Page 34 of Bound to Him

His father scoffed. “That won’t be enough.”

“Then I’ll sell my house, my car, my art, my first editions. I can do it.”

“I’ll be your first investor,” Milo piped in, earning himself a glare from Sebastian’s mother. He merely smiled politely back at her. “I know a lot of people who’ll be interested in betting on the success of Sebastian Endicott.”

Will came over and put his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. “Let’s go talk this over, just the two of us.” His tone bordered on pleading. In this way, they weren’t the same. Will didn’t have the spine to stand up to his parents.

Sebastian gently removed the hand and stepped away. “There’s no ‘us’, Will. There never has been. We spent time together as friends, then jumped into this nonsense simply to keep the family peace. I can’t go through with it. I just can’t. I’m sorry.”

Will pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine. You win. I’m going to see if Serena is still awake. I’m sure she’ll be willing to soothe my hurt over being dumped on the eve of my wedding.”

He strode from the room without another word. His parents, quivering with outrage, followed him. With a brief look of sympathy, Milo left, too.

Quiet fell over the room now that Sebastian was alone with his parents. He went to sit heavily on the sofa the Emersons had vacated. “I know you’re upset, but this is my life and I have to live it in a way that pleases me. Parker is a sweet boy and he has good business sense. Once he has a college degree, he’ll be an asset to the company—yours or mine. You choose however you think best where I’m concerned. I’m done being governed by your expectations.”

His mother smoothed the skirt of her dazzling silver gown. She’d gone all out for this wedding and he felt bad about that. She would never wear this dress again. That was her rule, not a fallout of the situation. James and Gloria had rigid rules and their social standing mattered to them in a way he couldn’t appreciate.

“The gossip will be intolerable.”

“It might have been less so if you hadn’t invited the gossip columnists and paparazzi to the wedding.”

His mother glared at him and blinked away what appeared to be tears. Not from grief, he thought, but anger. “Now you’re being gratuitously mean.” She sat back with a huff. “It would be one thing if you ran off with an Italian count or something. We could have spun that story in a way that would have at least helped our family. This boy?” She shook her head and went silent.

Sebastian leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “When Samuel Howard stepped off the Mayflower, how much money and property did he possess? How about Francis Endicott? And a generation later, one of his descendants goosed the family’s fortunes by marrying a Putnam, as I recall.”

His father glared at him. “We understand your point, Sebastian. But we’re well past those humble beginnings. It’s not the seventeenth century anymore.”

“No, it’s not. So why are we acting as if it is? Parker Jameson is no one to be ashamed of. Yes, his family’s debt is embarrassing. That was his father’s doing, and Parker stepped up and sold his body to a stranger to keep the family home and protect his mother and sisters. That speaks well of him, I hope you agree.”

His mother tried a different approach. “How do you intend to marry a debt slave? I don’t know that the law allows it.”

Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t, either. It doesn’t matter, though, because I’m going to free him.”

His mother sniffed again. “I see. Even so, how will you ever know that he’s with you out of…love, and not gratitude or a sense of obligation?”

Yeah, Gloria could cut deep when she wanted to.

“Because I’m not going to ask him to marry me. Not right off. He has to go to college first, have a way of supporting himself without me. He’s made for an excellent intern and I’ll keep him on in that position under someone else’s guidance.” As he’d hurriedly formed a plan for the future on his way back to the Emerson villa, that decision had been a hard one. He desperately and selfishly wanted to keep the boy by his own side. Parker needed distance, however, in order to be free of any pressure as much as possible.

His mother tapped her knees. “You’ve got it all figured out, I see. How long have you been planning this?”

Sebastian looked at his watch. “About an hour, give or take.”

“Is that all? Why, you haven’t had time to think it through. You should…”

He cut off her enthusiasm. “I’m sorry you’ve never experienced that lightning bolt that is the sudden realization that you’re in love with someone.” He stood. “I’m going to the villa I’ve rented to be with Parker. I’ll return in the morning and explain everything to our guests.”

“No!” His mother’s tone was the one she used when taking charge. “I’ll do that. The least you can do is allow me the dignity of putting my own spin on this. The truth of the matter will become apparent soon enough.” She stood and his father did with her.

“Very well. It doesn’t matter to me what you say about it. I’m staying here for two weeks. Should I bother coming back to my office when I get home?” It was surprising how much he wasn’t worried about the answer. The idea of starting out on his own had a lot of appeal.

His father flicked his hand. “Don’t be more of an ass than you already have been, Sebastian. We have a board meeting next month to prepare for. Endicott Global may be a private company, but we still have investors to answer to. I’ll be damned if I’m doing that on my own.”

As Sebastian watched his parents storm out of the room with their quiet façade firmly in place, he could only laugh internally at how his mother’s threat had somehow turned into an unwelcome demand by him. They will never change. He could work around them, so long as they were at least civil with Parker. Once there was a grandchild to dote on, they might even soften up a bit. The idea of having a family with Parker lifted the heaviness he’d worn since entering the Emerson villa.

All that was left was to wait to see if Parker loved him back. It might take years for that to be revealed in a dependable way. That was okay, he reminded himself. He had to be sure that Parker’s feelings for him were real. He’d never been so scared in all his life because the idea that Parker wouldn’t ever love him hurt more than anything that had been said in that very room. He hurried back to the boy, leaving the anger and disappointment from the others behind him. He selfishly wanted one more night with his debt slave before setting him free.

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