Today Arilynn and I were taking our Friday trip to the Hamptons to have dinner with my parents. We were just a few miles out from Southampton while Arilynn sat post the hour she had spent in her vanity room getting ready to go.
We had made this into a common occurrence at least once a month. It was also a nice way to spend time with my parents especially since my sisters had moved out and we all lived in separate houses. Isabella lived in Staten Island, and Abigail in Tribeca. It was a rare occurrence for all of us to be at one house and it didn't often happen hence why these dinners only happened once a month.
As I pulled down the driveway of the house I stopped behind my sisters vehicles before getting out and shutting the door to the Aston before going around and opening the door for Arilynn to get out.
Once she was out I pushed the door shut and walked with her up to the front door of the house where I simply opened the door and let myself in a habit I will admit came from my dad.
"Just like our father" Izzy says and I just cast her a nonchalant smile.
"Whoops" I shrug before taking off my shoes and walking into the living room to find Abigail and Julian settled along with my parents and August.
"So August what is it that you are doing for work?" my dad asks leaning back while cradling a glass of what I'd assume was his favourite scotch.
"Took over the family shipping business, but I also am managing a few smaller ventures, hoping to expand into other areas of the transportation Industry" he responds.
"Looks like my sister is dating a rival of Lawrence Transport" I muse and August looks over at me before shaking his head.
"Nathan Giovanni makes maybe what you make quarterly in a year" August says.
"That's still twelve billion a year" I point out.
"Boys no money talk" my mom says and I nod as a sign of recognizing the request. "What about you Arilynn, how is transforming Hamilton Industries?" my mom redirects to my girlfriend who now stood next to me.
"Good, slow change but my parents have been slowly more and more welcoming to the change that I wanted. Sort of playing devils advocate with that, but they accepted it" Arilynn says resting her head on my shoulder.
"What about the quiet Mr. Vaughn, what can he provide for my daughter?" my dad probes leaning forwards and I exchange a look with my sisters to not warn Julian that our father was messing with him.
"Electronic fabrication is going well, I'm certainly the poorest in the room but I just want a good life to do my best to provide for Abigail" Julian says.
"I can move a few percent around so you're the breadwinner" I tease and a pillow flies across the room".
"Nathanial, I have half a billion in assets that need to be paid for don't you dare" Abigail says and I just laugh.
"It was joke, both the percentage, and my dad asking about you Julian" I say.
"Ah" Julian says before blushing.
"What kind of things do you like to do Julian, in your spare time?" I ask so that my dad can hear the same things that I did.
"I recently got into guns" he says and my dad lifts his eyebrows.
"Favourite one?" my dad asks with a small smirk.
"SKS" Julian says before I answer, "M4".
"That's because you would single handedly breach a building to protect anyone in this room" Izzy remarks staring pointedly at me while I just smirk.
"I get it from dad" I say and my mom looks at the other raven haired man in the room as he took the final sip of his glass.
"Well food is set up, so let's eat. I don't want cold steak" my dad says standing and walking off though I hear them talking in hushed voices that were too quiet for any of us to hear, I'd just picked it up over time while sitting around people in meetings how to hear small chatter, and apparently my parents were the masters at whisper argument.
Go figure they have one once every few years about something dumb typically.
Ignoring it I moved into the kitchen and into the dining room where my parents concluded their bout before the rest of us joined and I simply pretended I hadn't noticed them bickering.
Sliding out Arilynn's chair I waited for her to sit and then pushed her in before sitting myself next to her and across from my sisters.
As all of us began reaching around the table for what we needed conversation took over and soon enough I had begun paying more attention to that then what had happened between my parents.
That was sort of the beauty of all of us being together problems disappeared and then we all were more focused on the dinner and one another then whatever we were struggling with.
However I did tuck the question away.
By the end of the dinner however only my sisters were sober, both Arilynn and I had been casually drinking, and though I felt fine, and coherent, I knew better then to have drank and then drive. The fun part was watching my sisters have to baby their boyfriends while Arilynn asked if her and I could stay the night in the guest house to which my parents warmly smiled and let her have the key for the house.
Going with her we walked across the lawn towards the guest house which was the same size as most peoples homes to begin with and found our way inside before I gave her a tour of where things were in the house.
"I'm going to have a shower then go to bed" my girlfriend smiles, and I wrap my arms around her waist.
"Before you do, I am giving you a kiss since I will probably go talk to my parents for a little bit, and you may be asleep by then" I say before leaning down and pressing my lips to hers while she smiled against mine.
"I love you, mi amor" I exhale unable to fight the smile on my lips.
"I love you too Nathan" she says before practically skipping off to the bathroom, and I couldn't help but be reminded of how much I would be unable to explain what she meant to me.
Turning I walked out of the guest house and spotted the PPO's begin their rounds around the property which would be one of about two dozen they would do throughout the night.
Jogging back up the steps I entered the house and began looking around for where my parents had gone in the time Arilynn and I had been outside merely to find the kitchen cleaned and a candle lit on the center of the counter.
I then noticed the door to the office open a crack, and walked into the room where my mom stood in his office sitting in my dad's chair looking at a journal he kept tapping her fingers on the cover.
"Mom" I say and she looks up at me.
"Nathanial" she says as I walk into the room and lean on the cushioned leather chair opposite her.
"What was that earlier with dad?" I ask, "the argument, I don't mean to pry I am just curious".
My mom sighs and looks around.
"Just Isabella's comment about how you would solely go after anyone who hurt this family. It made me think about how your dad has made a lot of enemies in twenty-five years. You had to go to school hearing about them. Adrian Winters the devil of New York City, he spent his life as an angry man Nathan, when I met him he was seventeen and terrified Thornbrook, terrified them, no one stood within five feet of him, people wouldn't challenge him" she began biting her bottom lip in thought while shaking her head slightly.
"He was the prince of New York city and it didn't change him. He was flawed, angry, and cunning, he used fear to make people either stand in line or step aside. But he was always moral, if he made a mistake he fixed it, he fought to protect his sister, and his friends, protect me. No one would touch them because everyone respected what your dad stood for".
"Nathan I can't really put into words how badly having a father who never seemed proud of him completely fucked him up mentally. He would be the best, who am I kidding, he is the best. Schooling he was perfect, sports no one could beat him, on a polo field he was king. He used success to cover the fact his own father was never there for him until the moment he wanted nothing to do with him. Then Alexander Winters was gone along with his mother Angelina Saint Laurent, and he was an orphan, anger was all he had".
"Adrian was broken and I could see it in his eyes when given the chance, the more I knew the more I understood that he simply just wanted someone to fight for him to allow him to be what he needed to within reason because that was what he needed from a partner. So, I became that because he was that for me".
"When he found out I was pregnant he was beyond happy, the man would tear up, but I also saw the other half of it, he was scared of being a father because his never treated him with kindness after the age of eight. He didn't remember what it was like to actually have a father because he spent so much time alone. Nathan, he cried because he didn't want to be a bad father".
I felt like tearing up I knew where this was going, I'd heard the story, both my sisters had too that was just how it was. We weren't ever really explained everything.
"So, he did what he always had, kept secrets to be the best he could" I say looking up and my mom nodded.
"He vowed to make sure none of his children ever got hurt, or became like him. He didn't want to see the result a second time of so much anger and pressure. He hated punishing any of you when you all were still kids, hated it. He supported all of you to do what you were passionate about, he was understanding, and compassionate. He became the father he wished he had".
"But there was an exception. Abigail is a lot like me and so is Izzy just Isabella has a bit of your dad's temper and doesn't back down from anything afraid that also comes from me, I'm a fighter, and your dad is about as cunning as they come. You always wanted to be CEO of Winters Group and the more you grew the more he saw it. He saw that you were becoming just like him. Cunning, competitive, a bit ruthless".
Now I was crying because I understood now I knew all this and more, the pieces were filling out.
"He saw the devil of himself in his son and he didn't want you to be like that, Adrian is flawed but he tried to be the best father he could. He just happened to have made dozens of enemies, he knew that either he dealt with them and you stepped into a role where you could cement your reputation with ease, or do nothing and let you clean up the mess like what he had to do. Once again, he did what he thought was best".
"So, when he would say to you, try to be like me, he meant try to be compassionate and not use fear. But he knows he can't cage you so he is letting you do what you think is right. However, that plays out".
I was silent as I gripped the back of the chair before reaching up and using my sleeve to wipe away my tears.
"I just want to make him proud, I just want to know how it led to the focus on ending his lineage, especially whatever happened at Lake Como because I don't remember that" I say right before we heard the knock and I turned around to see my dad in the doorway holding a glass of scotch and smiling softly.
"That's complicated but I can try to simplify it" he says using his foot to shut the door.
"When you were six someone tried to kill you all, your mother, you and your sisters. I learned that the attack was supposed to be apart of the Louviere's, so I helped them rise, I bought stake and attempted to help them become the best, to protect them. This was part of their plan. The Halloway family was a victim of greed and ambition. I practically tore them apart which was when I realized the plan, I learned that they were framed. I helped them get out of Europe. Then I focused on the De'Vincent's I knew of their part and that was supposedly the end of it" my dad says leaning against a bookshelf nearby.
"It wasn't, I knew something was off with the Halloway's and I began researching that but they were MIA so I had to hunt them down took several years, learned they wanted to make Kennith Louviere fall. In the meantime I remained strong focused on my family and building my business stronger after the whole fiasco. It was when Carrick De'Vincent went to jail that I got suspicious because I'd actually given him a second chance yet he seemed to believe I played him. So, he went to jail. That folder Scarlett found on Christmas of your senior year. It was a lot more interesting than you may have thought. It was addressed to the Louviere's directly to her dad, who I was in business with at the time. It was a panic because if he had blackmail, he could control me. It never got to him".
My dad took a sip from his glass.
"The plot was made by Kennith to take over my company. To prove I could be displaced. I didn't let it happen, so he helped get Carrick to the states, and target Abigail. I then pushed harder to get the deal through but at that point it was over and he panicked again to get the best deal he could. I took half a trillion dollars from him. He wanted the success your mother and I had created together. Now he is arrested for attempted murder on both your mother and I. You see his plan was to use you and your sibling's deaths to cripple us. Then use the opportunity to take everything from us, leave us as puppets. Just I've been playing the game too long to not have made it my board and if my rules aren't followed then those responsible are punished. Be compassionate, and firm handed and the whole world will bow at your feet Nathanial, just listen to your mother and only do things because you feel they are right not because I expect or want something from you".
"Did Scarlett or her mom have a part in the plot?".
"No, just they now don't have a father, or a husband. I've possibly made you an enemy by protecting you, and for that I am sorry".
"You don't need to apologize dad, if Scarlett is an enemy, I'll just have to explain the hard truth one day, even if that means telling her that her parents hid the plot that her father planned, and her mother was fed a different story, a partial one".
"Know she won't take it well" my mom says and I nod.
"I can deal with that, I'm fine with a little hard work" I muse and my dad smirks.
"He's a Winters alright" my dad says and we all just laugh.
And that will mean the same thing it did when my parents ruled New York.
We talked for a few more hours and eventually my parents went up to bed so I left them in their home and I returned to the guest house where my girlfriend would be sleeping.
Pushing open the wooden door I stepped inside silently and locked it, before slowly making my way to the bedroom and slipping into the bedroom we shared before noticing Arilynn already lay beneath the covers with my side of the bed empty with the lamp on it's lowest lighting setting.
Only this girl would be so considerate towards me.
Undressing I then put all my clothing in a neatly folded pile at the end of the bed and walked back over to the side of the bed to shut off the lamp, and climb under the covers beside her.
She had given me something to fight for and though I couldn't explain it, she felt right, having Arilynn in my life felt right, and I'd learned that my gut was never wrong. So wherever we went I vowed to stick by her side no matter what, because she gave me all the reasons to become a better man not just for her, but for my family which she was now a part of. Because in the end that was what my family was, a spark for the bettering of all the places around us, that was our mark on the world, the burning rise of the Winters Family that I promised to continue, and would do even if I never got thanks for it, as the heir to New York's infamous devil. Whatever that would bring.
That is the end of the book I hope you all like it now I won't make promises of when the final book of this series will come out but hopefully the end of Spring Break. Comment, vote, and share, also follow if you're a new reader. Anyways
Peace✌