Page 6 of An Unexpected Everything
That was what hurt. What felt as if I’d had the world stripped from me, leaving me bare to the elements where nothing was what it seemed. Once again there was a betrayer in my life. Would she leave just like the rest?
I wasn’t sure I would ever forgive my father, but then again, I wasn’t sure I cared enough to bother. That might make me a terrible person, but our father had turned into a controlling megalomaniac. Or perhaps he always had been, and I had been too lost in my own ways to notice.
When Dad had died, all his secrets had been unveiled. We had sat in that lawyer’s office with a huge wooden table and learned our fate. Five siblings had to meet for dinner once a month. We had to photograph our evidence and send it to the lawyer. The time crunch on those dinners would end after three years, but that wouldn’t be the end of it. There were always other tribulations when it came to that will and the company itself. There was also paperwork that needed to be done, and Aston and I usually took care of it.
I was the oldest sibling on one side, he was the eldest on the other. And while we had butted heads at first, he had turned intosomeone I could rely on. I couldn’t take my anger out on the other Cages because they were in the same boat we were in.
Only they had a lot more to lose.
If we didn’t have dinner where three siblings from one side and two siblings from the other met up, not only would the company be dissolved, and inheritances would be an issue, but a small town in the mountains of Colorado outside Denver would lose everything.
Because of course the Cages owned a town.
Cage Lake was situated a couple of hours outside Denver, and the Cage family as well as the company itself owned a majority of it. They had founded it, and expanded just enough to have that small town feel without losing all its amenities. Apparently, Dad had wanted his children to get to know each other at the expense of thousands of people’s livelihoods.
That wasn’t outrageous at all.
“Isabella. Are you listening to me?” Mom asked, and I looked up to see her eyes filled with tears.
I wasn’t sure why my mother had agreed to go along with this soap opera of a relationship. Why she was okay with being the other woman. But I hated to see my mother cry.
“Okay. I won’t talk about them anymore. But you can’t change the court’s decision. And they are our brothers.” My mother flinched. I ignored it. I had to. “They aren’t too bad once you get to know them.”
“They are the best,” Phoebe corrected, grinning at me. “It helps that I’ve known Ford for a while now.”
“Considering I own a business with them, agreed,” Kane put in as he leaned over to hug Phoebe. Kane and Ford were part of a security company they owned together and one of Ford’s spouses was Kane’s cousin.
There were so many connections, threads that tangled and wore over time. But I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t know how to get over this anger when it came to my mother.
Frankly I wasn’t sure I could.
“Let’s just have dinner then. You can tell me about your day,” Mom said as she bustled to the kitchen.
Kyler finally sat up and rolled his neck. “I don’t know why she’s acting like this was a surprise. She might not have known every detail of the will, but she knew Melanie had our brothers.”
It was still a jolt to hear ‘our brothers’ aloud even though I’d thought the words as well. Kyler had been my only brother for my entire life. I wanted to ask him what he felt about not being the only boy in such a large family, but Kyler was more closed off than I was when it came to the subject and I didn’t want to hurt him any more than he already had been. He’d come to one of us when he was ready—I hoped.
“Maybe it’s just hitting her now. Everything she could have had, everything that we’re now faced with.” I let out a breath, trying to let out the anger. Only it wasn’t working.
“Hey, what’s this?” Kyler asked as he lifted my chin before looking down at my wrist.
I winced and pulled away, doing my best not to be too suspicious. I had worn a long sleeve top and had been generous with my concealer, but since I had literally fallen off a cliff, I couldn’t hide everything.
“I tripped and fell,” I said, and it wasn’t really a lie.
He narrowed his eyes. “You might be my big sister, but I’m bigger than you. Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m fine. Really. I promise.” It didn’t even hurt anymore. Weston had seen to that.
I needed to stop thinking of him. There was no way I could go back to Cage Lake now. And frankly, I had more pressing matters that had nothing to do with the man who I thought I’donce loved and the family that kept me on my toes. Something far darker.
“You would tell us if you weren’t, right?” Sophia asked as she reached out and squeezed my hand.
I looked at my siblings and their men and beamed. “Of course I would. We keep secrets well, the Cages.”
“Truth and lies, the Cage Dixon motto,” Kyler muttered before he dropped his hands and we followed Sophia into the dining room for dinner.
I did my best not to bring up the other Cages because I didn’t want to start a fight, but then my mother had to step in it. Because the hard truth was that our family and troubles were wrapped up in everything we did now.
