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  “It wasn’t like that,” I found myself saying.

  “No? What was it like?” he snarled. “You accidentally fucked her? You accidentally left her alone? Tell me, what was it like?”

  Amanda came to my side, not content with standing behind me anymore. Her hand moved to mine, the one still gripping Brian by the throat as I felt myself slowly releasing him. “We can talk about this like adults, or you can leave and we won’t talk about anything,” Amanda said, presenting two options to him.

  Brian’s lip curled, his eyes flashing from me to her with disgust. “You expect me to walk away? After what you did—the two of you!”

  “This is why I never told you,” Amanda reasoned. I watched as she attempted to console her brother, but I was stiff and still ready to strike if he so much as moved in her direction. “It doesn’t involve you, but I knew you would react this way. You aren’t a big enough part of my life to have an important opinion on the matter.”

  Amanda was trying to calm the beast within Brian, but he already seemed calm. Too calm. I knew Brian well enough to know that he had a temper like no other. This new facade was even more terrifying than that.

  Brian scoffed. “My little sister, the little slut.”

  My hand tightened again, pushing Brian even harder into the wall.

  “Don’t talk about your sister that way. I don’t know what kind of warped shit you did to her in the past, but it stops now. No more talking shit, or touching her.”

  Brian didn’t back down. “I didn’t do anything to her, and whatever she told you is a lie. It’s no secret that she was a slut.”

  My nails dug into his neck. But I was also hyper-aware of the sharp breath Amanda took behind me. “I was a virgin.” Brian and I both looked at her. I wasn’t nearly as shocked as Brian was, but I had no idea that I took her innocence. “Up until Matt, I was a virgin.”

  A pang went through my chest, aching and burning. I took Amanda’s innocence and left her with a child to raise on her own.

  “So, you took her virginity, and left her? How typical of you.”

  I growled at Brian and his eyes flashed, almost smiling.

  “Are you going to hit me?” he said.

  “Don’t,” Amanda said softly. “It’s not worth it.”

  She was right. With a final growl, I released my grip on Brian, stumbling back as I did. I needed to be as far from him as possible. He was trying to provoke me into attacking him, and if I wasn’t careful, he would very much succeed.

  Brian massaged his neck and smiled. He then looked away from Amanda and blinked joy. “I’ll be seeing the two of you soon. That you can count on.” And with that, he simply turned and exited the office.

  As for me? The moment he was gone, I collapsed on the floor in a heap. I had just come very close to not only ruining my career, but very likely killing someone in the process. What made the whole thing far worse was the certainty that it wasn’t over yet.

  Twenty-Two

  Amanda

  We didn’t speak for several moments. Instead, we simply sat together, trying to register what had just happened. Matt sat curled up on the floor, shaking as the adrenaline left his body. And I held him close, letting him know that I was there for him, and that I always would be.

  Brian had known this whole time. That was far more terrifying than anything else. I had known him to be cold, calculating, and ruthless when he needed to be. It meant that he had a plan, and I couldn’t figure out what that might have been.

  So rather than question it, or think about it, I simply held Matt.

  Finally, after what might have been hours for all I knew, Matt spoke.

  “Tell me what happened between you and Brian, when you were younger.” His voice was soft, almost a whisper.

  “What?” I asked after a few seconds. I slowly let go of him, trying to catch his eyes as I did.

  “Please,” he urged. It wasn’t said in anger, but desperation. “Brian isn’t done yet, and I need to know what he is capable of. I know how violent he can be, but today was something else. Please, tell me, Amanda.”

  He was right, I knew he was, and it was only because of that, that I found myself nodding and opening up about something I never thought that I would.

  “When we were younger,” I began cautiously, “He did little things to hurt me periodically. I just thought it was normal sibling behavior, but he was a lot older, and often took it too far, almost enjoying it. Once I became a teenager, he would get irate for the smallest things. It was never too severe, and hardly ever left bruises, so I’d hit back and run before he could retaliate. I always thought it was a game until my high school graduation.”

  Matt looked distraught, but I couldn’t comfort him, not when I sought comfort as well.

  “This one time he snapped and pulled me to the edge of the building, dangling the top half of my body over the side and laughing. He told me that I had it coming, that he wasn’t to be messed with. I thought he was going to drop me, but he ended up pulling me back off the ledge and broke my arm instead. It was mechanical the way he did it, like he was doing it for my own good.”

  “He tried to kill you?” Matt asked in disbelief.

  I shook my head.

  “I think he hurt Megan too. That’s why she left him. I won’t watch him do it to another woman. Any man who hurts a woman does not deserve to breathe,” Matt said. Seriousness overtook his tone and I nodded in agreement.

  Matt came across as a womanizer, but he cared more than he was willing to admit.

  “He’s worse than I thought,” he continued, his tone still serious. “I knew he was crazy, but I never thought that he’d do that to a member of his own family. I mean, just imagine if—” His eyes suddenly popped open in realization... in fear.

  “If what?”

  “Aaron!” He jumped to his feet. “Where’s Aaron?”

  “At school,” I eased. “Don’t worry.”

  “They know Brian, don’t they?” he asked quickly. “Has he picked Aaron up from school before?”

  It was then that I realized what Matt was implying. I could feel the blood rushing from my face, and although I wanted to jump to my feet, I couldn’t move. My legs felt like jelly, my stomach felt like a hand was gripping my intestines. I was going to be sick.

  “Come on. We have to go. Now.”

  Twenty-Three

  Matt

  I pulled the car up out the front of the school as we ran into the front office. Amanda greeted the front desk lady with a shaky smile, trying her best to stay calm. “Hello, Suzan,” she said.

  The lady at the desk—Suzan—furrowed her brow. “You’re here for Aaron?” Amanda nodded eagerly. “Your brother picked him up already.”

  And there it was, our worst fear.

  Amanda looked utterly terrified as the words left Suzan’s mouth. She looked to me for support, her eyes wide with fear, her mouth hanging open as if she had forgotten how to close it. I tried my best to look strong and firm, taking her hand in my own.

  We rushed back to the car and sped out of the school as fast as we could. “Where would he take him?” Amanda said, tears rolling down her cheeks. I pondered for a second, realizing soon enough that Brian was as predictable as one can get.

  I whipped the car onto a street that led to his house. “It’s not Aaron he wants,” I assured her. “It’s you and me. He isn’t trying to hide. He’s at his house. He has to be there.”

  Amanda pulled her phone out of her bag, and from my peripheral vision I noticed that she was dialing 911. I didn’t dare stop her, as I knew getting law enforcement involved was the only way we’d guarantee Aaron’s safe return.

  I followed Amanda into his house, charging through the front door and nearly knocking her over. She had come to a sudden stop, standing dead frozen.

  “In here, you guys!” Brian called merrily. “The kitchen.”

  I could see it now, the reason for Amanda’s sudden halt.

  Brian stood inside the kitchen,
facing the counter top. In front of him was a slab of what looked to be raw meat. It oozed blood and I could smell it, even from the living room. In his hand was a cleaver, which he was using to slice through the meat. His hands were covered in blood too, looking like he had been at it for hours.

  But that wasn’t what scared me.

  Standing in between Brian and the counter, his head just above the counter and facing the slab of meat, was Aaron. He was watching the raw meat, wide eyed, seemingly mesmerized by the way that his uncle cut into it.

  I took Amanda by the hand as I cautiously led her into the kitchen. I didn’t know what state of mind Brian was in, and didn’t want to risk making any sudden movements. The knife he held was inches from my son’s neck.

  “Now, you want to be careful with the knife,” Brian explained to Aaron, digging the blade of the cleaver into the meat. From the looks of it, it was a slab of pork, and the knife tore through it like it were warm butter. “This thing can cut through flesh and bone, both. One wrong move and you could lose a finger, a hand… or something much, much worse.”

  “Okay, Uncle Brian,” Aaron nodded along, entranced by what he was seeing.

  “Aaron, baby,” Amanda whimpered. “Come over here, now.”

  Aaron looked across at his mother, beaming at her. “Hey, mom. Uncle Brian is teaching me how to cut meat!”

  “Aaron, baby,” Amanda tried again. Her voice was more firm this time, taking on a motherly tone that I knew she had been working on. “Come over here, now.”

  Brian put his hand on Aaron’s shoulder and I could see him press his body into the child’s back, pinning him in place. “No, he’s going to stay right here,” Brian said calmly, still looking at the meat and the knife that skewered it.

  Rage pulsated through my veins, the likes of which I had never felt before. Just the idea that Brian would use my son as bait like this, that he would risk hurting him or worse, had me seeing red.

  But at the same time, I had to be cautious. I couldn’t just run for him and attack. Aaron was safe for now, and I needed to make sure that it stayed that way.

  “What do you want?” Amanda raised her voice, losing every ounce of the sheer will she had used to remain calm. I reached out and steadied her, knowing that anger was the last thing that would win the day.

  “Aaron’s father,” Brian said. He sawed through the meat, lifting the piece from the slab and laying it down, inches from Aaron’s head.

  Aaron perked his ears at the mention of his father, but said nothing.

  “What about him?” Amanda pushed.

  “Have you told him yet, Amanda?”

  “Brian, this is none of your business,” she spat. The anger within her grew like the flames of a newly fueled fire. “Aaron, come here.”

  Brian pushed himself onto my son, keeping him pinned.

  “Did you know, Aaron, that Matt here is your father?”

  “He is?” Aaron looked at me with confusion and my heart stopped. I wished we had told him earlier. I really did.

  “That’s right,” Brian continued. “And they kept it from you. They didn’t want you to know. They didn’t think you could handle it.”

  “That’s not true—,” Amanda cut him off.

  “How does that make you feel?” Brian said, driving the knife into the meat again. “Angry? Furious? I know I would be, if a secret like that had been kept from me.”

  It was then that I knew exactly what it was that Brian was trying to do, what he had been trying to do for the past two weeks. He wanted to turn Aaron against me, it was as simple as that. He wanted to use his position as my son’s uncle to drive a wedge between us and destroy my family before it even had a chance.

  I watched Aaron’s face, expecting to see disappointment written across it.

  But instead, he looked over at me and his smile was brilliant and full of joy. “You’re my dad?” Aaron asked, excitement fueling the high pitch of his voice. “Cool!”

  Disgust was the predominant expression on Brian’s face. “Aren’t you furious?” he pressed. “I would be.”

  “Not really,” Aaron frowned, tilting his head in thought. “It’s kinda like Hercules.”

  “Hercules?”

  “Yeah. He didn’t know his father for ages, even though Zeus could have told him at any time. But when Hercules found out, he wasn’t mad. Why should I be?”

  From the corner of my eyes, I could see Amanda, beaming with pride.

  “Well, so much for that,” Brian concluded. “Oh well, plan B, I guess.”

  He pulled the cleaver from out of the piece of meat and raised it above his head as if he were about to chop down. Amanda screamed out in fear and terror, realizing exactly what it was that Brian intended to do. Aaron looked up at the cleaver raised above his head, frowning in confusion. And I pounced.

  My body flew through the air like a spear, taking Brian around the shoulders and tearing him away from Aaron. The knife fell from his hand with a crash, leaving him totally defenseless, as we rolled across the hard kitchen floor.

  “Dad, stop. Please.”

  I slowly pushed myself to my feet, my body shaking as the adrenaline left it. I felt Aaron’s hand wrap around my own and I looked down at him, at my son, and smiled. He smiled up at me. In that moment, despite everything that had happened, I was possibly the happiest I had ever been.

  Brian still lay on the floor when I heard the police sirens in the distance, coming closer by the second. Still holding my son’s hand, and taking Amanda’s in the other, I turned around and exited the house.

  It was finally over.

  Twenty-Four

  Amanda

  We waited outside for the cops to arrive, as Brian undoubtedly laid withering in pain inside. But I had no qualms about leaving him. He burned every bridge in the book when he took Aaron for his own selfish reasons. He took my son and nobody would ever get away with such a heinous crime.

  The first two cops walked into the residence and left the third behind as we were questioned. I told the entire story—including the part where Matt defended our son, and saved his life by unleashing his wrath on my brother. We knew that the moment we brought charges upon Brian, he would strike back, using his own bloodied body and broken face as a defense. We just had to hope that our story was believed over Brian’s.

  I saw it now, the bigger picture. Brian never intended on leaving that house alive. Megan leaving him, and taking his son, broke him in a way that I couldn’t have possibly imagined. No doubt he saw me, Aaron, and Matt as an affront to his own happiness, as if our happy nucleus was rubbing it in his face. His first goal was to turn Aaron against Matt. When that didn’t work, his second goal was to make sure that Matt and Aaron could never be together, even if that meant his own death.

  The cop was straightforward about what we had done, having a no-nonsense manner about him as he took our reports and assisted his associates with loading Brian into the car, along with Matt. Matt had committed assault and until the facts were sorted, he was as much at fault as Brian. As such, he too was driven to the police station for further questioning.

  Matt was forced to spend the night in lock-up until he was granted bail, after which he rushed to the firm for an emergency board meeting.

  It was around ten when Matt finally walked through the front door. Aaron was long asleep, and I was sitting in the living room, literally staring at the clock.

  “That was a long board meeting,” I commented, smiling up at him. The broad shoulders and shadowed tattoos that would have unnerved most people brought me great comfort.

  “It wasn’t just a board meeting,” he sighed as he fell into the seat beside me. “It was a negotiation on who would take Brian’s place as a partner of the firm,” Matt admitted. “A long negotiation.”

  I nodded in understanding. “Did you make a decision?” I asked curiously.

  Matt nodded and took a seat on the other end of the couch. “We did, and I wanted to talk to you about it before anything become
s official.” I made a face, uncertain of how to react to Matt’s cryptic words.

  “Okay,” I began cautiously.

  “It’s you. We want you as our new partner.” I scoffed, sure he was making some sort of stupid joke. Only, his face was serious and when he reached across and took my hand, I knew his words were too. “Listen, we are not giving you this position now, or in the near future. But because the name of the company has your last name, we decided to keep an eye on your performance over the next ten years and reassess the situation then. The company is Dawson and Fisher, and without the last name Fisher, the million-dollar name would be in shambles. It cost a lot of money to buy that name, and because we have someone else in a position to preserve it, that is the wisest move.”

  “The wisest move?” I asked dryly. “Promoting someone who has less than a month’s legal experience under their belt?”

  “I have to look at the bigger picture,” he explained, running his fingers through my hair. “For the firm and for our family.”

  I had spent the last nine years of my life alone, working hard to get where I was, never seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Heck, I didn’t even think there would be one. But there it was, and it came out of nowhere.

  Fortunately, this time, I was certain that the light was here to stay.

  Author’s Note

  Hey Summer Reader,

  This is my first book and I could use all the love and support that you can offer.

  Please take a minute to leave an honest review and let me know what you think of my work.

  Thanks for being a constant source of inspiration for me.

  Love,

  Summer

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