This was all on me.
I waved at Petra as she turned around in the driveway after dropping me off at the house. Now that Tristin was no longer in the picture, I was back to begging rides off of her and Gerard. Or riding my bike.
I was halfway to the front door when the sound of an angry male voice drifted to me. My feet started moving before I could consider what was possessing me to follow the voice to the side of the house. It seemed that I couldn’t help myself.
Peeking my head around the corner, I found Vincent and Hayle standing on the deck, facing off. That wasn’t a combination I would have expected. Then again, I was pretty sure the Sharpe patriarch had the ability to get anyone riled up.
Though Hayle was slightly taller than his father, Vincent appeared to be looking down his nose at his son while he spoke. “You’re supposed to be the smart one. What were you thinking, getting involved in one of Leo’s harebrained schemes?”
“There was nothing harebrained about it. We got the confession from Mark. Isn’t that the important part?”
“Not if it was going to lead to yet another scandal. This family can’t handle any more bad press.”
Hayle nonchalantly leaned back against the railing, but his tone betrayed his frustration. “Since when do you care about what other people think?”
“I’ve always cared. Why else do you think Tristin got such a harsh sentence?”
I pressed my hand to my mouth to cover my gasp.
What. The. Fuck.
“What are you saying?” Hayle asked, sounding as shocked as I felt.
Vincent laughed, though the sound was hollow. “Guess you’re not so smart, after all. Think about it, Hayle. I always hire the best lawyers money can buy. Tristin should have gotten off with a slap on the wrist and community service.”
“Except, you didn’t want him to get off with a slap on the wrist.” Hayle shook his head, like he couldn’t believe it. “Why?”
“Because optics are everything in this world. If people thought Tristin got the spoiled rich kid treatment, they would have blamed our family—and my business—for it. His punishment needed to be just severe enough to seem fair.”
“Oh my god. I can’t believe this. You actually paid off the judge to give Tristin more time?”
“Not more. The perfect amount.”
Like a villainous fucking Goldilocks. Not too little time or too much. Just right.
Not for the first time, I wanted to punch the man.
“Does Tristin know?”
Vincent laughed again, but this time, I would have sworn there was actual humor in it. “Of course, he knows. He figured it out at the damn sentencing hearing. Why do you think he hates me so much?”
Holy shit.
Holy.
Shit.
“That’s sick, Dad.”
“No. It’s savvy. Tristin did his part for this family by sacrificing himself for Leo, and I made sure the sacrifice wasn’t in vain.” Vincent took a step toward his son, his stance just shy of menacing. “You think you have what it takes to be the next me?”
Hayle straightened. “You know I do.”
“Then you’re going to have to toughen the hell up. I have to make the hard decisions and not look back. Which means you will too.”
He squeezed Hayle’s shoulder in what had to be the closest thing to a fatherly gesture I’d seen from him since returning to Moss Harbor. If only it wasn’t paired with a whole lot of batshit crazy. “I don’t think you can do it, but I’d be happy to watch you prove me wrong.”
With those parting words, Vincent strode to the sliding glass doors and disappeared inside the house. A few seconds later, Hayle lifted a chair and pitched it off the deck. It slammed into the ground below, the wood splintering, but he didn’t seem to care. He stomped down the stairs and headed toward the woods.
I didn’t even think about it—I ran after him. “Hayle, wait.”
He stopped but didn’t turn around. “What do you want, Thea?”
“We should talk about what just happened.”
Turning around, he asked, “How much did you hear?”
The defeat in his dark brown eyes made me want to make light of the situation. Well, relatively. “Enough to know Vincent isn’t winning any Father of the Year awards anytime soon.”
He snorted. “That’s an understatement.”
“At least you know now.”
“Know what?”
Only what I’d known for the last eight years. “That he can’t be trusted.”
Hayle crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s not true.”
My jaw went slack. “I’m sorry...are you seriously defending him?”
“No, but it’s not like he did what he did to