One White Lie: Barrington Billionaire's Series: Book One by Jeannette Winters

right.”
    By his tone she knew he didn’t buy that either. Her mother was up to something and, unfortunately, it had to do with her and Nicholas. Looks like this is going to be a long weekend. Why did I agree to come?
    Everyone had gone home, and the lab was quiet. Exactly how he liked to work. The formula was testing positive on all counts. Things really couldn’t be looking any better at this point. He hadn’t heard from Asher all week, and he took that as a good sign. Normally when he called it was to confirm everything was still on target. Brice wasn’t someone who needed to be monitored. It pissed him off each time Asher called and questioned him on the status. “You handle your end of the business and let me worry about mine,” Brice had said. Guess he got the message.
    With all the distractions today he thought he wouldn’t be able to accomplish shit, but surprisingly he was able to get several uninterrupted hours of data into the computer. God knows I needed them. His staff was reliable, yet when under pressure, they became jumpy. When he’d walked over to speak to one of the chemists earlier, he had been so nervous he’d almost dropped the laptop he was carrying. Brice knew he had become more demanding as time went on, but everyone knew that before they signed up for this job. I don’t pretend to be anything I’m not. He was, after all, his father’s son.
    Leaning back in his chair, he let his mind wander, thinking how his father had looked lying in that hospital bed. Was Zoey right? Was his father so ill he wasn’t going to pull through? He had wanted to ask the doctors his status, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. No matter how bad things were between them, that was his father, and he should care. Then why don’t I?
    Brice didn’t deny things were bad between them, but over the last few years he’d rarely thought about it. It was the choice he had made: to put all of that in the past and only look toward his future. It seemed like only yesterday they had their blow-out fight, and he’d walked out of his father’s office. How had three years gone by so quickly ? His father looked like he’d aged twenty years, and he couldn’t remember the last time he had seen his youngest brother, Dean, never mind his other three brothers. The only one he kept in contact with was Zoey. And that was because she wouldn’t stop until I took her call.
    He was sure they understood; they had grown up in that same household. Each and every one of them had physical or emotional scars from the abuse. Some of them more than others. How they were allowed to stay with their father was beyond him. Maybe being one of the richest men on the East Coast gave him the connections to pay off the right people to stay away and shut up. Money covered a multitude of sins, and with Dad, I’m surprised he didn’t dole out every cent he had. Whatever it was that kept them all together living in that house, their family had been anything but a happy one. Never was and never would be a happy family.
    That cold thought wasn’t something Zoey would ever admit. No, she pushed him to always look on the bright side of things. To forgive and forget. That might work for her, but it would never work for him. Brice’s scars weren’t visible, but the emotional ones ran deep, always worried he was more like his father than his siblings. For his entire life he had distanced himself from everyone. Never allowing anyone to get close. Anyone except Lena.
    There had been so many women before her, and he’d never looked at them with any serious intentions. He called on them only to occupy his nights then moved on. But from the moment Lena spilled her iced coffee down the front of his dress shirt, he’d been lost. Her dark eyes filled with embarrassment as she unsuccessfully tried to wipe it off. “I would take off mine and give it to you, but your chest is so broad, mine won’t fit.” Brice had been tempted to take her offer of her shirt