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The house felt extra empty as I wandered out of my rooh the vast space, the décor and other re of celebration and fun and fa but

And, of course, Sam was up and ready to start his day He was seated at the bar in the kitchen, coffee in front of hi or another on his tablet

“Merry Christmas,” he said “You sleep well?”

I wordlessly pouredto need a lot of it to get through the day I didn’t want to say a thing to Sam But I couldn’t resist

“Why the hell did you do it? You gave me the option to come clean, and then you went back on it?”

He shrugged “So about the way you reacted to our conversation didn’t exactly giveAnd besides, the ht about it, the more I realized our families needed to know the truth”

“That’s what it was about, huh? You being dedicated to the truth?” My tone ry and edged with anger

“Listen, Josh I knoe’ve had our differences, but you have to believeof the family and our company Don’t you think Dad deserved to know that his son was nothing more than a liar and a schemer?”

“Maybe so, but you gaveand took it away And now it’s a mess”

“It was already a ’s out in the open, and you can deal with the fallout”

I hated how s I stepped toward Sa like you’ve got these noble reasons for doing what you did But I know the truth”

“The truth? And what’s that?”

“You saw a chance to get one over on your big brother, and you took it You hate living inme down”

He regardedto be bothered “You want to think this is all about petty sibling rivalry, you’re more than welcome But I knohy I did what I did I don’t need to convince you of anything” He rose from his seat and stepped around the counter “And if I were you, I’d be more worried about what the man in the study has to say”

“Shit He’s up?”