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Ash held her tighter. “What is it?”
“You’re Lord Easton’s half-brother, aren’t you?” Lily quietly asked as she pressed to Ash’s side.
She felt the jolt of shock that shivered through Ash.
Ace gave a tentative nod. “I am.”
“Have you been stealing from us?” Ash growled out between gritted teeth.
Ace shook his head. “No. Nothing like that. I just wanted to meet the brother who’d gone into the same business as his bastard brothers.”
“Brothers?”
“Four of them besides me.”
Ash choked. “That many? I knew the family was large, but…”
“You don’t even know how many of us there are?” Ace’s lip curled as he stared at Ash. “That’s ripe. Do you care that he had to start the club just to survive?”
Ash puffed out his chest, his chin rock hard. “If you want to blame someone, blame your father.”
Ace’s gaze narrowed. “You’re saying you didn’t know you were cutting into our business? That you once again were getting most of the pie, so to speak?”
Ash’s mouth dropped open. “Me? I barely got the scraps. Of his time, of his affection. And everything that wasn’t nailed to the wall ended up with you and yours.”
Ace took a half step back. “That’s how you see it?”
“I do.”
“Even after meeting Lily, asking her to be your wife, you see us as the interlopers?”
Ash’s breath whooshed from his chest as Ace spun on his heel and raced for the door.
Chance jumped up to chase after him, Bash and Baxter close behind. But Lily held on to Ash’s waist, not letting go. “Are you all right?”
Ash winced. “He’s right. I should have more sympathy. My old anger…it’s hard to let go.”
“I understand. Trust me,” she whispered as the ladies in the room discreetly looked everywhere but at them. “But they likely have some reasons to be angry too, and if you truly want to put the past and your father behind you, you should go listen to them.”
He looked down at her for a moment, and then another, before he captured her lips with his. “I love you, Lily.”
“I love you too. Now go. Talk to your brother and try to leave your past hurts out of the conversation.”
He released her, dashing toward the door.
Lily watched him go, hoping that the ending to Ash’s relationship with his half-siblings was as happy as hers had been.
