Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
I have bled.
I have wreaked havoc for my family.
Anyone who threatened us, tried to break us, I broke them instead.
Then, there was peace.
Marriage.
Children.
Life was good.
Life was great.
Until my phone rang one night.
Retired, I was no longer in the NFL.
We'd recently moved back to Fallen Crest.
So I should’ve known.
I should’ve remembered.
There is no peace in Fallen Crest.
War wasn’t coming.
It was already here.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
MASON
My brother and I exchanged a glance when we arrived at our father’s company, and it wasn’t a good look. No words were needed. We both knew whatever we were walking into would not be welcomed. It was midnight. Our dad’s business had morphed into a huge corporation, and his headquarters had grown with it. At this time of night, no one was here.
Logan shut his car door first, and I moved to follow, but as we hit the pavement, I took the lead. He angled himself to cover my back, literally and metaphorically. I hadn’t needed him to have my back in so long. A lot had changed in the last few weeks. I retired from the NFL and we recently moved to Fallen Crest, but me and Logan, our dynamic hadn’t changed. It never would. He was my brother. We’d been each other’s shadows our entire life.
“You feel that itch?” Logan asked once we were inside and waiting for the elevator.
I grunted, not wanting to admit it, but fuck, it was there. “Yeah,” I said gruffly, glancing over my shoulder. No one was there.
The elevator arrived. The doors opened. We stepped in, and Logan said as he hit the button for our dad’s floor, “I don’t like this.”
I nodded. I was right there with him.
The elevator began to rise, and the closer we got to the top floor, impending doom blanketed me. I didn’t want to talk. Logan must’ve felt the same because he was quiet too.
Absolute silence.
I didn’t know what we were going to find upstairs.
James sent us a text telling us to see him immediately. Our dad included the location: his office.
He’d been struggling, and before we moved back, we started visiting more often because of this. Analise died six months ago from cancer. His wife was also the mother of my wife, and the reason I’d met Samantha and fell in love with her when I did. I would have met Samantha and fallen in love with her anyway—it was inevitable—but the timing had been all about Sam’s mother. She dated my dad and decided to leave her husband.
I still remember when I first saw Sam. It was at a gas station, and she blew me away.
That had never stopped or changed. I was still blown away as she planned our daughter’s upcoming eighteenth birthday with Heather Monroe. Her best friend. They’d been laughing like school girls in the media room when I’d popped in to let her know I needed to run out to check on my dad. Sam sobered enough to give me a sharp look, the unspoken question in her eyes if I needed anything. I gave her a short shake of my head, answering without words before I took off. She’d settled back, but I knew she’d be awake and waiting for me when I got home.
She was like that. Fucking amazing.
As we approached James’s office, there was a soft glow of light coming from under the door.
Logan cast me another glance as we got to the door, but I opened it, striding inside. I wasn’t one to beat around the bush.
Once inside, I stopped and took inventory before saying anything.
The light was coming from Dad’s computer screen, but he wasn’t in front of it. He was standing at his floor-to-ceiling windows, his back turned to us as he stared out over Fallen Crest. The town had grown steadily over the last few years, becoming a vacation destination for celebrities and the wealthy.
A near-empty bottle of Jack Daniels hung from James’s hand.
He always kept himself trim, but the last few months wore on him. His hair was messed. His shirt was wrinkled. There was a defeated slump in how he stood. The proud man he used to be wasn’t in this room. I didn’t recognize this father of mine anymore.
He waved his empty hand toward the window. “Look at it. Look at that, sons.” There was a slight slur to his words.
Logan stepped up to my side with a dark look. I understood how he felt.
It wasn’t unusual for us to walk in and find our father trashed. However, after being a horrible husband and a horrible father most of our lives, when his wife had needed him during her mental health struggles, he stepped up.
He became a decent human being.
He was also a good grandfather to my kids, and to Logan’s kid. They loved their grandpa, and they’d been heartbroken when Analise passed away—another giant step, because she’d been a truly despicable parent to Samantha. When she’d committed to staying in the hospital until she was stabilized, she also changed as a person.