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“It wasn’t Sebastian,” his father said.

“He’s holding a baseball bat!”

“I know my son. He didn’t do this,” his father said calmly as he moved to stand between Sebastian and Mr. Taylor, who looked like he wanted to kill someone.

With one last glare in their direction, Mr. Taylor turned to his son and snapped, “What happened?”

And that’s when Sebastian realized it was all over. With a few words, he was about to lose everything, and this time, nothing was going to save him, Sebastian realized as he looked at Braxton and waited for the words that would doom him. Braxton told him that his father wanted Sebastian out of the picture and it never even occurred to him that they would do something like this to make it happen. God, he was such an idiot. It wouldn’t matter if his father believed him, because the cops definitely wouldn’t.

Not after what just happened at the school.

This was it, Sebastian realized as the baseball bat fell from his trembling hand and–

“I did it,” Braxton said, taking everyone by surprise.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Mr. Taylor demanded.

“I did it,” Braxton said more firmly.

For a moment, Mr. Taylor stood there, staring at his son and then, “You’re going back to boarding school where you belong.”

After a slight hesitation, Braxton ground his jaw and nodded, once.

“No, he won’t. Not when you promised that I could spend more time with my great-grandson,” Mrs. Blaine said firmly as Cole pushed her up the driveway to see what was going on.

For a moment, Mr. Taylor looked like he wanted to kill Braxton with his bare hands only to have his expression turn calculating as he watched Mrs. Blaine. Clearing is throat, Mr. Taylor said, “If you’ll excuse us, I believe my son and I need to go home and think of an appropriate punishment.”

When Braxton moved to step past him, Sebastian stopped him. “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Braxton said, shrugging it off as he picked up Hunter’s blankie and handed it to Cole.

“Say goodbye to your great-grandmother,” Mr. Taylor said, clearing his throat as he gestured to Mrs. Blaine, who was watching his every move.

“Goodbye, Great-Grandmo–”

“You may call me Grandma,” Mrs. Blaine said with a sniff, making Sebastian’s lips twitch as he watched her gesture for Cole to bring her back inside.

Braxton looked dazed as he watched her go and Mr. Taylor looked…pleased.

Sebastian threw one last glance over his shoulder as he watched Braxton climb into the backseat and couldn’t help but wonder if he would have been better off being sent back to boarding school. Sighing, Sebastian turned around and found his father watching him.

“Are you okay?”

Nodding, Sebastian said, “I’m fine.”

When his father moved to turn around and head inside, Sebastian said, “Dad?”

“Yeah?” his father said as he turned around and–

“Thanks, Dad,” Sebastian said as he pulled him down for a hug.

“For what?” his father asked, wrapping his arms around Sebastian and held him tight.

“For everything.”

Chapter 46

“I can’t believe you pulled it off,” Jonathan said, shaking his head in amazement.