His Billion-Dollar Secret:: A Taboo Forbidden Love Romance

by Kelli Walker

  My eyes fluttered over the lush green grass of her grave.

  “I really miscalculated with him, Mom. I mean, I was really off the mark. I thought I knew him after spending so many years with him. After bringing him by here and letting you meet him. But when I started my Master’s program, things went quickly downhill, and they just got worse as time went on.”

  I snickered and shook my head as my eyes fluttered over her name.

  “He cheated, you know. Yeah. Just… in front of the cameras and everything. I woke up one morning a few months ago and his face and hers were plastered everywhere on the news. The first picture taken of them was in Cairo. It was a trip he wanted to take me on, but I couldn't go because I had a test to study for I was supposed to take that Monday morning. I guess he really didn’t want to go on the trip alone.”

  I wiped at a stray tear before I curled my knees into my chest.

  “And you know how the news works. Once there’s one picture, there’s bound to be more. For days, that news segment ran. Picture after picture of him and this girl. Holding hands. Kissing. In all these exotic locations Matthew wanted to take me on. Places I couldn't go because of the demands of my degree. And I admit, I could have taken my study material with me and worked time in on the plane rides over. Or late at night after he had fallen asleep. But… I didn’t think he would cheat on me. Sure, we took lots of vacations during my undergrad. But did he really think life would always be like that for us?”

  I closed my eyes and allowed the Los Angeles breeze to brush over my body.

  “I talked with him the first time it happened, and he told me he’d break it off. That he was sorry. That he was just hurt at how I was putting my degree before him. We came to an agreement that if he cut things off with her and go to counseling with me, that we could work things out and I wouldn’t leave. And guess what happened?”

  I sighed so hard I made myself light-headed.

  “You would have seen it coming, you know? You would have told me not to trust his words. You would have given me the strength to cut it off the first time instead of going another round with him. And when I walked in on them in his apartment near campus to surprise him with a weekend in and found him bent over her… I snapped. My entire world dimmed. My heart shattered. And then I came home and did something I know you’re going to hate me for.”

  I shifted myself so I sat beside her tombstone before I laid my cheek against it.

  “I slept with Colton, Mom. I don’t even know how it happened. It just… happened. The kiss was an accident, and then I was flooded with all these emotions, and absolutely none of them were negative. I felt safe and comforted and wanted and beautiful. All of the things that had been absent in mine and Matthew’s relationship for months. Possibly even throughout the entire year of my Master’s. They were all there in his kiss, and I caved. And now, I don’t know what to think. Or how to feel. Dad’s so mad, Mom. He punched Colt. Took him right to the ground without a second thought.”

  I allowed my tears to drop onto her grave as I drew in a ragged breath.

  “I know Colt and Dad made you a promise in the hospital before you died. I know they both promised to look after me. And you have to believe me when I say that nothing has happened between Colt and I up until this point. There wasn’t even a suggestion of it. That’s why it took me by such surprise when he gave into the kiss instead of pulling back. I mean, it was one of those accidental kisses. He went to kiss the top of my head like he always did after we talked and I tilted up to tell him thank you for his advice, and boom. Lips met. And he didn’t pull back. And I didn’t want him to pull back. And I don’t know what that says about me or the man that helped raise me.”

  I wiped at my face as my chest jumped with my sobs.

  “But I don’t want you to hate him, Mom. I don’t want you to be upset. You should have seen him and how he reacted when Matthew came over to talk. Matthew’s been harassing me in the media and doing all sorts of insane stuff to get my attention. To get me to sit down and talk with him. So, I tried to put a stop to all of it and I invited Matthew over so we could talk. I figured if I told him face-to-face that things were over after having a tame conversation with him, he’d leave me alone. And he got so angry, Mom. I mean, I was really scared of him for the first time since I’d met him. And Colt rushed out and shoved himself between me and him like it was nothing. Colt stood toe-to-toe with Matthew and put this barrier between us. Then, you know what he did?”

  A smile crossed my face as I closed my eyes.

  “He did it again with Dad. Yeah. Colt and Dad. When everything was happening on the porch with Matthew, somehow he put it together that something had happened between Colt and I. Dad was standing there and heard everything, and before I knew it Colt was on the ground and bleeding. You know that voice Dad gets sometimes when he feels he isn’t being heard? You know, when he thinks it’s his way or the highway and his voice gets really low and in his chest? Well, I kept going back and forth with Dad and trying to get him to understand that Colt didn’t force anything--that I willingly wanted what Colt and I experienced--and his voice lowered. And in a flash, Colt was back up off the ground and standing between me and Dad, telling him that if he had any questions to talk to him. Not me.”

  A small giggle fell from my lips as I rested my entire body against my mother’s tombstone.

  “He kept his promise, Mom. He said he would protect me, and that’s exactly what he did. And I know it’s confusing. Hell, I’m confused. I mean, it’s Uncle Colton. My step-dad’s brother. He helped raise me. I shouldn't feel this way, right? I shouldn't want to be with him in that type of a capacity. But now that it’s happened, all I can think about is it happening again. All I can think about is how safe he makes me feel and how easy it is to talk with him and how I’ve always been able to trust him. How him and Dad are really the only two men I’ve ever fully been able to trust.”

  I reached out and played with the flowers on her grave a little bit before I closed my eyes again.

  “I really wish you were here,” I whispered.

  My mind wafted back to that first hospital visit. When she was in ICU and hooked up to tubes and IV bags and battered beyond recognition. If that asshole simply would have looked up from their damn phone to see the fucking red light, my mother would still be here. She’d still be here to help me sift through all of this bullshit.

  “I don’t want you to be disappointed in me,” I said breathlessly. “And I don’t want you to be disappointed in Colt, either. We both wanted it. In that moment, both of us succumbed to something greater than ourselves. And I don’t regret a second of it.”

  Then, I opened my eyes and stood to my feet.

  “I don’t want you to be upset with us. I want you to know that Colt never faltered on his promise to you. He’s protected me and cared for me my entire life. He’s one of the only men I’ve ever fully trusted. He’s supportive and helpful, and he never interjects himself unless he feels it’s necessary to the situation. He’s been a pillar for both Dad and I since you died, and I don’t want you thinking he took advantage of me. Because he didn’t. He isn’t capable of it.”

  Wind whipped around my body, fluttering my hair and drying up the last of my tears.

  “I don’t know where the hell I’m supposed to go from here, but I wanted you to know he didn’t,” I said.

  Colton

  I sat in a chair in the living room with my eyes locked onto the wall. I heard Clay in the other room talking, and by the way he was talking I figured he was on the phone with our Public Relations department. He should’ve been on the phone with the damn police, trying to figure out where the hell Callie had gotten off to. She’d been gone for four solid hours and the sun was beginning to sink too low beyond the trees for my liking. I wanted to call her. To try and get her on the phone just to make sure she was all right. But I knew Callie, and if she ran off and needed space, then I needed to give that to her.

  It didn’t stop me fro
m wanting to get her on the phone, though.

  “We’re only going to be reactive at this point. If he goes to the media, we’ll respond. But if nothing else is incited, then we won’t escalate the fight. Uh huh. Yep. That’s exactly what I told him. Prepare a statement just in case he fires off, but I don’t want anything else in the hands of the press unless Matthew opens his mouth first.”

  I smoothed my finger across my lips as my chin sat against my thumb. I heard Clay hang up the phone before his foosteps backtracked into the room, and when he saw me he sat as far away from me as he could. I knew he was worried about Callie as well. It was honestly the only thing keeping him from ripping my head off. I knew my brother well. And I knew that look in his eye. He was ready to dig my grave next to Cathy’s in the cemetary, and I knew the only thing holding him back was Callie.

  The same thing that kept me held behind that same line drawn in the sand.

  My eyes kept falling to my watch, and every once in a while I felt Clay dart his gaze over to me. I wanted to address it. I wanted to start the conversation and fucking get it over with. Callie didn’t need to come back into this house with the kind of tension that had filled it since her abrupt leave. But if I opened up that can of worms, Clay would attack, and he wouldn’t stop until I was bleeding again on the floor. If there was one person he didn’t play around with, it was Callie.

  My best bet was to let him come to me whenever the urge to kill me subsided.

  I lost myself in my own mind. I allowed it to spiral as the minutes ticked on. All those things Callie said on the porch? I wanted all of it to be true. I wanted her to have wanted that between us. Hell, I wanted her to keep wanting it. Hearing her say it filled my chest with a hope I never thought I’d get when it came to her, and I prayed to every God that might have existed that she was speaking the truth. Not simply wanting to diffuse a tense situation.

  Then again, there were things that didn’t add up. Despite the residual anger revolving around Matthew and him fucking showing up at the house, I was almost certain Callie knew he had been coming over. Had he been right? Had Callie actually invited him to come? And if so, why wouldn’t she tell me about something like that? Did she not trust me? Callie had never hidden anything from me before. If anything, I was the one she came to talk with in order to bypass the emotional reaction of her father. Of Clay. There wasn’t a thing about Callie’s life I didn’t know. There was nothing she went through as a teenager or a young adult that surprised me because she always called when she needed a sounding board.

  Inviting that asshole over to this house was a monumental decision. And the first decision she ever hid from me.

  “Did you ever touch her as a teenager?”

  My brother’s voice ripped me from my trance and I slowly panned my eyes over to meet his.

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “Behind all those closed doors when she was younger. Did you ever touch her?” he asked.

  I locked my gaze hard with his as my mind came to a static halt.

  “Never,” I said.

  “Did you ever think about it?”

  “No. I didn’t have feelings for Callie then. Not even remotely.”

  Clay scoffed and shook his head. A reaction that shot a dagger through my stomach.

  “Do you really think I’d be attracted to a child, Clay?”

  “You slept with one,” he said.

  “Callie’s twenty-six years old. She’s hardly a child.”

  “She’s my child.”

  “Doesn’t mean she’s a child.”

  “So, when did you start developing these feelings for your niece?” he asked sarcastically

  I bit down onto the tip of my tongue to keep from correcting him. She was technically my niece. Technically, the only two in this scenario that were blood-related were myself and Clay. But I understood the barrier that had been thrown up in his mind. I understood the confusion he was experiencing. The mental block he was attempting to escape.

  It was a mental block that had kept me away from Callie for years.

  “The first time she came home from college,” I said.

  “That was a rhetorical question, Colt.”

  “It didn’t sound rhetorical.”

  “Well, it was,” he said.

  “You still deserved an honest answer anyway.”

  “Chivalry and honesty aren’t going to get you anywhere right now.”

  “I’m not trying to get anywhere. I’m simply trying to be honest with you about where I’m sitting and how I’m feeling,” I said.

  “Well, do you honestly see how screwed up this is?” he asked.

  “Every damn day of my life.”

  And for a split second, I saw my brother’s gaze soften.

  “But the truth is, it didn’t stop me from falling in love with Callie.”

  “What?” Clay asked.

  “Even though I fought myself when she came home after her freshman year and even though I harbored growing emotions towards her every day since, it didn’t stop me from falling in love with Callie, Clay.”

  “You can’t be serious,” he said.

  “With every fiber of my being, I am.”

  His nostrils flared and his eyes widened. But as he slowly got out of his chair and parted his lips to speak, I heard the sound of tires rolling across the pavement. I shot up from my chair and my head whipped over to the door, and suddenly the tension fell from between my brother and I. It seemed we did a lot of that nowadays. Waiting for Callie to pull up. And I knew that was because we both loved her. We both cherished her. We both respected her.

  Just in different ways.

  I had to find a way to get my brother to see that. I had to find a way to get him to understand that I loved Callie. Truly. In the way a real man should love a woman. Our age? It wasn't an issue. Not to me, at least. The fact that I helped raise her? It was only a stepping stone to the trust we had between one another.

  Well, the trust I thought Callie and I had.

  When it came down to it, we weren’t related. Not by blood. Only by circumstance. Cathy fused all of us together. Callie’s mother had been the hub of our wheel. She united us into a familial unit. And in some ways, that made our bond stronger. We weren’t connected or bound by any mysterious societal norm that stated we had to respect and love one another because we shared DNA. We were all connected simply because we chose to be. We got to choose our family, and we chose Cathy and Callie. Just as they chose us. Just as Cathy chose to marry Clay and just as I chose to love Callie. And in some ways, that bond was tighter than anything related to blood.

  And I had to find a way to get Clay to see that.

  Callie

  I walked into the house and found my father and Colton standing in the living room. But before the two could even make a move towards me, I held up my hand to stop them. I knew they’d have plenty to say, and I knew exactly what they would say. My father would want me to open up about anything and everything right then and there so he could have all the answers at his disposal while Colton would simply want to know where I was and if I was all right. However, I had some things I wanted to say to them both, and none of those things revolved around what they would really be curious about.

  Which was why I needed them both to shut up.

  “I have some things I want to say, and then I need to go to bed. It’s been a long day, and I’m tired, and after going and talking with Mom I know what needs to be said now and what can wait until later,” I said.

  I watched the two of them nod before I turned towards my father.

  “I’m sorry if I worried you in any way with my leave. I went to Mom’s grave. I just needed her. There are times where all I’ve needed is her. But it’s hard to tell you that because you always take it so personally. Like you somehow aren’t enough. And that isn’t it, Dad. Nowhere near it. It’s just that, sometimes, I know Mom would have taken information better than you. That’s all.”

  I watched his face drop and i
t broke my heart.

  “You’ve been an incredible father over the years. You’ve taken care of me and raised me. You’ve built your company with Colt while raising a child that technically isn’t yours.”

  “You’ll always be mine, Cal--.”

  I held up my hand again and drew in a deep breath.

  “I know I’ll always be yours. I am yours. When you adopted me, I wanted your last name for a reason. You’re my dad. Plain and simple. But, you’re only just Dad. Even though you try to be Mom and Dad, there are times when all I need is to talk with her. Like today. So, I’m sorry if me leaving so quickly worried you,” I said.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. I get it,” he said.

  “My heart hurts, Daddy. I spent the last six years with a man I adored. And idolized. And looked up to. And trusted. And that man turned out to be nothing like I thought he was. I feel betrayed, and hurt, and abandoned. I know, in the back of my mind, he didn’t deserve me. But it doesn’t stop me from grieving a six-year relationship that has now been obliterated.”

  Then, I drew in a deep breath and launched into the part that worried me the most.

  “What Matthew said on the porch is true. The day I got back from college, after Colt cooked dinner and I went up to my room, we shared a moment. A vulnerable moment born out of an accidental kiss that sparked something latent and beautiful. And I need you to hear me when I tell you that he didn’t take advantage of me, Dad. Colton didn’t force himself on me or manipulate the situation or any of the other things you accused him of doing. When we kissed, I didn’t stop in. In fact, I pressed into him. I gave him the go-ahead.”

  I watched my father grimace. Like I’d just forced him to swallow a can of salt.

  “So, if you’re going to be upset with your brother, then you have to be upset with me as well.”

  And after I was done, I fluttered my gaze over to Colt and smiled quickly before it faded.