call, and don’t think I won’t.”
“I know you can.” Rhys hoped and prayed that Brent would be able to pull off a miracle with the hidden account because, if not, he and Sebastian were about to be multiple millions of dollars poorer.
“And Beckett,” their father said his name like the syllables strung together in that one specific order were the lowest scum he’d ever seen in his life. “Don’t think I can’t remove him from this equation as well.”
“Are you kidding me?” Sebastian balked, and Rhys didn’t know how to tell them just how very serious their father was. This conversation may be new to him, but it was not to Rhys.
“Sebastian,” he said softly, hoping to ease his brother back off the ledge. There was still time to save face so Sebastian didn’t lose it all when Rhys went down. “You don’t have to do this. Risk this. I…let me fix it, okay?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Sebastian.”
Rhys’s mind raced through the options. He’d lost his two-step advantage and he felt like he was half a step behind, but he didn’t know what else to do. He refused to let Sebastian throw away everything he’d worked for and earned because of their father’s insistence that Rhys return home. There had to be a way to expedite his plans. There had to be another out, another option. He absolutely refused to believe that this argument, with his brother beside him for the first time in his life, was the end of the line.
“That’s what I thought,” their father said, brushing past them toward the waiting car. Rhys realized he hadn’t even acknowledged Sebastian’s presence and how he longed for that anonymity from the watchful gaze of Marcus St. George.
“Rhys,” Sebastian protested. “Don’t you dare.”
“It’s fine.” He smoothed a hand down the front of his shirt, wishing he had on a tie. He looked so unkempt without one. But Beckett loved him casual. Beckett loved him always. And he loved Beckett. He loved him so much. And he refused to give up on that. At least, not forever. He’d just gotten a taste of what it could be like, a life with the support of a partner, completely separate of the familial ties that had held him in bondage his whole life.
And that was the real difference between Beckett and Callahan. Callahan had loved him because he was Sebastian’s older brother. There was a thread that ran between their families and if one of them had been born a woman, neither family would have balked at the pairing. But the only thing older than their money was their views, and so even if Callahan hadn’t known it, Rhys had always known a future with another man was off the table.
Look what he’d gone and done for himself. He’d survived Rhys and met another man and fallen in love. Sebastian had done the same, and even if he was a little late on the uptake, now Rhys had…but unlike the other two, Rhys still had so much to lose.
“Please,” Sebastian pleaded. “Please don’t go. Rhys, I’m sorry for before. I’m sorry for everything. I didn’t know…”
