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“She was more than that,” Niko insisted.
A blush stained her cheeks. “If that creep told you anything about Nat and me, I can assure you, he’s lying.”
Without warning, Rayne stepped forward, her expression troubled. “Why are you so ashamed of your love for Nat? She was glorious,” she burst out. “I would never have found the courage to become an artist without her giving me the confidence I needed. And I’m not the only one she helped. She was always the first to reach out a hand to someone who was struggling.”
Brooke’s lips parted at the attack; then she hastily turned her head, as if to hide her tears. “I can’t change the past. All I can do is concentrate on the future.”
“That’s a lie. Youcanchange the past,” Rayne insisted. “You can allow Nat to rest in peace.”
“If you think you can play on my emotions, you’re wasting your time,” Brooke warned.
“Because they’re buried with Nat?” Rayne asked, her voice soft.
There was the sound of a muffled sob, and Trent hurried to wrap an arm around his sister’s shoulders. “Stop it.”
Niko nodded toward Rayne. She’d managed to break through Brooke’s brittle defiance, but he was done playing nice. It was time for answers.
“Henri told us that he found you together in the stables,” he directly confronted the woman.
“That sleazy bastard.” Brooke turned back to Niko, her features tightened with a smoldering anger. “He was always sneaking around, spying on us like some perv. Did he also tell you that he blackmailed us?”
“Yes.” Niko nodded. “Which explains why he came here to work.”
Brooke shuddered with a blatant loathing. “We certainly would never have willingly allowed him to step foot on our property.”
“And why you so quickly drove him away,” Niko added.
“Not nearly far enough,” Trent muttered, proving they’d known Henri’s location despite what they’d told Niko earlier.
“If he was so awful, why not just tell the truth?” Rayne demanded. “Nat would have stood by your side.”
Brooke waved her arms in a vague gesture. “Because of this.”
Niko glanced around. “A barn?”
“Not just the barn. This entire farm. My inheritance.”
Niko frowned, not sure what she was trying to say. “What does that have to do with Nat?”
Trent snorted. “You didn’t know our parents. They weren’t just conservative, they were . . .” He struggled to find the appropriate word.
“Bullies.” Brooke came to the rescue. “They used our love for this land and the horses to control us. Any infraction of their strict rules and they threatened to cut us out of the will.” Her lips twisted into a humorless smile. “And it wasn’t an empty threat. They would have done it.”
Niko felt a sharp burst of pain, the image of his beautiful sister lying in her coffin searing through his mind.
“You’re saying this farm was more important to you than Nat?”
Brooke flinched, the color draining from her face. “I didn’t think so in the beginning. Nat and I . . .” She was forced to stop and clear her throat. “We’d made a pack to tell our parents we were a couple when they came to graduation.”
“What happened?”
“Henri.” She spit out the name as if it was a curse. “After he caught us together he threatened to expose our relationship. Suddenly I panicked.” Brooke wrapped her arms around her waist. “It was one thing to fantasize about a future with Nat and another to face the reality of what it would cost.”
“Your inheritance?”
“Not just that. I would have lost my family and my friends and the only home I’ve ever known.”
Niko didn’t want to think about Brooke being a terrified girl who was facing the most difficult decision of her young life. His sister was dead and he’d waited endless years to make someone pay.
