Page 498 of The Sinner: James

He relaxes in his seat, his arms folded across his chest.

A smile grows on his lips, casting a light over his face, and the shift in his expression finally gives away his actual age.

Oh, he’s a troublemaker.

“My fucking brother?” he asks, grinning.

He doesn’t seem to be angered by the news. Not at all. His reaction is nothing like what Theresa has warned me about. I wouldn’t say he is dancing with joy, but he’s finding it amusing, which makes my palms itch.

I almost want to slap him.

“Are you my fucking brother?” he asks, grappling with disbelief and chuckling at the same time. “What’s your name?”

I wait a few moments, my cigarette burning slowly between my fingers.

“Sexton. James Sexton.”

His eyebrows move up again, his eyes widened with genuine surprise.

“No fucking way. Sexton… As in Sexton International,” he says, running his eyes over the private jet's interior, putting two and two together.

“As in...Yes.”

Mouth open, he shifts in his seat and leans forward slightly, running both hands through his hair.

It feels as if I look at myself in the mirror.

“James Sexton, the fucking billionaire, is my fucking brother,” he says with that kind of awe and blind enthusiasm that only speaks of his age again.

His crooked smile does it as well.

“I thought you’d be crushed,” I say, grinning lazily while bringing my cigarette to my lips.

“Who told you about me?” he asks, his smile gone.

“Who do you think, genius?”

He sags back again, his muscles shifting every time he moves.

“My mother?” he mutters, annoyed.

“If you think I had a dream about you and just showed up to save the day, well, you’re wrong. Of course it was our mother.”

His dark expression suggests things have finally sunk in.

He opens his mouth to speak.

I raise my hand.

“Before you say anything about her… I’m not interested in hearing you badmouthing her. And then, she came to me because she was desperate. And trust me… I would’ve never known I had a brother if it weren't for you. Or anything about your life or where she lived. We weren’t exactly on speaking terms before she showed up at my door. I know you’re going to have a field day with this, but I have to tell you the truth, and you need to deal with it on your own. She left my father and me because she was pregnant with you and in love with your father. See where I’m going with this? She said she had no choice, and maybe she didn’t. I didn’t know about you as much as you didn’t know about me, so that’s that. There’s no reason to have a meltdown over this.”

My gaze slides away from him as I catch sight of Thomas, who gestures at me, prompting me to check the time on my watch again.

“We’re running out of time,” I say, swinging my gaze back to Tiago, catching him studying me. “There are twenty more minutes before we take off. You’ll either be on this flight or not, but I need to know before we lift off.”

“I want my money,” he says abruptly.

I read his eyes for a moment.

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