Page 181 of Broken Brothers

Not sure why I succumbed to sleeping with Layla. I swore not to do it until I was done with Edwin, and…

Old patterns repeat themselves. Old habits die hard. I can’t shake it. Layla will probably have figured something out in the time she was out and kick me out.

I deserve it. For all the fuckups I make…

A key unlocked the door, and in stepped Layla.

With a giant grin on her face.

“Hey, what’s up?” I said.

“You look nervous,” she said, cocking an eyebrow.

I snorted a chuckle as something of a defense mechanism.

“Why wouldn’t I be? With everything that’s been going on? Can you blame me for wondering anytime someone walks through the door what might go down this time?”

Layla’s eyes softened in sympathy. She reached into her bag, grabbed something, and sat next to me, planting a kiss on my cheek. She hugged me close and took my hand.

I felt something metallic and chilled placed in it.

“What’s this?”

She again gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“This will be what you need to move your life in the right direction.”

Curious, I glanced at her with confusion. She motioned her head down to the device, which I followed. It was a recorder, no larger than my thumb, with just two buttons—seemingly one for record, and one for play.

“Go ahead. It’s set up for you to hear.”

I tried not to let my emotions go any particular direction, but goddamn if they didn’t vacillate all over the place from overwhelmingly excited to dreadfully nervous and back, all over the course of just a couple of seconds before I pressed play. With a gulp, I did just that.

“… damnit, Morgan, why do you keep seeing that fucking cocksucker?”

Edwin.

“Dad, what do you mean? He’s my brother!”

Morgan?

“He’s a goddamn cocksucker of a brother, Morgan, and if you so much as go around him again, I will make sure that you arefucking ruined for life. You hear me? Your goddamn whore of a mother—”

“Dad!”

“Shut your fucking mouth!”

A loud slap followed. Had Edwin… actually just hit Morgan?

“You listen to me good, you goddamn shit,” Edwin continued. “I run the show. You think just because that whore is leaving me that I’m gonna cower and quit? Not a goddamn chance. I’ll run you into the ground like I’m running that prick Chance down. I’ll run you out of shop like a ran your little Miss Sunshine business out.”

Claire…

“Dad, what the hell are you doing? What do you mean, ran them out?”

“Oh, you fucking fool. Who do you think hired all her employees away, huh?”

The smoking gun…