Page 94 of My Brother's Billionaire Best Friends
“She left because she thought shewasthe problem.”
“And now everyone knows she was involved with you. And who else?”
I flinch. Just slightly. But I don’t back down. “She didn’t do anything wrong.”
Phil slams the door shut again. Straightens. “That’s not the point.”
“Then what is?”
“The point is you—you three—used her. You let her believe she was safe, and then you let her get torn apart.”
“We didn’t let anything happen?—”
He shakes his head, stepping back. “She’s better off away from all of you.”
“You don’t get to decide that.”
“I’m her brother. I get a say.”
“You get an opinion. She gets to live her life.”
“She gets to raisekids.My niece and nephew. She gets to carry whatever fallout is left behind from this circus you built.”
I swallow the guilt. But it doesn’t go down easy. “I love her.”
Phil laughs once, bitter. “You and the other two?”
“Yes.”
“All of you?”
“Yes.”
“If you really love her, if you want what’s best for her…” He opens the car door again. “Then you’ll leave her alone.”
“I won’t. I can’t.”
He looks at me one last time. “Then we’re done.” The engine growls to life, and the car peels out of the lot, tires whispering against asphalt.
I stand there, hands still curled into fists at my sides. The sun’s beating down now. Hot. Relentless. But all I feel is cold because we just lost Phil. And maybe we’ve lost Parker too.
No. Fuck that. This isn’t the end. I’ve never been a quitter, and I’m not about to start now.
23
GAVIN
The boardroom smellslike tension and cologne and power, rotting at the edges.
Twelve people sit around the table, most of them too angry to pretend they’re calm. Edison is seated three spots down from me, hands folded on the table like he’s hosting a goddamn brunch.
“Jack resigning during a livestream,” someone says, loud and sharp, “was a PR disaster.”
“He didn’t even go through proper channels,” another board member adds. “It looked spontaneous. Desperate.”
“Itwasdesperate,” Edison cuts in smoothly, eyes on me. “He panicked. Got emotional. You let this entire…situation fester for too long.”
I breathe through my nose. Don’t blink. Don’t flinch.
