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West fidgeted, no longer pretending that this meant nothing to him. Nash had gotten to him. West tried to stare down his brother with his steely gaze, like they’d done when they were kids. “Have you seen what Lynch’s men do to people who turn against them? It isn’t pretty, no, the more glittery a society, the darker the underbelly that those sparkles have to cover up. You got that? You can’t just walk away from this.”
Nash detected a hint of fear in his voice. Was West afraid of losing his grand standing in thisglitterysociety? Nash smirked. “I know what I’m facing,” he told his brother. “I’m not as big of an idiot as you think.”
“I think you are.” West turned his full scorn on him. “I never should’ve let you get so close to Emily. I should’ve known she’d mess you up.”
“You think you have a say in who I’m with?”
“More than you think, you blockhead. What self-righteous, small-town mentality—she’s just like her brother.”
Nash’s hands curled into fists when he realized that West had turned his vicious tongue on Emily, and not just on Nash. “Don’t talk about her that way.”
“So that’s it, huh? You’re both facing the piper?” West was livid. “That’ll take you so far. Such high morals.”
Unlike West. How did he live with himself? “Do you even see what you’re doing?” Nash hissed. “We’re only a few of the people you’ve dragged down. We’re not even your biggest victims. People are getting hurt. Real people. Like that woman with Lynch—she’s pregnant and she caught him cheating on her. What a lowlife! That’s where he’s at now, huh? Somefamilyemergency, huh? He’s probably trying to hush her up, if you ask me. And here you are covering up for him. What else is he hiding? Something bigger than a secret baby. We all know what he’s capable of.”
West swallowed, his eyes shining with rage. He cleared his throat. “You don’t stand a chance against them.”
“Well, I can’t say that it’s been nice knowing you.”
“You don’t care that you’re putting Emily in danger?” West’s voice broke on his astonishment. Wow, West was working every angle, wasn’t he?
“Thanks to you we’re not a thing anymore,” Nash said, “so I’m pretty sure that she’ll be fine.”
West’s lips curled, but for once he didn’t try to insult his brother.
“I already gave Millie a fair appraisal,” Nash said. West couldn’t stop him now. “I spent all yesterday putting it together, but I’ll let you give her another bid, since I don’t think you’ll win the land with the measly amount that you’re offering. She might just want to lease out her mineral rights at this point. There was quite a difference there.”
“Can I ask what that appraisal was?” West’s voice was husky with suppressed emotion.
“Fifty billion. That was on the low end. I’ll drop a copy off on Lynch’s desk.”
West shot to his feet. “Don’t do that.”
“You don’t have a say on what I do. I’m not your flunky anymore.”
West’s hands shook. Nash had never seen his brother lose his cool quite like this before. It felt oddly satisfying. “Tell me you’re not actually going through with this,” West said.
“What? You’re worried that I won’t be around to babysit Eva Trout anymore? Or is it your dog? Maybe your kids? You’ll be fine without me. It’ll be good for you to take some responsibility. Put on your big boy pants.” He threw West’s words back in his face with growing passion.
“You’re putting a target on your back,” West bellowed.
“You don’t say?” Nash shouted back. “You should’ve known what I’d do before you asked me to do something so lowdown. You’re supposed to be a smart guy.”
A red stain of desperation mottled West’s face and neck. Nash had never seen him this way, but what did West expect him to do? Shaking his head, Nash hauled his duffel bag over his shoulder and turned to leave. “Wait!” West rasped. “You’re my brother. Let’s figure this out.”
He was throwing out the brother card? After all this time? Nash sneered. West’s mistake from the beginning of all this was that he thought that he could actually control Nash. No one could, especially not after he’d lost everything. There was nothing left to bargain with.
Nash kept walking away. “Stop acting like you care!” He stopped short, seeing Lizardman bring a ball to him, his eyes hopeful. Nash was the only one who played with the puppy around here. “And I’m taking the dog,” he said.
“You’renottaking the dog!” West sputtered. He broke into a guttural laugh, making Nash swivel to see what he was up to. West’s eyes had steeled into a determined glint, but surprisingly, he’d relaxed enough to watch Nash with amusement. “Come back here,” West said. “Where are you going, huh?”
“To church. I need to confess my sins before I die.”
West snorted. “That’ll take a while.”
“Not as long as it would take you.” He watched West closely. Would he take advantage of this distraction to do something underhanded behind Nash’s back? Maybe he shouldn’t have told West off. Now, his brother had the head’s up.
“Hey,” West said. He’d somehow gained back his usual arrogant confidence. “I meant what I said. You’re my brother. I’m not going to let you go down.”
Unlikely. West would be more worried about himself. Nash cracked a sarcastic grin. “You or me?”
“You,stupid. Well…”—West gave a cynical shrug—“both of us, I guess.”
What could West do at this point? He’d have to own a time machine. Either way, Nash wasn’t falling for any of his brother’s tricks anymore. “Sorry, I’m not working with you.” Nash wrestled the ball from Lizardman’s jaws and chucked it to the side, before walking out the door.
Poor Lizardman was on his own now.
