Chapter 12
KAISEN LANDRY
Iknew something was wrong the moment I pulled up to my father’s house.
Winston didn’t summon people unless he wanted something. And when he wanted something from me specifically, it was never good.
The Lakeview estate sat behind iron gates and manicured hedges like a monument to everything the Landry name represented. Old money. Power. Control.
I’d grown up in this house.
I’d never felt at home here.
I parked in the circular driveway and sat for a moment, hands gripping the steering wheel, trying to steady myself.
Whatever this is, just get through it.
I climbed out of the car and walked to the front door. It opened before I could knock.
Dad stood in the doorway wearing slacks and a pressed shirt, his expression unreadable.
“Kaisen,” he said. “Come in.”
Notson.
Neversonunless he wanted something.
I followed him through the foyer and into his study—a room that smelled like leather and bourbon and decades of decisions made behind closed doors.
He gestured to one of the chairs across from his desk.
“Sit.”
I sat.
He moved to the bar cart and poured himself two fingers of bourbon. Didn’t offer me any.
He took a slow sip, then turned to face me.
“Dr. Beaumont called me this morning,” he said.
I frowned. “Who?”
“The fertility specialist handling your brother’s surrogacy arrangement.”
My stomach tightened.
“Okay,” I said carefully. “And?”
“The surrogate’s eggs will be fertilized in five days.”
I stared at him.
“Is she supposed to be telling you that?” I asked. “That sounds like private medical information.”
“The Landrys own that clinic,” he interrupted. “All of our sperm is housed there. Every sample. Every record. So yes, she should be telling me.”
The way he saidour spermmade my skin crawl.
