“No,” I said. “You shouldn’t have.”
He swallowed. “Can I come in?”
“No.”
His face twisted. “Dad, please. Those people—Halden—they’re serious.”
“I know.”
“They’re going to destroy me.”
“You’ve been helping.”
He gripped the bars. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You could have told the truth.”
“You don’t know what it’s like.”
That sentence almost made me smile.
“I don’t know what it’s like?” I asked.
He looked down.
“I was drowning,” he said. “Everyone expected me to be successful. Your son. Franklin Reeves’s son. I couldn’t just be normal. I couldn’t fail.”
“So you lied.”
“At first, just a little.”
“That is how most collapses begin.”
“I thought I could fix it.”
“With two million dollars from men like Victor Hale?”
Brandon’s eyes widened. “You met Victor?”
“He came here.”
Fear moved across his face so quickly it stripped him bare.
