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I whipped my head toward him. He stared straight ahead, focused on the street in front of us.
“Why would you do that?” Over five grand a night for three weeks . . . was he out of his mind? Especially after what I’d done.
“I’ve asked that myself quite a few times today, and when I tell Mulaney, she’s going to ask too. Just not so politely.” A tenderness etched his face at the thought of his wife. I wanted to gag, knowing damned well she’d give him an earful about bailing me out. Ever since we were kids, she’d rubbed me the wrong way. She was condescending. Opinionated. And I tolerated none of those traits.My brother had been fooled by her.
“What was the answer?”
Easton stared out the windshield, contemplative for a long moment. “Don’t mistake what I’m about to say.Youare responsible for every bit of shit you’ve pulled over the past few years, but somehow, I feel like I bear some responsibility in driving you to that point, though I don’t know why.”
What the hell? Easton thinks he was part of this?
My brother was intuitive, not one to easily have something pulled over on him. The millions I’d stolen from under his nose had been a major accomplishment. Easton had been the chief financial officer for what was once Carter Energy. He studied every dollar meticulously, yet I’d been better. For once, I was better at something than my brother. Thievery . . .thatwas what I excelled at over him. I wondered why our folks weren’t more proud.
There was no need to discuss this. He wanted answers, but I wasn’t ready to give them. He was wrestling with what he could have done differently, blaming himself almost as much as he did me, and I took satisfaction in that. I was witnessing firsthand the fruits of my labor.
We pulled into the underground garage of the apartment building, the same one my son who wasn’t my son lived in. That made me nervous . . . andthatmade me uncomfortable. Anger I could handle. Jealousy was just another day at the office. Happiness . . . the last time I’d been happy was the moment my heart had been ripped out of me. Nervous? What the fuck did I have to be nervous about, especially when it came to a pint-sized boy who barely knew his ABCs?
Wordlessly, Easton and I rode the elevator to my floor. My breath held when we made it past where the little guy who scared me lived. I needed a drink.
My brother pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and inserted it into the lock of a door just off the elevator. Surveying the lobby, I noticed only one other door. I hoped like hell I didn’t have any neighbors. By keeping my ears open, I’d learned Daniel Elliott had, in essence, purchased the whole building for his family and friends. Whoever had lived on this floor before had probably taken whatever cash he’d been offered and happily waltzed off to another apartment.
Easton held the door open for me, and I sauntered past, heading straight for the kitchen. This place was bare minimum: white walls, a black leather sofa and coffee table, an open-plan kitchen sharing the same space. It was nothing like the vastness of my parents’ place upstairs or the condo I was used to in Houston, which sprawled over an entire floor.
I tossed my jacket on one of the barstools and grabbed the nearly empty bourbon bottle next to the sink where I’d left it last night. I poured half a tumbler for Easton and one for me, sliding a drink across the laminate counter to him. Lifting my glass, I gave an insincere smile, tossing most of the contents down my throat. The burn barely registered, even as it hit my stomach.
“Why?” Easton asked, his voice lethally quiet, the drink I’d poured for him untouched on the counter in front of him. Understandably, Easton wanted to know why I’d manipulated EXODUS and embezzled cash from Carter Energy. He wanted to know why I’d pushed our father in the direction of Starlight Petroleum Energy when it came time to sell our family’s company. Why I’d exploited Holly’s vulnerabilities. And the list went on. I was a bastard. I shrugged. He studied me with piercing eyes, begging for answers I had no intention of giving. “I’m asking as the brother who loves you, who thought you were my best friend. Not the brother you screwed over.” There wasn’t one ounce of malice in his words, but they still stung.
“There’s no need to do this,brother,” I said, reverting to the defense mechanism I used best. “Let’s stop the false pretenses, shall we?”
“I’ve never used them.” He looked me in the eye. I had no problem straight-up lying, but my brother wasn’t me. He was a stand-up guy.
“You don’t give a shit about me, so let’s save ourselves the time and effort.” I finished my whiskey and immediately poured another. Easton still hadn’t touched his. The way he was staring at me, I braced for him to take a swing.
“If I don’t give a shit, then why am I here?” he growled, gripping the edge of the counter. “Why aren’t you in jail? Because the punishmentdoes notfit the crime.” Anger and hurt swirled in his eyes. He wasn’t afraid to express himself, wasn’t above raising his voice to get a point across, but he was careful and didn’t lose control. Yet he looked a breath away from doing just that right now.
“You and Dad got what you wanted. We made a deal.” It had been easy enough to bring forth evidence that Starlight Petroleum Energy had purchased Carter Energy based on cooked books. But I’d made that go away when they promised the FBI wouldn’t look any further into it either.
“As much as you deserve it, I can’t stand the thought of you in prison.” He slung back some of the liquor. “I’m a sucker.”
“For marrying Mulaney? Yeah, you are.”
“Damn it, Drew.” Easton pounded his fist on the counter, accidentally hitting the glass and sending it and good whiskey flying. He rounded the island until he was in my face. “I love her. I don’t expect you to, but you will be respectful.”
“Always her first,” I muttered.
“She’s my wife,” he shouted, fists clenched.
She wasn’t always.But there was no point in saying that out loud. He’d chosen her over me since she’d started working for our family business. Maybe before that.
When I didn’t speak, the muscle in his jaw clenched, and he carried on.
“You have stolen hundreds of millions from us and lied about so much I don’t think you even know the truth. You imploded our company; the one we were supposed to run together. And you have torn our family apart at the seams. Crushed our mother, who, might I remind you, isdying. I have every reason in the world to hate you, but what I want more than anything is to have my brother back. The one I watched baseball and drank beer with. The one I shot the breeze with, who made me laugh no matter what kind of shitty day we’d had. The one who had my back, and I had his. Give him back to me, and I’ll forgive and forget any of this ever happened.”
He shook me, eyes imploring. My gut twisted, but my heart was too hard. “That person doesn’t exist anymore. Stop wishing for something that will never be.”
He shook his head. “You’re wrong, Drew. He’s in there. Maybe I’ll see him again, and maybe I won’t, but I won’t stop trying. You’re stuck with me like a shadow, little brother.”
“You’re gonna stay here with me?”
