Page 158 of His Forsaken Alpha

“You know you always have a home to come to,” Wilder murmured, eyeing Wynter.

Wynter held his son’s gaze and smiled, fighting back a wave of emotion.

Harris dropped the duffle he had on one shoulder. “I apologize for imposing. I know I’m asking for too much, but I need to get the hell out of Blacksburg…” He looked away, his shoulders drooping. “I promise I’ll earn my keep.I swear.”

A member of the ground crew moved to shut the outer door, but Wynter waylaid him.

“Tell me why you’re running,” Wynter said to Harris.

“The Blacksburg Provincial Government torpedoed me and…I’ve lost everything.”

Wynter saw the anguish in his brother’s eyes. His gaze flicked to the grounds crewman and nodded. Harris slid into the empty seat, his relief apparent by the way his body melted into it.

“What did your company do?” Cavanaugh asked as the flight team closed the door and the propellers sped up.

“We were building new satellites and planned to launch them to connect services within the Palatinate,” Harris said. “News travels too slow across the continent, going from provincial intranet to provincial intranet. Things that happen in the Western Provinces can take months, if not a year to reach us here—if at all. I wanted to connect the continent and make that process quicker.”

“Seems clever,” Cavanaugh said. “Why’d it fail?”

“Itshouldn’thave failed,” Harris groused. “We should be able to connect to people, news, goods, and services outside our home province. The doors it would’ve opened for fair trade alone was immeasurable. But Blacksburg politicians caught wind of what we were planning and scrambled to stop us in our tracks. A few months ago, they passed a law preventing connected internet services between provinces, claiming it was a security risk. I tried to fight and contemplated moving the company to a more welcoming province, but along the way I lost multiple investors and some key employees on the tech end—they got scared and lost faith. After they were gone, there was nothing left to fight for. I was the money man and the vision. Without the science, the company was doomed.”

“I’m so sorry,” Wynter murmured.

“Not your fault,” Harris replied, shoulders slumped. “I really thought we had something special there. We were going torevolutionize the Palatinate.”He smiled wryly. “Only we crashed and burned.”

“Are you going to try and rebuild elsewhere?” Cavanaugh asked. “The idea seems sound. Just because Blacksburg said no, other provinces might be interested.”

“Oh, they are. We had competition in other provinces. It was a great race as to who could get their infrastructure in place first and corner the market. Before the law was changed, we were in the lead, but we quickly fell to the back of the pack. Nowsomeone elsewill make our dreams happen.”

“That’s rough,” Cavanaugh said.

“Yep,” Harris muttered. “I sold what was left of the company. The new buyers wanted the satellites and materials to build more for the scrap metal alone. They took ownership on Friday, and I watched as they began to dismantle all our hard work. The investors still left were mostly made whole thanks to the sale, but I haven’t. I’ve lost everything.” He sighed. “At my age, I don’t know what I do next.”

“You talk like you’re some old man,” Wynter murmured. “You’re, what—forty-five?”

“Forty-six,”Harris corrected with a sardonic smile. “But after the last year of fighting for our lives, I feel twice as old.”

“I get feeling adrift. I’m right there myself,” Wynter said. “I don’t know what comes next either.”

“I told Harris we might be able to find him something at Jaymes & Associates,” Wilder murmured. He turned to Harris. “I’ll still need time to see what we have open and there’s no guarantee we have something you’llwantto do, either.”

“I realize that,” Harris said. “And me jumping on this helicopter wasn’t me trying to pressure you, Wilder. I appreciate your generous offer and if there’s something that’s a good fit for both meandthe company, I just might take it—but honestly, don’t jump through hoops to make it happen. I don’t know what I want for myself right now. I’m grieving this loss and the future I’d been envisioning. All Idoknow is I needed out of Blacksburg, and I wasn’t going to go to work at the fucking bank.”

“You don’t want to work the family business, hmm?” Cavanaugh asked with a grin.

“I love my brothers. I do. They’ve protected me my entire life… but I don’t want to work there. That’sDad’scompany, and whilethey’ve all somewhat forgiven him, I haven’t,” Harris said. “I don’t want his moneyorto be a part of his legacy. I want to makemy ownway. Somehow, someway, I want to stand on my own two feet—though, I haven’t had much luck so far.”

“There’s time,” Wynter murmured. “And maybe this change of venue might help.”

Harris smiled, a cynical look in his eyes.“Maybe.”

Silence fell between them, the hum and vibration of the helicopter the only sound.

“Speaking of your dad,” Wilder said to Wynter. “I know how hard that was to face him—andyour papa. I’m proud of you.”

Wynter inhaled, feeling like he hadn’t really breathed since being in that house.“Thank you.”

Cavanaugh slid his fingers through Wynter’s, and he squeezed his alpha’s hand tight. Resting his head on Cavanaugh’s shoulder, he closed his eyes and took another deep breath, hugging the diary and envelope close as he listened to Wilder and Harris talk business, Alexandria, and the future.

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