Page 33 of Isolation

Our families were extremely quick to believe Milo's account of our relationship. No one, including my own parents and Reid, even bothered to ask me for my version of the story.

“I am angry at you for what you did to me, and I resent the fact that you still get to have the whole nine yards,” I try not to lace my words with my bitterness and focus on being forthright. “You have a dream job. Perfect condo. Family. Adoration. Friends. I have to watch you thrive while I am still struggling to move past everything that happened.”

I watch Milo from the corner of my eye to assess his mood.

“But I didn’t thrive. I drowned,” Milo sounds astonished by my assessment of his life. “Other than paying for my family’s expenses, I barely see them. I work all the time. I never stay at this condo. Most of the time, it irritates me to even look at it.”

Mia told me the same thing, but I don’t understand why the condo isn’t good enough.

This is my dream home. Perfect view. Perfect location. Giant living room. High ceilings with a beautiful chandelier. Absolutely gorgeous.

When I first walked in, I was speechless.

“Milo,” I keep my voice low and even. “Just because you have a busy life doesn’t decrease my resentment. Your prestige as the hard-working entrepreneur and prodigal son still precedes you. Both of our families look at you like you are their savior.”

“That’s not a good thing,” he argues flatly. “That’s just a reminder of the same truth I had to live with my whole life, the expectation for me to lessen the burden of others.”

His words give me pause.

That’s how I always saw him as well.

Despite his new sociopathic tendencies, Milo is still a man of habits. His habits include being responsible and a caretaker.

He resents this family. It's clear that the years of being tied down to them had an adverse affect on how he views them now.

However, Milo still takes care of them because that's what he has always done.

I know that Milo has a deep loathing for Tessa, one that he will never openly admit. It vibrates from his very essence. He resents Tessa for forcing him into a role that he never wanted.

Still, after everything started going downhill with Tessa, he was the first one to step up to the plate while Uncle Reese checked out.

Per usual, everyone assumed Milo would carry the burden. Unfortunately, it's all true.

Growing up, Milo’s poker face never betrayed his emotions. The only thing he couldn’t control was the panic attacks.

Having observed him recently, I realized that he doesn’t get panic attacks anymore, and his poker face is even better than before.

Milo never complains about the burden he carries, so it’s impossible to determine how his responsibilities affect him.

Did taking care of us have such a demonic aftereffect on him?

I stare at him in an attempt to decipher, but I can’t get a read on him at all. “Regardless, the whole family listens to you. You banned them from seeing me, and they complied without question. As a result, I lost a whole year with Mia.”

Over the years, I remained close to all the other Sinclairs. Mia used to spend all of her vacations with me. Uncle Reese and Tessa joined in at times.

The entire family, sans Milo, even came to Paris to celebrate Reid and my twenty-first birthday last year.

However, one year Milo banned the family from seeing me. Everyone chalked it up to us having a fallout. Milo’s dictate came off as almost a call for allegiance.

Our families are aware that Milo is not a petty person, but even Uncle Reese didn’t question the ludicrousban on Raven. Uncle Reese would have come off as ungrateful if he had argued.

Since his business took off, Milo took over the larger bills for Uncle Reese so he could move back home from the Cayman Islands.

Uncle Reese now only works part-time at a private clinic to dedicate more time to his ignored daughter and his depressed wife.

It sliced my heart open, but I refused to put the family in an awkward position by asking them to go against Milo’s wishes. I understood their length of gratitude towards Milo.

Mia was the only Sinclair who fought to see me and overthrew Milo’sban on Raven. Her stubborn sassy ass went toe to toe with Milo for a whole year till he finally conceded.