Page 78 of Broken Brothers

“As a distraction so whoever worked with him would give in easier,” I said. “Just so happened the plan worked even better than expected.”

“For leverage, exactly,” she said. “The truth is, I never wanted to hurt you. I know that’s really easy to say now, but…”

She looked around the room, suspecting that people were watching her. Unfortunately, she was probably more right than she knew, given Edwin Hunt’s newest obsession with tracking me and seeing what I was doing.

“You have to understand, Chance, I’m not a full Taylor.”

I knew it.

“Adopted?”

She glumly nodded.

“Part of the reason I felt so drawn to you and felt so disgusted with you is I know what it’s like to feel like an outsider in your own family,” she continued. “My adoptive father died when Iwas fourteen, but Craig was no fool. He saw how smart I was and how much of an asset I could be to the family business. So he adopted me. But while I don’t know anything about Edwin Hunt, I can tell you that Craig is something akin to a sociopath.”

I shuddered. I didn’t see Edwin Hunt quite in that light, but he wasn’t far removed from it.

“Craig had no problem basically whoring me out. He had no regard for what I wanted and my feelings. In a weird way, this benefited me at times. It got me a Princeton education and it got me the six-figure job I held now. But the flip side of it is because Craig got me these things, I feel trapped. I feel like I owe him for life. If I were to ever try and escape, there would be no way out.”

“So, it’s safe to say that Craig had you manipulate me so that I would tell you details of the deal, and then Craig could use those to negotiate with my adoptive father and fuck me over.”

I wish I hadn’t said such words out loud, but we’d been there such a short time and I didn’t see anyone of too great a suspicion that I felt I’d gotten away with it. For now.

“More or less,” Layla said. “So now you know. It doesn’t excuse what I did. I should have had the guts to stand up and say I wasn’t going to screw you over. If I’d been a stronger woman…”

She began to sniffle, displaying emotions similar to what I had seen at our random encounter in the streets. Part of me… yeah, I had to say, part of me wanted to comfort her.

But I didn’t see her like that anymore, at least that’s what I told myself. And she hadn’t been a stronger woman. She had failed to stand up to her ruthless uncle, while I had stood up to Edwin Hunt. And she was older by a couple of years, so it’s not like she had no choice in the matter. It’s not like she was less mature than me.

“I’m sorry, Chance.”

I simply said thank you and let silence fill the air.

“What do you want moving forward?”

I hadn’t expected the question and it forced me to stumble on my words.

“I, uhh, moving, what do you mean?”

“Between us.”

The idea that there would be anything between us… no, that was a little ridiculous. That smacked a little bit of wishful thinking on Layla’s part.

“Peace and civility,” I said.

“Nothing more?”

I should have expected this conversation for how much Layla messaged me. I should have known this was coming. Actually, I had, but I hadn’t given it the proper thought and respect it deserved.

“Layla, I appreciate you providing me the context that you have. I’m sorry that your uncle is a fucking nightmare. I’m sorry that you felt compelled to do those things. But the bottom line is, you did.”

“I know,” she said. I could tell she was trying to fight her emotions and mirror my stoic, composed state. “But do you remember what I asked you in the bedroom?”

I knew where she was going with this. I didn’t want to acknowledge it, even though I knew full well what she was referencing.

“Chance.”

“I know what you’re talking about,” I said.