Page 54 of Discord
I might as well have been invisible after my comment. And considering how much Brandon acknowledged me today, I probably was. Noah also avoided me like the plague, no doubt the result of a stern warning from Brandon.
I grew bitter about the situation as the day progressed, stuck here without a way back home and totally out of my element. Brandon forced me into this yet wouldn’t so much as glance at me.
I excused myself from the pool and headed inside. Perhaps a walk might cool me off. That was always Raven’s suggestion when I needed to gather myself. With only my fuchsia bikini and flip-flops, I started out the front door and toward the long driveway. I didn’t get far when I heard angry footsteps and felt a yank on my arm.
“Where are you going?” Brandon turned me around and pressed my back against the wall next to the front door. He loomed over me, hands on either side to cage me in.
“Just out for a walk.”
His head angled to look over his shoulders and down the driveway. “Dressed like that?” I felt Brandon’s heated eyes trail from bottom to top. “Are you insane?”
“Apparently.”
“What?”
My chest felt tight. “I was insane for sleeping with you in the first place. And now, you’re blackmailing me into being here and somehow still making me feel unwanted. I hate feeling this way.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Despite the heat in his words, he didn’t sound angry. Instead, there was a soul-wrenching and agonized quality in his voice.
My breath was harsh, hoping to somehow snuff out the angry tears from welling. “Isn’t it obvious? You don’t want me here, but you won’t let me go, either.”
“If I didn’t want you around, I wouldn’t have brought you here.”
The words were contradictory to his actions. “Then how come you’ve barely said a word to me all day? And why did you invite all these people?”
“I only invited Carmen and Asher,” he declared like it was an inconsequential detail. “The rest was Asher’s doing.”
“You still should have told me that there’d be other people.”
“You were already resistant about coming here. It would have only made it worse had I told you.” His voice was certain, resolved.
“Why was it so important for me to come here?” I asked, frustrated.
“So, you could see the reasons for everything I have done so far. A visual is better than any explanation I could give you.”
Understanding dawned on me. Brandon wanted me to meet… “Asher.” He was the original collateral damage of my brother’s wrath.
He nodded. “The documents you found in Italy; Asher was the one who sent those to me. I didn’t collect them behind Milo’s back.”
Like always, Brandon fed me a little information and waited for me to fill in the dots. I thought about the details and Asher’s reasons for collecting such data. “Asher found out about your dad and hoped you’d use your inheritance to buy the shares Milo had sold,” I determined.
“He asked me to take control of the company, so I could bring him back in the mix,” Brandon admitted. “I agreed to look at it because I hated what Milo did to Asher… what we all did to Asher.” I was aware of this part. Brandon resented Milo for kicking Asher out of the company and for threatening to kick everyone else out as well if they didn’t back him.
“But you didn’t go through with it at the time.” The transactions and exchanges with Colonel didn’t happen until recently. So, what the hell changed?
“Not at first.” He shook his head. “I realized that I didn’t want to get caught in the middle of their feud.”
This frustrated me. Brandon had initially made the right decision, so, “What changed your mind?”
Something intangible crossed his face. “What do you think?”
Unease played inside my stomach.Because of me?“But I don’t want this,” I rasped out. “I begged you to listen to me… to wait a few years—”
“He’ll never let me have you whether I wait two years or five,” he snapped.
I took a shuddering inhale, wondering if there was truth to his statement. Milo would do the same to Brandon as he did to Asher. “I never wanted to come between you two. Milo is like a brother to you.”
“Debatable,” he retorted, face devoid of emotions. “All three of us grew up together. If he can do this to Asher, then what do you think he’ll do to me? I needed ammunition because I knew your family would manipulate you into leaving me and look what happened. You caved under pressure.”
