Page 86 of Boss's Baby: A Fake Fiance Romance

The house felt extra empty as I wandered out of my room and down to the first floor. My footsteps echoed through the vast space, the décor and other remains of the party still there. It should’ve been a morning of celebration and fun and family. It would be anything but.

And, of course, Sam was up and ready to start his day. He was seated at the bar in the kitchen, coffee in front of him and a pleased smile on his face as he read one thing or another on his tablet.

“Merry Christmas,” he said. “You sleep well?”

I wordlessly poured myself a cup of coffee, knowing I was going to need a lot of it to get through the day. I didn’t want to say a thing to Sam. But I couldn’t resist.

“Why the hell did you do it? You gave me the option to come clean, and then you went back on it?”

He shrugged. “Something about the way you reacted to our conversation didn’t exactly give me a ton of faith that you were going to do the right thing. And besides, the more I thought about it, the more I realized our families needed to know the truth.”

“That’s what it was about, huh? You being dedicated to the truth?” My tone was wry and edged with anger.

“Listen, Josh. I know we’ve had our differences, but you have to believe me when I say I care about the wellbeing of the family and our company. Don’t you think Dad deserved to know that his son was nothing more than a liar and a schemer?”

“Maybe so, but you gave me the chance to do the right thing and took it away. And now it’s a mess.”

“It was already a mess—you saw to that. Now everything’s out in the open, and you can deal with the fallout.”

I hated how smug, how pleased with himself, he was being. I stepped toward Sam and raised a finger in front of his face. “You’re acting like you’ve got these noble reasons for doing what you did. But I know the truth.”

“The truth? And what’s that?”

“You saw a chance to get one over on your big brother, and you took it. You hate living in my shadow, and you couldn’t resist bringing me down.”

He regarded my finger, not appearing to be bothered. “You want to think this is all about petty sibling rivalry, you’re more than welcome. But I know why I did what I did. I don’t need to convince you of anything.” He rose from his seat and stepped around the counter. “And if I were you, I’d be more worried about what the man in the study has to say.”

“Shit. He’s up?”

“Of course he is. And I only saw him for a moment, but you can bet he’s not exactly in the holiday spirit. And you have no one but yourself to blame.”

As much as I wanted to chew Sam out for what he’d done, I knew he was right about Dad. I needed to talk to him and find out if there was some way I could salvage something from what had happened.

“We’re not done, Sam,” I said.

“Maybe. But you most certainly are.”

I wished I had something witty to say, but I was too angry, too tired. And my mind needed to be focused on the conversation I was about to have with the old man. So I simply left, heading toward the study. Once I reached the doors, I stopped, knowing the course of my life was about to change forever.

Dad was inside, like Sam had said he’d be, seated in his usual chair. The fire crackled in the fireplace, but other than that, dead silence hung in the room. He didn’t even take a look in my direction as I entered. But there was no going back.

I sat down in the chair next to him, wondering if he’d reach over and throttle me as soon as I did. Not like I didn’t deserve it. Might’ve even made me feel better, like I was receiving an earned punishment. But instead, Dad was silent. Even worse.

Moments passed, and I knew I had to say something, anything.

“I’m sorry.” It seemed like as good of a place to start as any.

More silence, and for a second I thought he might’ve been giving me the silent treatment to end all silent treatments, totally blotting me out of his mind and life forever.

“You’re sorry. I’ll bet you are.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Funny thing about doing something like you did—when you have to think about it and explain the damn thing, you end up coming up short. It’s not surprising you don’t know what the hell to say.”

“I…it’s that I’ve wanted to run this company since I was a kid, and when you told me what I needed to do, I got so ahead of myself.”

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