Page 104 of Fierce-Matt

Amber had told him she wanted more than what was owed to them and to do what he could to get it.

He knew they’d get that at a minimum once it was discovered that Shelly had the funds.

“I will take it up with her,” she said.

“Then why are you taking it out on me?”

“Because you told me to trust you and I trusted you to tell me everything.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. He was going to listen to Amber and not let Anya do this to them. “I’m telling you things betweenus. The case isn’t between you and me. Don’t confuse the two.”

“You don’t understand,” she said. She was pacing around his living room.

“I do,” he said. “You don’t want your parents to deal with this any longer. The sooner the building is sold, and the sooner they get their money from Shelly, the sooner Shelly’s case is closed, you can all move on with your lives.”

“That’s right,” she said. She turned to look at him. “Stress will only confuse and agitate my father more. My mother doesn’t need that.”

“No,” he said. “She doesn’t. But she can’t control it all.”

Her face crumpled and suddenly Anya was crying. She’d done a good job holding tears from him in the past, but she couldn’t now.

He pulled her into his arms. “You can’t steer the car here either. You’re working yourself into the ground.”

“This is about us not seeing each other, isn’t it?” she sobbed.

He sighed. That came out wrong.

“No. It’s not. I needed to get things done this week and maybe it worked out well. Did I miss you? Yes. I did. I’m not going to lie. But I’m talking about mentally working yourself into the ground. You’re moving in ten directions at once.”

“I’m doing what any child would do,” she said.

But her brother wasn’t.

She was trying to make up for it. Any idiot could see that.

“What most kids would do,” he said. “What I’d do and my siblings.”

“Not mine,” she said.

He was rubbing her back. “You can’t force people to be someone they aren’t. But you can’t take it all on yourself either. I’m here. Ask me for help. I’ll give it to you.”

“I didn’t want you to talk about the case in front of my father, but you still did,” she said moving out of his arms. “That’s not helping.”

There was no winning here.

“Anya. I’m going to be an asshole and throw your mother under the bus. I think she’d be fine with it. She wouldn’t have told me what she had if she didn’t want me to have this information.”

“What?” Anya asked, tapping her foot.

“She told me you have triggers with your father raising his voice and yelling. That it reminds you of when you were a child and your father fought with EJ. You will do anything to not have to deal with that again.”

“She shouldn’t have said that to you,” she said.

“But she did and she’s right. If you can move past what I did to you when you were younger, you can move past this. EJ’s nothere. He’s not causing problems. Your father is going to have good and bad days, but he’s not to blame for them.”

“I know,” she said, sniffling some more. “But I don’t want to see them, yet I can’t leave my mother alone to deal either.”

“And you won’t,” he said. “Be gentle on yourself. On us too. I’m going to mess up. So are you. I didn’t deserve for you to get pissy with me over something I have little say over, just like you shouldn’t get upset over something your father can’t manage.”