know I don’t say it a lot, but I love you, Serge. You were there for me without even knowing me, simply because you knew and loved Braun. Thank you for your friendship, because it has truly been a gift all these years.”
Serge stood, too, and he seemed to be blinking back tears. “It’s been my honor to be your friend, Kell. I mean that. Before I met you, Dex was the only person I could be completely honest with about my past. I treasure our friendship, and I will continue to treasure it until the goddess sees fit to part us in this life.” He yanked Kell into a tight hug. “Then I’ll make sure to find your ass in the neverlife and keep bugging you for eternity.”
“Deal.” He kissed Serge’s cheek. “Absolutely fucking deal.”
Ten days after sharing his proposal with Mr. Kell and the other Light House Board members, Dorian stood in front of his apartment bedroom’s full-length mirror and adjusted his tie for the eighteenth time in thirty minutes. Tonight, he was fulfilling the first of many promises he’d made to the board, who had unanimously accepted his expansion proposal late last week: a fundraiser.
A fundraiser at the vast Porter estate. Having it at the Fowler property would have been ill-conceived and arrogant, even if Dorian still owned it. He’d sold it this past winter, after assuring that each employee had another job to go to and would be okay. Neither he nor Samuel had wanted that house, and they didn’t care what became of it once the sale was finalized. It could rot for all Dorian cared. Despite growing up there, the sins of his parents had tainted the place forever.
Monte Porter had been a business associate of Dorian’s sire, but Porter had had no involvement in the fight ring scandal. Only a minor personal scandal of his own involving a rogue employee who’d tried to kidnap Monte’s omega son Frey over a year and a half ago. Monte was a shrewd businessman and Dorian had intense respect for the older alpha. And apparently, Frey had become a bit of a party planner himself, and Frey had helped convince Monte to hold the fundraiser there.
It didn’t hurt that Frey was friends with people connected to Kell Cross and Light House itself.
“The fucking tie is fine,” Dorian snapped at his reflection. “Get over yourself and go down to the car. You’ve got this.”
His first foundation’s first fundraiser to benefit Light House was tonight, and he didn’t want to fuck it up. But he’d also spent the first twenty-six years of his life watching his sire handle dozens of business dealings and charity functions. Dorian knew how to schmooze and work a room. He’d learned from a master.
And a fucking rapist.
More than any of his sire’s other dirty secrets, knowing the man had willingly raped a drugged omega during his heat chilled Dorian to the bone. He’d created a life within an omega who was then sold into a horrific future of fighting and survival. That life was Symon Lee, a beta man Dorian had seen around the estate during his employment, but whom Dorian had only met once as his half-brother. The day Dorian and Samuel pulled the plug on their sire.
Dorian let out a long, cleansing breath, made sure he had his mobile, wallet and keys, and he left the apartment. While he’d chosen a place in a high-end neighborhood, he had forgone a penthouse and traded in his expensive car for something a bit more modest. Yes, he had money, and he’d been raised to show it off via his assets and accessories. But he didn’t want to do that anymore. He wanted to live a simpler life and help other folk live theirs.
He arrived at the Porter estate about an hour before the other guests were meant to arrive, greeted at the door by Senior Porter, Frey and Frey’s mate Gaven Freel. The young alpha didn’t seem happy to see Dorian, and Dorian didn’t take it personally. The scandal with his family was barely over a year old, and Dorian was used to being treated like a pariah. Especially by people directly affected by the fight ring and Neville Fowler’s choices.
The mansion looked amazing, with vases of fresh flowers and tasteful bunting. A lovely selection of appetizers and finger foods for guests to enjoy that he sampled in the kitchen. Mr. Kell was also there with his mate and three adult children, with the