Page 100 of Bitter Rival

“It went way back to their father.”

“Their father?” I don’t know why I sound so surprised. Harold told me Michael was Beckett’s uncle, but I didn’t understand how he could be. “They were…Michael was Robert’s brother?”

“His illegitimate brother. Michael’s mother was the Heywards’ housekeeper. Coincidentally, they lived in the gatehouse.”

Of course, they did. That’s where the Heywards have kept their dirty secrets over the years.

The gatehouse isn’t even there anymore. I have no idea what happened to it but it used to be in the cathedral of trees where the hot tub now lives.

“Michael and Robert grew up together, but their father never acknowledged Michael as his son,” Pete says. “When the old man died, Robert inherited everything.”

Another Heyward patriarch who pulled a dirty trick.

What is wrong with these men?

“Meanwhile, Michael went off and made a fortune on Wall Street,” Pete continues. “When he returned, he bought a neighboring vineyard and tried to outdo his brother. Michael was on a mission to take everything away from Robert, and of course, Robert retaliated. They stole each other’s girlfriends. Drained each other’s wine barrels. You name it, they did every dirty deed in the playbook. That feud went on for decades.” Pete sighs. “What a mess.”

The Heyward men certainly know how to hold a grudge. Revenge obviously runs in the family. “Money makes people do such horrible things.”

“I think it goes deeper than money. Michael became wealthy enough to buy the vineyard ten times over. But I think…and this is just speculation, mind you…but when a parent refuses to acknowledge their child, that cuts deep. And when a father plays favorites and gives everything to one son, that son believes they’re entitled to it. Robert was the chosen one, and Michael felt slighted.”

Robert could have done the right thing by giving his brother half but chose not to.

Instead, he went to war with him, and now Beckett has decided that the best revenge would be to sell this vineyard to his father’s enemy. His father’s half-brother.

Talk about bad blood.

“Thanks, Pete. Sorry to bother you.”

“It’s no bother at all. Feel free to call me anytime.” He pauses. “But the more I think about it, the more I suspect this is why you’re here.”

I sit up straighter in my seat. “To prevent the sale? Or to mend the rift?”

“I guess that’s for you to decide.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Beckett

“Tell me something good,” my grandmother says.

Tell me something good.

I had sex with Daisy, and if I could live inside her sweet, tight pussy, I would.

As it stands, I plan to keep on having sex with her until I’ve screwed her out of my system, and I’m free to move on.

But I have a bad feeling this won’t end well and that the break won’t be so clean and simple.

Tell me something good.

I sold my company today.

I’m richer. Grayson is richer. We’re free and unencumbered, in a prime position to start a new venture.

But the company we built will be swallowed up by a huge corporation, and all but a handful of our employees will lose their jobs.

In the end, it wasn’t even our choice. Our board would have ousted us if we hadn’t agreed to the deal.

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