Free Because You Love Me (Falling for You, Book Three) by Ava Claire Page A

way out of this. Do you know how hard I've worked? And you're going to take it all away and give it to Marie?"
    A part of me wanted him to laugh and rise from the chair. Pull out the tube and say that he'd paid some Hollywood makeup artist thousands to make him look like he wasn't long for this earth. We'd fall back into our roles, where he hated me and I would never be enough.
    Instead, he looked up at me with tears glittering on his cheeks. "I do know how hard you've worked. You've done a hell of a job. When Marie slinked in here, already picking over my bones and asking about the company, I realized just how deeply I screwed up. I had a son whose life and identity was the company I built. A company that I'd used as a crutch to keep my family at a distance. I had a daughter who was a spoiled, entitled brat. We were all broken, and the addendum was my way to try and fix it."
    My mouth hung open. The sound that came out sounded kind of like 'what?'.
    "That is not my final will, Xander."
    My world spun off its axis. I couldn't wrap my mind around what I was hearing. I shuffled to his bed, sinking into his starched linens. I gripped them in my fists, felt my nails cutting into my palms. I wasn't sleeping, but this wasn't real. It couldn't be real.
    I shook my head. "That doesn't make sense. Your lawyer-"
    "Took a big risk sharing that fake will with you," my father explained. "I assured him that you wouldn't take legal action when you learned the truth."
    I released my death grip on the covers. "That's awful optimistic of you. What if I didn't show up here? What if I just said screw you, screw the company, and took my money and went off the grid?"
    "Despite what the gossip pages say, you're not a petulant billionaire," he answered with that smirk. "I knew you would probably approach it with some sort of scorched earth strategy. You may have even found someone. And I hoped that whoever you found would show you that there's more important things than business meetings and  six figure acquisitions. I hoped that you'd come here ready to walk away from it all, because you're a better man than me and learned a lesson that it took staring death in the eye for me to learn. Love, son, is worth the risk. I'm sorry that it took me so long to say this. I love you, Xander. I couldn't be more proud that you are my son."
    Tears coursed down my cheeks and I cleared them off just as quickly as they fell. My father just let his fall. We didn't say another word. We didn't need words to describe the healing that was taking place. He was nodding slowly, the smirk now a full-on smile. He saw me. He accepted me. And I knew now, that he really loved me.
    I heard my mother's voice fluttering down the hall. The closer she got, the more I realized that she was on the phone with someone.
    "You know that he's ill, Maury! How could you have agreed to something so ridiculous! Get a girlfriend or Marie will be the CEO? Clearly his illness has eroded his ability to make competent decisions!"
    I watched in awe as my father sat up tall, like he was preparing himself for my mother's wrath. She stopped at the door, glaring at the back of my father's chair. I'd never seen her face so red, her body trembling with uncontrollable anger.
    "Robert, you have clearly lost your mind-"
    "It was a joke, dear," my father said with a sigh.
    "A joke?" she said shrilly. "I'm not laughing! Your son's not laughing. He's-" She covered her mouth in horror. "My sweet Xander. Are you crying?!"
    Before I could gape at this feisty woman disguised as my mother, Penny appeared instantly, her eyes wide with concern. She rushed toward me, my mother hot on her heels. She came to the bed, taking my face in her hands.
    "Xander, are you alright?"
    I turned my head and planted a kiss in her palm. "I'm great. It's going to all be okay." Her face scrunched in confusion, so I rose to my feet and took her hand in mine. "There's someone I'd like you to meet."
    My mother hung up on Maury and gingerly