Page 42 of The Forever Rule

“You’re going to like the other Cages. I promise.”

“How can you be so sure?” I asked, my voice softer this time. I didn’t hate them. I didn’t know them. I hated my father and my mother for that matter. I hated the situation we were in. But no, I didn’t hate these new siblings of ours.

“I know because of that group chat. You guys were joking with each other and laughing and being just brothers. And that’s how they are. Sisters and one brother, but they’re close. And you guys are clearly close. I don’t know how it’s all going to work, but you’ll find a way. And I understand why you didn’t call.”

“I need to make sure my family doesn’t crumble even more than it already has.”

Her eyes softened for the barest moment before becoming unreadable once again. “That’s all that you can ask for, honestly. I know it’s hard and will continue to be,but I suppose you never calling ended up being the outcome we both needed.”

“And why is that?” I asked, dread in my stomach.

“Because I’m working here. And we’re already awkward enough. So it was lovely to see you, Aston. And I’ll see you around the office. But no resentment here. Promise.”

I wasn’t quite sure that I believed her, but I stepped out of the way when she passed me, without another word.

As I ran my hand over my face, a familiar voice echoed behind me.

“Well, this is going to be fun.”

I whirled on Flynn and narrowed my gaze.

“Don’t worry, you guys were discreet,” Flynn said, and I moved past him, annoyed as hell. My office was on the other corner of the building, and Flynn followed me along, nobody really paying attention to us. If they needed us, they would call out. Because we weren’t the domineering bosses that didn’t want to hear from anyone beneath us. But everybody had a job to do, and they were working cohesively. That didn’t always happen.

I walked into my office, really wanting a drink, but realizing that it was far too early in the day. I would have a drink at dinner. Probably many drinks at dinner.

Flynn closed the door behind him and raised a brow at me.

“So. You never did text her, did you?”

“Of course I didn’t. When would I have had time for apersonal life? Between the endless media calls, lawyer visits, or secondary DNA testing, when?”

“You didn’t have to do it all yourself you know. You could have asked for help.”

“You all did what you could, but you have lives. We did the funeral as best as we could, and that was a farce.”

Flynn rolled his eyes as we both remembered the immense funeral held for a man of power, and a man of lies.

We had invited our father’s friends and acquaintances, and they had told stories that I hadn’t listened to, and grieved with us, even though everything felt empty.

The problem was people from both sides of his life had come. People who knew him as Phoebe and Isabella’s father, and people who knew him as our father. There were countless connections in the state alone, and it wasn’t as if he could hide so many lies from every single person around him.

“Denver isn’t that big of a city, more people must have known,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Probably. But you know boys will be boys,” Flynn said as he flopped into the office chair.

“That’s my chair. Get up.”

“No I don’t think I will. Are you going to be okay working with Blakely?”

“Of course I am. It wasn’t like we were anything.”

“But you could have been. I liked her.”

“You saw her for all of five minutes,” I said dryly.

“Yes, but I liked the way that you smiled every time you secretly texted her.”

I narrowed my gaze at my younger brother. “How the hell did you know we were texting?”

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