Page 3 of Hush Money
God, why was I such an idiot?
“I know,” I say, “but I’m saying it now.” She pulls back slowly, her green eyes bloodshot and watery. I take in a deep breath. “Evie, you…you’re my whole heart. You make my world make sense. I’ve never really been anyone else’s, because I think I’ve always been yours. And if you want me now, you have me.”
More tears well in her eyes as she shakes her head slowly.
“Keat, I…this is alot,”she says. I nod. I wait for her to say something—anything—else. But she doesn’t. A highlight reel plays in my head of every moment, every opportunity I’ve had over the last eight years to tell her how I felt. And if I could, I’d go back in time to every single one and punch myself in the face for not speaking up.
“If this is what you want,” I tell her, “then I want it for you. Because more than anything, I want you to be happy. You deserve the happiness that you bring everyone else, Eve. But I’m not going to stand here and tell you that I want to be a part of it. Thatwouldbe a lie.”
She sniffs, and it breaks me even more.
I reach out and bring my hands to her face. I stroke her jawline with my thumb, and I let my eyes roam her freely, trying to commit every corner of her face to my memory in case that’s all I have left. Finally, I lean forward and kiss her forehead.
“Evie, no matter what happens, I need you to know that you have me. Always,” I say, pushing myself to stand. “Even when you have him, you have me.”
You’re too late, Keat,I tell myself.
Or maybe—the scariest thought of all creeps in—maybe I never stood a chance in the first place.
KEATON
As the wheels of my brother’s jet lift off the ground beneath me, I replay the conversation I just had with my brothers over and over and over.
My younger brother, Brooks, and I picked up the call at the same time. I was sitting on the balcony of my perfect apartment in perfect Malibu, figuring out how to save the world in yet another way. Far, far away from New York and anything that would remind me that I am an Everett. My older brother, Julian, was in the office of his Manhattan penthouse. And the idiot that is Brooks? He was lying on a beach somewhere, drinking out of a fucking coconut.
“Do you ever work?” Julian asked him. He laughed and shrugged.
“What’s up, J?” I asked, ignoring both of them. My anxiety had been killing me since Julian’s girlfriend called us earlier that day to tell us that we needed to answer a call that was going to come in from an unknown number. “Why are you calling us from this number? And why did Sawyer have to tell us?”
“Boys, we’re in for it,” he told us. “And the only way out is if we’re together, and we take down the king.”
The king.He meant our father, Cato Everett, the third richest man on the entire fucking planet. The man who gave us everything and never let us forget it. The man who raised us not to take on the world but to boost him higher up, make him look like the loving, doting father and not like the ruthless man who treated our mothers like trash and paid for other people to help parent us.
When everything else in my life went down the drain, I got out of New York as fast as I possibly could. I got to the West Coast and began dedicating my life—and my money—to undoing some of the things my father has spent his life doing. He owns oil; I fund private climate change research and organizations. He buys small businesses to squeeze the juice out of them before hanging them out to dry; I find the ones struggling to keep their doors open and pay their overhead for a year.
I might have his name, but I refuse to be a part of his “legacy.”
But now, it appears there is more to this than meets the eye—or the tabloids—with my father. He’s done things—terrible things—that he can’t undo and that cannot stay buried.
So here I am, on the way back to the very place that broke me.
I close my eyes as the plane lifts higher and higher, leaving my fortress of solitude farther and farther behind.
Getting closer to the fucked-up mess that is my family. The city where I lost everything.
Where I losther.
When the plane finally lands,my brother already has a car waiting for me on the tarmac. I recognize the head of my brother’s security detail, Russ, and a new guy with him I’ve never seen before. They both nod in my direction, then Russ wraps me in a big hug and claps me on the back.
“Good to have you in town, Keat,” Russ says. Then he stands back and points to the other guy. “This is Mac. He’s been training with us for a few months. He will be your detail while you’re in town.” I roll my eyes and smile. I fucking hate having a security detail. I hate that we think we are so goddamn important that we pay people to follow us around. But my brothers and I are each worth more than the collective wealth of the fucking world. So it’s an insurance thing instated by none other than Daddy Dearest.
“Good to meet you, Mac. I’ll try to behave while I’m here.” I shake his hand, and Russ scoffs.
“So, your brother’s place?” Russell asks as we all buckle into the big black Escalade. I think for a second. I’d love to stop by my favorite Thai restaurant, grab a six pack, and hole up in my apartment in SoHo, hiding away from the world.
But my brother needs me. They both do, even if Brooks is too ignorant to realize it yet. I sigh.
“Yeah. Let’s get to Julian’s.”
