Chapter 2

I closed my eyes. "There's no reason."

With a thud, Nolan dropped to his knees beside my hospital bed. He clutched his abdomen, pain bringing a sheen of cold sweat to his forehead, yet he stubbornly tilted his head up to look at me.

"Dad, if you're still angry with me, I'll stay on my knees until you forgive me."

Julianna immediately moved to help him up, her heart aching at the sight. "You just had surgery! You can't kneel like this!"

But Nolan refused to get up. "Mom, don't interfere. Dad has treated me so well all these years. If he's rejecting me now, I must have failed him somehow. If he won't forgive me, I'm not getting up."

Everyone in the room tried to persuade him to stop.

The noise was keeping me from sleeping. Finally, I roared in irritation, "Get out! All of you!"

The room fell silent. Everyone turned to stare at me.

Nolan's lips trembled. "Dad..."

"Get out!"

My mother slammed her cane against the floor. "Let's go! Leave this heartless jerk to himself!"

Julianna helped Nolan to his feet. Even as he reached the doorway, he remembered to turn back and remind the nurse, "My dad just had a transplant. Please take good care of him."

Early the next morning, nearly every relative in the Brooks family came to the hospital. The hallway outside my room was packed with people.

Nolan sat in the corridor. Through the glass in the hospital door, I could see him glancing inside every so often.

"Landon, you can't live without a conscience." My mother sat beside my bed, trying earnestly to reason with me. "Don't forget how Nolan has treated you all these years.

"When he was eighteen, you were out of town negotiating a business deal and urgently needed an original contract. Do you remember how hard it was raining that day? He was afraid you'd miss your deadline, so he drove it out to you himself. He got into a car accident along the way.

"When the doctors pulled him out of the wreck, the first thing he asked after waking up wasn't about his own injuries. He wanted to know whether the contract had reached you."

Outside the room, Nolan lowered his head, as though he didn't want anyone to think he was bringing up the past to earn praise.

Walter Foster, our longtime butler, had also come. He had worked for the Brooks family for more than thirty years and had practically watched Nolan grow up.

"Sir, I know better than anyone what kind of person the young master is.

"When you've had too much to drink, he makes you the hair of the dog. When your back acts up, he cancels his engagements to take you to the hospital. You like peace and quiet, so whenever he comes home, he's careful not to close the door too loudly."

Walter's eyes reddened. "How can you bear to disown such a good kid?"

One story after another, everyone in the room took turns recounting Nolan's devotion to his father.

Finally, Nolan pushed open the door and entered.

"Please, stop." His voice was soft. "Dad needs to rest. He can't handle any more stress right now."

My mother took him by the arm, her heart aching for him. "You're still defending him? He doesn't even want you anymore!"

Nolan managed a faint smile. "Grandma, even if Dad doesn't want me, I can't stop recognizing him as my father. How can a father and son hold a grudge forever? Once Dad recovers and calms down, he'll take back what he said yesterday."

As he spoke, he walked to the other side of my bed and checked my IV line. Then he picked up the chart the nurse had left behind and carefully asked whether I'd experienced any fever or nausea.

Everyone was watching us.

I raised my hand and shoved away the cup of warm water he offered me.

The cup fell to the floor and shattered. Water splashed across Nolan's pant legs.

He stood there without getting angry or complaining.

A few seconds later, he crouched down to pick up the broken pieces.

The movement pulled at his surgical wound, and he let out a muffled groan. Cold sweat immediately broke out across his forehead.

"Don't move!" Julianna hurriedly grabbed his hand, finally losing her temper. "Landon, won't you be satisfied until you've driven this child to his death?"