Chapter 42: A Grandfather’s Blessing

Somewhere along the way, Augustus stopped thinking of the Sebastians as merely neighbors.

Victoria had been counting on exactly that.

What she hadn’t necessarily counted on was how seriously Augustus would eventually take the relationship itself.

Because while Victoria had initially seen Alexander as temporary security for Dominic and Sebastian Group, Augustus had started thinking in terms of permanence.

By then, age had made him increasingly concerned about what would happen to Alexander after he was gone.

He’d watched Alejandro choose a woman against his wishes.

He’d watched that family flourish.

Then he’d watched it fall apart.

Augustus never truly understood that Ben’s death, Rosalie’s grief, and the years of silence that followed couldn’t possibly have been prevented by choosing a more "suitable" wife.

Instead, he saw vindication.

And now, when he looked at Alexander and Dominic, he saw something he hadn’t expected.

The boys had chosen each other before anyone ever thought to choose for them.

Perhaps they hadn’t understood it at first.

Perhaps even now they were still too young to know whether it would last.

But Augustus could work with that.

One evening, he called Alejandro into his study.

"I’ve made arrangements for Alexander."

Alejandro immediately frowned.

"What arrangements?"

"For his future."

"Father."

"Don’t use that tone until you’ve heard me."

Alejandro sat across from him but didn’t bother hiding his displeasure.

Augustus continued.

"I made the mistake of allowing you to believe my blessing was something you could simply do without."

Alejandro stared at him.

"I married Rosalie because I loved her."

"And how did that turn out?"

The words immediately changed the room.

Alejandro stood.

"Don’t."

Augustus’s expression hardened.

"You think I’m insulting your wife. I’m trying to prevent your son from ending up alone."

"By deciding whom he’s going to marry?"

"By making certain he has someone beside him who understands what his life requires."

"And you’ve chosen Dominic Sebastian."

It wasn’t a question.

Augustus leaned back.

"The boy is suitable"

"You used to complain about how close they were."

"I reconsidered."

That actually silenced Alejandro.

Augustus Vance admitting he’d reconsidered anything was probably enough to make anyone stop talking.

Eventually, Alejandro sat back down.

"They’re both young."

"So I’m not marrying them tomorrow."

"They might grow up and hate each other."

"They might."

Augustus glanced toward the portrait hanging on the wall of his study.

"But they’ve had years to grow apart already. Instead, every time I look outside, that Sebastian boy is still following Alexander around."

Alejandro followed his gaze toward the portrait.

His expression became strange.

"Did Dominic paint that?"

"So I’m told."

"Huh."

"And the boy has shown more consideration toward me these past few years than Alexander has."

"Father."

"I’m not criticizing my grandson."

"You just did."

"I’m making an observation."

Alejandro rubbed his forehead.

Augustus ignored him.

"Alexander loves me because I’m his grandfather. He assumes I’ll be here tomorrow because I’ve always been here before."

His eyes shifted back to the portrait.

"Dominic pays attention."

Or so Augustus believed.

"And if they don’t want to marry?" Alejandro asked.

For the first time, Augustus hesitated.

Then his attention shifted toward the documents resting on his desk.

"I’ve placed my remaining family shares and several personal assets into a testamentary trust. Alexander will receive them under the conditions I’ve specified."

Alejandro’s expression changed.

"You tied his inheritance to a marriage?"

"I gave him a reason to consider the match seriously."

"You coerced him."

"I protected him."

"No, Father. You decided for someone who isn’t even old enough to understand what you’ve taken from him."

Augustus didn’t budge.

Perhaps because, in his mind, he’d already seen what happened when a Vance ignored him once.

Still, the provisions he’d made revealed just how much the older man’s thinking had changed.

There had been a time when Augustus would’ve rejected the idea of his only remaining grandson marrying another man because it meant no biological heir would naturally come from the union.

Now?

He simply accounted for it.

Adoption would be perfectly acceptable should Alexander and Dominic eventually want children. Medicine was changing quickly enough that other possibilities might exist someday too.

And really, blood had never been the deciding factor Augustus liked to pretend it was.

Ben hadn’t been his biological grandson.

Augustus had never loved him any less.

In the end, what the older man wanted was stability.

He wanted Alexander to have a partner who could stand beside him.

Someone familiar with the responsibilities attached to the Vance name.

Someone raised within the same world.

Someone Alexander already cared about.

And, thanks largely to Victoria Sebastian, someone Augustus believed had spent years quietly proving that he cared about Alexander’s family too.

Dominic Sebastian appeared to satisfy everything Augustus wanted.

So the old-fashioned man who had once expected his grandson to eventually marry a suitable young woman and continue the Vance bloodline did something his younger self probably would’ve considered unthinkable.

He gave Alexander and Dominic his blessing.

Augustus died believing he’d protected his grandson.

He never learned who’d actually sent the soup.

Or chosen the fruit.

He never learned that the portrait he’d treasured hadn’t been painted by Dominic at all.

And he certainly never learned that Victoria had only needed a little temporary security when she’d started.

A struggling Sebastian Group needed Vance money, and her only son was increasingly attached to the only Vance heir.

If the boys eventually separated?

So be it.

They were young.

She could find Dominic another match later.

Instead, Victoria’s little campaign worked far better than she’d anticipated.

She hadn’t merely convinced Augustus that Dominic was good enough for Alexander.

She’d convinced an older man who hadn’t initially wanted his grandson to marry another boy that Dominic Sebastian might be the one person he could trust to stay beside Alexander after he was gone.

That had been enough.

But there had once been three boys.

Alexander Vance.

Dominic Sebastian.

And Giovanni Mercer.

While one family quietly planned to bind Alexander and Dominic together, no one paid much attention to what was happening behind the gates of the Mercer residence.

Not until the moving trucks arrived.