Chapter 32

(Rylan)

The first thing I did after leaving Aaron’s was to call my sister. Rosalie told me that everything was fine at the house and not to worry about her. An idea popped into my head about somewhere for Rosalie to live, where she would always be safe. It is something I will have to talk to Aaron about when I see him later.

My second call was to my second in command to let her know that I would be in this afternoon. She was excited to be in charge and told me that she would see me later. The third call I made was one I was dreading.

It was to my father to let him know that I was on the way to meet him. He gave me his room number, then hung up on me. That should have pissed me off, but it didn’t. Not this time, when I had so many questions running through my head.

My father may not be my favorite person, but he is my father, and I do love him. I have always wanted us to be closer, but because of his wife and my mother, that was never possible. We could have gotten closer as I got older and started building my career. Sadly, we didn’t.

Over the last few years, we have only talked on major holidays and our birthdays. It is more than I talk to my mother, so that should count. I hope to never speak to that woman again after what she said to me that day at Rosalie’s house.

I shake those thoughts out of my head as I pull up to the hotel. Five minutes later, I am knocking on my father’s door. I tap my foot nervously as I wait for him. What I didn’t expect was for my brother to answer the door.

“Andrew? What are you doing here?”

“It seems like I was summoned just like you,” he says, stepping back and motioning for me to enter.

I enter the suite and look around. My father booked the penthouse suite, and it shows. My eyes search for him, and I find him standing near a wall of windows with his back to us. He is on the phone, and if the tension in his back is anything to go on, the call isn’t going well.

After glancing at my brother, who only shrugs his shoulders, I walk to the plush-looking sofa to take a seat. Andrew follows me, then takes a seat after I do. My gaze lands on my father’s back after I sit down.

I am not used to seeing him look so tense.

“She is my daughter, Eva. I am tired of you making me feel like I have to choose you and our child over her.” There is a long pause as he listens to whatever she is saying. “I am done with this conversation. I am going to spend some time with my daughter.” He hangs up the phone, then tosses it on the table beside him.

I can see his shoulders move up and down like he is trying to calm himself. A few moments later, he turns to face us, and the look in his eyes takes my breath away. Sadness and guilt are swimming in his eyes.

Why now?

Why, after all these years, is he standing up to his wife for me?

What is going on here?

“I am glad you could find the time in your oh so busy schedule to meet me here today, Rylan.” His voice is hard and laced with sarcasm. “Was your date last night fun?”

“Yes, it was very enjoyable and enlightening. Aaron is a good man.”

“Well, compared to the last two men you have been with, I hope he is.”

I stare at him in shock for a moment before anger rushes to the surface. How dare this man judge me after what I went through? I expected that kind of attitude from his wife, but not from him.

Not my own father.

“Aaron is a good man, dad. He was there for her after that bastard Paulson tried to hurt her. Carter would do anything to keep her safe.” My brother stands up in a huff and faces off with our father.

Forever, my defender, and I love him for it.

“Carter? As in Aaron Carter? The other half of G&C Enterprises?” Dad looks surprised.

I nod my head. My father smiles, which surprises me. He nods his head, then walks to the wingback chair near the fireplace. He is slow in his movements and has a slight limp that I didn’t notice last night.

Andrew sits back down after he sees that the situation isn’t going to snowball into verbal sparring. I glance at him and give a small smile of thanks. With my brother here, I am sure this meeting will be easier.

“Why did you come here to talk to me when you could have just called?“Why did you come here to talk to me when you could have just called?” I ask my father after he sits down.

His eyes meet mine, and there is a depth of emotion there that I am not sure how to decipher. If he were anyone else, I would say there was remorse and guilt swimming in his eyes. Then, just like that, they are gone, and anger is all I see.

“Why did I have to hear about what happened to you, not from you, but from your brother? Were you ever going to tell me? I had to find out that my daughter was attacked twice by someone other than her.” As he spoke, his tone went from anger to outright hostility.

I close my eyes to control my own anger. “That reaction is exactly what I didn’t tell you.”

He looks at me with annoyance on his face. “I have the right to be angry about this, Rylan. You are my daughter, and I deserve to know what happened to you. You may be an adult, but you will always be my child.”

“So, what happened to me is all about you now? How you felt or didn’t feel about what happened was the least of my concerns.” I stand up from the sofa, grab my bag off the floor, and then head to the door. I get all the way across the room before he calls out for me to stop.

“Please sit, Rylan. I am sorry.” His voice is gentle, and I almost think he means it.

I do as he asks, but this time I keep my bag on my lap. The three of us sit in silence for a few minutes before my father stands up slowly and walks into what I assume is the bedroom. When he comes back out, he has two manila envelopes in his hand. He hands one to Andrew and the other to me, then he sits back down.

“What is this, Dad?” Andrew asks as he flips his envelope over to open the flap.

Both packets look full, and mine is as heavy as it looks.

“Some information has come to light over the last few weeks, and I am making some changes. Changes that are far overdue. Open your packets, and I will explain what I have planned.”

I open the envelope in my hand and then pull out a thick bundle of papers. In big, bold letters at the top of the front page, read The Last Will and Testament of Juilo Perez. Holy shit.

“What the hell is this, Dad?” Andrew exclaims after he opens his envelope.

I glance over at his lap and see that he has a copy of the will, too. What the fuck is happening here? Why would he come all this way to give us these?

“Are you sick?” I blurted out in panic. Fear courses through my body when he looks at me and nods once.

“What? Dad, what is going on here?”

“I have lung cancer. My doctor found it about a month ago, and I have been putting my affairs in order since then. Starting with you two. Before you ask, yes, I am getting treatment. Here in California, since I will be moving here in a few weeks.”

Andrew and I look at each other in shock and confusion. I can see that he has just as many questions as I do. What should I ask first?

“What about mom? Is she moving out here too?” Andrew asks as he looks down at his lap. He moves the papers to the empty space between us, then looks up at our father.

“No. Your mother is going to Spain with your sister. We are getting a divorce.”

Holy shit.

I can feel his gaze on me as he says the last part, and it makes me look at him. Was that why they were arguing over the phone when I got here? Why now?

Before I can ask why, Andrew stands up and walks to the minibar in the corner of the room. He pours two glasses of scotch and brings them back, handing one to our father. They share a look, and in that one look, I can tell that there is something that he knows that I don’t.

“What happened between you two? I thought you were happy.”

“Our marriage was never the same after the affair with your mother came to light. Even after Juanita was born, there were still problems. She was always accusing me of having affairs, and despite what you two think or believe, I was faithful to Eva. As it turns out, she wasn’t, though.”

What the hell? Eva cheated on my dad. I have no idea why that surprises me, but it does.

“Mom cheated on you? When?” Andrew asks with a frown.

Our father looks down at his scotch for a few moments before he looks at Andrew. There is anger and sadness in his eyes. I bet that is how Eva felt when he cheated on her with my mother. Does it make it right that she cheated on him? Not at all, but it does feel like karma caught up with my father.

“She claims it was only twice that she felt so guilty afterwards. It also explains why she started accusing me of cheating on her more and more over the years. Her guilty conscience at work.”

“How did you even find out?” I ask quietly.

“Juanita did a DNA test as a joke with her friends. She took samples from us somehow and sent the kit in. When she got the results, she came to me crying. She will be joining me here in a few months.”

Andrew stands abruptly, downs his scotch, then walks to the mini bar again. “So, who is her father? Did Mom tell you that much?”

I watch in horror as tears gather in my father’s eyes and slide down his cheeks. Despite how Eva treated me growing up, in a way, I understand why she did it. I know my father loved her and still loves her by the way he is reacting now.

Cheating is horrible. If you are unhappy in your marriage, then get a divorce. My father put his wife through so much pain, and after all those years, she is putting him through the same thing now that he knows the truth.

“I told her that I didn’t want to know. If Juanita wants to know, then that is between the three of them.”

I am surprised that he doesn’t want to know. After the room falls silent, I look down at the papers on my lap. Why would he give us each a copy of his will? Did he cut Eva out of it?

“What is in here?” I ask as I tap the pages. I know that I could just read them, but I want to hear it from my father.

“Andrew, come sit back down so that I can go over a few of the more important details with you both.”

My brother grabs the bottle of scotch and comes back to the couch. He pours a very generous amount into his glass, then sits the bottle down on the small coffee table. It doesn’t look like he is taking any of this well.

I mean, he is the oldest, so I don’t blame him. We just found out that our father is sick. Not only that, but my brother just found out that his mother cheated on our father and that they are divorcing. Then there is Juanita, who I thought was my half-sister and Andrew’s full-blooded sister.

As it turns out, she is now not related to me at all and is only his half-sister. This meeting has been very illuminating so far. I did not see any of it coming either.

“I had my will rewritten after my diagnosis and the DNA reveal. You two are my only biological children.”

“You are cutting Juanita out of the will?” Andrew asks in surprise.

My father huffs out a sigh of annoyance. He hates being interrupted, but he better get used to it because I have so many questions. I am very happy that Andrew is being so vocal too.

“No, I am not. Your mother will get the house in Spain and a large sum. Juanita will have her trust fund, and I gave her the house of her choice. The rest will be split between the two of you. I wanted this meeting to go through it all with you before I file it with the courts.”

That is what we did for the next hour. It felt wrong to go over all my father’s assets and divide them between me and my brother. I tried to tell my father that I didn’t want anything from him, but he wouldn’t listen. That pissed me off, but didn’t surprise me at all.

Later, after everything was sorted out, and Andrew left, I was asked to stay. There wasn’t anything left to say on my part, but I could tell there was more on my father’s mind. It was like he was waiting for Andrew to leave before we could talk one-on-one.

“Are you ok, Rylan?” He asks quietly after I stuff the manila envelope in my bag.

“No, this shit is so fucked up.”

“That isn’t what I was referring to. The assault at the hospital. How are you handling that?”

He wants to talk about that. Oh, goodness, I was not prepared for this conversation. How do I even talk to him about what Heath tried to do to me?

“Rylan, I know that I haven’t been the best father to you. I wanted to make my wife happy, and I turned a blind eye to how she treated you when you were little. It was wrong, and I can never change the past, but if you will let me, I want to try to be there for you.”

That is all I have ever wanted from him.

Tears fill my eyes as he stands from his chair and opens his arms for me.