Chapter 1

The air at the Scott family ranch was thick with the smell of expensive perfume and Texas barbecue. It was a party, a big one, thrown for Ethan Lester. My father, Rufus Scott, stood on the grand patio, his arm slung around Ethan' s shoulders like he was the son he' d always wanted.

"To Ethan!" Rufus boomed, his voice echoing across the sprawling lawn. "Accepted into Texas A&M! A fine young man, a future leader!"

I watched from a small table near the catering tent, a place Rufus had made sure I was seated. I was Wesley Scott, his actual son, the family disgrace. I picked at the label of my beer bottle.

Ethan, soaking in the praise, caught my eye. He smirked, then walked over to the group of my father' s most important business partners, all board members of Scott Oil & Gas.

He lowered his voice just enough so that I could still hear him.

"It' s a shame about Wesley, isn' t it?" Ethan said, shaking his head with fake sympathy. "Dropped out of high school, can' t even be bothered to take the SAT. I worry about what that says about the family' s future."

The men glanced over at me, their faces a mix of pity and disdain. My father' s smile tightened, his knuckles white around his whiskey glass. The humiliation was a physical thing, a hot flush crawling up my neck.

I got up and walked over to my father, away from the prying ears of his friends.

"Did you hear him?" I asked, my voice low.

Rufus didn' t look at me. He stared out at the party, at the empire he built his life around. "I heard a hardworking young man who' s making me proud, and I see a son who' s doing everything he can to embarrass me."

"He' s turning them against me," I said.

"You did that yourself," Rufus shot back, his voice cold. "You dropped out. You have no ambition, no scores, no future. You' re eighteen now, Wesley. You' re an adult. And I' m telling you, officially, you' re cut off. A dropout has no place in the Scott legacy."

His words were clean, sharp, and final. He was disowning me, right here at a party for my replacement.