As soon as Vince got home, I filled him in on what had happened.
"This is all my fault, honestly. If I'd moved faster to get you out of that family..."
I pulled him into a tight hug, rubbing slow circles on his back to calm him down.
"It's not your fault. Fate just has a twisted sense of humor. My dad said some really terrible things to you back then, didn't he? Don't hold it against him, okay?"
"Ah, that, 'You're nothing but a shameful illegitimate son of the family! Stay away from my daughter! There's no way I'll let you ruin her whole life!'"
He'd spent three years clawing his way up, not just making a legitimate name for himself, but earning a seat at the cutthroat top table of the city's business elite.
When his own biological father exiled him to the Alaskan wilderness, he'd co
