“Calling you a whore,” she finishes flatly. “He’s standing in the middle of our apartment and calling you a whore. I won’t have it.”
“That’s not what he meant—”
“Oh, I don’t know. Your brother’s a smart guy,” Ethan tells me. “I think he knows exactly what he’s saying.”
“Are you kidding me?” Miles looks at me, completely exasperated. “I’m the bad guy here? He’s the one sleeping with an intern, the one whose family bought off a rape victim—”
“And you’re the one who sold out his baby sister for start-up capital, so excuse me if it disgusts me to watch you try to take the moral high ground here.” Ethan is all but vibrating with rage at this point. From the moment he found out about my family forcing me to take money for my silence, it’s been eating away at him. Now that my brother is here, making a total ass of himself, is it any wonder Ethan is more than ready to take him apart?
“Chloe.” Tori whispers my name, and I turn to see her staring at me with wide and stricken eyes.
Shit. I never told her about the rape, never told her anything but the most basic stuff about my past. I wanted to reinvent myself when I got to San Diego and that included leaving all of this stuff back in Boston, where it belonged. Now it’s out in the open and she’s looking at me like I’m a victim, like I’m hurt and defenseless and weak.
It’s that knowledge that sends me over the edge. I’ve dealt with everything else—learning about Ethan’s connection to Brandon, finding my way back to him after I found out, my brother acting like an absolute bastard—but knowing that my secret will never be a secret again just about brings me to my knees. Because this is my life, these are the choices that I’ve made. I’ve already had my ability to choose taken away from me twice over very important things. I’ll be damned if I stand by and let it happen again.
“That’s it. I’m done,” I tell them, walking over to the door and sliding my shoes on. “Come on, Ethan. I’ll walk you to your car.”
He just looks at me, brow cocked in silent inquiry.
“Obviously, I’m going to have to deal with my idiot of a brother. And since he can’t be civil, it looks like I’m going to have to do it alone.”
For a moment, I think Ethan is going to argue. Leaving me to face anything alone—unpleasant or otherwise—isn’t his typical modus operandi. But he must read something in my face because in the end, he just nods.
We don’t speak until we’re in the elevator, and then Ethan says, “I’ve got to be honest. I’m having a hard time with this one, Chloe. Leaving you with him isn’t easy for me.”
“I know.” I lean into him, rest my head on his chest. “And I appreciate you letting me handle it.”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t have to look so grim. Miles won’t hurt me.”
“Seeing as how he gave me a bloody nose with
that sucker punch of his, you’ll excuse me if I don’t have your same confidence in the matter.”
“Is your nose okay?” I ask, poking at it a little. “It doesn’t look swollen or anything.”
Ethan snorts. “That’s because you’re used to seeing it messed up from the fight with Brandon. You forget what it looks like when I haven’t been punched in the face.”
“That’s a good point,” I tell him, stretching up and pressing a soft kiss to his poor nose—which isn’t swollen but is definitely starting to bruise—before we exit the elevator.
“I’m full of good points.” He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me into his side as we walk through the courtyard to the street where he parked his car. “Including the fact that Miles seems pretty volatile. I know you think he wants to help you—and maybe he does—but he’s a loose cannon. He doesn’t have control of his temper.”
“That’s just because you were there. He feels guilty because of the money my parents took and how they used it to finance his inventions.”
“He should feel guilty.”
“It isn’t his fault my father’s a con man who always has his eye on the next game. Or that my mother’s so weak that she’ll do whatever her husband tells her to.”
“Maybe not. But he could have gotten a job at a reputable corporation that would help protect his patents instead of robbing him blind. He didn’t have to let his parents use blood money to make his way in the world.” He’s talking through gritted teeth, his voice low and deep and vicious. Looking into his blue eyes and the way they’re heated from within, I can’t help thinking that it’s a miracle he didn’t do more damage to Miles once he found out who he was. He looks at least as angry as he did that morning two and a half weeks ago when he was talking to Brandon in his driveway.
All I can say is that between his brother and mine, it should be one hell of a family reunion.
“Miles isn’t like you,” I say after giving Ethan a minute to reassert his iron control on himself. “He isn’t strong enough to forge his own path. He’s way too locked inside his own head, way too caught up in the ideas he has, to worry about anything as practical as running a company or buying groceries. Besides, my parents didn’t give him a choice. They just did it—”
“Don’t make excuses for him.” Ethan pulls me in for a quick, hard kiss, one that has my head spinning and my heart pumping before he finally pulls away. “He’s weak, Chloe. And that weakness makes him dangerous. You need to be careful.”
“Miles would never hurt me. He’s my brother.”