Page 118 of My Brother's Billionaire Best Friends
We’re halfway across the parking lot when it happens. A sharp voice cuts across the warm bubble we’ve wrapped around ourselves. “Well. Isn’t this sweet.”
We turn at the same time. The tension is instant—tight across my shoulders, in the way Jack shifts his posture, in the way Harrison steps half in front of me like a reflex. The way Gavin’s whole body goes tight.
Vivian walks out from between a pair of black SUVs. No doubt they’re hers, here to work like walls for her dramatic entrance. She’s dressed like she’s about to march into aVogueinterviewand destroy the editor in person. Her sunglasses are enormous, her heels ridiculous for this kind of pavement, and the look on her face could cut glass.
“I suppose congratulations are in order,” she says, her tone clipped and icy. “You’re all grown up, Gavin. Leaking old pictures of me? Turning on your own mother? I’d be impressed if it weren’t such an obvious plea for my help.”
Jack moves to my side. Gavin steps forward to meet her, standing between us with a calm I know costs him. Harrison is with him.
Gavin doesn’t take the bait. “This ends now.”
Vivian stops two paces away and tilts her head. “Excuse me?”
“No more games. No more buying buildings you don’t give a shit about. No more attempts to smear Parker or this family. You’re done. It’s over. You lost.”
She scoffs, shaking her head like he’s being overly dramatic. “And what exactly are you going to do about it? File a restraining order? Threaten me with bad press?”
“If I have to,” Gavin replies. “But I’d rather not have to go that far.”
She laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “You can’t bar me from my own legacy.”
“You already gave it up,” he says. “And security at VT has been informed that you are not allowed in the building. It’s over, Vivian. Let it go.”
Her gaze snaps to Harrison next, sharp and full of something close to betrayal. “And you? I raised you too. You were nothing when I found you.”
“I was a kid,” Harrison says, voice low. “And I’ve paid you back with interest. You don’t own me. Back off, or we will end this in ways you can’t take back.”
“You think you can threaten me with your lies?” she hisses. “Pathetic.”
“No,” Harrison says. “With the truth. You’ve been playing dirty for decades. Leaking stories, covering up crimes, blackmailing rivals. And we’re done letting you hide.”
Her face tightens. “Never play a player, Harrison. You know that. If you had proof of anything, you would have used it by now.”
Jack snaps, “No, we wouldn’t. We’re better people than you.”
“And wedohave evidence,” Harrison says, deadpan. “Financial trails. Emails. Affidavits. Even footage. The photos were just an amuse bouche. You wrecked your husband’s career, lied to Gavin about why he left, manipulated the entire board for years, and covered up vehicular homicides, accidental drownings, and other deaths.” He narrows his gaze on her. “I don’t bluff, Vivian. You’d do well to remember that.”
She pales. Then her voice drops, sharp and biting. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Mr. Butters says otherwise.”
The blood drains from her face.
I don’t know who Mr. Butters is, but she clearly does.
She turns on me next, wild-eyed. “This is all your fault.”
I press my hand to my stomach and look her in the eye. “No. This is your fault. You hated me from the start because that’s what you do.” I sigh. I’ve thought about this for a while now. “I feel sorry for you, Vivian.”
Her nose scrunches up at me. “I’m a self-made billionaire, and you’re nobody. Why the hell do you feel sorry for me?”
“Because you’re so full of hate that you forgot how to love. Or maybe you never knew how in the first place. I’m not sure which it is, and at this point, it doesn’t matter. You’re a horrible person, and I wish nothing but the worst for you. You’ll never know your grandchild, Vivian. Not because of me. Because of you.”
She stares at my stomach. Her mouth opens like she’s going to say something, but nothing comes out. And then she turns on her heel and walks away. She doesn’t say goodbye. She doesn’t look back.
The silence that follows is louder than anything else that’s happened today. It takes a full minute after Vivian disappears before any of us move.
The lot feels too bright. Too still. Like we’ve all just been dropped out of one reality and into another, and we’re still blinking against the change. I lean against the SUV and close my eyes for a second, just breathing. The adrenaline is wearing off now, replaced by this quiet weight in my chest that feels almost like grief, except cleaner. Final.
