Page 68 of Old Money

I smile down at her.

“You have a fortune?” I say.

“Nah, but someday, I might.”

I smile and kiss her again.

“Deal.”

We fucklike rabbits all over my office until we’re a sweaty mess, panting on the leather couch that sticks to my bare ass when we’re done. We shower off, make a bowl of popcorn, and climb into my bed while the sun sets over Manhattan, and she curls up against me as the next episode ofCheersstarts.

We met the day she saved my life. And the truth is, she’s been saving me every day since then. Everything I’ve ever known in my life is about to come crashing down, but with her here in my bed, it doesn’t feel as doomed. It feels like I’ll get through it. It feels like the world will still turn. If I never did anything but wake up next to her every day for the rest of my life, I’d know it was a life well lived, all because Sawyer Willis loved me.

EPILOGUE

JULIAN

It’s been a week since we had the discussion after we rescued her from campus. Since she told me she was all in. And God, I’ve never felt more fortunate in my entire charmed life. The reporter who reached out to me is being strangely easy to work with, but I’m not positive how long that will last. I spend half my time keeping the businesses running and making sure that my dad has no inkling that anything is off or that anyone is on to him.

I spend the other half with my private legal team, devising a plan and figuring out how to get to the bottom of all this. The thing is, I knew the moment I read the email that it wasn’t a lie. I was never a witness to it; my father tends to keep me out of his private company affairs—no pun intended, and I never heard any rumblings of it. But the thing is, I know him. I know his nature. I’ve seen the way he discards people, how little he knows about the people who work for him—including his own sons—and how much he cares about how productive they are. When the world is moving toward flexibility and a work-life balance, he stands ten toes down, forcing a culture that he himself has never had to respond to.

I don’t hate my father. Even through all of this, despite what I may find out about him, there’s still a kid in me that adores him and holds on to the idea that one day he may turn out to be the man I always hoped he would.

But grown-up Julian knows the truth—that if I want a man like that in my life, then I’d have to become him.

I’m in my study at the penthouse, staring out over the city but not taking in any of it. I dial both my brothers from the burner phone Nat ordered for me when all of this happened. Sawyer gave them a tip that I was going to call.

They both pick up at the same time, and it’s really good to see their faces. Keaton appears to be on a balcony, and Brooks is lying on a beach. I roll my eyes.

“Do you ever work?” I ask him. He laughs and shrugs.

“What’s up, J?” Keaton asks, ignoring both of us. “Why are you calling us from this number? And why did Sawyer have to tell us?”

“I need you both to be somewhere private,” I say. I see Keaton stand up immediately and move into his apartment. The expression on Brooks’s face goes from his normal carefree to “oh shit” real quick when he sees Keaton moving. He stands up from the chaise and jogs across the beach. When his camera stops shaking, I see that he’s in some fancy resort suite.

“I’m good,” Keaton says.

“Me too,” Brooks says. I sigh as I lean over the phone in my desk chair.

“Boys, we’re in for it,” I tell them. “And the only way out is if we’re together, and we take down the king.”

Keaton stares at me wide-eyed. He knows what I’m saying. Brooks is confused, and I sigh. This isn’t how I wanted to try to convince him of what we wanted to do, but I don’t have a choice. There’s no slow rollout to this. He’s either with us, or he’s with my dad.

I tell them the story. I read them the email, and then I wait a beat.

“Fuck,” Brooks says, rubbing his temple. “Do you think he did it?”

Keaton scoffs.

“Of course he fucking did it,” he says. “He does whatever the fuck he wants.”

“Fuck,” Brooks says again.

“So what are you thinking, J?” Keaton asks.

“I think you both need to come to New York. Tomorrow,” I say. “I’ll have legal ready to meet with us. Looks like our post-Cato plans are going to need to be rolled out faster than we had initially thought, Keat.”

Keat thinks for a moment, nodding.

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