Like everything is slipping out of my hands.
A knock sounds at the door, and Harvey walks in. He looks different—older. Which is crazy because I only just saw him a few days ago. His gray hair is more salt than pepper now, his face etched with lines that weren’t there the last time we raised our voices at each other. He’s wearing one of his usual expensive suits, but something in his posture is different.
Something hard, something bitter.
He used to be my brother in everything but blood. Now, he stares at me like he’s seeing a stranger. Or worse, an enemy.
I wave toward the chair opposite my desk. "Have a seat, Harvey." Harvey sits, his eyes not leaving mine. “Whiskey?”
“No.” He raises his hand. “I don’t share drinks with traitors.”
“Suit yourself.”
The silence stretches between us, thick with everything we’re not saying. We used to talk about everything. Business, family, life. But now, it’s like we’re standing on opposite sides of a battlefield.
"What are you doing here, Harvey?" I ask, breaking the silence. "Did you see the protesters outside? Not exactly a quiet night."
He leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah, I saw them. Impressive crowd you’ve gathered there."
“I’ve gathered?”
He shrugs and breaks eye contact, looking around my office like he’s searching for an invisible recorder I might’ve planted to set him up. “They’re here for you, aren’t they?”
"You behind that?" I ask, my tone still calm, but there’s an edge now. I already know the answer, but I want to hear him say it.
He smirks, but there’s no humor in it. "I promised I’d ruin you, didn’t I?"
“Did you pay off Principal Morgan too?”
“Who?”
I stare at him, feeling the anger simmering just beneath the surface. "Don’t bullshit me, Harvey. What the hell does Caleb’s school have to do with any of this? Why drag my kid into it?"
“Don’t be a fucking hypocrite, Silas.”
“What?”
“You dragged Leah into it first," Harvey snaps, leaning forward. "You don’t get to act like the victim here. You fucked my daughter."
His words hang in the air between us, heavy and ugly. I run a hand over my face, trying to keep my temper in check.
“Christ, you make it sound so foul.”
“Have you convinced yourself that it isn’t?” Harvey grinds his teeth. “You fucked my daughter. I have every right to be mad at you.”
"It wasn’t like that," I say, my voice low. "I didn’t even know she was your daughter when we met."
Harvey cuts me off, his face hard. "Bullshit. You knew. And even if you didn’t, you sure as hell figured it out later. But at the anniversary dinner for my wife, you sat across from her, pretended you didn’t know her, and made me look like a fool while I did the goddamn introductions!"
I take a breath, trying to explain. "I didn’t want to hurt you. Harvey, I came ‘round for the dinner, and I saw that the lady I met all those years ago and just hired to be my assistant was your goddamn daughter! How exactly would that conversation have gone?"
He laughs, but it’s cold and bitter. "Hurt me? If you didn’t want to hurt me, Silas, you wouldn’t have screwed my daughter in the first place."
“I didn’t fucking know!”
“Fuck you!”
The room feels smaller now, the air thick with tension. I meet his eyes, trying to find a trace of the man I once called my best friend. But all I see is anger and betrayal.