Page 13 of Played
He sucks in a breath. “Your grandma’s clause states that the family member who looks after me at the end gets the money. Your parents must have found out because when they visited last week, they insisted that I would be coming to live with them. They were all fake smiles and polished words. I saw right through them, but, well, what was I going to do with all that money when I’m gone? So I agreed.” He places his gnarled hand over mine. “I’m sorry, King. And of course I’ve already provided for you, my boy. You know that, right?”
In all honesty, I never gave it much thought. I haven’t requested a penny from my family since I left, and I assumed myparents would find a way to cut me out of Grampa’s will. “I don’t care about your money.”
He smiles. “I know.”
“So, what? You agreed to go stay with them? Was that your plan until I showed up?”
“You showing up was my only plan, King. I’m sorry.” Tears run down his face once more.
“What do you mean?” Then it falls into place. My father kindly asking me to move back. Mother saying she wanted me to come home. Reese acting happy to see me. “You told them you’d only move back there if I came too.”
He nods sadly. “I… I thought they’d find a way to make me move in with them anyway. Have me declared mentally unfit or something. I didn’t intend for you to upend your whole life in Chicago and get a place of your own in New York. I know I don’t have long, so I thought you might be able to tolerate it for a few weeks. Because the only thing that could have made living with your parents bearable would have been to have you there. I’m sorry, son.”
I wrap my arms around him, filled with regret and guilt that I haven’t been there for him the way he always was for me. “You don’t have to be sorry for anything, Grampa. I’m glad you got me back here. I wouldn’t change this for anything.”
He sniffs. “You wouldn’t?”
“No. Being able to spend this time together, just you and me—that’s the best gift anyone could have ever given me. I’ll take that over twenty-five million any day.”
He laughs and pats the back of my head, and I release him from my embrace. “Well, now you’ll get both.”
“You coming to live with me means he doesn’t get the money? That’s why he turned up here so pissed!”
“Exactly.”
Well, fuck me. Pissing my parents off to the tune of twenty-five million dollars is the cherry on top of an already great day.
Chapter
Six
2 MONTHS LATER
KING
Islide the large envelope across the desk to Drake.
He opens it and peers inside at the collection of photographs. They’re also on a thumb drive, but I prefer to go old school and print them too. Anything online can be wiped, but photographs are cold, hard evidence.
“Thanks, buddy,” he says. “Nobody ever gets the job done as quickly as you.”
I shrug. “It wasn’t exactly taxing.” I’m used to much more interesting cases than the cheating husband I caught nailing his personal trainer in the back of her Mercedes.
He offers me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry I don’t have anything more exciting for you, buddy.” He tosses the envelope onto his desk. “I’m up to my ass in corporate lawsuits and messy divorces. I have to say, my wife much prefers me doing this kind of work than the kind we did back in Chicago.”
“You ever miss the place?” Before moving back to New York over a year ago, Drake headed up the Chicago branch of James and James, which was where he and I met ten years ago. James is a popular last name, and it didn’t occur to me that Drake James in Chicago was connected to Mason James in New York. When it did occur to me, I’d been working for him for monthsand we were already friends—as much as men like us ever have friends. I figured he was in Chicago for a reason and that he’d left New York behind the same way I did. If he knew who I was, he was clearly unbothered by it, so why should I be?
He shakes his head. “Nope. Everything I love most in the world is right here. You?”
I don’t actually know if it’s Chicago I miss or if it’s the freedom of being away from the Worthington name. Any city would probably be better than New York. “I miss the work there. You’d think New York would have a much more interesting clientele.”
Drake laughs. “They do, but unlike the Morettis, our New York clients have their own super hacker at their disposal. And believe me, she needs no help from anyone.”
“Sounds like an interesting setup.”
Drake’s lips curve and he nods. “Oh, it is, buddy.”
I glance at my watch. “I have another meeting to get to. But everything you need is in the envelope. Best of luck.”
