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“Reid,” I said. “You were nine when I got shipped off. What happened during those years?”
Silence met my ear.
“Reid?”
“We don’t talk about it.”
“We meaning who?”
“Roy and I.”
“What about Riley?”
“Riley was fine. She was Daddy’s little girl. He doted on her.”
Wow. A lot my brother didn’t know. “He did, huh?”
“Yeah. Nothing was too good for her. She had the best of everything. He even took her on special trips. He called them princess trips. Roy and I didn’t get anything like that.”
My brother didn’t know how lucky he’d been. I knew exactly what went on during those princess trips. Damn. My poor baby sister. But my brothers? How could they have missed everything? Had they seriously been too preoccupied with envy that they couldn’t see what he was doing to her? Unreal.
“Have you ever wondered why Riley struggles so much?” I asked. “Why she runs away from time to time?”
“She’s a spoiled brat, Rock. I know she’s had her issues with depression and all, but damn, if she didn’t live such a coddled life, she wouldn’t have time for such self-indulgence. God knows I don’t.”
Wow again. Reid was truly ignorant. And naïve.
“Dad used to beat the shit out of me, Reid. Many times because I took it when he went after you. Did you know that?”
“I know. I suppose I should thank you, but after you left, who do you think he took it out on? Roy some, but mostly me. Roy was always closed up in his room working on some painting. I was the one who tried to gain favor with Dad, the only one of us who was truly interested in learning the family business. And for that I was punished.”
I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry.”
And I was. I should have been there to protect not only my sister but my brothers as well.
Instead, I was banished for my efforts.
“I’m over it. Though I suffered quite a few black eyes and bruises courtesy of Daddy.”
I paused a moment. Then, “Were there ever any marks on Riley?”
“Are you kidding? Of course not. She was his angel.”
No marks. At least not where he would have seen them. Nausea clawed up my throat. Reid and Roy truly didn’t know what he’d done to our sister. Or perhaps they didn’t want to know. Perhaps they were so clouded with their own envy that they refused to see.
But I saw. The bastard had beat me black and blue many times before I found him sneaking into Riley’s room at night. I hadn’t refused to see. In fact, I’d taken the situation into my own hands.
That had been my downfall.
A fourteen-year-old on the cusp of maturity, testosterone coursing through my veins. I’d let the rage and anger take control, and I’d acted without thinking.
I’d paid dearly for it…and so had my baby sister.
Apparently so had my brothers.
Because of my rash decision in the heat of the moment, all four of us had suffered.
And Derek Wolfe was never going to let me forget that. He made sure of that with his last earthly action—forcing me to take control of his company or my siblings would suffer.
He knew I’d do it, because he knew my actions had already caused them to suffer. I wouldn’t allow it to happen again.
He knew I’d do it because I was a good man at heart.
And that meant…
Holy shit.
That meant Derek Wolfe thought I was a good man. Better than he had ever been.
I’ll be damned.
Lacey had once said that maybe he’d put me in charge because he felt I was the best person for the job. She was still wrong. But my father had been sure of one thing. The choice would be mine. Either I would suffer, or my siblings would. He didn’t care one way or the other, but he was betting on me. He knew what I’d done for my baby sister all those years ago, and what it had cost me. He assumed I’d pay the price again to save my siblings.
My father might be a malicious bastard, but surely he didn’t want his company sold off.
On the other hand, he didn’t seem to really give a crap about any of his children, even his little princess. If he had, he wouldn’t have abused her the way he did.
I rolled my eyes. I was overthinking this. Here I was, trying to make sense of what my father had done and why he’d done it, when the task was impossible. The man had been a weasel. He’d done it because it would fuck us all over.
He’d done it because he could.
How such a sociopathic freak had been an A-plus businessman was beyond me.
But he had been. The best. Big shoes for me to fill.
The thought made me nauseated all over again. I was a week in, and I still had no clue what I was doing. Thank God for Reid.
