Chapter 1

Prologue NATHAN—AGE 26, NEW YEAR’S EVE My father pours six glasses of fifty-year-old Macallan and hands them out to my brothers and me. We stare out the window, watching the fireworks lighting up the night sky. My youngest brother, Maddox, looks at his glass and swirls the amber liquid around the base like he doesn’t know what to do with it. He’s only sixteen, but I know for sure that’s not his first drink. Mason shakes his head and sighs. “Does anyone else feel like it’s weird that it’s just us?” I nod my agreement. This house is usually so full of people, laughter, raised voices, and music, especially on New Year’s Eve. But tonight there’s only pain and silence. “We could put the TV on. Watch the ball drop,” my oldest brother, Elijah, suggests. Drake shakes his head. “Nah. She used to hate that, remember? Was always convinced the time was off by a few seconds.” Mason laughs. “Remember how she’d always insist on using Great-Grandad’s old Navy diving watch to determine when it was midnight instead?” I frown. “Where the hell is that thing?” Maddox reaches into the pocket of his jeans and produces the watch, his eyes wet with tears. Mason knocks back his Scotch and jumps up from the sofa. “Jesus, it feels so weird without her here. Like this house has no fucking soul anymore. Let’s get the fuck out of here and go somewhere.” Drake rolls his eyes. “Like where, jerkwad?” “I dunno. A club or something. A place where there’s life.” Maddox scowls. “And what about me, dickface?” “Nobody is going anywhere,” our father barks. “So quit your whining and drink your Scotch.” Mason sinks back down onto the sofa with a sigh. “Sorry, Pop.” My father knocks back his drink and stands in front of the window, ensuring he’s in all our eyeline. He stares at the five of us. The James boys. Apple of our mother’s eye. Dalton James has always been a giant of a man, formidable in business and ruthless in his quest to become the man his own father told him he would never be. He made his first billion by the time he was thirty-five. A loving, if strict, father. A man to look up to. But now his shoulders are slumped in defeat. His suit, once finely tailored to fit the contours of his muscular physique, hangs loose around his shoulders. No less the man I respect more than anyone on this earth, but still a shadow of his former self. He sucks on his top lip, the way he does when he’s deep in thought or about to impart some of his legendary wisdom. “I have a piece of advice for all you boys. You live by this, and I promise that you’ll never know a day’s heartache in your life.” Elijah stares up at him. “And what’s that, Dad?” The five of us wait for him to impart this particular nugget of wisdom. He clears his throat, his deep gray eyes full of grief. “Never fall in love.” —————— Chapter 1 NATHAN My father tosses the glossy magazine onto the table. “Another one, Nathan?” he says with a heavy sigh. I glance at the spread pages and the paparazzi snap of me and some socialite leaving a nightclub at 3:00 a.m. two nights ago. “At least I don’t have my hand on this one’s ass.” A fact that she was particularly pissed about if I recall. He shakes his head. “That is not the point, son. You’re thirty-eight years old. When the hell are you going to grow up and take some responsibility for your life?” I roll my shoulders and clench my jaw. Along with my younger brother, Drake, I own the biggest law firm in the country. While I specialize in criminal law these days, together Drake and I have brokered deals that earned my father’s company hundreds of millions of dollars. I’ve always done all I can for my family. For my brothers. And he wants to preach to me about responsibility. “You can talk, Dad. How many women have you fucked this past month?” He scowls at me. “Your mother did not raise you to talk like that, Nathan. And I don’t care how many women you hook up with, but at least be discreet about it.” I roll my eyes. “I don’t see what the problem is. I’m single. These women are all consenting adults.” “The problem is, like it or not, you are this family’s legacy. How do you think your mother would feel knowing you were dragging our good name through the gossip magazines the way you do?” Anger bristles beneath my skin. “Don’t use Mom against me.” “I will when it’s goddamn true!” He bangs his fist on the table, his face turning a deep shade of red. I sink back in my chair and bite back the instinct to go toe to toe with him. He had a heart attack only four months ago, and he looks like his blood pressure is about to shoot through the roof. Sucking on my top lip, I hold back all the things I want to say so I won’t piss him off any further. He glares at me, the vein in his temple throbbing. Then he leans back in his leather wingback chair with a sigh. “I understand you want to make your own way in this world. I said nothing when you went off and opened your own law firm instead of joining the family business. I kept my mouth closed when you recruited one of your younger brothers into the fold too.” I bite my lip before we get into the age-old argument about me corrupting Drake. “I have no idea why you’re so resistant to carrying on my name. Are you ashamed of who you are?” I shake my head. “That’s fucking unfair, Dad. Just because I didn’t want to go into tech, you think I’m ashamed of my family?” He nods to the magazine on the table between us. “Then why else do you flaunt my name like this? This is not how a James man behaves.” “And how exactly should a James man behave, Dad? Like Elijah?” He scowls at the mention of my older brother’s name. “He understands duty.” “He’s married to a woman who treats him like shit, and he’s miserable as fucking sin.” My father shakes his head. He can’t argue with that, so experience tells me he’s about to try a different tactic. “I don’t know how long I have left on this earth, son.” Oh fuck, here we go. “Will you quit with that? You’re sixty-eight years old, not ninety. That’s why Elijah and Mason took over the company. So you can start taking better care of yourself. Do that and you’ll outlive all of us.” He stares at me, his gray eyes softening. We don’t look alike; I got my coloring from my Spanish mother’s side, but she always said I was still the most like him. I don’t see it at all. “I don’t want to outlive you all. But I do want to leave behind a legacy that I can be proud of. I want the James name to live on for centuries. And you, son, are my best hope of that.” Then you’re fucking screwed, Dad! That’s what I want to say, but I don’t. “You have five sons. Why is this suddenly on me?” “Elijah is stuck in that marriage whether she makes him happy or not, and we know she can’t have children. And he’s too loyal a man to ever leave her.” He shakes his head. “Maddox lives with his head in the clouds, drifting from one city to another, refusing to commit to anything or anyone or do anything meaningful with his life.” “It’s meaningful to him.” I feel the need to leap to my youngest brother’s defense. Like he hasn’t dealt with enough shit in his life. He’s earned the right to do whatever the hell he wants. He snorts. “And then there’s Mason.” He throws his hands in the air. “There’s no hope of him ever having kids.” “Well, that’s a crock of shit. Gay people can and do have kids, Dad,” I insist. His brow furrows. “You know that’s not what I’m talking about, Nathan. Can you ever imagine Mason with kids? It’s just not in him.” I sigh because I figure he’s right. “What about Drake? You haven’t given up on him too, have you?” He shakes his head. “Drake is too committed to his job.” It’s my turn to snort. “And you think I’m not?” “Drake works twenty hours a day, seven days a week. You’re out every weekend, dating women and attending parties. Things come easily to you in a way they never have to your brothers, Nathan. You achieve the same results with half of the effort. You always have.” My hackles rise. “You’re saying I don’t work hard?” “I’m saying you’re incredibly gifted, son. Of all my children, you are the one who can have it all, and I refuse to let you squander the opportunity to carry on our family name. When I die and meet your mother on the other side, I need to be able to tell her that we have grandchildren. Can you not understand that?” I blink at him, shocked. “So you want me to have a kid, is that it?” “Two would be ideal.” “An heir and a spare, huh?” His lip curls in a sneer. “Don’t be vulgar.” “And when does this happen, Dad? I just knock up the first woman I find? Is that it?” He shakes his head, his cheeks growing red again. “Of course not. You’ll marry a suitable woman and then she will bear your children.” “Oh.” I throw my hands into the air. “So now I’m getting married too?” He glares at me, his jaw clenched tight. He’s entirely fucking serious. “This is the one thing I’m asking of you, Nathan. The only thing I will ever ask.” I bark a humorless laugh. “Getting married and having a couple of kids is a pretty big ask, Dad.” Sighing, he runs a hand through his thick gray hair. “I always knew it would be you. You’re not my firstborn, but you’re the child I most see myself in. You were born lucky, son. Just like I was. You can take any situation and make it work. It’s not like you’re ever going to fall in love, so what are you really giving up? A couple years of meaningless encounters?” “What if I don’t want kids, Dad?” He scrutinizes me with narrowed eyes. “Don’t you?” I swallow hard. Damn him. I’ve always been honest about wanting a family of my own, and now it’s about to bite me in the ass. “Of course I do. One day.” “Then make one day come soon. While I’m still here to enjoy my grandkids. What the hell are you waiting for?” “To find someone who wants to have kids with me would be a good start.” He gives me a triumphant smile. “Don’t worry. I have that covered.”