Page 181 of His Forsaken Alpha

“Do you not understand what all this means for me?” Vaughn asked. “You call me self-centered, but you didn’t just find out you’re the product of incest with a long line of mental health issues mixed in. Papa’s papa was mad. Papa’s had moments where he wasn’t much better.” He lifted the letter in his hand.“And now I learn my father put a hit out on my papa. And he gleefully admits it? Why? Why would he do that?”

“Order the hit or the admission?”

“Neither is something a sane person would do.”

“We don’t know his story,” Wilder said. “And I fear we might never know.”

“Plus he’s not here to defend himself,” Vaughn said.

“You have a point, but it’s pretty hard to defend what’s in that letter,” Wilder said. “While I’d like to think he owned up to it because it was weighing on his soul, from the tone of the letter, I think he wanted to hurt Papa one last time.”

“Yeah,” Vaughn murmured. “I got that feeling, too.”

Wilder took a seat beside him on the stone steps, silent.

A few seconds passed in silence.

“What if I turn into him, Wilder?”

“Learning this doesn’t change who you are. You’re still the same person, with the same wants and needs. You’re still an intelligent, accomplished alpha who’s the CFO of a powerful, multiprovincial company on the rise—and you’re not even thirty yet.”

“Nepotism.”

“Yes, but you’ve proven time and time again that you’re capable in that chair, regardless of how you got there. You’re smart, quick on your feet, with out-of-the-box thinking. You see moves ahead of me—and one day, once you’ve got more experienceunder your belt—you’re going to make an incredible CEO of Jaymes & Associates.”

Vaughn handed the letter and envelope back to his brother. “If I follow in my father’s footsteps and try to have you killed, I suppose I can have that title.”

Wilder scoffed, folding and shoving the letter inside the envelope.

“Why’s that funny? The only way I get that spot is you die, or I force you out. I don’t say that because I have plans for either at the moment, but it’s the truth of the matter.”

“There might be other options. Maybe I’ll move on to something else when you’re ready—or perhaps we lead together as Co-CEOs down the line.”

“Co-CEOs?Don’t patronize me, Wild.”

“You’re the out-of-the-box thinker here. How can you only see two options?” Wilder asked. “We’ve landed the Green Trust account. J&A gets to build a brand-new megaprovince. It’s going to take years to finish the work on the outer walls and infrastructure—and once it’s done, we plant our flag and open new offices there so we can be the builder they choose to construct everything else inside. One day, that province will grow to be bigger than Alexandria.Who’sgoing to take the helm and run the show there?”

The idea was interesting, but Vaughn fought his curiosity. “You’dstillbe the CEO.”

“Not if we spun it off as a new business under the board’s control.”

Vaughn narrowed his eyes. “You have nearly all the stock now, which means you can place yourself as president of the board.”

“I wasn’t talking shit when I said I planned to split that stock with you. We could be equal partners,” Wilder said.

“Equal partners inmy father’sbusiness?”

“Equal partners in a family business started byourgreat-great-grandfather,” Wilder corrected.

Vaughn glared, not wanting Wilder to know his interest was piqued.

Wilder rose off the step and fully faced him. “Do you truly think owning J&A and controlling every aspect on your own, without me, will make you happy? Will it satisfy whatever need you have within and prove whatever it is you feel the need to prove? Because, if that’s the case, it’s yours. Buy me out with Warden’s assets and take control. I’ll move on to my next adventure right now—if it brings you peace.”

The past months working side-by-side with Wilder had been some of the best of his life. He’d finally gotten the brother he’d wanted all along. Things had been moving along swimmingly—until their father had died.

Myfather.

He sighed inwardly. What did it really matter? Wilder hadn’t known. Neither of them had. They’d each assumed Warden was his dad his entire life. He knew he wasn’t being fair, but it was hard to let it go, either—not after the time and attention, knowledge, and ownership Warden had poured into Wilder. When it had been Vaughn’s turn, he’d seemed to get the abridged version of‘How to Run This Company.’He’d alwaysassumed it was because Wilder was the heir apparent, and he was simply the spare.

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