Run, Girl (If You Can)

Aaron was going over the numbers for the hundredth time trying to figure out whether or not he could get the stock prices driven up early. He desperately needed Alexander to sell him that 2% he needed or he wouldn't be able to collect those shares from his father safely and boot him out.

The evidence of insider trading was still completely circumstantial so he couldn't take it to the police but he could definitely use it to subdue his father once he was in control of 51% of the company's shares.

So close. He was so close! Once he did this, Keeley would be able to relax a bit. Goodness knows she needed to. She had gone to the doctor again twice in the past couple weeks and her blood pressure problem was holding steady.

At this rate, she would almost certainly be giving birth in March. It made Aaron even more determined to get this done.

How exactly had Graydon Meyer gotten Emilio to sell his shares so quickly? He could use that kind of power right now. But he would rather die than ask that man for help. Especially since he would take it as a sign that Aaron trusted him and wanted to be his friend.

Aiden burst into the office with an excited look on his face. "Boss man! I did it! I found out who Graydon Meyer actually is!"

Speak of the devil…

"Who is he?"

"His real name is Michael Gray. He was born and raised in Brooklyn by a single mom until he was five. She committed suicide and he was sent to live with his maternal uncle. He died of cirrhosis of the liver when Gray was eleven and he bounced around from foster home to foster home until he got a scholarship to MIT and decided to change his identity," he explained.

"But get this—no father is listed on his original birth certificate and his mother Mary received large sums of money at the beginning of the month from none other than Alistair Hale right up until she died. I think this guy is your half-brother!"

Half-brother? Aaron was stunned. That was the last thing he had imagined when he thought about what Meyer's connection to the Hales could be.

His father was even more classist than he had been once upon a time. He never would have fallen in love with a common woman. But if he did…what a hypocrite! And he gave Aaron such a hard time about Keeley in his past life?!

Hang on. Meyer was only five years older than him. Alistair and Roslyn had been married for nine years by the time their son was born.

This made a sick sort of sense. Giving birth to sons was the only way women gained any status in their world. Alistair most likely thought his wife couldn't get pregnant after being married for a few years with nothing to show for it and turned to someone on the outside to get his heir.

If Mary Gray died when her son was five…that was around the time Aaron was born. There had to be a connection. Alistair got his 'pure' heir and didn't need his mistress anymore.

Whether she actually committed suicide over the matter or was killed off to keep her mouth shut didn't really matter so long as young Michael Gray knew her death was related to his father. Of course he would hold a grudge against the Hales. They took his family away from him.

Roslyn and Aaron didn't know anything about this but to an angry child they would be easy to blame. She took his mother's place. He took what Gray thought should belong to him.

This would explain Gray's grudge against Aaron in his last life perfectly. But why had he backed off once Keeley was dead?

"If he is my half-brother it would explain why he hates my father," Aaron said grimly. "And why he's so interested in me."

Keeley's theory that he had done something different to change Gray's mind in this life was probably right on the mark. Aaron had begun working to dethrone his father when he was eighteen years old.

If Gray knew about his plans that early on, he would see them as allies working against a common enemy. And since he had grown up largely in foster care, it would make perfect sense to want a connection with his only remaining family member…

This was too unbelievable. The missing puzzle pieces fit but that didn't make his situation any less strange. He had a brother! A brother who had previously helped kill his wife but was now helping keep her safe. What was he supposed to do about that?

"Hey, on the bright side it means he probably isn't your enemy," Aiden said with a shrug. "Didn't he say he wanted to be your friend a bunch of times? He probably wants to be close to the only family he has left."

So he was thinking along the same lines as Aaron. But how could he possibly allow that after everything this man did before?!

Keeley had been able to forgive him but he wasn't as good a person as she was. He would readily admit to that. Even though Gray was different in this life he had still been an instrumental part of hurting her the first time around.

No, he couldn't forgive Graydon Meyer or Michael Gray or whoever he was. The best he could do was call a truce. Because he had helped Aaron out a bit, he wouldn't go after him as revenge for Keeley.

"Not going to happen," Aaron said flatly. "Do you remember what I told you before about how there were people who hurt Keeley and didn't remember it? He was one of them."

Aiden looked absolutely bewildered. "Then why would he try to be helpful now?"

"Anyone can have a change of heart. That doesn't change what they did though."

He knew that better than anyone. In a way, Keeley was still punishing him for what he did in a past life by keeping her heart safely guarded despite the fact that they were married. She hadn't forgiven him completely and he didn't blame her one bit.