“I didn’t tell you at the time,” Alexandria said quickly. “I thought it might just be too upsetting. But I knew one of the girls who was working the party, and well, we both know your father’s reputation…”
Seb turned to Declan. It was silly to feel shocked, considering the man his father had always been. Still, though, discretion had always been so important to him, Seb had never actually seen evidence of his indiscretions.
“People really do get sloppy around the holidays,” Declan muttered.
Alexandria giggled. “You have no idea. I can delete them, of course, if you really think—”
“Hell no!” Declan barked. “I mean, it’s your call, Seb, but even if you think the fight is over, you don’t go and throw away your ammunition.”
Seb shook his head, still taking in the surprise. “Would there be any way to trace it back to me? I hate the idea of him getting away with it all, but I just want a clean break.”
Alexandria took her phone back with a smile. “Between the two of us, I imagine we can make it pretty anonymous.”
Declan rubbed the back of Seb’s head, comforting him. “If you want to damage a powerful man like your father, you don’t just hit him. You hit him smart, and you hit him at the right time. You can sit on this, Seb. And when the opportunity presents itself, the three of us together can figure out how to make it really count.”
Seb smiled. He was surprised how satisfying the idea was, but after years of hiding his true desires, Declan had helped him realize it was okay to want something more than just better technologies and clean energy. These other desires felt strange and primal, but with the help of the people he loved, he knew he was smart enough to shape them, the same as he had shaped his intellect over the years.
And seeing his father get a little of what he deserved? That didn’t sound bad at all.
“When the time’s right,” he agreed. “Thanks, Alexandria.”
“Sounds like a damn good plan to me,” Alexandria said. “In the meanwhile, where are you two headed next? Are you going to buy another house out in the mountains?” She shrugged. “You’re both welcome here as long as you’d like, of course. But I get the impression you might enjoy some privacy, too”
Seb nodded. “Declan and I do need to decide where we want to live, and preferably soon.”
“You’re not going back to Vegas, I hope?” she asked.
Declan rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. “Nope. Nothing waiting for me there.”
“I thought you had a ranch?” she asked.
“I did.”
“What happened to it?”
Declan licked his tongue across his teeth. “Lost it in a poker game.”
Alexandria grinned. “Wow. Badass, Declan.”
Declan shook his head. “Nope. It would have been badass if I won a ranch in a game of poker.”
Seb laughed. “He’ll tell you the story sometime. It’s kind of how we met.”
Alexandria tossed her hair to the side. “Manhattan would be good,” she said. “You know, there’s some of the most advanced research equipment in the world here. I’m sure we could arrange access for you.” She pursed her lips and squinted at Seb. “You are going to keep up with your research, aren’t you?”
“Definitely,” Seb answered. That part had always been a given to him. “I will take a minute to reset, though, and figure out what I’ll focus my attention on next. With my head clear and some distance away from Horizon, however, I should be able to make a whole new kind of progress.”
“Speaking of,” she replied, “I grabbed some materials while I was in the Horizon system for you. Hopefully enough to give you a jump start.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear,” Declan added. “Always thinking one step ahead.”
Alexandria fluttered her eyelashes. “Like right now, I’m thinking about what you’ll wear when I drag you to the club.”
Seb turned to Declan and tried to imagine him with a flashy shirt on or sparkle across his eyes. It might actually look pretty hot, he decided, but he couldn’t really picture Declan any other way than how he was.
Something tightened behind his chest. When Declan’s nephew had made the offer to join him, the look in Declan’s eyes had startled Seb. Clearly, the idea had been tempting on some level. There was a sense of purpose in Declan’s gaze that Seb had only seen a few times, first when the intruders had shown up in the house and then in their most naked moments, when the two of them came together.
Seb didn’t want to deny Declan anything. He didn’t want the man to turn his back on everything he knew just because Seb’s life was so different. And he especially didn’t want to take him away from his family.
