How I Think Filthy Lucre COULD Have Ended

Alternate Chapter 65

Ryan shut the door and started down the hallway with his father. "Dad, I'm seeing you off because I wanted a moment to talk to you alone without making it obvious."

"Is everything ok?" George asked with concerned eyes.

"Oh yes, it's fine! There's just something I wanted to talk to you about that I didn't want Brendon to know about yet." Ryan was a little nervous over what he wanted to discuss with his father. He wasn't totally sure how his dad would react to what he was about to tell him.

"Ok, son...so what's up?" George asked curiously.

Ryan clutched his father's arm to get him to stop walking so he could look him in the eye as he spoke. "Dad...I want to propose to Brendon. I want to marry him."

George's face was surprised but pleased. "Oh my God, Ryan, really? Well, you have my blessing. You know how much both Pamela and I love Brendon."

"Well, that's wonderful, and I'm glad, " Ryan began, "but that's not why I told you. I told you because I know everyone will want me to get a pre-nup, but I don't want to. I trust Brendon. I want to show him I'm totally invested in this and believe he won't leave. Honestly, he'll probably try to get me to get one anyway."

"Well, I must say I didn't expect that, but I don't mind it. I trust you and your judgment now, Ryan. I trust Brendon too, so I don't see anything wrong with it. Plus, we may have a lot of it but still, money isn't everything. I've learned that more in the past month than ever," George said seriously.

  Ryan nodded. "Agreed. And I want you to know. I'm selling this apartment. I am done with living in Manhattan. I want a quiet life for us, and I know that's what Brendon wants too. I'm thinking of buying a place in Tahoe because it's special for us and Brendon absolutely loves it there."

George looked like he was considering something and then he spoke. "Would you want to take over living in the cabin? We can make that yours. It's a special place for the family, but we just never make proper use of it anymore now that you all are grown. If you want, I can just trade you: the apartment for the cabin? I can take care of selling it because I know how to get the most out of it."

Ryan flashed George a huge smile. "Yes. Consider that a deal. Thank you for supporting us, Dad. He makes me so happy."

"I can tell, and I'm so glad for you both. But I better get going. Let me know when you plan to publicly address things and how your proposal goes. But I better get back to Pamela. She'll want to know about how you boys are doing. I can't wait to tell her about this - she'll be so thrilled."

"Ok, Dad. Tell Mom hi and that I love her." Ryan grinned at George as he got ready to board the elevator.

George chuckled. "Careful, son. You're practically glowing. You'll give yourself away!" With that, George winked at Ryan as the elevator doors closed. Ryan chuckled and walked back to the apartment.

—-

The couple spent the afternoon with William, coming up with a plan for how to tackle what they were going to tell the public. After running several possible scenarios for how to best handle things, they decided to do a livestream over social media. That way, they wouldn't be led by some interviewer's questions, or have their words twisted by some journalist with an agenda. They would do this in the next couple of days after they figured out exactly what they wanted to say.

Before William left, Ryan asked, "Can you pick us up tomorrow morning and take us out to the jet? I wanna get out of Manhattan and go back out to Tahoe."

William looked surprised but nodded. "Sure, I can do that Ryan. But you don't want to stay here while you guys get this situation handled?"

Ryan shook his head. "No, I don't really see any reason to. I've already put everything in motion to see Jon and Joe get the help they need, and there's nothing we need to do to handle this that can't be done out in Tahoe. This city just wears me out, and you don't have any particular desire to be here, do you Bren?"