Slow Burn (Dynasties Seven Sins #7) - Janice Maynard Page 0,1

day.

Once he checked into his spacious, beautifully appointed room, he sat on the edge of the mattress and stared at his phone. He needed to let Joshua know he had arrived. Joshua Lowell. Jake’s brother, his twin. The only characteristics they shared were dirty blond hair, their six-foot-two-inch height and eyes that were a mix of hazel and green.

When Josh had called to say their father had been found, Josh asked Jake to come back to Falling Brook, and had invited him to stay in his home. But the invitation was obviously issued out of duty. The brothers hadn’t been face-to-face in fifteen years. Other than the occasional stilted text or email on birthdays and Christmases, or the very recent phone call, they might as well have been strangers.

Over the years, Jake had made himself hard to track down. On purpose. He had cut ties with his siblings, and now he knew little of their personal lives. When he was twenty-two, he hadn’t fully understood that family was family, no matter what. He also hadn’t realized that being a footloose, rolling stone would eventually lose its appeal.

Now that he was a seasoned man of thirty-seven, he was hoping to mend fences, especially since Joshua wanted Jake’s input on the CEO search at Black Crescent. It felt good to be consulted.

Joshua had agreed to meet in the hotel restaurant at seven. The entire place was dark and intimate, but even so, Jake offered the hostess a fifty to seat him and his prospective dinner date at an inconspicuous table. If anyone saw two of the three Lowell brothers together again, tongues would wag.

Jake hated the paparazzi. In the aftermath of his father’s disappearance, reporters had hounded every member of the Lowell and Reardon families. In fact, any family connected to the scandal was targeted. Jake, a newly minted university grad at the time, had already been planning to backpack around Europe, so he simply moved up his timetable and fled.

Josh—good old dependable Josh—had been left to clean up the mess. The guilt from that one decision hounded Jake to this day. His brother had rebuilt Black Crescent bit by agonizing bit. Joshua had stayed the course, faced the accusers and cooperated with the police. Despite having incredible artistic talent, he had put his dreams on hold and tried to make up for their father’s despicable deeds.

Jake had done nothing but pursue a selfish agenda.

Sometimes, the truth sucked.

When Joshua arrived, Jake leaped to his feet and hugged his brother awkwardly, feeling a tsunami of emotional baggage threaten to pull him under. “Long time no see.” He winced inwardly at what must have sounded like a flippant comment at best.

The two men sat, and a hovering sommelier poured two glasses of a rare burgundy that Jake remembered his brother enjoying. Although, who knew? Fifteen years was a long time. Tastes changed.

Josh downed half the glass, leaned back in his chair and managed a small smile. It seemed genuine enough. “You look good, Jake.”

“So do you.”

A few seconds of silence ticked by.

“This is weird.” Joshua raked a hand through his hair. He wore an expensive sport coat, dress pants and a crimson necktie. Jake, in jeans and a rugby shirt, felt scruffy in comparison. But that had always been the difference between them. Josh dressed the part of a wealthy man. Jake preferred to be unfettered by society’s dictates.

He straightened his spine as tension tightened his jaw. “Here’s the thing,” he said abruptly. “I might as well get this off my chest. I’m sorry, Josh. I’m sorry Dad screwed us over, and I’m sorry I let you do the heavy lifting. I abandoned you. But I’m here now. For what it’s worth.”

His brother’s smile was strained. Born first by three minutes, Josh had often taken the role of “older” brother seriously. He sighed, the sound a mix of resignation and something else. “I quit being mad at you a long time ago, Jake. We all choose our own path in life. Nobody made me stay and sort through Dad’s screwups.”

“But we both thought he was dead.” It was true. Their mother, Eve, had hired private detectives fifteen years ago. The feds had searched for months. No sign of Vernon Lowell anywhere.

Joshua’s gaze was bleak. “It would have been easier if he was dead, wouldn’t it?”

The harsh truth hung between them. Jake’s stomach clenched. Authorities had recently located Vernon Lowell on a remote Bahamian island and extradited him to the United States. Currently, the patriarch