Page 86 of Lightness In My Dark

By the time Lindsey and Carter arrived for the weekend, Wren was sporting a black eye, purple and green curling underneath the lower lid. They came with food, more herbs for Wren, and blankets. I had minor withdrawals of chills and aches, but the worst had gone.

When they saw Wren’s eye, Carter placed his hand on her jaw and turned to me. “Did you do this to her?”

Wren lowered his hand. “It was an accident. No big deal.”

But it was a big deal. Every time I looked at her, my heart stuttered with the knowledge I caused her pain. I’ve struck her twice, and I’ll never be able to erase it. They’re black marks against me, another addition to her past sadness, and the thought killed me to be a part of it.

Carter wouldn’t drop the subject. “This isn’t an accident, Wren!”

She spun on him. “Yes, it was!”

He pointed to all of us. “This is wrong.” Then he looked at me. “Look at you. You look like hell. You should be in a hospital, getting treatment. Not held up in your house, withdrawals wreaking havoc on others.”

“Enough!” Wren’s voice boomed so loud, catching us all off-guard.

She sat me down in a chair and stood in front of me as if protecting me from judgment and shame. I wished it would have done the trick.

“We are here for a reason, Carter!”

I took her hand in mine and whispered, “Wren, don’t—”

She turned to me and said, “No. It’s time he knows. Carter is old enough.”

With fists on his hips, Carter said, “Know what?”

“That we’re here to protect yours and Finn’s future.”

“What are you talking about?”

Cole made himself busy while Wren spoke.

“I’m talking about us doing this cold turkey. Hiding out here so no one finds out.”

“So what if someone finds out? He shouldn’t be ashamed.”

“Shame isn’t the problem. Alessandro is the problem along with the board members.”

As Carter askedwhat, he lowered into a chair.

“Alessandro doesn’t want to give up his CEO status. He will do anything to prevent Finn from taking over, which means it affects you when you’re ready to step up. Finn didn’t want to risk him finding out. If that happened, Alessandro would approach the board to stop Finn from becoming CEO. Therefore, the fewer people who know about his addiction, the better.”

He ran his hands through his hair and met my eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me? You always fucking keep things a secret. I didn’t even find out about your addiction until you were out the door.” Carter stood as the anger mounted. “For Chrissake, I’m your brother. You should be able to trust me. I can handle tough situations.”

Physically and mentally, I felt like death, and it only seemed to grow into an erupting volcano. My energy level plummeted days ago. I licked my lips and said, “Carter, it had nothing to do with trusting you. Of course, I do.”

He blinked to avoid his tears from spilling. “Then why? Why don’t you tell me anything? And what happened with Wren’s eye?”

“I want to protect you. There’s no reason to tell you about Alessandro unless there was something to tell.”

Carter breathed through clenched teeth. “And Wren’s eye?”

“Because of a high fever, I had a nightmare, and tried to...”

“Tried to what?”

“Get him away.”

“Who away?”

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