“Don’t fret too much, sweetheart,” Grandfather says to Mom. “Jayce is young and strong. Let him have his adventure. He’ll be stuck behind a desk, safe and sound, soon enough.”
That seems to mollify Mom enough that she nods and sits back in her chair.
“You might want to reconsider your choice to hand the company to Jayce,” Ryan suddenly says, giving me a superior smirk.
Hallie releases an exasperated sigh next to me. “Can’t we get through one dinner without you being a dickhead, Ryan?”
“Language, Hallie,” Mom chides.
Ryan glares at our sister before standing and tapping a fork against his glass like he’s about to give a toast. Pretentious ass. We’re already all looking at him.
“I was going to wait until at least dessert, to bring this up,” he begins. “But I suppose now’s as good a time as any.”
He bends down, and with an unnecessary flourish, pulls a folder from beneath his chair and slaps it on the table.
I frown down at the folder then back up at him. “What the hell is this, Ryan?”
Hallie rolls her eyes. “We’re not interested in your porn stash.”
“Hallie!” Mom exclaims, shocked.
“That’s enough,” Dad snaps before softening his tone for Ryan. “What is it you want to show us?”
I just keep myself from rolling my eyes. Ryan has always been Dad’s favorite.
“What could possibly be worth this interruption?” Grandfather grumbles, annoyed.
“Jayce doesn’t take the reputation of the company seriously,” he insists.
“What are you talking about?” I snap. “Of course I take it seriously.”
“Oh, really?” He reminds me of a bratty little kid as he cackles and smirks at me. “You sure about that? Or are you so caught up in your perverted little pastime that you lose all sense of reason?”
Mom gasps and Dad groans, dropping his face into his hand. Grandfather narrows his eyes at Ryan, clearly pissed. Ryan just keeps gazing at me, triumph in his eyes.
What the actual fuck?
“I’d tread very carefully right now, Ryan,” I growl. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He scoffs before opening the folder and spreading out what appear to be large photographs. My heart starts hammering hard in my chest, but I fight to keep an outwardly cool expression.
Ryan continues, “Just look at what he’s doing in his free time!”
I pick up one of the pictures and feel a surge of rage that I have to keep in check so I don’t lash out at him and show him how affected I am by what I’m looking at. It’s an image of me going into my favorite private sex club, Club Élysée. All the pictures are of me either going into the club or coming out of it.
My brother is a little fucking bastard.
“You’re having me followed?” I narrow my eyes at Ryan, my voice a low snarl.
He looks momentarily fearful but shakes himself out of it. “I hired a P.I., yes, but I wanted to make sure you weren’t doing anything to tarnish the family and company’s reputation. And look what we uncovered! If your own brother can catch you so easily, it’s only a matter of time before a reporter does the same thing. It doesn’t matter if you’re not actually getting the company until you’re thirty-five. You’re already putting it at risk with your… proclivities.”
Motherfucker. He wants to embarrass me, but he’s dragging our whole family into the middle of this as well. Laying out my kinks and sexual preferences, which isn’t exactly something I ever wanted our parents, or our grandfather, to know about. When did he turn into such a complete prick? What kind of asshole drops this at a family dinner? I wonder what sleazy P.I. Ryan hired for this. Maybe I should contact Grandfather’s old private investigator, Harvey, and have him do a real investigation on my brother, and see how he likes it —thatP.I. is a family friend now, after all, and he’s helped me out before.
“You’re a fucking prick, Ryan,” I snap. “This is a new low.”
I look around the table, hoping for anyone in my family to come to my defense, but Mom looks horrified, Hallie is blushing and staring at her half-eaten plate of food, and Grandfather is pinching the bridge of his nose, as if he’s getting a headache.
“Your brother is simply looking out for us,” my dad hisses. “If you’re not going to take this seriously, someone has to.”
