My brother pointed toward the truck parked across the street. “Get back in and go. Raquel can get a ride home with me.”
Theo let out a quiet, frustrated huff of laughter. “I’m not leaving.”
“Why not? You’re not involved in this, Westwood.”
“The hell I’m not,” he said. “And stop calling me that.”
As they stared each other down, the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. They were also starting to draw wary glances and I stepped between them, keeping my voice a low warning. “Avery, just let him pass please.”
“I’m not doing that,” my brother ground out. “He doesn’t belong here.”
Theo stepped forward. “Move, Avery.”
“No.”
“I said, move.” Theo took another step closer, the two of them now seemingly seconds away from killing each other. “Avery?—”
“I told you that we do not want or need your charity. Leave.”
“Can we please not do this here?” I asked quietly. “Please?”
Avery didn’t give an inch and neither did Theo, who now looked genuinely, truly angry, which was a first. He was always so easygoing and carefree that I’d struggled imagining him as a businessman in his real life, but not anymore.
“It’s not charity,” he seethed quietly. “I’m trying to help.”
“We don’t need your help.”
Theo threw his hands out to his sides. “For fuck’s sake, Avery. Your family is about to go under. Are you really going to let your pride stand in the way of getting out of this?”
“You’re right about one thing. It’smyfamily. I will handle it.” Avery looked about ready to explode. “We don’t need you swooping in like a millionaire on a white horse.”
“Just step aside and let me help.”
“Why do you even care?” Avery snapped, fuming as his chest heaved up and down. “There’s a whole world out there, waitingto fall to its knees for you. If you really want to help so bad, go find someone who actually wants it.”
“Why do I care?” Theo let out a quiet, humorless laugh. “I care because I love your sister and despite how you’re acting right now, somewhere along the way, I started seeing you as a brother. I care because you’re my family and I willneverturn my back on family.”
As he said it, my world seemed to stop turning, my heart forgetting how to beat. Avery was gaping at him too, but the fight hadn’t drained out of him yet. It only took one look for me to realize that, while Theo might’ve knocked the breath clear out of my lungs, my brother was suddenly angrier than ever.
Theo didn’t seem to notice it, though, still going and gaining momentum, at that. “I’m not going to watch this family lose everything and then drive off into the sunset pretending I couldn’t do anything to stop it. There is no shame in accepting help, Avery. Especially since there are no strings attached. I just can’t turn my back on you.”
Avery surprised the heck out of me when he laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s easy for you to say.”
Suddenly, I knew things were about to get worse, but Theo seemed genuinely baffled. “What?”
“That was a hell of a speech coming from a guy whose family made billions buying businesses and tearing them apart.” Avery turned to me. “I’m sure he’s told you by now that he’s rich, but has he mentionedhowhis family made their money?”
“Avery,” Theo said, but my brother ignored him, his eyes firmly locked on mine.
“He hasn’t told you, has he?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, but I had a sinking feeling that it did.
Theo had told me his family was wealthy and that they were in business. He’d mentioned acquisitions, takeovers, and othercorporate-sounding lingo, but I’d never really given any thought to what it actually meant.
Avery seemed perfectly happy to fill me in, though. “The Westwoods are prolific, Raquel. They buy up smaller, weaker businesses, like ours, tear them apart, and then they sell off the parts.”
I blinked slowly. None of that sat well with me, but Avery wasn’t even done yet. He snorted as he glanced back at Theo a few long seconds after he’d dropped that bombshell.
