I turn and look at him. My grandfather seems to have aged five years in mere days.

“She made me choose, and I didn’t choose her. How could I not blame myself?”

My grandfather shifts in his seat. “She didn’t have the right to make you choose. That was her last attempt at manipulating you. Besides,” he says as he pulls a newspaper from his seat and holds it out to me. “This is what sent her over the edge. Not you.”

I take the paper and read the headline.

Billionaire’s Dead Son Outed as Bigamist

“Holy fuck,” I whisper.

“Exactly. I need you to say your good-byes to your mother and forgive her for all the heartache she caused you in life and in death. Then you’re going to stand up and help me save what’s left of this family before Renee Rango destroys us all.”

Six

Whitney

“You did this,” Harrison says to me as Commodore disappears inside the room with Lincoln. “You killed her just as much as he did.”

My gaze darts toward him, and McKinley stiffens next to me.

Lincoln’s brother doesn’t need to lay on the guilt. I’m already feeling plenty. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let him bully me.

I cross my arms over my chest. “What are you talking about?”

He whips out a newspaper from beneath his arm and shoves it at me. As soon as I read the headline, my knees buckle.

“Oh my God,” I whisper as the edges crumple in my fingers.

I sacrificed ten years of my life to keep this secret . . . and it was all for nothing.

My second thought hits just as hard. Roosevelt’s shoddy lawyer must not have filed their divorce papers . . . or was Renee lying about him divorcing her too?

“You knew, didn’t you?” Harrison’s voice carries a vicious edge.

“Stop it. Just leave her alone.” McKinley comes to my rescue and takes the paper from my hand, then tosses it back at her brother. “Ignore him. He’s looking for anyone to blame but the person actually responsible for all of it.”

I curl my hands into fists and lean against the wall, wanting to scream and rage. But I don’t, because I know Harrison will use anything I say against me. Instead, I practice breathing slowly, in through my nose and out through my mouth, to prevent myself from losing my shit.

A few minutes later, the door to the room opens and Lincoln and his grandfather emerge. Lincoln moves to my side and slips his arm around my shoulders.

“It’s time to circle the wagons,” Commodore announces. “Everyone is going back to the estate, and that’s where we’ll stay until we’ve dealt with this situation. If anyone has a problem with that—I don’t give a damn.”

Lincoln’s hold tightens on me as my stomach drops.

Stay at the Riscoff estate with Lincoln’s family? Based on the glare Harrison is shooting in my direction, that prospect sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.