Page 134 of Charming Deception

I absorb that.

“Here’s the truth, little brother. You’re the total package. And the women you sadly attract, in droves, are nothing but fame whores.”

“Harsh.” I swig my whiskey, washing down that painful truth. “You know we’re talking about Megan here, right? My fiancée? She is not cut from that cloth.”

“I sincerely hope not.”

“I think I have better judgment than that.”

“You do. You just don’t always use it.”

I rake a hand through my hair. “I know I’ve been… all over the place with women. But Graysen’s lost his mind. He thinks I’m out of control, just because of what he sees in the media.”

“Well, you know he can’t stomach a scandal. You broke a cardinal family rule.” She raises an eyebrow at me. “Repeatedly. You know privacy is sacrosanct.”

“Right. Ever since Mom decided it was so because her husband was cheating on her, so she cheated on him.”

Savannah sighs a little. “Maybe so. But we’ve adapted to the times. Fame is a double-edged sword, now more than ever. We stay out of it because it’s what’s best for the family and our business.”

I decide to ask her. “Did you know Graysen’s the one who gave me this stupid challenge?”

“No.” She gazes at me for a long moment, processing this new information. “Have you ever considered, Jamie, that maybe he’s just trying to protect you?”

“From what? My raging adolescent hormones? I’m fucking thirty.”

“From getting your heart broken,” she says gently.

I take that in, but I don’t know what to say. I never thought of it like that.

Savi gazes at me fondly. “You’re so much like her, you know.”

“Like who?” I say, though I have an uneasy feeling I know.

“Mom.”

“I’m not like her.”

“You are like her. You just don’t know. You were so young?—”

“You’re three years older than me. Don’t tell me you know Mom that much better than I do.”

“Maybe I don’t. But I saw them together in a way that you didn’t.”

That had to be true. She was fourteen when Dad died.

“You didn’t see how gone for him she was,” Savi says. “He had endless affairs and it still killed her when he died. He had her whole heart. She’s never been the same.”

“Yeah. She died right into the arms of another billionaire.”

“Don’t judge her too harshly. When she falls, it’s forever. What if you’re like her that way, too?”

Yeah. And that would be my worst fucking fear, right there.

Christ. Why did I come here?

I look away, my eyes landing on the model of the resort. I remember the day Granddad started the renovations. He gathered us all here to toast the achievement; our family now owned every property along Bayshore Drive, and the resort would be our crowning jewel, a luxury, five star destination on Vancouver’s downtown waterfront. I had no idea he’d be gone by the time the resort opened, that we’d be taking over his final dream project for him. I couldn’t fathom that possibility. I was nowhere near ready to let him go.

I had no idea, when I was a kid, that Mom and Dad wouldn’t be here either, throughout every important event of my life since I was eleven.

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