Page 5 of At His Wife's Behest

“Come on,” Emma said, sighing. “He was a bastard, and we both know it.”

“Those tears looked awful realistic today.”

Emma scoffed. “I replayed his greatest hits in my head. All the times he was evil incarnate. All the times I was forced to shut up and let him treat me like shit.” She shook her head. “Those weren’t tears of sadness. It was rage that I’d lost my chance to tell the old man off.” She smiled. “But it’s over now. I’m no longer under his thumb.”

Kellan smiled wryly, wishing he could say the same. While he did his best to keep his parents at arm’s length, he was still under his father’s thumb. No matter what he did, he couldn’t seem to pull away far enough.

“I think it’s time,” Emma said.

“Time for?”

“Time for this façade to end.”

Kellan tensed.“Youmight be free, but I’m not.”

“I’ll give you whatever it is you need in the divorce settlement. We’ll still be a family, and you’ll still be my best friend… we’ll just be best friends who’re free to be with who they want.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“I’lltake care of you.”

Kellan scoffed. “I can take care of myself.” He’d been forced to work as an intern every summer, from eleventh grade on. Pressured by his father, he’d ended up working on staff after graduating business school at twenty-one. Soon after, he’d been pressed into helping run his father’s re-election team.

Until the last election, that is, when he’d quit days before voting began.

Kellan had searched for another position, but his work history and his father’s toxic stances on many controversial topics made him persona non grata for the roles he’d really wanted. Only those seeking to use his connection to the Senator seemed willing to make an offer. He refused to be beholden to the man, but ultimately, he’d crumbled under the pressure. One of his father’s cronies, Harlan Cross, had offered him a COO position—at the Cross Foundation, the charitable arm of Harlan’s vast empire. He'd taken the job, assuming it was the lesser evil.

He’d soon learned working for his father’s friend was worse than working for his father. After three years at the Cross Foundation, he was once again at a junction, not sure which way to turn. Sadly, there was little road left ahead.

“I know you can take care of yourself, but when we come out, Harlan’s gonna fire you. You know that. Now that I’ve got control of Daddy’s company, we can do what we said we would do when we got married.”

They’d agreed to five years. Then they were going to divorce and move on with their lives. Only a night of hard drinking, depression, and desperation had resulted in Abigail and changed those plans. At least they had in his mind. He’d never asked Emma, as it had seemed she was of the same opinion.

Until that very moment.

“Abby needs both parents.”

Emma waved off his comment. “You can remain here, and Abby and I will move to the big house. Or vice-versa.” They lived on her parents’ estate, in a custom home built so he and Emma would remain close. Close enough for her parents to control them. The Shelby’s extravagant mansion lay empty, walking distance away. “Whatever works best. Nothing has to change, not really. We’ve always led somewhat independent lives. Now we can be the people we’ve always wanted to be.”

Yet close wasn’t the same as having both parents under one roof.“Nothingwill change? Things would change for Abigail. She needs stability.Routine.”

Emma rose and crossed her bedroom, stopping a few inches from him. Dark circles ringed her eyes from the lack of sleep. Still, she was beautiful. As beautiful as the day he married her. “Are you going to tell me that you’re okay living the rest of your life denying who you are?”

He looked away, unwilling to consider what she was asking.

Emma sought his gaze. When she captured it, she dug deep. “Don’t you think we owe it to our daughter to be our authentic selves? To end the cycle of shame and lies?”

Down deep he knew she had a point, but Kellan wasn’t ready for the chaos his coming out would cause. It was one thing for the average person to do it but the son of a conservative Texas Senator and the ex-socialite daughter of a conservative mogul? It would be a mediafrenzy.

Not to mention his father would go on the warpath.

Abigail would be in the middle of that firestorm. While he’d do everything in his power to protect her, he couldn’t be everywhere at every minute. Eventually, she would hear the stories spoken about her parents. He didn’t want that.

“Emma, I’m thirty-six years old. I don’t even know who my authentic self is.”

“Isn’t it time you met him?”

Tears stung the backs of his eyes. He’d hidden so long that the idea of coming out robbed him of air. His stomach knotted, ready to empty its contents at any second.

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