Page 157 of The Rebel

“Why would he do that?” I asked. “What would he get out of it? Unless you gave him a cut?”

“I didn’t.” Dad pulled at his sleeves. “The man’s wife had died a year before, and they had no children. I’m assuming, although I can’t confirm, that he looked at me like a son. And just like I’d help any of you, he helped me. But there was one stipulation.”

“Let me guess,” Rhett offered. “Walter couldn’t be a part of the deal.”

Dad nodded. “The offer was me, or the deal was off the table.”

“And you took the deal,” Ridge added.

It wasn’t a smile that covered my dad’s face, more like he was recognizing he’d made the right decision. “Without any hesitation, shame, or regret.” He let those words sink in. “Needless to say, Walter didn’t take the news kindly. I was getting the opportunity the two of us had dreamed of, and he felt betrayed. But unless Walter and I got a backer, we’d never be able to afford the hotel or get approved for the financing. We both secretly knew that. Our aspirations were just so big, we didn’t let it tarnish that vision.” He bobbed his head. “That’s why, when the offer came in, I knew I had to bite.”

“And that’s when the best friends became enemies,” I said softly.

“Immediately,” he told me. “Walter became jealous and bitter—I don’t blame him. He ended up partnering with his brother, and that’s when the games started. A ruthless competition that spanned over thirty years.” When Dad pushed up a sleeve, I saw dark purple bruises on his skin, and before I could ask what they were, he said, “I wasn’t innocent in all this, and I don’t claim to be. I played that game just as hard as he did. We were rivals, and things got dirty. Was it wrong?” He shrugged. “Who knows at this point? We all did wrong. But had I not taken that deal, Cole International wouldn’t have existed. The three of you wouldn’t have been employed by the family business. I know for certain I wouldn’t have had the life I’ve created.” His eyes softened. “Or any of the life that I have left.”

His choice of words made me say, “Dad?—”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ridge asked, interrupting me. “Why did you keep that to yourself for all these years?”

“Because it never mattered before. All you needed to know was that the Spades were a competing brand and the Coles didn’t come in second place. The backstory was pointless chatter.”

“But it mattered once we merged.” Rhett’s voice was sharp. “And even then, you didn’t explain it to us.”

“My priorities have been a little jaded lately, son.”

I glanced at my brothers, who were so fixed on my father that nothing could pull their stares away.

“What are you saying, Dad?” Ridge asked.

He bent his leg, crossing it over the other one. “What you should be asking is, why did the merger take place?” His head lowered. “Since you haven’t asked, I’m going to answer that for you.” He took a breath, and it seemed almost labored.

“You know, I never envisioned what the end would look like. Would it be a hundred hotels? A certain revenue? A specific age that I’d reach? I didn’t know, and I never felt like it was enough, so I just kept going. Until I couldn’t anymore.” He’d been gazingat his lap, and he finally looked up. “It started with a pain in my stomach that I ignored for as long as I could.”

“Dad …” A sense of dread came over me. It was so thick that my hand went to my throat, trying to help me breathe, the anxiety bringing me to that all-familiar edge.

“You said nothing about this,” Ridge told him. “We had no idea you weren’t feeling well.”

My arm slipped around my father’s shoulders as he said, “I saw one doctor after the next, not trusting any of their opinions. I thought they were just a bunch of fucking scam artists who wanted to hook me up to a machine and fill me with poison. For what? To make the pain feel only a small percent better? That’s all they could promise me.”

A wave of dizziness came over me, and it came on so hard and fast that I squeezed his shoulder to hold on.

Poison.

Pain.

Machine.

It couldn’t be …

“I wanted an option that wasn’t available for just anyone, something all the money in the world could buy. So, while you thought I was vacationing in France and Germany over the last few weeks, I was seeing specialists.”

My hand left his shoulder and flattened against my stomach. “Please tell me they can help.”

My eyes were already filling with tears. My chest was so tight that it felt like it was about to shatter.

“It’s a good thing that, very early on in my diagnosis, I saw the writing on the wall. I knew what I was facing, and that was when I went to my old friend Walter,” he said. “I intended to sell him the business. That would give the three of you more money than you’d ever need and far fewer headaches than if you continued to run this business together.” He rubbed his handsas though they were cold. “Cole International was my dream. A dream that I forced on the three of you. So, I thought to myself, if I wasn’t here, would they still want it? And when I couldn’t answer that question, I knew I had to talk to Walter.”

“Dad, how sick are you?” Ridge asked. “Are you?—”

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