Alpha Billionaire Series
Coming Home Chapter 31

MAKENZIE

"Mak! Makenzie, someone is here to see you." Mom hovered just outside my bedroom.

"What? Who? No one knows I'm here." I folded a few items of clothing from the morning's laundry. It was a good thing I hadn't moved my entire wardrobe when I went to live on Nantucket. I had something to wear once I got home. It was a different issue for Ainsley. The clothes that had been left behind for her no longer fit. I hadn't realized just how much she had grown until we tried to get her dressed on our second day here.

Mom was perfectly happy to buy her new dresses. I was perfectly happy not to have to buy anything new for myself. I needed to put the clean laundry away, and seriously think about returning to my home and my business on Nantucket. It was time to grow up again. If there was nothing left between Holden and me, so be it. It would hurt. A lot. I still cried from my initial loss of him four years ago. I cried more from whatever had just gone wrong between us recently.

I put the laundry down and followed her down the hall and through the rest of the house to the living room. I wasn't paying attention at first. I had no idea who could be waiting for me. For a split second, I thought Holden had found me. My nerves danced at the idea.

That lasted until I saw who was sitting in the living room. He sat very formally as if he too hadn't grown up and tortured me in this very house. He sat like a nervous guest and not the favorite son. Travis stood and fastened his jacket. He was grossly proper. I spun on my heel, only Mom had gotten behind me and put her hands up stopping me.

"I'm not talking to him."

"You don't have to talk, but you should listen."

"No, why should I? He ruined my life."

"You're being dramatic, Makenzie."

"No, she's not," Travis interrupted.

I spun back to stare at him. Had I heard him correctly? "Come again?"

"What are you talking about Travis? What is all of this?" Mom crossed her arms and stared at him almost with the same intensity that I was.

He let out a heavy breath. "Makenzie is right. I purposefully got in the way of a relationship. I fucked things up."

I wanted a recording of him admitting I was right. I wanted to play it over and over again. It was a victory, only I wasn't exactly sure how I had won it.

"Travis, there's no need for that kind of language."

"Yes, there is," I said. "He's grossly underestimating the damage he's done. He ruined everything and then spent the last four years doing everything he could to make it worse. I found the letters, Travis. You kept him from me. Why? What did I ever do that was so bad that you intentionally kept us apart?"

"Who are we talking about? Who did Travis keep you away from, honey?"

I looked at Mom. I knew that Holden and I had been sneaking around, but I honestly thought most people would have figured it out.

"He kept Holden away from me."

"But Holden joined the Army. Travis, what is she talking about? You didn't have anything to do with that did you?"

Travis shook his head. "I didn't, but I did interfere once he joined. I thought I was losing a good friend, so I lashed out and, in the end, I did ruin that friendship. And I blamed Makenzie entirely for it when she hadn't done a thing."

I slowly clapped. "You finally clued in. But how does that help me in any way?"

He held his hand out to me. I sneered at it. I don't know what he thought was going to happen. Did he think he could walk in here and say, 'I'm sorry' and he'd suddenly be my favorite older brother? That I would magically forgive him for ruining the past four years of my life and harassing me for the past few weeks about my business?

That was not what was going to happen. I had a good twenty-five plus years of resentment built up that needed to be sifted through. It wasn't going to disappear in a puff of happy sparkly glitter.

"I need to show you something," he said.

I crossed my arms and shook my head. I didn't trust him.

"I messed up Mak. I have a lot to atone for. Please..."

"Why now? What's different today from last week when you were harassing me over my books? Why should I trust you?"

"Go with him, Makenzie," Mom urged.

I spun to face her. "If you knew half of what I've put up with from him, you wouldn't be telling me to go with him but to run in the opposite direction. He hid the letters Holden wrote to me and gave me a fake address so that he could keep me from writing to Holden." "Holden again," she sighed. "Why does it matter? Why would you and Holden exchange letters when he joined the Army? He was Travis's friend."

"Mom," I practically yelled. I wanted to shake her. Instead, I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Holden is Ainsley's father, that's why it matters. That's how he ruined my life." I pointed at Travis like this was some courtroom drama and I was identifying the culprit. Mom put her hand to her mouth to cover a gasp. She dropped into the nearest chair. Her gaze bounced back and forth between me and Travis.

"Oh Travis, what have you done?"

My brother at least had the decency to look guilty.

"If I go with you..."

"It will be worth your time. I promise."

I set my mouth in a firm line and nodded in agreement. "I'll go." I turned to Mom. "Ainsley is asleep right now. She'll want a snack when she gets up."

"I know, juice box, her bear, and two episodes of her show so she can wake up and not feel cranky. I do know how to take care of toddlers, Mak. Go with your brother, he came all this way for a reason."

I hesitated, but in the end, I grabbed my purse and followed Travis out to his car. We didn't speak and I didn't ask Travis any questions. I stared at my fingernails and was proud of myself that I hadn't attempted to rake them down my brother's smug face. Only he hadn't been smug at all. But I wasn't convinced that he was truly remorseful. I kept my anger in reserve, waiting for this to be another one of his manipulative pranks.

"Holden and I had it out. He knew about Ainsley before I did, and I guess I was being pretty stupid." Travis said eventually.

"No, Travis. You were being mean." I turned to stare out the window. I didn't want to speak to him. I questioned why I had gotten in the car with him, to begin with.

The house was fairly far out in an upper-scale residential area. We grew up surrounded by homes with large properties and winding roads to get to any kind of shopping.

Travis drove like he knew these roads better than the back of his own hand. He cut through an industrial area that was a shortcut to get onto the main road that went past the local mall. He passed all of that and followed the road as it curved behind the cemetery. "I don't need a tour of town. Where are we going?"

"Old Town."

Old Town was the tiny area that had once been the economic center of town. It was out of the way and tucked up against a small state park. The only things there were touristy-type shops. High-end and high-priced restaurants.

And the Grande, one of those hotels built at the turn of the last century. Built for luxury and opulence that had fallen into disrepair mid-century and would have been given over to ruins and ghost stories if the local conservationist hadn't run a long campaign to have it restored to its former glory, and better.

Travis eased his car up to the valet stand and got out. A valet opened my door.

I looked over the top of the car at Travis. "Why are we here?"

He nodded at the open doors, and I turned to look. I had to blink a few times to adjust my focus to the dim interior, but Holden was there propped up on crutches.

"I'll let Mom know you're okay and will be home tomorrow. I owe you this Mak, I've been a suck brother."

I couldn't have agreed more.

At some point between the car door closing and standing in front of Holden, I had started crying. He opened his arms to me, and I wrapped myself around him. I didn't want to let go ever again.