Page 130 of The Fake Out Flex

"Right. Okay." He glances over at Dawn. "Would you mind if Evie and I sat down on the bench over there?"

Dawn's blue eyes flicker back and forth between Fraser and me, a knowing smile rising on her lips. "Sure."

We make our way over to the bench, far enough away to give us the privacy I suspect Fraser is wanting for the conversation we're about to have.

"So…" He rests his hands on his knees once we're seated. "Truth time."

"My second favorite type of time, narrowly beaten to the top spot by half-price ice cream time."

He smiles, draws in a breath, and begins talking. "That night I left your room, the last night I left your room, when I got home it was…full on. Dad had canceled our involvement in the show while I was with you, and the family was gathered in the living room."

"Did you get into trouble for sneaking out?"

"I managed to dodge that bullet because there was much bigger news. Dawn was pregnant."

"Ohhhh."

Years of wondering, of coming up with my own theories about what happened, bubble to life in my mind, but I cut all that noise out to focus on what he's telling me.

"So that's why your parents canceled filming?"

"It is." Fraser nods, glancing over at Dawn and Oakey. "One of the reasons they did the show was to raise the profile of Dad's yacht-building business. His clientele are…odd."

"The mega, mega, mega-rich usually are."

"Tell me about it. They're either super progressive, micro-dosing, self-made entrepreneurs where anything goes, or they're ultra-conservative people where nothing goes. I'm generalizing and oversimplifying of course, but it's true for the main part. Dad and Mom were worried how an unwed pregnant teenage daughter would look."

"I get that."

"More than anything, though, they wanted to protect her. Business reputational damage aside, they love Dawn and didn't want her situation to be subjected to the usual nonsense that takes place on social media and late-night TV shows. So, we agreed, as a family, to do everything we could to keep her from experiencing any of that."

"In my head, my memories are stuck on you leaving without saying goodbye. I forgot that Dawn left, too. I thought she got shipped off to boarding school in the UK."

"That was the official story."

"What's the real story?"

"Dawn and Tim got married quietly, and with her trust, they bought a place up here."

"Right."

I'd also forgotten that the Rademacher kids have a living inheritance. Levi told me about it once. I don't know the reasons behind it, but Fraser's dad wants his children to have access to a portion of the family money while he's still alive.

"The original plan was to pull back from all press, all publicity for a year or two. Once interest in us died down, if the story somehow made it into the media, it wouldn't be that much of a big deal. We'd be has-beens by then, and only diehard fans would really care." His eyes travel back to his nephew. "But once we learned that Oakey would have additional needs, as a family, we doubled-down."

"Meaning?"

"We had to ensure Dawn and Oakey had privacy and absolutely zero media intrusion in their lives. Ever."

"Which explains why you avoid the spotlight as much as you do."

"It's a very big part of it. Another part of it is something that happened two years ago…"

Fraser recounts what starts off as a great story about the LA Swifts visiting a children's hospital and ends with him reading through a bunch of vile, disgusting online comments.

"That was a horrible thing to go through with people who weren't my family. Imagine if that was Oakey. Imagine if those comments were directed at him. I don't know what I'd do, Evie. I'd…I'd lose my damn mind."

Right on cue, the little guy lets out another happy "Wheee!" as Dawn swings him higher.

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