Page 2 of The Heartbreaker

The reality was that my parents just didn’t love each other. I wasn’t sure if they ever did. They’d stayed together because ofus kids when they should have divorced long before the cheating started.

Was it a detriment that I hadn’t witnessed love in my parents’ houses? That I had a promiscuous father?

Maybe.

But neither of those points was the reason I was single.

When Jana, Daisy’s mother, and I had broken up, I’d made the choice not to have women come in and out of my daughter’s life. Rather than focus on anything serious, I had fun. I worked my ass off. I gave every bit of my attention to my daughter.

Love wasn’t a priority.

And as I looked at the deep grooves in my father’s face that I knew weren’t from smiling and the quietness in the bedroom and the vacant spot on the other side of his bed, I realized he hadn’t made it a priority either.

Since his divorce, approximately twenty-five years ago, he never lived with anyone.

He never introduced his kids to anyone.

He never spoke to us about anyone.

But we still knew that women came and went, just like the hospice nurses who covered each of the twelve-hour shifts at his home.

I searched for something to say that would alleviate the loneliness he was feeling, and before I could voice anything, he whispered, “Promise me, Ridge. Promise me that you won’t end up like me.”

A statement I couldn’t wrap my head around.

My father had an incredible life. He traveled the world. He’d built one of the most successful hospitality brands. The only one that was larger—the Spade Hotels—we had now merged with. He had three children, who had taken over the reins of his business, and he had more money than he could ever spend in ten lifetimes.

Ending up like him wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

“Ridge”—he shook my hand—“promise me.”

I nodded. “All right, Dad. I promise.”

A contentment passed through his glossy eyes. “I need you to be the leader of this family. Make sure Cooper never hurts your sister, and you treat Rayner like she’s your own.”

There was a knot in the back of my throat. One that was building larger, denser as the seconds passed.

“Done.”

“And your brother. I need you to care for him. That boy”—he stopped to take a breath, the wind he inhaled too much for his throat—“has been lost and doesn’t want to be found. Find him, Ridge. Help him.”

His last requests hit my chest in a way where it felt impossible to speak.

I didn’t want my father to see emotion as the last look on my face.

I wanted him to know I could handle the position he’d just given to me.

So, I swallowed the tears threatening to pool and the trembling inside my body and the aching not just in my chest, but in every joint and muscle.

“I will,” I said softly. Since that didn’t feel like enough, I said, “I promise.”

He gave a slight nod and brushed his thumb past the peaks of my knuckles.

A movement that I knew, deep in my fucking heart, would be his last.

“You’ve always made me proud, my son.” His cough thickened. “I love you, and I love Daisy.”

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