I can't believe we're here. This was supposed to be this big special night for the family. Grandma was going to announce the Arizona project for the company and I finally got a date with Wyatt. I've been waiting to get a chance with him for so long. I know we're faking our relationship for the family but still I've got a chance to get his attention.

Thanks to Uncle Adam the whole night has been screwed.

I don't understand how he can do this to Grandma. I remember when I was little he was actually a nice guy. He'd play with us kids, he would play football with the family and he was fun. He changed through the years into a stuffy suit only worried about the bottom line of the business. He began working more than being with his family and in the process hurt his wife and child.

I don't remember my biological grandfather but I've heard a lot of stories about him. None of them were good. He was ruthless and cunning, deceitful and hard. Dad said he was a good role only to show him that he wanted to be the exact opposite of who my grandfather was. Now Adam is just like him.

The stories used to tear at my heart. The cheating and lying the old man did to Grandma. The manipulation of all my uncle's lives, all to get my dad to the top of the NFL. Grandfather was determined that nothing but the best would do when Dad just wanted to play ball. He got there anyway but that was because he worked hard for it. After my grandfather died, Daddy's did his best to fix everything the old man did to hurt this family.

The only thing he couldn't fix was how grandfather hurt my Grandma. Nothing could change his lying cheating ways and with three illegitimate kids because of it, his indiscretions were always in her face. Somehow Grandma got through all the lies and deceit with her head held high and made it out better than before. I know a lot of that is because of Grandpa Jim. In a way I think he saved Grandma.

I wish he could save her now.

Grandma has never been sick. She's healthier than most people her age. I know she's getting older, we've all been seeing the change happening but it's more not just age now. We don't know exactly what's wrong with her. The dizzy spells and headaches, memory loss and confusion at times, just isn't who Georgia Bradford is. She's the rock of our family, the glue that holds us together. We are who we are because of her.

She just can't die and leave us when we need her

I'm lost on what to do to help. Dad and Aunt Grace are busy with Grandma. Mama is helping Jim. Matt and Chelsea are dealing with the press and calls asking what happened. It seems everyone has something to keep them busy. Wandering around the halls of the hospital wing, I'm thinking about everything I could have done for Grandma to keep this from happening.

"It's really poor taste to come here after all that happened at the party. You do know my son will be marrying Leighton." His snobbish voice whispered angrily. "The best someone like you can get from him is a side piece. Even that won't last long. You just don't have what it takes to be a Bradford."

I know that obnoxious voice.

Walking closer to the corner I peek around the edge and see Uncle Adam talking to Riley. He has her cornered by the coffee machine and from the looks of it, trying to intimidate her.

That little rat bastard!

The expression on Riley's face says it all. He's dehumanizing her, treating her as if she's not worthy of a Bradford. I know how he is, I've gotten a similar speech from him only telling me that my Drake blood has tainted his brother's lineage. Resting my cheek against the wall, I listen in on their conversation to hear what he's saying to Riley.

"I don't know how you can say that when my family has been paying for your schooling and this latest little check for no apparent reason tells me you're definitely lying." Looking closer I see he's holding up a copy of the check Grandma had requested be cut for Riley. "I have proof that you are manipulating Aiden and I've got a witness to your behavior. You won't get away with milking my son for another dime."

She never got that check. I would know I'm the one who usually picks up our mail at the apartment. I know I would have seen it, I would have recognized the foundation logo and I haven't. Someone must have intercepted it from the foundation before it came to us and gave it to Adam.

I'm betting he's got one of his stool pigeons in there. There's only a handful of people who that could be. He's been trying to kill the whole foundation program for a few years now. Adam hates that Georgia and Dad are willing to help others who are talented but don't have the money for college.

"Now, before I ask for security to escort you out of here, I'm going to tell you one more time. Stay away from my son." Adam got into Riley's face, pinching her skin on her arm and hovering over her to push her away.

That son of a biscuit! Dad's going to be pissed when I tell him this!

Watching Riley sadly turn away, she begins down the hall and looks towards the waiting room. I know what she's thinking, Aiden doesn't need her making matters worse than they already are for us. She thinks that sticking around will only make matters worse for Aiden. Honestly, I can understand why she would feel this way but it's bullshit. Aiden needs her and I can guarantee that Grandma would be pissed with Adam for saying this load of crap he's tossing at Riley.

Stepping out from around the corner, I make my presence known. "Riley! There you are! Aiden asked me to find you. He's really upset about Grandma and needs you. Oh, I'll take those. Thanks Uncle Adam." Taking the two coffees from him, I nod for Riley to go down the hall. "I'll be right there, go on. I need to find Wyatt."

Riley's eyes darted between Adam and I. For a second there I hold my breath thinking she's going to refuse. I know Adam and his bullying ways too well. I'm sure he turned it up on high thinking he could get rid of Riley completely.

Not going to happen

"Are you sure? This is a family..."

"Absolutely. Grandma loves you, Riley. She loves the way you've brought Aiden back to earth. You ground him and he needs that. Just like he needs to know your right here for him and you aren't going anywhere when times are tough. Go, I'll take care of these." Raising up the cups with an encouraging smile on my face she nods to me. Relief and gratitude on her face.

Once Riley is out of range, I turn on Adam. "You self righteous, corrupt son of a bitch! You have a lot of nerve going after Riley. She's done nothing wrong!"

"I know she's your roommate, Hunter but she is only after our money. I can prove it, honey." Adam tries to work his stupid mind game with me.

It's too late, I've listened to enough conversations with my parents and the family without them knowing I was there. I've heard the underhanded things he's been up to lately. More and more he's becoming like Grandfather. Not in a good way at all.

"Again, your evidence is false. I know all about the underhanded deals you've been making. I know you're trying to make my mom look bad to the board of directors so they'll split with Drake Construction. Dad knows too and your time as CEO is done!" Dad's not gonna like I ruined the surprise but Adam deserves this.

"You don't have a say, Hunter. Who's really going to believe what's happened here, you and your gold digger friend or the oldest son of the family?" Adam smirks like he has the upper hand. "You won't be believed, honey. Just like when Colby cried wolf last year about that Mattox boy."

What? We didn't tell the family because Colby wanted to just forget about it. She was embarrassed and humiliated that Mattox drugged her and tried to have sex with her. No one, not even my parents, knows about that.

"I have ways of finding out what my family is up to." Adam is too self assured for his own good. It's going to bite him in the butt.

"If that's the truth then you might want to get your facts right. Colby was drugged and nearly raped. It was Aiden and the guys who saved her." I hate spilling Colby's secret but it's time the family knew the truth about what happened to her. "Oh, and about the check you think Riley is milking out of Aiden. Riley knew nothing about it. That was all Aiden and Grandma wanting to help her out. If you bothered to talk to your son once in a while you'd know that Riley would rather work three jobs and forgo food and sleep before she'd take money from him! Aiden offered several times to pay for her car repairs and supplies she needs for school, Riley refused him. It was driving him crazy. Grandma offered it and requested the check. She put a rush on it right after Thanksgiving and we couldn't figure out why Riley never got the check. Now we know, don't we?" Glaring up at my uncle with a tight smile on my face, I pause. I know he's furious about getting caught, especially by me.

"You need to stay out of things you don't understand, little girl." His hand moved fast and his fingers wrapped tight around my upper arm as he squeezed to get his point across.

"I understand just fine." Jerking my arms to get out of his grasp, the coffee in the cups splashed up with the motion of my hands and hot coffee flew right into Adam's face.

"Fuck!" Adam dropped my arm and covered his face with his hands. "You stupid spoiled little girl. Dad was right, Blake never should have married a Drake!"

Stiffening my spine and hardening my voice despite the flipping and flopping of my stomach. I won't let him scare me. "You're trying to be just like the man who tried to ruin this family before but you know what, the result of this will be the same as it was then. This family sticks together, we don't tear each other apart the way you're trying to do."

Adam stepped forward, his face lowering to get eye to eye with me. "I am this family! I'm the first born, I'm the one who makes the money so you can go spend it anyway you like. You don't want to acknowledge the work I do because you don't want to think about the things that have to be done. You don't want to know that sometimes those things get ugly. You want me to lead this family so you can blissfully live naive! You need me to run it so your precious daddy doesn't get his hands dirty!"

My blood was pumping frantically through my veins. I could feel it pulsing in my temple I was so angry with him. Adam has never gotten past that my dad was the one Grandfather favored. Now it's festered into resentment from years of not dealing with his own downfalls.

Someone has to put him in his place. I guess I'm the lucky gal. "I hate to burst your bubble but Grandma runs Bradford Engineering and my mom runs Drake Construction. You are an elected CEO that is going to be out of a job. And the Bradford Foundation is Dad's project. So how exactly did you get confidential information on a student we fund?"

I can't say that a night out with the Bradford's is never boring. Every time I've gone to one of these things, something happens. Unfortunately this year seems to take the cake. One of the greatest women in the world is in the hospital and the girl I'm crazy about is beside herself. This sucks.

Hunter is one of the strongest girls I've ever met. She shoulders a lot of shit being a Bradford. There's a lot of judgement thrown her way, a lot of fake people who try to use her for her money or to get close to one of the guys. Press chase after her when someone in her family gets attention. Whatever it is, Hunter deals and just like her Grandma, Hunter rises above the shit and shines.

Tonight is no different

The press swarmed her when Georgia collapsed. But both Emma and Hunter dealt with it with calm heads and logic. They kept the press busy with Matt and Chelsea to get Georgia out of there without delay. She calmed the family, settled guests then rushed to the hospital once everyone had been cleared out.

When all this hits her, it's going to hit hard

I stayed behind with my family to help get guests out of the ballroom, while Hunter left with her family for the hospital. I don't blame her and I'm glad I could help out. Mom and Dad, Kayleigh and Nate, even Molly and Reese stuck around to help them. My family in a weird way are a part of the Bradford family but without the blood relation. Which is a good thing, since I've finally gotten my chance with Hunter.

Walking through the parking garage towards the hospital, Dad pulls me aside and we slow our steps behind the others. "So how long have you and Hunter been together? You haven't mentioned anything about this to me or your Mom. What's the deal, son?"

Looking sideways at my Dad, I know he'll be the one to see the lie if I'm not careful. Shrugging bashfully, I try to act like it's nothing. "I don't know, we just sorta got together."

A deep rumble of a chuckle erupted from him. "Boy! You think I was born yesterday? You've been mooning over that girl for years now. How'd you get her to agree to give you a chance?"

Rolling my eyes, knowing I was getting called out, I dropped my head and watched my steps. My feet are as big as his now. I remember the time when I had to take two or three steps to each one of his. Of course my Dad would ask me for details. He's been my idol, my friend, all my life. He knows me better than anyone.

"She doesn't date a lot of guys at school. She's been used a lot and has gotten burned. I know she doesn't want to go through it anymore. Plus Georgia was pretty adamant that she wanted all of us to have dates. I offered to be hers." I can't lie to Dad. He's known for too long about my feelings for Hunter, he'd never believe we've been together this whole time. I gotta be as close to the truth as possible. "It turns out she was hoping I'd ask her out. I guess it all finally clicked."

"It's about time. What? If you didn't see the way she would look at you, you weren't really looking." Mom puts in her opinion getting my attention as my head jerks around to meet that steady blue gaze. "She's always had eyes for you."

"Really?" I whisper not completely believing it. How did I not notice this?

Mom nodded with a laugh as we got into the elevator to go upstairs. "Like I said, if you were paying attention to her, you would have known this."

"You gotta grab the good ones when you can, Wy. Otherwise, you'll be missing out on the best woman of your life." Dad reaches around and pulls Mom against him. Kissing her temple before he nuzzled her neck, she giggles like a school girl. Looking away while my parents begin necking next to me, I make a gagging noise like I always do when they do this, hoping to break them up. Not that it ever works. Dillon and Bailey Segler have always been like this. Completely, head over heels in love with each other.

I guess that's why I set my standards so high. No one could ever make me feel the way I know these two do about each other. And I've never looked at a girl the same way my Dad looks at my Mom. That's what I want someday.

Stepping out of the elevator, we walked right into a very heated argument between Hunter and her uncle. "You need to learn your place, girl! I don't answer to you!"

"But you will answer to my father and Grandma for screwing with the foundation funds! You're no better than a common thug!" Hunter yelled, getting cut off by the solid slap across her face.

I moved around my Mom faster than Dad could stop me. Going to Hunter's aid, I push her behind me as I grab Adam by his collar and slam him against the wall. My red pissed off face just inches to his. I don't care if he's a Bradford, no one treats Hunter that way. No one!

"Touch her again and I'll knock your ass out." I growl from between my clenched teeth.

"Get off me, you hoodlum! All you Segler's are the same, blue collar hoods who can't speak in more than two syllables." Adam pushed at me but I'm twice as big as the asshole and all muscle.

"What the fuck is going on here?" I hear Blake bellow as he hurried to us with several of the other guys. "Ma's getting tests done and you guys are beating the shit out of each other?"

"It's a family thing right? Every time someone is in the hospital one of you has to freak out." Grace mutters remembering how she met Jake.

"Wyatt, why are you pinning him to the wall?" Reese calmly asked knowing I'm the last person who resorts to physical alterations.

"He hit Hunter across the face. I wasn't going to give him the chance to touch her again." Hearing the muttered curses from numerous male voices behind me, I realized that most of the family had made it over to us.

"You touched my daughter?" I could feel Blake right next to me. His anger was hotter than my own. The guy has a nasty temper and could knock his brother into the wall with one hand tied behind him. That's just when he's not pissed off, this isn't one of those times.

"He's lying!" Adam scoffed but he wasn't getting away with it. "The kid's just trying to get in your good graces."

"He is not, you bastard!" Hunter hurled venomously at him. When she lunged to do some damage of her own, Dad grabbed her around the waist to keep Hunter from scratching Adam's eyes out.

"Hunter!" Blake yelled, getting his daughter's attention. Dad held on while Blake moved to them. Hunter settled when her Dad cupped her face. Blake carefully touched the mark on her as he examined the side of her face where a very clear red hand print burned her fair skin.

My own anger grew seeing the mark darken to a deep scarlet."You're a fucking bastard." Growling low and deadly, my forearm presses harder against his throat.

"Back off, Wyatt!" Derrick came behind me to pull me off.

Beckett, Jake and Matt were with him, moving in around me, nudging me to step back as they surrounded Adam. As I turned my head, I saw all the guys behind them. Aiden is with my mom, her arm around him with Riley next to him. His hand holding firmly to hers.

"It's okay, man. We'll deal with this." Beckett nodded that I did the right thing.

Releasing my hold on Adam I step back, my eyes never leaving his. As I reach my mom, Hunter wraps her arms around my neck and just holds on to me. With her body pressed to mine it took a second to respond. When I did, my arms slid around her slowly and I buried my nose in her hair and breathed her in.

"Oh!" Hunter exclaims pulling away but not letting go. "Ask him about Riley's foundation check, Daddy. He stole it!"

"You did what!?" Aiden's eyes narrowed in on his Dad. Taking a step forward, he started towards Adam but Dad stopped him.

"I think Blake's got this, Aiden. Why don't you and Riley go on back and see if you can get in to see Georgia yet. She'll want to see you." Dad got Aiden's attention and used the only thing that would have stopped him. Georgia is the reason we're here to begin with.

Hesitantly, he led Riley away before Hunter decided to fill us in on the rest of the crap Adam had pulled tonight. Holding nothing back Hunter told her Dad and the family about Adam threatening Riley to leave, the foundations missing check and how he's just like Mike.

"Well big brother, you have nothing to worry about anymore." Blake was way too nice for that to be serious.