Harrison Sterling’s new place was ridiculous, even by Westwood standards. A sprawling modern mansion right on the edge of our parents’ estate, he’d had the structure that used to be here completely renovated over the last few months. I shook my head as I parked, then grabbed the bottle of wine I’d brought and strode to their front door. Lands caped gardens surrounded the mansion now too, an expansive lawn at the front and back for their little girl—who wasn’t even born yet—to play when she got older. State of the art playground equipment had already been installed at the front. A new swing-set, climbing frame, and slides waited for a child who probably wouldn’t need them for years, but Sterling had wanted this to look and feel like a family home. At the back was an in-ground pool complete with a splash-pad and a designated, shallow area for little ones to play. The house itself was no less impressive. Glass walls with strings of white lights framing them. Laney’s touches of warmth, greenery, and about a thousand holiday bows softening my brother’s hard edges. I hadn’t thought I’d see the day Sterling moved back to the estate. As soon as he’d finished high school, he’d moved to the city, and for all these years, he’d insisted that he liked being on his own. He’d been pretty adamant that he enjoyed being where he was and that he wouldn’t move back. Soon after Laney had gotten pregnant though, he’d realized he wanted more space. Instead of buying a house in the city, he’d started the rebuild here, extending the original floor plan and redoing just about everything about the interior. He and Laney had moved in a few weeks ago and so far they were loving it. Jameson and Sadie, as well as Callum, Maisie, and Brody, were on the property now too, leaving me as the only one living in the city. Go figure that when I move out there, they’d all move back here. I sighed, but then an incredibly pregnant Laney opened the front door and I slapped a grin onto my face. “You can relax now. I’m here.” She laughed, lifting an arm for a hug and leaning into me. “You’re late.” “Only fashionably,” I shot back, grinning. I hugged her carefully before taking a st ep back and glancing at her belly. “Unlike that little one, who’s more than just fashionably late at this point.” “Actually, I’ve still got a few weeks to go. Lucky me, huh?” She let one of her hands drift to the top of the bump and moved out of the way, shutting the door behind me once I was inside. “I used to think people were exaggerating when they waddled instead of walked. Now I know that the struggle is real.” I chuckled. “You’re braver than I am, that’s for sure. I don’t know if I would have walked at all. I would have sat on my ass and ordered Sterling around.” She winked at me. “What do you think I do when we’re alone?” “Good girl. Milk it.” I grinned and she laughed, ushering me inside. The house was buzzing with people, old friends and my brothers with their wives. There were a few I vaguely recognized from Sterling’s school days as well as a couple from the firm. He’d said he was ke eping this party intimate, but there were still probably fifty people in
attendance. Laney disappeared after taking the wine from me, grumbling about forcing Sterling to ke ep the bottle until she could share it with him. I joined Callum at the bar, acc epting the glass of whiskey he held out to me. “It’s about time you showed up,” he said. “I thought I was going to have to drink that myself.” I brought the glass closer to my chest as if shielding it from him. “Don’t you dare. I just spent two days in New York with Mom. I’ve earned this, and at least half a dozen more.” He laughed, head tipping back, and he watched Maisie talking to Sadie at the other side of the room. Brody sat on the floor with Jack, Sterling and Laney’s cat, in his lap. “I won’t argue with that,” he said, finally tearing his gaze away from his wife and son to glance at me. Almost immediately, the weirdly serene smile he’d had on his lips while watching them disappeared. His head cocked and his eyes narrowed. “What have you done? You look smug.” “I’m not smug. I’m triumphant. I survived another Christmas shopping spree,” I said, trying to shrug it off, but he caught it. Callum always caught it. He arched his eyebrows at me. “Nah, it’s not that. Something is different about you. What happened?” “I might have met someone,” I said casually, testing the words. “No one knows about it yet, so ke ep it to yourself.” His eyebrows shot up. “Look at you, bringing home the gossip for a change. Who is she?” I opened my mouth, about to say Aurelia’s name, but then Sterling’s voice cut through the room, followed closely by the clinking of metal against glass. “Welcome, everyone. If I could have your attention for a minute.” “Don’t think this is going to get you out of telling me,” Callum muttered as everyone turned to face our eldest brother. He stood near the fir eplace, one arm slung around Laney’s shoulders. She looked radiant, her hand resting over the curve of her belly as she looked up at him. Sterling’s cool blue eyes sw ept across the room, but there was a warm smile on his face, his posture relaxed and his features soft. It was like he’d had a personality transplant after he’d met Laney. “I won’t bore you for long,” he said, his voice as clear and commanding as ever. “Laney and I simply wanted to thank you all for being here. As you know, we’ve been working hard getting our home ready for the arrival of our daughter and we’re thrilled to finally be able have you all here with us.” A few catcalls and chuckles rang out, and he continued. “Dinner will be served shortly and there are snacks coming out in just a moment, but first, I wanted to make a toast to my beautiful wife, Laney, and to our daughter, Claire, who we can’t wait to meet in just a few weeks’ time. I love you both, and thank you for putting up with me and all my crazy ideas during the renovations. To Laney and Claire.” Sterling raised his glass and the room erupted into applause, cheers, and glasses clinking.
I raised my glass too, but my mind wandered away from the party. I took a sip of my drink and couldn’t stop thinking about Aurelia, about how different my secret felt compared to Sterling’s open joy. He got to stand in front of everyone, declaring proudly how much he loved them and sharing the beginning of this new chapter in their lives. Me? I had to tuck Aurelia away like contraband. The thought didn’t sit right with me, but I realized then that, before I told anyone, Aurelia and I needed to talk. Not telling our mothers straight away was one thing, but ke eping it from everyone else felt as unnecessary as it did wrong. As the crowd settled, a voice at my elbow made me turn. “Claire is such a pretty name,” a woman said brightly, extending her hand toward me. “I’m Megan. Laney’s friend.” I shook with her politely. “Harrison. Sterling’s brother.” She giggled. “I know who you are. It’s nice to meet you.” Callum glanced between the two of us, chuckling as he shook his head. “I’m Callum. Also known as chopped liver, apparently. I’ll see you guys around. We’ll talk, Harrison.” He gave me a pointed look and smirked. As he walked away, I suspected he thought that this Megan girl was the woman I’d told him about meeting, but he was gone before I could correct him. She smiled at me, but then squealed when she saw Gwen, another one of Laney’s friends, and raced over to her. Relieved that I wouldn’t have to make small talk, I saw Jameson hovering near the wine station, swirling a glass with that annoyingly precise posture of his and a smug grin on his face. I went over and clapped him on the shoulder. “Finally, someone I can talk to without feeling like I’m under interrogation.” He arched a brow, raising his glass to his lips but not taking a sip just yet. “Uh-huh. I guess you better tell me what you want to talk about, little brother. Your latest conquest? Your latest deal?” I grinned. “Remember the client you gave me? I closed the deal. We had to up our offer, like I told you, but it went through without a single hiccup. I thought you might want to know your baby brother isn’t completely useless after all.” “I never thought you were.” He chuckled. “That’s good, man. Congratulations. Maybe you have a head for business after all.” “Maybe.” I leaned in slightly, lowering my voice. “Hey, uh, do you know anything about the Van Alens? Any family gossip?” “Not really.” He shrugged, looking genuinely unconcerned. “Richard’s nice enough, but I don’t see him often. I’ve only met him with Dad a few times. Why?” “Just curious,” I said lightly, trying to hide my sudden spike of anxiety, but I was on a mission to find out what my brothers knew and this was as good an opportunity as any. “Mom’s pretty weird about them, don’t you think?” Jameson shook his head. “I can’t help you with that. Sorry. Why do you want to know, anyway? If Mom’s weird about it, she’s weird about it. It doesn’t have anything to do with us.” “Fair enough. I just noticed it and I was wondering if you knew what happened between them.” Laney waved me over from a corner of the living room, her hand resting over her bump. “Harrison, come meet someone!”
I drifted over to them, once again seeing Megan, who was all confidence and smiley energy, practically glowing in a fitted cocktail dress. Laney opened her mouth to introduce us, but I cut her off. “We’ve met, actually. She thinks Claire is a pretty name.” Laney beamed at her. “Thank you. It was a tough decision, but we’re both pretty excited about the name. When did you two meet?” “Just after the toast,” I said, internally rolling my eyes when Laney nudged Megan closer to me. Her friend complied, sidling up to my side while I took a discreet st ep away. Aurelia and I were engaged, and even though no one knew about it and there was no romance in volved, I wasn’t about to flirt with other women. I saw Laney notice me putting some space between us, a frown flickering across her forehead, but she quickly smoothed it out with a smile. “Megan does Pilates with me over at Gwen’s studio and she’s become one of my favorite people. I figured it was about time she met everyone.” Sterling joined us then, sliding an arm around Laney’s shoulder and grinning at me. “When did you get here? I was starting to think you’d gotten a hotter invitation for tonight.” “I wasn’t that late.” I groaned as I shook my head at him. “It was maybe thirty minutes and the traffic killed me.” Megan nodded her agreement, widening her eyes at Laney and Sterling. “It was really bad earlier.” She glanced at me. “You live in the city too?” I nodded but quickly turned back to my brother and his wife, once again seeing Laney notice that I was making a point of not encouraging Megan’s interest at all. “You two have only been out here for less than a month. Surely, you still remember what traffic is.” Laney laughed. “Of course, we do.” Sterling shrugged. “You should’ve left earlier. Punctuality is important.” I let out another groan. “Spare me the lecture, Dad.” He smirked. “Well, I am about to be a father. I might as well get some practice with you.” Laney elbowed him in the ribs. “He doesn’t need that from you right now. You’re not about to be his father.” “Hear hear.” I took a sip of my drink and wondered what it would take for him to stop thinking about me as the baby. Hopefully, the actual baby would do the trick. In the meantime, however, Megan had finally moved a little bit farther away from me and she was now looking at Sterling with a suspicious kind of curiosity in her eyes. “You know, I’m actually glad I have the opportunity to talk to you tonight.” He glanced at her. “You are? Okay, but I’m warning you in advance that I’m not very interesting.” She laughed. “That’s okay. I’ve actually got a question about your mother, and I’m sure she’ll be the first to admit that she is interesting.” Sterling chuckled through a groan. “That’s true. She really would be. Ask away, though I can’t guarantee I can get her in volved in any charities you might be pimping, and I also don’t know if she’d be willing to appear in one of your wellness videos.” Megan waved him off. “It’s not that, although if she ever does want to be on my channel, I’d love to have her, but I was actually wondering about her and Regina Van Alen.”
I nearly choked on my own tongue. Suspicion tightened my insides and I snapped my gaze toward her, wondering why she would ask about that. What were the odds she would show up here tonight and start talking about Aurelia’s family without even knowing the connection between us, but asking the exact questions I wanted answers to? Sterling frowned. “You were? Why?” Megan shrugged. “Aurelia, her daughter, and I have been friends for ages. When I told her I’d be coming here tonight, she seemed surprised. She mentioned that she didn’t think Regina and CC got along, so I got curious.” My brother sighed but shrugged a shoulder. “All I know about it is that CC has serious issues with Regina. I don’t know the details, but it sounds like they were close back in high school and something happened. They had some kind of major falling out and they haven’t really spoken since.” I sipped my whiskey, letting it seem like a casual interest while mentally cataloging every detail. If I played this right, this coincidence might work to my advantage. “It must’ve been one heck of a falling out,” Laney commented lightly. “CC will talk the hind leg off a donkey about anything. If she hasn’t said any more than that, whatever happened must’ve been serious. It’s not like her to ke ep her opinions about people quiet.” She wasn’t wrong. Something about this entire situation felt off. Megan asking the questions I’d wanted to ask. CC not giving even Sterling any details. Sterling r epeated that all he knew was that whatever had happened, it had happened decades ago. Then they moved on to a different topic. I finished my drink and excused myself to get a new one, but my fingers were itching to dial Aurelia’s number. Later that night, when I was on my way home, I finally gave in to the urge to call her. That entire situation with Megan had set off alarm bells in my mind, and while I didn’t think I’d given anything away, Aurelia and I needed to talk. “Hello?” Her voice came on the third ring, a little breathless. “Harrison? Do you have any idea what time it is?” “Hey,” I said, trying to ke ep my tone casual. “Yeah, I do, but I was wondering if you’re up for a visitor?” She paused. “You want to come over to my place? Now?” “Y ep. Can I?” There was another pause, then a warm, tiny sigh that made my chest tighten. “Yeah. Sure. Are you okay? You sound a little strange.” “I’m on my way,” I said. “I’ll see you soon.” I didn’t answer her other question. The truth was that I wasn’t really okay, but I wasn’t about to admit that. Suddenly though, all I wanted was to see her, not only because of what had happened tonight, but also because just hearing her voice had made me acutely aware of the fact that I hadn’t seen her since New York. In fact, we’d hardly even spoken. As I raced into the city, it occurred to me that even though I probably really shouldn’t, I actually genuinely missed her.