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CHAPTER ONE
Hannah
“You’renotgoing!Andthat’s final!”
I feel the anger simmering in my belly. My brother is standing opposite me, a well-fitted suit making his shoulders broader than usual. The darkness is his eyes hides behind a glare of pure irritation. It would frighten me if I didn’t know him like I do.
“Xavier, please,” I try to cut in.
It’s no use.
Xavier slams a fist on the desk, cutting my words short. He staunches around and meets me eye to eye. “No. This is my company. I don’t care if you’re my older sister – this is work. This is business, not just some fun game where you can do what you want. I’m not sending you up Falls Creek Mountain with the weather forecast looking the way it is.”
His breath heats my face. The stench of the morning coffee steaming on the desk behind him surrounds me as he pushes his chest out and extends to tower over me.
“But this was a chance for me to get out of the office. I’m drained,exhausted.You said so yourself!”
“You’re not going! It’s dangerous up there at the best of times, let alone when it’s wet and stormy.”
“Xavier, you’re being ridicu-”
“No!” Xavier yells, his face turning crimson. “End. Of. Story.”
I shift on the balls of my feet and feel the irritation shrivel away inside. My lips are sealed tight as Xavier spins around and reels off something about the wild snow and the time he hyperventilated just because he had a shower that was slightly too cold.
I don’t bother arguing, though. I never do, there’s no point.
In this office, I have no opinion. There is no fight worth having. No voice to reason with.
Yep.
This is my life.
And this is how it’s always been.
“… so the doctor told me to always wait before resuming the heat treatment to my balls. That should be a lesson to you, Hannah.”
“Oh, fuck! Xavier, I don’t need to know that!”
“What?” My brother shrieks. “That’s exactly what I’m trying to get through to you…”
I force a barricade over my ears. That’s enough talk about my brother’s testicles for one day. A lifetime, in fact. Instead, I stare just above Xavier’s shoulder to see out the floor to ceiling window that overlooks Falls Creek.
I nod along, pretending to listen.
The small town behind the glass is bustling on a busy Monday morning. People are smiling, friends conversing happily as they head to work. The sun is belting down as people rush to start their week with a skip in their step, a happiness evident in the way they trot along, excitedly chatting and laughing.
I wish I felt the same.
There have been no signs of the bad weather forecasted this morning as I stepped into Xavier’s office. Since I started working at my brother’s real estate firm, my first task of each day is to touch base with him. He’s become highly successful, mainly due to his ability to sweet talk investors into over-spending on run down investment properties. The stupidly high price of a shitty, beat-up townhouse in our small town is all down to Xavier’s savvy skills. He’s been voted on the countries biggest up and coming entrepreneurs list for the past two years – and he fucking owns that badge like no other.
As for me, I started this morning with my usual stop atWhat A Mug, the local coffee shop where my caramel latte sat waiting for me upon my arrival. The barista gave me a smile and told me to pay my growing tab whenever I want. He knows I’m good for it – I’m their most loyal customer. Then I crossed the street, grabbed the morning paper and sipped my coffee on the same bench I’ve sat at for the past three years.
The park bench is dedicated to some politician who helped Falls Creek bring home a professional football team, but the golden plaque with his name may as well be removed and engraved with my name instead.
I have my routine set out from the moment I wake up, to the moment I slot my toothbrush in the third hole on the left of the canister on my bathroom sink every single night.
“Now, we still have all these files that need sorting,” Xavier says, smacking a stack of yellow folders with his open palm. He gives me a menacing smile and I want to throw the stapler on the desk at him. “And I know how much you love filing, am I right?”
