“Earth to dumbass,” Ash says, tugging on my arm. “The meeting is over. Everyone is gone. I thought you wanted to talk to Viv.”
“Shit.” I jump up. “Yes. Come on. You need to hear this too.” I drag my poor sister out of the room, telling her to take off her shoes so she can chase me down the stairs. The lift is already gone, taking Viv with it, and I need to stop her before she leaves.
Short of turning up on her doorstep—which I’m reluctant to do because a confrontation is the last thing Easton needs to witness—this is the only chance I may have to speak to her. Viv needs to know, so we can get ahead of this.
I burst through the doors of the car park just as Viv and Audrey reach their SUV. “Wait!” I holler, racing toward them. Viv, predictably, ignores me, climbing behind the wheel. I grab the door before she can close it. “Don’t. Fucking. Ignore. Me.”
“What do you want, Dillon?” Audrey asks, leaning across the console to stare at me.
“To get to know my son and the opportunity to make things up to the woman I love, but”—I raise one palm, keeping my other hand firmly on the car door, as I don’t trust Viv not to slam it in my face—“I know what the reply would be, so that’s not why we currently need to talk.”
“Jesus Christ, Dillon,” Ash says, materializing behind me. She’s panting and a little red in the face. “I think I just ripped the seam of my trousers. If I did, you’re buying me a new suit.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” Viv says, looking straight ahead.
“Look at me,” I snap, getting sick of this crap. I know she’s in mourning. I know I’m a piece-of-shit dumbass fuckface. But she can still look at me when she’s talking to me.
“What, Dillon?” she hisses, turning to face me. “What do you want?”
“We have a mutual problem we need to discuss.”
“What problem?” Ash straightens up, putting her serious face on.
“Don’t freak,” I tell my sister, knowing it’s pointless. “I only found out about it this morning.”
“Found out about what?” Audrey asks, looking troubled.
I blow air out of my mouth, hating I have to blurt it out like this, but if I don’t, Viv will run off and she’ll find out in the worst possible way. “The press know about me. They’ve found out I’m Reeve’s twin brother.”
“How?” Ash asks when it’s clear Viv is in a state of numbed shock.
“A reporter noticed the resemblance as I was leaving the funeral, and she started digging. She got her hands on a copy of my naturalization application. It lists Reeve as my brother. She wants an exclusive interview with me. She’s given me forty-eight hours to agree or she’s running the story.”
“Fuckity-fuck.” Ash expels a breath heavily. Throwing a concerned look at a shell-shocked Viv, she addresses Audrey. “We need to strategize. We need to discuss our options and decide how best to minimize the impact so it doesn’t bring any more heat down on Viv.”