Page 183 of The Liar's Reckoning

“Well, let me ask you this—is he as miserable as you are?”

It’s hard to believe anyone could be as miserable as I am, but from what I witnessed a few weeks ago, I’m leaning toward yes. But it’s also been a year since our break-up. It would be arrogant beyond imagination to think he hasn’t moved on.

The chemistry might still be there—the ghosts of feelings past, but in no way do I believe he would want me back if I were available, not now that he knows what he knows about me and what I’ve been doing for a living. For my father.

“He hates me,” I say. “He barely wants anything to do with me.”

“Barely, huh? What does barely mean?”

Heat creeps up my neck when I think about the way he fucked my throat in the shower. The way he palmed my crotch in The Hamptons. “We’ve hooked up,” I admit. “But it wasn’t like—it wasn’t like we meant to or wanted to.”

“You just happened to have sex?”

“That’s a way to put it, I guess. It did feel kind of like a side effect than the actual point.”

“A side effect of what?”

Being in the same room together?“For me? Loneliness, I guess. I just miss him.”

“And for him?”

“I don’t know, T. He’s angry. He has every right to be.”

“We can agree on that.” She gives me another spoonful of ice cream and has one for herself. “What would happen if you guys just sat down and talked it out?”

“What I have to say only makes it worse.”

“What is it you think you have to say?”

“That I was in an impossible situation, and the safest way out of it was to let him go. I didn’t realize he’d catch so much fallout from it, but I was…scared. Which is no excuse.”

“Does he blame you for the video coming out?”

“I don’t know. Probably.”

“So what does he not want to hear? Why you chose your job over him?”

I finch away from her. “That’s not what I did.”

“Uh…it kinda is.”

“I’m not sure you’re the one to talk to about this.”

She arches a dark brow. “Why not me?”

“Because you know exactly what happens when you go against Dad. You struggled for years. Don’t try to tell me you were happy.”

“I might not have been happy, but I made my own choices. I don’t regret it, Graham.”

“How can you say that?” I ask in disbelief. She had no one and nothing to turn to for a decade. My parents were ruthless when they cut her off. There’s no way I could have survived what she had to live through with no education, no money, no home.

“Because!” she waves a hand in the direction of the kids’ bedrooms. “And I might have struggled, but I also got through it. I didn’t want their help after the shit they said. And because I decided to do things on my own, I learned who I am and what I’m capable of.”

Shedecided? To kick herself out? What am I missing here? I would ask, but she’s still talking.

“I made mistakes, and I fucked up, but I also figured out I’m a strong person. I’m resilient and damn proud of it.”

She is all those things. And I’m exactly what she calls me. Daddy’s boy. Eagerly buying into the myth of being the eldest son and carrying on the family name. Except I failed at that, too. Holden takes that honor with his first son on the way. He’ll also take over the business once Dad is gone.

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