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  Even if she were a friend, I’d have to relive the humiliation to tell her all about it. That was something I was not willing to put myself through, even to get this huge secret off my chest.

  “Nothing, really,” I murmured, my eyes sliding away from hers because I didn’t like lying to her. “I’m just thinking a little too much, that’s all. You don’t need to worry.”

  She watched me for a while in silence. I knew she knew I was lying, but as long as she wouldn’t call me out on it, I was going to ignore it.

  “Whatever you say,” she said dismissively after what felt like a whole minute. “But you should probably go and see to whatever that call was. It’s obviously something important. You’re not acting like yourself. I’ve never seen you just stop in the middle when you’re baking.”

  I took a deep breath then released it slowly, sending her a grateful look for not prying, even as I dreaded what I was going to walk into in a little while.

  “You’re right,” I muttered. “Absolutely. It was… something important.”

  It was the last thing I wanted, but I started undoing my uniform.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she shouted at me as I walked towards the employee area.

  I was too distracted by my thoughts and worries for a verbal reply, but I waved at her over my shoulder.

  A side door in the kitchen led into the staff area. I moved over to my locker and switched my chef’s uniform for my overcoat before picking up my purse. Then I made my way out of the hotel using the staff entrance and exit.

  I might as well go help my mom out because I knew she might need to prepare for the return of the prodigal sons.

  I just need to keep my feelings about Trent to myself, I thought, hoping it was possible. Hell, I might not see him at all… I’m busy, and he probably would be as well…

  I was just trying to placate myself. No matter how busy we both were, I was close friends with Emily, and my parents still worked at the family mansion. That he and I would run into each other was very likely.

  My mind jumped back into the past, and I remembered his laughter. The bitter heartache of it—just the memory of it—made my cheeks burn, even now when I was an adult and I knew my worth. I wasn’t the same insecure teenage girl with her first crush; I was a grown woman with a career who’d set a path for herself.

  I can't forget the past, I thought to myself with a sigh. I doubted I ever would, no matter how many years passed. And seeing Trent in the flesh for the first time in years would just make it all the harder for me.

  Then there was a hopeful thought.

  I’ve grown since then, so he must have as well, right? Maybe he’d grown past the smarmy teenager that laughed when I declared my love for him and wiped his kiss away.

  A girl could dream, couldn’t she?

  3

  Trent

  I left work an hour after talking to Emily and drove home, where I packed a small bag before starting on the journey back home, to Charlotte.

  Damn, I’d hoped I’d never had to go back there.

  There was a reason I hadn't been back since high school, but this was something important.

  Please, I thought. Let nothing happen to Dad.

  The extent of my worry surprised me a little. My dad and I hadn't been close in quite a while. I could barely remember the times when I loved and respected him like a father without any smudges getting in the way. That had been gone a while ago.

  But here I was putting my whole life on hold. On hold, because I knew what I was going to do once I got home. Yeah, I already did work for my dad and his empire, but I also had my separate career. I’d spent time building it, and I was leaving it like it was nothing.

  There was no way to know how long this was all going to take. I’d left Jennifer with a lot of work to do, and I’d be immersed in running things for my dad soon. I knew just how much work he had on his plate because I still remembered how he’d stay out late more often than not, and when he did get back, he looked exhausted.

  Nothing is going to happen to him, I thought to myself, wanting to make it through if I had to use sheer force of will. I’ll get there, and he’ll be just fine, asking me why this was the first time I was visiting in so long, and saying what a bad son I am.

  It didn’t make the clench around my heart ease, and after a while I decided to put on some music, hoping it would distract me.

  After hours of steady driving on some rather bone-crushing roads and a few stops on the way to catch something to eat and stretch my legs, I made it home. Dad’s mansion was located on the outskirts of Charlotte. It was this huge, brick thing of marble columns and three floors, shaped like an angular ‘c’, with two wings on each side. It was visible from a distance, and I couldn’t help scoffing at it. Most people would look at it and see a beautiful house, but all I saw was a prison I was willingly taking myself into.

  “It hasn’t changed at all, has it?” I muttered to myself, feeling a little awed.

  More than a decade had passed and this place still looked timeless. I could remember distant memories of Mom and me coming back home after we’d gone out to have fun just the two of us because Dad was always so busy. There were few times when he ever joined in.

  This house… it had been my hell and my haven in my formative years.

  It was pretty big for three people, though after Dad remarrying I’d felt stifled in there, even though it was the one place with the happiest memories of my mom in it.

  A lot of people were under the impression it was my father’s name that brought me so many clients. I’d launched my career years ago, but it had picked up pretty quickly. A couple of years after I’d started out I was on my way to the top. I knew people who’d started earlier than I did were still struggling to make ends meet.

  People had way too many false impressions about me.

  It was this place that had given me the drive I needed to get out from under my father’s thumb, to escape the stifling atmosphere. I had a good dose of my mom’s charm and intelligence, to go with it, which helped.

  This mansion was the place I shared memories with my mom. Yet not long after she was gone, all these strangers were coming out of nowhere and making their happy memories when my mom was dead.

  I’d resented them all for being happy. Even while I’d known that wasn’t completely fair of me. But I’d been so lost in my pain back then that I didn’t care, and I was too old to be thinking of starting anything with my family anymore.

  When I pulled up to the gate, I was ready to call in to have the doors unlocked, but they pulled open without my having to do anything. I arched an eyebrow, somewhat impressed by the tech Dad must have invested into his home. I’d told Emily I would arrive tomorrow, but I’d changed my plans as Dad’s condition finally sank in and I’d realized I might have little time to waste.

  In my mind, my place was nothing compared to the mansion. It was just enough space for me to live comfortably, while pleasant enough for the occasional company. It wasn’t too far from the office, and not too far from the mountains either.

  I aimed the car down the long driveway, taking deep breaths to settle myself internally. No one here needed to know that I was the least bit ruffled. I didn’t particularly care what they thought anyway, but the fact I’d appeared should have been enough to show that I cared.

  Let’s just get inside and see him first, I told myself. Worry about whatever else later.

  And there would be a lot to worry about.

  I parked the car a short distance from the massive front doors that were usually left open during daylight hours. I got out of the car with a grin, a rather self-satisfied one, picking my sports coat up from the back seat and putting it on. I didn’t want to give the help the wrong impression. It just simply wouldn’t do to have them thinking I was slouching.

  I was a grown-up, and I was a successful businessman in my own right. It had been the right decision to leave this house, and I wanted them to know it. I cared what they t
hought less than what my dad thought, but I had an image to keep up.

  I headed for the house, jogging up the short flight of stairs to the entrance. I walked inside, breezing past Ted. He was the family butler and had been for as long as I could remember. Though I hadn't paid much attention to the help growing up, I’d paid attention to him, because he was Jessi’s father.

  Jessi.

  Another person I hadn't thought much of once I’d left. Idly, I wondered if I’d be running into her again.

  I walked into one of the salons, looking for Emily. Luckily, I found her in the first one I walked into. She was lounging on a couch, her legs up and curled under her, her hair falling on either side of her face as she frowned down at the phone in her hand.

  “Hey,” I called, more to get her attention than an actual greeting, but it was enough to get her to look up, eyes slightly widened in surprise.

  Wow, was the first thing I thought when I saw her. She’s grown. Then, we look alike.

  I frowned slightly at the obvious implications. She looked just as much like me as my brothers. Hair and eye color might differ between us, but besides that, we must have taken after my father. I’d gotten more of my looks from the old man than I liked. A part of me had wanted to think that I had something in me that resembled my mother. But clearly, Dad’s genes were just too strong.

  How had I not realized it before?

  “Trent!” she yelped, scrambling to get off the couch and stand up.

  I wondered what she was so surprised about. Wasn’t she the one that called me and insisted I come back home?

  “What is it?” I asked. “You wanted me home, and I’m here.” I held my arms out and open, before letting them fall back to my sides.

  “Um, that’s right,” she murmured, fidgeting. “You’re here. But you’re not supposed to be here until tomorrow, you said!”

  I watched as she looked anywhere but at me, her eyes moving in my general direction, but skittering away when they got anywhere near looking right into mine. She tucked her hair behind her ear on one side, then smoothed down her hair on the other. Her other hand was wrapped around her phone tightly enough her knuckles were white.

  I frowned at her when I realized that she looked, nervous. Or, more like she looked afraid. Of me.

  Fuck.

  For a moment, I felt bad. Why was she acting as if some monster had come home? She was the one to call me back in the first place! Was there any need to look like I was going to eat her?

  But the moment passed, and I just felt annoyed.

  What the hell?

  Did she have any reason to be acting that way around me? I’d been distant from Emily most, second only to her mother. I’d been nearly a teenager by the time she was born, and around that time I didn’t even spend all that much time at home. I had no interest in playing with the new baby in the family. She’d still been young when I left, and I’d only seen her on a few occasions since then when dad would sometimes bring her on one of his visits.

  The last time I saw her, she was just going through puberty. There was some resemblance, but the young woman standing in front of me looked almost nothing like the gangly girl I’d met last. After that, Dad had stopped dragging her along and I hadn't spoken to her face-to-face since then.

  Was it because of that? Because we were meeting for the first time in a long while that she was acting so strangely? I was pretty sure I’d never been cruel to her, though I couldn’t say I’d ever been welcoming. Most of the time I was just dismissive of her presence. That didn’t exactly instill fear in anybody. Of everyone, she should probably be the one to feel nothing at my sudden arrival back home.

  But then a thought occurred to me.

  “Did something happen?” I asked, my voice tight.

  She did that thing again where her eyes would rise to meet mine, only to stop halfway, and she’d end up looking over my shoulder instead. Why couldn’t she meet my eyes?

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  I wondered if I was mistaking the slight tremble in her voice.

  “I mean, did something happen to do with Dad?” I asked, voice growing impatient. “He had a heart attack, did his condition get worse? Can you tell me where he is, so I can see him? I forgot to get the details from you before, so I just came all the way here.”

  She fidgeted some more, chewing down on her lower lip.

  “You want to know about Dad, huh?” she muttered, finally meeting my eyes.

  I frowned. “Yes. Where is he?”

  She looked away, her hand rising once more to play with her hair nervously. My frown only deepened the longer she made me wait, and I wondered why she was so unwilling to answer me.

  Why, after calling me back, was she suddenly getting possessive over Dad? Maybe she didn’t want me to see him, even in the state he must have been in? Or… was Dad’s state so bad that she was deliberately trying to keep me away from it?

  It could be either one, and it didn’t look like this girl was going to tell me! I felt like if I had to wait much longer I’d go mad or get angry enough to start shouting, and then she’d have something to look all frightened about.

  “Can you please just tell me?” I asked one more time.

  “Um,” she floundered, waving a hand in the air between us. “You just got back, though! Aren’t you tired, or anything? Did you bring any luggage with you? You could have it sent upstairs, maybe freshen up and have a meal… You must have been on the road for a while to get here this early in the day…”

  I’d been on the road for hours, though I’d taken a stop at a cafe on the way to rest because I didn’t want to end up with a broken back from those roads. Still, I’d only caught four hours of sleep the night before and it was tough getting back on the road again. I’d been worried the entire time too that I wasn’t going fast enough. That by the time I arrived at the hospital it would be too late. It was only as I drove into Charlotte and saw the sign for the first hospital that I realized I had no idea where to go. Charlotte had no shortage of hospitals and Dad could be in any of them. I’d driven to the house hoping Emily could give me an answer when she didn’t answer her phone.

  And here I was, and this girl was refusing to answer my questions.

  “You know what? I’m a busy man, Emily. I would like to see my father before anything else. Then I’m going to work on what needs to be done while he rests. So if you won’t tell me, I’ll find out on my own.”

  I went to turn away, but her voice stopped me.

  “Wait, Trent!”

  I paused, slowly turned back to her to wait for what she had to say. I wasn’t there to play some waiting game with her when there were more important things to do, but I would indulge her this once. Frankly, the girl could probably do with a little less indulgence in her life.

  “Well?” I prompted when she still said nothing.

  “Are you sure you don’t want something to eat?” she asked.

  I rolled my eyes, at the end of my patience, and left the salon. Getting information on my father myself wouldn’t be hard.

  But I didn’t see where I was going as I walked out the room and bumped into someone. Or rather, a smaller, soft body bumped into mine. She gave a small yelp as we collided, and I held her by the tops of her arms until she righted herself.

  “Sorry about that,” she said. “I didn’t see where I was going—”

  She looked up into my face, then cut herself off as she recognized who I was. I knew who she was, too.

  Jessi.

  Emily wasn’t the only woman who’d grown around here. The last time I saw Jessi, she’d been this awkward, gangly girl, not unlike what Emily was like as in her early teens. I could hardly see that same person in her now.

  But she was staring at me with her eyes wide and jaw dropped.

  Another woman was looking at me like she’d seen a ghost. At least she was looking at me, and not through or around me. But this was Jessi, not my half-sister whom I had an awkward half-sibling re
lationship with. On the contrary, we had no relationship. None at all.

  I took a moment to get a good look. Jessi had grown into a beautiful woman.

  Just when did that happen?

  4

  Jessi

  I was on my way out of the main part of the mansion and heading out when I saw the sense in my mom’s words. I’d helped my mom with her work, and she’d even insisted I spend the night because by the time we were done with everything it was too late for me to have gone home. I turned around, my exhaustion telling me to stay.

  It was a mistake.

  I knew it even as I agreed with Mom’s suggestion, and I sure as heck was regretting it now.

  Of all the people… of all the times… why did it have to be Trent?

  I knew I must have looked like an idiot, just standing there and acting like I’d seen a ghost or something. It was rude, and as soon as it occurred to me I tried to shift my expression to something polite, my lips trembling a little as the corners turned up in a smile.

  “Hello,” I said, at the very least trying to be civil.

  Trent didn’t even bother with that. As soon as I opened my mouth and spoke, he just frowned at me and stormed off.

  Maybe he was in a hurry, I tried to tell myself. It had absolutely nothing to do with me.

  But then I heard him muttering to himself as he walked off, not even bothering to keep his voice quiet.

  “Servants using the front entrance now… my how things have changed around here…”

  The words left me stricken, but by the time I turned around, he was already out of sight.

  Fuck! Damn you, Trent!

  It had been years. Fucking years, and yet he was still the one person that could make me feel smaller than an ant with just a few callous words. If anyone else had said those words, it would have been easy to brush them off. They could have been jealous or their dislike of me would have been petty. I didn’t know exactly how Trent felt about me, but everything he said hit me harder than words from other people.