The Wright One

by K. A. Linde

  ALSO BY K.A. LINDE

  WRIGHTS

  The Wright Brother

  The Wright Boss

  The Wright Mistake

  The Wright Secret

  WRIGHT LOVE DUET

  The Wright Love

  The Wright One

  AVOIDING SERIES

  Avoiding Commitment

  Avoiding Responsibility

  Avoiding Intimacy

  Avoiding Decisions

  Avoiding Temptation

  RECORD SERIES

  Off the Record

  On the Record

  For the Record

  Struck from the Record

  ALL THAT GLITTERS SERIES

  Diamonds

  Gold

  Emeralds

  Platinum

  Silver

  TAKE ME SERIES

  Take Me for Granted

  Take Me with You

  STAND-ALONE

  Following Me

  BLOOD TYPE SERIES

  Blood Type

  ASCENSION SERIES

  The Affiliate

  The Bound

  The Consort

  Copyright © 2018 by K.A. Linde

  All rights reserved.

  Visit my website at www.kalinde.com

  Cover Designer: Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations., www.okaycreations.com

  Photography: Lauren Perry, Perrywinkle Photography, www.perrywinklephotography.com

  Editor and Interior Designer: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN-13: 978-1948427234

  To all the fans of the Wright books.

  For going on this wonderful journey with me and

  allowing me to keep doing my dream job every day!

  Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  One

  Sutton

  The cemetery was empty this morning.

  Save for the ghosts.

  And me.

  I picked my way through the dusty stones, avoiding the path and staring aimlessly at the rows of the dead. Despite the mid-August Texas weather, it was actually kind of cool with that breeze blowing in. It ruffled the end of my floral skirt and kicked dust into my white tank.

  My feet knew the destination well.

  My late husband’s grave stood like a beacon in the gloom. I stopped before him and replaced the dead flowers I’d brought last time with new ones.

  “Hey.” I ran my hand along the top of the stone and read Maverick’s name etched into the rock. “I’ve missed you. And I’ve had a shit week.”

  I turned my head up to the sky and held back the torrent of emotions that lashed through me. Sadness, depression, despair, anger, fear, rage.

  “I started seeing someone,” I confessed. “You never knew him. He’s the CFO at Wright Construction. He works with Morgan now. I thought it was…right. But it’s not.”

  That was an understatement.

  To say the least.

  “David Calloway…or David Van Pelt, I guess. He waited a year after you left before approaching me. It felt too real to ignore. We talked. We laughed. We…well, we don’t have to talk about that. I confided everything in him. He was so understanding. Mav, I don’t get it.” I blinked away the tears I’d sworn I would not shed. “He lied to me. He’s a liar. He’s not a Calloway. He’s a Van Pelt.”

  Maverick had already known the bullshit with the Van Pelts, a family who ran a New York–based investment firm. They’d stolen millions from the Wrights when my dad was running the company, and then they’d been turned over for investment fraud eight years ago. The patriarch of the family and David’s father, Broderick Van Pelt was serving a ridiculously long sentence for his crimes.

  We hated them. David knew we hated them.

  “And he never once told me. He lied about everything in his past. Now, I’m left wondering…who is he?”

  I rocked forward and back, trying to calm myself down. Anger was the chief emotion now. I just wanted to unleash it. But I didn’t.

  “I’m sorry I’m telling you all this. You were my best friend, and now, you’re gone. I can’t talk to anyone else about this. I’m so mad at him, Mav.” I paced in front of the grave. “I want to go back to the house, close the doors, and live in a bubble. It’s easier than living in this world.”

  I threw my arms wide in frustration.

  “I put myself out there, and for what? To just get betrayed?” I spat.

  I circled back around and saw his name written on the stone. Maverick Wright. He’d changed it for me. Even though I’d said I’d change my name, he had known what that name meant. It had been his suggestion. He hadn’t been whipped. He’d just loved me.

  The wind blew out of my sails. I dropped down, cross-legged, in front of his grave.

  “It was so easy for us,” I whispered.

  My eyes traveled to the tattoo on my wrist. The dandelions blowing in the breeze. I’d gotten it done soon after Maverick’s death. My brother Austin and his girlfriend, Julia, had taken me. Maverick had given me a dandelion the first time we were together. He’d said that I was too good for him. And I’d fallen for him on the spot. Insisted on proving him wrong. Things had escalated quickly. Jason had come about unexpectedly. But I’d thought it was fate. I’d thought our little happy family was destiny.

  How wrong I was.

  About this.

  About that.

  About David.

  “I want it to be easy, Mav. I want dandelions blowing in the breeze. I want sorority events and keg parties and those good times. Now, my sorority friends won’t even speak with me. I hardly drink. You’re gone. There are no more good times without you.”

  I shook my head. Maybe nothing would be as easy as it had been with Maverick. Maybe an easy life wasn’t in the cards for me.

  “I thought David would be a new beginning.”

  I dropped my head into my hands and fended off the tears. I wasn’t sad. I was pissed. I was devastated. I’d put my heart on the line. If this was living, I didn’t want to be a part of it.

  All I wanted was to have that carefree lifestyle I’d lived for so long. But I knew it wasn’t coming back. That was inevitable now.

  “Jason misses you, too,” I told Maverick. “He doesn’t fully understand yet, but in a way, he does. I wish we were still a family. Everything would be easier if you were here.”

  But he wasn’t here.

  It was painful to remind myself of that.

  That I was talking to a ghost and hoping for the best.

  I’d learned my lesson. Maverick would listen. But
I was the only one who could fix my problems.

  Two

  David

  The truth had come out, and I’d lost everything.

  Again.

  I didn’t know why I’d thought this time would be different. That finding out who my parents were wouldn’t ruin my life. That their sins wouldn’t fall on me…and my sister, Katherine. But they did. They always would.

  Of course, I should have told Sutton.

  The first time I’d heard how much the Wrights hated the Van Pelts, I should have taken Sutton aside and told her the truth. I’m a Van Pelt. Those are my parents. They’re assholes. I don’t claim them. Please, forgive me.

  But I hadn’t. Every time I’d tried to talk to her, I’d kept pushing it off. Finding any excuse not to utter the words that I’d been avoiding for eight long years. The family I’d chosen to forget. Then, I’d gotten too far in with Sutton, and I couldn’t find my way back out.

  The whole thing had been shit luck, too. Jensen knowing Penn Kensington. Penn showing up here, in Lubbock, fucking Texas. I’d come here because it was the middle of fucking nowhere. Just went to show that, no matter how far you ran, your past would always catch up with you.

  Staring down all the Wrights after Austin punched me in the face and Sutton told me to leave had been miserable. There was no mercy in those faces. They’d support one of their own to the end. And, in that moment, I wasn’t the CFO of their family corporation or Morgan’s closest friend or Sutton’s boyfriend.

  I was the enemy.

  So, I’d done the only thing I could do. I’d turned around and walked out. Picking up the remains of my shattered dignity and stumbling over what was left of my pride, I’d exited Wright Construction, assuming I’d have to find another place of employment by Monday morning.

  Penn had followed me out of the party and apologized over and over. I’d clapped him on the back and assured him it wasn’t his fault. He’d done the right thing after that—shut up and gotten me drunk.

  Now, I was sitting in my Ferrari outside of Sutton’s house with a headache that pounded on my skull. My sunglasses barely kept the morning light from stabbing my retinas and intensifying last night’s bad decision.

  I’d walked out, defeated, and woken up, determined.

  I could walk away again. I could run with my tail between my legs as fast and as far away as I could get from Lubbock and the Wrights. I’d done it before. Twice. Christ, three times if you counted Yale. Running had become second nature. Part of who I was.

  Or…I could stay. I could fight. I could win her back.

  I had every intention of winning her back.

  That was why I was sitting in my car in front of her house like a dumbass.

  I ran a shaky hand back through my sandy-blond hair, steeled my nerves, and exited the car. This was going against everything in my nature. The only thing I worked for was my career. And I never had to stay anywhere long for that. I could jump around and be as successful as I was in this moment, but there would never be another Sutton.

  Moving up the pathway to her front door felt like a walk of shame. I ignored the ache behind my temples and knocked on the door. I could hear the television on in the living room. The sound of feet rushing across the hardwood floor. Then, I saw a little face peer out through the glass on the side of the door.

  “David!” Jason cried upon seeing me.

  I smiled and waved at him. Though I knew his presence would only make this harder. Sutton was not going to be happy that I was here. She definitely wasn’t going to be happy that her son was happy to see me.

  “What did I tell you about going to the door?” I heard Sutton ask sharply.

  “Sorry,” he murmured, backing away.

  “Go watch TV and play with your toys. Mommy will be there in a minute.”

  A second later, the lock clicked on the door, and she pulled it open a few inches but not all the way. “What do you want?”

  For a moment, my breath caught at the sight of her dressed in a floral skirt and white tank. Her brown-blonde ombré hair was tied up in a short ponytail. She was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. Willowy, proud, confident. Though she looked at me with wary eyes and had already closed herself off from me, I couldn’t deny her beauty, her tenacity, her strength. All the things that had made me fall for her.

  “David?” she asked cautiously.

  “I came to apologize.”

  She rolled her eyes skyward. “I don’t need your apology. I need you to leave.”

  She started to close the door in my face, and I moved on instinct. I slapped my hand on the door, keeping it from closing. Her eyes rounded. Her mouth popped open in surprise. Had she thought I wouldn’t fight for her? I was going to prove her wrong.

  “Let go.”

  “No, I want to talk. Five minutes.”

  “I don’t have five minutes.” Her eyes strayed to her son playing like a maniac in the living room, running around in circles and making airplane noises.

  “I know. I understand.”

  “You clearly don’t,” she said on a scoff.

  “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, Sutton. I tried to tell you. I know that doesn’t make up for the fact that I didn’t tell you, but no moment was ever right. And I did tell you that what was going on with my parents was complicated.”

  “Complicated means you had a fight and haven’t reconciled,” she hissed. “Not that your family is infamous for stealing money, and your father is in prison for investment fraud.”

  “Are those two things really that different?”

  “I can’t talk about this with you.”

  “Please, I’m sorry. I care about you, Sutton. I want to make this right.”

  “If you wanted to make this right, then you wouldn’t have lied to me about everything.”

  “Look, I don’t agree with my parents. I don’t agree with anything they did. I already told you that I don’t side with them. That’s why Katherine and I have been estranged this long. I left them. I left.”

  “God, you honestly think that I’m upset just because you’re a Van Pelt? That it’s about who your family is? News flash: we don’t choose our family. My mom died when I was one, and my dad was a raging alcoholic, absentee father. I know all about fucked up families, if you’re unaware. I care that you lied to me about it. That you had me fall for one person when that isn’t even who you are.”

  “This is who I am,” I told her.

  But I could see that it didn’t register. It couldn’t register. She had already internally shut that door. Walked away from any hope I had of righting these wrongs. She’d been hurt before. This was just one too many.

  “You’re a Van Pelt, David, which is honestly just icing on the cake of this entire thing.”

  “I might have grown up as a Van Pelt, but I changed my name for a reason. That’s not who I am anymore.”

  “You actively avoided telling me.”

  “Because I don’t tell anyone!” I cried, losing some of my chill. My headache was a savage beast threatening my resolve on this subject.

  She took a step back from me. “Don’t yell at me.”

  I blew out a breath and ran my hand back through my hair. “I’m sorry. I’m not yelling. I just feel so dumb. Like I had this whole speech planned, and none of it’s coming out right.”

  She crossed her arms and shrugged. She glanced at Jason again, trying to avoid eye contact with me.

  I should have expected this. On some level, I guessed I had. She hadn’t wanted to talk to me at the party yesterday. Why would she want to give me a chance today? Her anger was warranted. I hadn’t lied to her, but at the same time…I’d lied to her. I’d known that keeping this secret was a bad idea. That it would hurt us, but I hadn’t been able to let go. I’d carried it around with me for so long that opening up that wound again felt insurmountable. Why ruin the one good thing in my life? Well, my silence had done that just as certainly.

  “The only reason I never told you is beca
use I was worried about how you would react,” I finally said on a sigh.

  “This is how you knew I’d react,” she told me. “And you didn’t want to face that.”

  “Would you believe me if I said that I never wanted this to happen?”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t change anything. I’ve been hurt enough for one lifetime, David. Can you save me from the rest of it?” Her eyes finally met mine. Hurt. I’d hurt her. “Nothing you say is going to change my mind. Now, remove your hand from my door.”

  I pulled my hand from the door and straightened where I was standing. “Sutton—”

  “Please stop,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip.

  I could see her resolve weakening a fraction. I wanted to press and demand more from her. But that pain on her face said I needed to give her more time.

  “All right.” I stepped back. “I’m not going to stop fighting for you.”

  “I don’t want you to fight for me.” She slowly eased the door closed until the lock clicked back in place.

  She might have said it, but I didn’t believe her. She needed to come to terms with what had happened. She needed the full explanation of why I was estranged from my fucked up family. We could recover from this. I could change her mind. But, first, I needed to make sure that I still had a job.

  Three

  David

  Without calling her, I knew Morgan would be at the office.

  My boss was the biggest workaholic I’d ever met, and that was really saying something in business. She used to be even worse before she started dating Patrick, but he was an understanding dude. That meant she was at the office nearly every weekend. After missing a couple of days for Emery’s bachelorette party, it was almost a given that she’d be back in to catch up.

  What I hadn’t expected was to find Jensen and Penn in the conference room along with her. Just great. This was going to be fun.

  “All the people I wanted to see in one place,” I said. All heads popped up to stare at me.

  “David,” Morgan said with pursed lips, “why don’t you come in?”

  I strode forward into the conference room I’d docked hundreds of hours in during the last year. I’d thought Lubbock would be different. But the past never really stayed in the past.