Chapter 11: Fated

Felix pulled on trousers and opened the door.

Rowan stood in the corridor with his tie loose and his eyes red, and the doormen hovering behind him in a worried knot.

"There he is," Rowan said. "The clerk."

"You're drunk."

"I'm ruined." Rowan pushed past him into the hall.

"Forty million frozen, two investors gone, the board asking questions. Somebody's behind it.

"Where's my brother?"

"Stepbrother," Casper said.

He stood at the end of the hall in one of Felix's shirts, bare legs, his hair rumpled.

He did not look afraid.

"Come home," Rowan said. "Right now. Get dressed. You're making a fool of yourself with this man."

"No."

"Your mother's ward..."

"Is paid. Not by you." Casper's voice was quiet and level.

"You told me for eight months that you were paying. You never paid for any of it. You took the credit."

Rowan's face drained.

"Who told you that?"

"The ledger did."

Rowan looked from Casper's bare legs to Felix's bare chest, and for a long moment Felix watched him put it together and fail.

"You," he said slowly. "A clerk. With what?"

"With enough," Felix said. "Get out of my house."

"You'll regret this."

"I regretted the wedding. That was enough regret for a lifetime."

Rowan swayed.

Something crossed his face, an ugly, bewildered fear, and he turned and walked back out into the corridor without another word.

Felix shut the doors and locked them.

When he turned, Casper was standing very close, looking up at him.

"You stood in front of me," Casper said.

"You stood in front of me first."

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