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  FATE

  A HUTTON FAMILY ROMANCE

  ABBY BROOKS

  Copyright © 2022 by Abby Brooks

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover image copyright © 2022 by WANDER AGUIAR PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

  Cover design by Abby Brooks

  THE HUTTON FAMILY SECOND GENERATION

  Fate

  WILDROSE LANDING

  Fearless

  Shameless

  Reckless

  THE HUTTON FAMILY

  Beyond Words

  Beyond Love

  Beyond Now

  Beyond Us

  Beyond Dreams

  It’s Definitely Not You

  The Hutton Family Series - Part 1

  The Hutton Family Series - Part 2

  A BROOKSIDE ROMANCE

  Wounded

  Inevitably You

  This Is Why

  Along Comes Trouble

  Come Home To Me

  A Brookside Romance - the Complete Series

  WILDE BOYS WITH WILL WRIGHT

  Taking What Is Mine

  Claiming What Is Mine

  Protecting What Is Mine

  Defending What Is Mine

  Wilde

  THE MOORE FAMILY

  Finding Bliss

  Faking Bliss

  Instant Bliss

  Enemies-to-Bliss

  THE LONDON SISTERS

  Love Is Crazy (Dakota & Dominic)

  Love Is Beautiful (Chelsea & Max)

  Love Is Everything (Maya & Hudson)

  The London Sisters - the Complete Series

  IMMORTAL MEMORIES

  Immortal Memories Part 1

  Immortal Memories Part 2

  AS WREN WILLIAMS

  Bad, Bad Prince

  Woodsman

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Epilogue

  Garrett and Angel’s Parents

  Family Tree

  Community Cats - the story of Fluff and Orange

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Abby Brooks

  CHAPTER ONE

  Angela

  I ruined everything.

  Shattered my father’s dream.

  Obliterated the family legacy.

  I’m supposed to be the one who drives us forward, into our future, but with one hastily scrawled signature, I delivered a killing blow to The Hutton Hotel.

  The knowledge keeps me awake at night and waits for me each morning. Taunting me. Teasing me. Tugging at my heart the way a child tugs at his mother’s hand.

  Needy. Insistent. Incessant.

  You ruined everything, Angel. Nothing will be the same and it’s all because of you.

  I’ll do whatever it takes to solve the problem I created. I’ll sacrifice my time, my energy, my entire life if that’s what it takes, but I will not let the hotel go down without a fight.

  I’m a Hutton. That’s what we do.

  “Angela.” Dad’s frown says he’s called my name more than once.

  Sitting across from him at his desk, I shuffle through a stack of papers—projections, estimates, the financial future of our hotel laid out in black and white. I’ve spent the last week going over them. Tweaking them. Looking at the numbers from different angles.

  No matter what I do, it’s not good.

  “Yeah. Sorry.” I blink, tap the papers on my father’s desk to straighten them, then lay them flat. “I’m listening.”

  Lucas Hutton is an intimidating man. A Marine, injured in the line of duty, he approaches everything with a “take the hill or die trying” attitude. Fatherhood. The hotel.

  Fixing the mistake I created while reminding me he still trusts me.

  “You’ve got the lead in tomorrow’s meeting with Garrett Cooper. Wyatt and I will be in the room with you, but you’re in charge.”

  So, basically my worst nightmare.

  I sigh. Pinch the corners of the papers, straightening them even though they’re already straight. “Dad, I—”

  The slow lift of his brow stops my rebuttal in its tracks. “You’re taking the lead.”

  So much swims in the undercurrent of his words. Dad wants me to know he still has faith in me. He still believes in me. He wants me back on the horse before fear stops me from believing in myself.

  Too late for that.

  A few months ago, I thought I had everything under control. I thought my education meant I was infallible. That my dream of expanding our hotel into other markets couldn’t fail.

  Overconfidence joined hands with naivete and blinded me to the truth. Now I second-guess every idea I come up with. Like this meeting with Garrett Cooper from Vision Enterprise.

  Another company, so much like the one that set this disaster in motion. I researched the hell out of them before reaching out and found nothing but positives, but I’m still nervous. What if I’m making another mistake?

  Dad steeples his fingers under his chin, staring me down as if I was a Marine under his command rather than his daughter. As a kid, his intensity overwhelmed me. As I got older, I underst
ood that under his stern face hid a heart that adored his only child and a mind so full of deep thoughts, he couldn’t always find the words to let them out. “Let’s go over the plan of attack one more time. Lay it out for me step by step.”

  I square my shoulders. Back straight. Chin up. Don’t let him see the doubt. I will fake it ‘til I make it and The Hutton Hotel is safe. “Lesson one. Assume Garrett Cooper is the enemy, from the start.”

  Pleased, Dad nods. “He’ll promise us the stars and the moon, but at the end of the day, he’s here to make money for his company. We can profit off that if we’re smart, but these investment guys are—”

  “All about themselves. I know that now.” I cross my legs and fold my hands in my lap, painting a picture of calm. Of confidence. “A wise man once told me, ‘Lessons learned the hard way are lessons that stick.’”

  Dad smiles as I repeat the advice he gave me every time I ran into trouble as a kid. The crinkles in the corners of his eyes reassure me. No matter what happens, he will always love me.

  “What else?”

  “Everything Mr. Cooper says, everything he puts into writing, it’s designed to make me think he’s on our side, but he’s not. Verify everything until he proves himself trustworthy.” It’s a shitty way of operating in the world, but one I’m going to have to get used to.

  “I know that’s not natural for you, Angel. You trust everyone to be exactly who and what they say they are. And sometimes they are…”

  “Just not in business. I know that now.”

  And I should have known it then. If I hadn’t been so trusting, so overconfident, so stupidly naïve…

  “What else?” Dad’s voice is gentler now, like he knows what’s going through my mind and wants to soften the blow.

  I hang my head. This is so remedial, so humiliating. I know this stuff. I do. It’s all so basic. And yet, I trusted everything the man from the last investment company said, saw him as a friend just like he wanted me to, then failed to vet a contract change and here we are. Staring at the end of a legacy instead of the beginning of our future, in a private meeting with my dad, brushing up on the basics before the most important meeting of my life. “All contracts, all revisions, everything, it all goes through the lawyers before a signature hits the line.”

  Dad sits back in his chair, threading his hands behind his head. “Exactly.”

  And just like that, my mask of professionalism falls and I’m a little girl talking to her father, mortified to have let her family down. “I’m so sorry I messed up and I hate that this conversation is necessary. I know you wouldn’t even meet with this new guy if I hadn’t put us in a position to need the money—”

  I feel physically sick, swiping at the tears forming in my eyes. For the hundredth time that hour, I inwardly promise to devote all my energy into turning the ship around. I’ll sacrifice everything if I have to.

  “Angel.” Dad leans forward to take my hand. “Mistakes are part of life. You aren’t perfect, and no one in this family expects you to be…except yourself.”

  “I just feel like such an idiot.”

  “Good.”

  “Good?” The word bounces into the conversation on a laugh. That was not the response I expected.

  “You’re an intelligent woman and you know that. But that feeling? The one that keeps you awake at night, reminding you that you’re better than the situation you’re in?”

  I nod. I haven’t told anyone I’m having trouble sleeping. Somehow, Dad knowing brings me comfort.

  “Rocket fuel, Angel.” Sunlight cascades through the window behind him, like a smile from the universe. “That’s what that feeling is. You have a choice in how it affects you. You can wallow in it, let it eat you up from the inside out, then let it destroy you when it finally explodes. Because it will explode. Or you can harness that power. Let it propel you forward, boosting your momentum while you put one foot in front of the other, until you bring your dream to fruition. It’s your choice, but you have to make it. Nothing happens without action.”

  Fear whispers that the last choice I made put us in this situation, but I brush it away. After all, I’m the daughter of Cat and Lucas Hutton, people who don’t understand the meaning of the word quit.

  “I’m gonna harness it.” Pride surges through me. I can do this. I can fix the things I’ve broken. Every time I look at this Garrett Cooper from Vision Enterprise, I’ll remember he’s not a friend. I won’t even see him as a person. I’ll imagine him as the vulture he is, ready to profit off someone else’s blood, sweat, and tears.

  He’s not here to help.

  He’s here to make money off us.

  Sure, we might arrive at a mutually beneficial deal, but only if I remain vigilant.

  And I will remain vigilant.

  I refuse to be the Hutton who ruins the family.

  “Good.” Dad’s smile says he knew that’d be my answer. “Now, walk me through the pitch and projections one more time.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Garrett

  “I think Melinda’s cheating on me.” I pinch my phone between my ear and my shoulder while adjusting the strap on my carry-on bag. Despite an uneventful trip to the Keys, I’m ready to collect my luggage and get the hell out of the airport.

  Too many people.

  Too much recycled air.

  Not enough decency to go around.

  The world’s going to hell in a handbasket. Don’t believe me? Fly commercial.

  My sister Charlie snorts in my ear. “I hate to say I saw it coming…”

  “But you’ll find a way, because you love being right?”

  She scoffs. “Not as much as you, Bear. Not as much as you.”

  Shaking my head at the name I will never live down—a shortening of Gare Bear, a nickname I hate even more than Bear itself—I step onto an escalator on my way to baggage claim.

  “Rubbing my constant rightness in your face wouldn’t be very sisterly of me,” Charlie continues, “especially when I’m right about something as despicable as infidelity. But I definitely saw this coming.” She pauses, then whispers, “I hate it for you, though. I really do. You know. After Elizabeth…”

  Anticipating Charlie’s train of thought, I shift my phone to the other ear. Anything to avoid hearing that name and the onslaught of pain it brings. “It’s not a big deal. The Melinda thing.”

  “Why do you keep choosing these awful women? You have to know they’re only in it for your money.”

  Of course they’re only in it for the money. Everyone’s only in it for the money, I think but don’t say. Charlie already believes I’m a jaded fuck. No need to fuel that fire.

  I step off the escalator and pause until I find a sign directing me to baggage claim. “Work’s my priority, Charlie. It’s what I’m good at.”

  Sarcasm drips from Charlie’s deep, sad, slow sigh. “And to think, I actually thought this one would last forever.”

  When I first told my sister I was seeing someone, she confiscated my phone and changed Melinda’s contact name to “The Future Mrs. Cooper.” It was a joke, because of how quickly I cycle through women after…well…after Elizabeth. Charlie thought it was hilarious, and honestly, I did too. Our brother Connor never understood what was so funny about the whole thing, but he’s a serial monogamist. In his opinion, my dating style is “something to address,” not joke about.

  “I have found my forever.” This one’s going to piss Charlie off, but that’s what she gets for using that fucking nickname even though I’m a grown ass man.

  “I swear to God, Bear. If you say work’s your forever, I’ll fly to the Keys and beat you up for being a moron.”

  My jaw clenches. I’ve built myself from nothing. Amassed a fortune after growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Morons don’t end up where I am. I’d eviscerate anyone else for calling me one, but Charlie’s “little sister pass” means I’ll keep my mouth shut.

  For now.

  I arrive at baggage claim alongsi
de a frazzled mother cradling an infant while clutching the hand of a travel-crazed toddler. The little guy looks me straight in the eye and shoves a finger into his nose. Nice.

  Charlie clears her throat. “You’re in Florida for what? A week?”

  “Give or take. The initial meeting with the Huttons is tomorrow. If things go well, I might be here a little longer. If not…” I shrug as the cranky toddler yanks free of his mother’s grasp. “I’ll be back in Wildrose Landing before you know it.”

  God help me. I promised my family I’d take some time off after I’m done with this deal. They swear it’ll be good for me, and my therapist agrees, but I don’t see how. Not working makes me antsy. Restless. Somehow, they talked me into it anyway. I agreed to not only come home to my house in WRL before I head back to my apartment in the city, but that I’d “relax” while I’m there. Whatever that means. I haven’t told my boss yet. Branson Masters already hates that I split my time between Wildrose and the city, but he deals with it because I’m the guy who put Vision Enterprise on the map.