WILDER BLINKED, LOOKING STOIC, as he sat in his leather armchair in this study inside the penthouse, and gripped his glass of bourbon a little tighter.
“Cecily is dying?” Wilder asked, straight-faced, his expression giving up almost nothing. Did he care? Was he concerned that another human being, and not just any human being, but beautiful, sweet Cecily who was dying?
Liam nodded once. He noticed his left knee bobbing. He willed it to be still. “Yes. Cancer.”
Wilder said nothing. Liam wondered why he was surprised. He didn’t even manage a “That’s too bad,” or “Sorry, brother.” Nothing. The wheels in his older brother’s mind seemed to whirl as he stood, placed his glass on a side table and wandered over to the large windows overlooking Manhattan, his view largely of the tops of the smaller buildings around him, and in the distance, the rectangle of green that was Central Park. He kept his back to Liam as he stared out on the city, the sharp angles of steel buildings jutting into the blue sky.
“Are you going to say something?” he asked his brother. Maybe condolences? Maybe something better, like, Sure, I’ll give you the money. Let’s save the love of your life. Let me finally do something worthwhile. Prove that after everything, maybe I do have a heart.
Liam hadn’t wanted to tell him Cecily’s secret, but he also realized there’d be no way he’d get the money without coming clean. He hated this game of cat and mouse. Hated trying to figure out which lever he needed to pull to get Wilder to cooperate. He’d never been any good at scheming, one of many reasons he’d walked away from this family. He’d been tired of the endless plotting, the conspiracies, the backstabbing. His mother would probably always want to fight Wilder, always want to scheme against him, and Liam didn’t blame her. But it wasn’t the life for him.
“She needs an experimental surgery if she has any hope of living. And the surgery is expensive.” Liam kept his voice flat, but inside, his stomach churned. He hadn’t realized how dire things were until he said them out loud, how much he needed this to work. He couldn’t sit by while she wasted away, not while there was a chance he could save her.
Wilder glanced at Liam over his shoulder, but kept his arms crossed over his chest.
“I see.”
Silence fell between the two brothers. Would Seth have to beg? Would Wilder make him? Did that even matter? He loved Cecily more than he’d ever loved anyone in his life. Her living was the only thing that mattered, wasn’t it?
“I don’t really need the seat. Maria was right when she told you that things have changed.” Wilder turned now and stared at Liam, as he clasped his hands behind his back.
“I know you don’t need it,” Liam said, an anxious fear rising in him. If there wasn’t an angle for Wilder, he’d never be interested. “But I’m asking you for this.” He swallowed hard, as he stood. “Please,” he added, his voice so low he almost didn’t hear the word. Surprise crossed Wilder’s face. “Cecily needs this. And I love her.”
Wilder studied Liam. “I believe you do love her.”
Well, that was something, Liam guessed.
“But how long have you two known each other?”
“What does that matter?” Liam’s whole body bristled with indignation.
“I heard from your friend, Dr. Kelly.”
Liam held his breath. “Why’d she contact you?”
“I reached out to several of your friends after...you wouldn’t sign over your seat. I just asked them for the personal favor of letting me know when you resurfaced in their lives. Or if you did.”
“You’re spying on me.” Liam wondered how many other “friends” might be reporting back to him.
“I’m keeping tabs on my baby brother. Making sure he’s okay.”
Liam sniffed. “Sure. If that’s what you tell yourself.” Liam glared. “What did Rebecca tell you?”
“She said you and Cecily had just recently met, and that Cecily didn’t want to have her tests redone. That she preferred to use her old charts. Rebecca thought it was suspicious.”
“Rebecca is just jealous,” Liam said.
“Did Cecily make contact with you first, or did you approach her?” Wilder changed the subject, as he reached for his glass on the side table. He took a sip of his drink, but his eyes remained sharply focused on Liam.
“Why the hell does that even matter?” What was he getting at? Liam took a step closer. Wilder stood his ground by the window.
“I think you should be careful.”
“What the hell are you trying to say, Wilder?” He hated the way Wilder danced around everything, how he leaned so heavily on innuendo. And he wasn’t going to let him sit there and make insinuations about Cecily.
“I’m saying that it’s all a little suspicious. Maybe she’s playing you.” Wilder set his cup down, now two-thirds empty.
Liam felt a boiling rage bubble up inside him. How dare he even think she was the bad guy? “She’s not,” Liam ground out, realizing a little late that he’d balled his right hand into a fist. What was he going to do? Hit his brother? Part of him wanted to, but he also knew that he was Cecily’s last chance. “Are you going to give me the money or not?”
“I’m just saying what do you really know about this girl? What if it’s all some scam? What if she knew exactly who you were when she met you?”
He thought about the dive bar, about how she made a beeline for him. But what did that matter? “Even if she did know who I was, even if she did target me, she’d know that I had none of the Lange fortune.”
“But maybe she thought she could get you here, now, in front of me. Asking for some of it.”
Liam didn’t want to even consider the thought. Cecily loved him. And she wasn’t a crook. “Cecily didn’t even want me to ask you for this. She told me not to come. She isn’t even sure she wants the surgery.”
Wilder raised a suspicious eyebrow. “That’s just what I would say if I’m playing someone.”
Liam’s blood, now on fire, pushed him forward a step closer to his brother. “You’re wrong.” They were nose to nose now.
“And you’ve got a history of being blindly loyal,” Wilder said, without blinking. “To the wrong people.”
Liam sucked in a breath trying to contain his fury. He thought of Cecily, of what this meant to her, and counted backward in his head from ten, trying to maintain his calm.
“You better be careful how you speak to me,” Liam managed, uncurling his fists, deciding that hitting Wilder wasn’t worth it.
“I’m just trying to help you,” Wilder said.
“If you really cared about me, you’d just buy my seat. Give me what I’m asking for.”
Wilder paused—too long. In that moment, Liam knew this whole ask had been a waste of time. Wilder was never going to help him. What was he thinking?
Liam turned away from Wilder, feeling a rush of emotion: anger, disappointment, but most of all, sadness—that his brother was the same. That he’d likely always be the same. That when he needed his help the most, Wilder always turned his back on him.
“I’m just trying to look after you,” Wilder said.
“Like you give a shit about me,” Liam managed. “Don’t play big brother now, okay? It’s too late.”
“Liam. I’m not playing big brother. I am the head of this family.” There it was, he thought, Wilder’s signature move: reminding him exactly who had all the power.
“This was a waste of time,” Liam said. “I’m going. You won’t see me again.” Liam headed to the door.
“Liam! Wait,” Wilder called. Liam paused at the doorway. “I’ll buy the seat, okay?”
Liam wanted to tell him to go to hell. That the deal was off. Except, he couldn’t. Not with Cecily’s life in the balance. “Fine,” he ground out.
“I’ll have Maria contact you with details.”
Liam hesitated, glancing at Wilder. “What’s the catch?”
“I want you to be a part of the family again.”
Liam laughed bitterly. “What the hell do you mean? You want me to come home for Thanksgiving?”
“For a start.”
Liam couldn’t figure out the angle. Why did Wilder care whether or not he was in the family? He’d never much cared for him anyway. “Why?”
“Because we’re your family.”
Liam glanced at the magazine on Wilder’s side table. He was gracing the cover of Business Monthly, and the headline promised big ideas and innovation from the country’s wealthiest communications CEO, as he plots new mergers, including one with one of the biggest family entertainment companies in the world.
“No, this isn’t about family. This is about business.” Liam tapped the magazine. “You want to polish your image? Make sure you can merge with the world’s biggest animation studio? Wouldn’t look great if you were at the center of a family feud.”
A frown line appeared between Wilder’s eyebrows. “This doesn’t have anything to do with business. I want you back in the family. That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”
He wanted to tell Wilder to shove it. But he thought of Cecily. Of her need. “I’ll come back to the family—when Cecily is well.”
Wilder considered this. “Okay,” he said after a moment.
Liam turned to go. Liam ran into Cecily in the foyer, Harley on her heels. The two were laughing about something. Great. Glad they got along.
“Cecily, we’re leaving.”
Cecily glanced up at him, blue eyes wary. “Everything okay?”
“Let’s just go,” Liam grumbled, as he took her by the hand.
“Leaving so soon, sir?” Jacob asked, appearing from seemingly nowhere.
“Yes, Jacob. We’re going.”
Jacob sent for the elevator, even as Cecily glanced back at Harley, sending her an apologetic smile.
“It was nice meeting you,” Harley said.
“You, too!” Cecily managed, just as the elevator arrived. Wilder came out of his study, standing stoically in the hallway.
“Liam! Wait. Please stay for dinner,” he called.
“No,” Liam said, even as Liam tugged on Cecily’s arm, pulling her into the open elevator. “We can’t.”
The elevator doors closed before Cecily could finish her goodbyes. “I take it, that didn’t go so well?” she asked Liam. He didn’t want to answer at first, didn’t want to dash her hopes.
“No,” he said after a while. “It actually went okay.”
“But you’re angry?”
Liam pulled her close. “He’s going to give us the money.”
“Wait? What?” Cecily pulled away, looking shocked. “But you said it didn’t go well.”
“It didn’t, but he’s going to buy the board seat, so we can have the surgery.”
“It might not even work,” she said.
“But it might.”
Cecily looked worried. “What did he ask in return?”
Liam sighed. “He wants me to rejoin the family.”
Cecily brightened. “That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
Liam shook his head. How to explain that it had taken nearly all of his resolve to leave the toxic Langes behind? That going back just felt like the biggest defeat of his life.
“He doesn’t want to do it out of the goodness of his heart. It’s because it’s all about appearances. For a new merger. For the business.”
“Oh.” Cecily considered this a bit. “We don’t have to take the money.”
He whirled. “Of course we do. It’s your life we’re talking about.”
“You know, you don’t have to be my white knight.” Her eyes flashed with—what? Anger? Resentment? Why?
“Your what?” He didn’t understand what she was saying.
“I mean, you don’t have to save me.”
“What are you saying? I love you. I want you to live.”
“I’m not just a damsel in distress. I’m more than that. That’s all I’m trying to say,” Cecily countered, as the door opened. “I don’t need saving.”
Liam had no idea what this nonsense was or why they suddenly seemed like they were speaking two different languages. “Of course you need saving. What are we even arguing about? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Cecily stared up at the numbers in the elevator. She’d stopped talking. Wasn’t explaining why she was upset. It was driving him mad.
“Cee, please.” Liam reached out for her and pulled her close. “I don’t want to fight.”
“I don’t, either.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. That visit was stressful.”
“Damn right it was.” The elevators opened into the sleek, expansive lobby and they made their way out to the street. What he wanted to do was head to the nearest dive bar and order a PBR. But there wasn’t any such thing as a dive bar in this neighborhood. Everything was craft cocktails and gastropubs. He didn’t want to step foot in a place where a beer would run him fifteen dollars. They probably didn’t even have PBR.
“What did Wilder say, anyway?”
“You don’t want to know.” Liam wasn’t going to repeat those vile accusations.
“I do, though. Please.” Cecily tugged on his arm. She stopped him in the middle of the sidewalk as folks bustled by. A man brushed past him, not bothering to apologize.
“He’ll give me the money, but he wants me to rejoin the family. But he’s just doing that to make himself look good. To protect the company.”
“That’s not what Harley says.”
So, Harley had filled Cecily head with stories of how Wilder’s a great guy? Just like Seth tried to do with him.
“Well, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Liam said, feeling uneasy. He didn’t trust any member of the Lange family to shoot straight. He didn’t want them twisting Cecily’s mind.
“He’s giving me the money, but he...” Liam trailed off. He didn’t want to even voice Wilder’s accusations.
“But what? Go on, what did he say? Please. Liam. We promised to be open and honest with one another, remember?”
Liam hesitated. Damn. She had him there. “He told me that he thought you were just with me for the money. That you were trying to con me.”
Cecily went stock-still and quiet. “He did?” She pressed her hand to her chest.
“Yeah. He did. But he’s an asshole who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“He’s just trying to protect you,” Cecily said softly. She seemed sad suddenly, and that made Liam want to march right back up to Wilder’s penthouse and punch the man in the face. Cecily couldn’t waste time being sad. Her time was running out. “Maybe he’s not the bad guy you think he is.”
“How can you even say that?” Liam felt taken aback. “After everything he’s done?”
“Maybe there are two sides to this story,” she offered.
“No. There’s not.” He felt anger building in him, new grudges set atop old ones. But he didn’t want to fight about it. Not with Cecily. Not now. “And don’t try to protect him,” Liam said. “He’s not worth it.”
“Okay.” Cecily backed off, and he took her hand gently. He didn’t mean to rant at her. She didn’t deserve that.
“What are we going to do now?” Cecily asked.
Liam saw a nearby subway station. “We’re going to take the train to Hoboken, and then we’re going to hit the first dive bar we see.”
Cecily brightened a little. “Just like old times.”
He laughed. “Exactly right.”