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“They took me in, and I wanted to run as far as I could from their wealthy world. The poverty didn’t scare me as much as that perverted world I came from. But Logan became my friend and I caved in. He didn’t try to change me.”
Hot tears trail down my cheeks thinking about him as a boy. Lonely with his own fears, unable to trust anyone to soothe him, and my heart breaks a little bit more.
I entwine our fingers. “Not going anywhere,” I whisper, afraid to disrupt the fragile atmosphere but yet needing him to know he has me now.
“I trusted him, followed, and loved him like the brother I’ve never had. But Logan was hungry for power, the thrill of the game. He felt lust for everything. I guess I was fascinated by him and his drive to own the world. I was closer to him than his triplet brothers.” He chuckles, finding no humor in this.
“When Logan asked me to pass him the inheritance, I gave him all. I didn’t need anything from my biological father. I was driven to earn my success, not to owe anything to anyone who I am. Especially his family.” And he did.
Mark’s warmth envelops me as he wraps my legs around his torso. His hand goes around my shoulders, holding me as I listen. I didn’t realize I was shaking until I heard a whisper, “It’s all right. I got you.”
My silent tears fall on his shoulders.
“After a few years, I realized Belington and the Cades might be working together. So, I decided to tell them the truth.”
My skin crawls when he takes a shaky breath and turns to look at me.
“Except it didn’t matter. I told them everything about my past. They knew how dirty the money they’re juggling with is. I held back nothing. I told them every gruesome detail. And they still chose him.” His grim words choke me like a noose.
~Mark~
It’s difficult to remove myself from the memories pouring in. Not to let them drag me into another PTSD episode.
“Mark?” she calls me.
“I walked away from their empire, and I haven’t looked back. But not Logan. He was my brother, the only person I allowed myself to love.” I have to swallow a large lump of hurt before I can talk again. Their betrayal twists my guts into a knot even today.
“I don’t want his money. You can keep it,” I told Logan when he asked if I wanted to invest it. I couldn’t care less. His father had been circling my inheritance like a vulture for months. I guess Logan decided to take things into his own hands.
“Pass it to me. I’ll take care of it.”
I twist around to look at him, standing in his new office his father gave him after graduation.
He was the only son out of his triplets who chose banking. Logan was the pride of his family. His gaze was hard, jaw sharp with purpose.
“It’s yours,” I look away, disappointed he wants it.
Logan’s hand lands on my stiff shoulder. “Don’t be so proud. You’ll need money to build your dreams too.”
“One day, I figured out the truth. How much I meant to this family.”
She stares at me. I’m not sure if she’s even breathing.
Cassandra’s eyebrows crease. “What do you mean?”
Before giving her what she wants to know, I brush away tears from her glowing cheeks, apologizing for the fact I’ll hurt her even more.
“The Cades and Belington kept working together, knowing the truth. They announced their partnership in one of those posh balls, shook their hands, smiling at the cameras as media snapped photos of this successful ‘two financial dragons’ partnership. I knew that this family chose money and power over me. I was a transaction piece, a small price to pay for supremacy of the ever-growing empire.”
I pause, letting her take it all in, waiting for her rejection.
“Wait, they didn’t report him? Didn’t put him in jail?”
I shake my head. Her lips press in a tight line. Anger fuels her face.
“And then, so sudden, Logan gets out, leaving the empire, money, and power, to live with a new family, right here. I followed him to London and demanded him to explain what he was up to, but he pushed me away. Told me to leave him alone and live my own life. He discarded me when I needed him the most.”
I was dying. Alone. Logan didn’t care.
