‘Well, he’d never have been in that position in the first place if it hadn’t been for you, would he!’ Callum yelled. A jolt of guilt went through Ewan, almost splitting him in two with its force, as if his father had physically struck him.
‘Callum! Stop it.’ Vera’s voice sounded like the crack from a stock whip, powerful, with a lethal sting.
‘As always, swooping in to protect your baby boy,’ Callum said bitterly.
‘There’s no need to bring up the past now. Haven’t you done enough damage for one day?’ Vera snapped.
‘Me?’ he exclaimed, giving a bitter laugh. ‘I just saved you from years of heartache when you would have eventually found out that woman was lying to all of us.’
‘There was no need for you to do it the way you did.’
‘You two are as bad as each other, both completely blinded by a pretty face and a baby. Jesus. After everything we’ve worked for all these years, you were ready to just carve it up and hand it all over to anyone who says they have a claim to it.’
‘No one was claiming anything.’
‘Yet. She would have, don’t you worry about that,’ he said confidently. ‘Him,’ Callum said, tossing his head in the general direction of where Ewan stood, ‘I’d believe. He’s never cared about this place or his family. But you? I thought you had more sense.’
‘I love this place,’ Ewan snarled, ‘and my family.’
‘You’ve got a funny way of showing it. You just walked away and gave up.’
‘You pushed me away. You never wanted me here. All you wanted was a worker, not a son.’
‘You didn’t want to work your way up the ranks like your brother did. You expected everything to just be handed to you.’ ‘That’s not true. I did work my way up from the bottom, only you’d never let me get any higher. You deliberately kept me from ever being more than an employee, then wondered why I was struggling after Arran died and you threw me in at the deep end.’
Memories of that time seeped through, despite him trying desperately to hold them at bay. He had made mistakes, buthe’d also been a quick learner and he’d thrown himself into learning how to do all the things Arran had always taken care of.
The paperwork side of things had never been something he’d enjoyed, but he had figured it out, teaching himself how to do a lot of it, but there’d been nothing but criticism from his father at every turn. It was bad enough when his father would tear shreds off him in private, but it was the constant public dressing-downs in front of the other employees that had gnawed away at his confidence and patience until he couldn’t handle it anymore.
‘I stuck it out as long as I could, until I realised you were never going to change—or stop blaming me for what happened.’ ‘If you were feeling that, then it was your own guilt,’ his father returned.
‘Of course I was feeling it. You don’t think I carry around a heap of guilt about what happened? Every single fucking day I live with the fact that I caused my brother’s death, okay? Are you happy now that I’ve said it out loud?’
‘Stop it! Both of you.’
‘It’s true, Mum. I caused the accident that cost Arran his fucking spleen and his immune system. That was on me. It made him susceptible to everything. It made him sick, I get that. And I tried to get him to go home and get help once I saw how bad he was out there, but he wouldn’t listen.’
‘Because he was the guy in charge and you were the clown just out there to have a good time with the boys,’ his father snapped. ‘He was probably doing his job as well as yours.’
That fucking stung, so much so that he instinctively lashed out. ‘You want to know the real reason he wouldn’t admit he was sick? Because ofyou,’ Ewan said, leaning across the desk. ‘Youwere the reason he wouldn’t go home. He was scared of looking weak in your eyes. He was worried you’d think he couldn’t do the job you gave him to do. He would rather riskdyingthan disappointyou.’ Shock crossed his father’s face briefly. ‘You want someone to blame for him being out there that day? Look in the mirror,’ Ewan snarled.
‘Typical. Trying to shift the blame,’ Callum said, but his voice had lost its earlier swagger.
‘That’s enough, both of you!’ Vera said, cutting through their stand-off. ‘There’s been enough heartache and pain without this.’ ‘I’m sorry, Mum. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you.’ ‘Then you shouldn’t have brought that woman here before you knew exactly whose kid it was. Unless you saw it as a way to get back into the good books? Provide an heir and think maybe all was forgiven?’
‘God, you’re so full of yourself,’ Ewan said, shaking his head. ‘You honestly believe all the hype you’ve been fed out here, that you’re some kind of god just because you’ve built up your little empire. Why the hell would I feel a need to provide you with an heir? Who do you think you are, the king of bloody England?’
‘It’s the only wayyou’llget back into this place,’ he said dismissively.
Ewan stared at him and felt nothing but pity. It wasn’t the first time his old man had threatened that he’d bedisinherited—he’d screamed it at him the day he drove away from here years ago—but it still hurt to realise he’d been cut off in such a brutal way. He’d thought that maybe, by coming home, they’d have moved on from the pain of so long ago. Clearly, that wasn’t the case.
‘So, if that DNA test had come back as positive, everything would have been forgiven?’ Ewan asked sarcastically.
‘I was confident that wouldn’t be the case.’
He was confident, all right—overly confident. ‘Well, just to be on the safe side, I think we should do another one,’ Ewan said, remembering how his father had managed to shut his idea down earlier.
‘I can’t see why anyone would object to that.’ Vera nodded. ‘Dad? Can you?’ Ewan asked innocently. ‘You want to waste your time and money, go right ahead.’ ‘I’ll get it sorted as soon as I get home. I’ll be leaving tomorrow. I’ll see if I can convince Kenzie to let me drive her back.’
