Page 145 of Lavish

“I havealwaysloved you,” Erik said defensively.

“Miles makes me feel like a woman. Not like some toss-away in this family. It’s always beenyou.Then Laurene. And Gigi.Thenme. I won’t let any of you run him away, and you need to get over yourself and whatever problem you have with him. Is it that bad you can’t get over it?”

I swallowed hard, blinking through the burn.

“You get everything! Let me have Miles. Treat him with respect. Did you even consider how that would make me feel? To always come last?”

“I didn’t ask for this, Rena,” Erik said quietly.

“Of course you didn’t ask for it!” I snapped. “But you took it. And Mama gave. Everyonegave and gave.”

“All the shit I do is for you, Laurene, and Gigi to not have to deal with the bullshit. So you all can live your lives. You think I didn’t notice? I saw the way Mama treated you. I hated it.”

He dragged a hand down his face, like it burned to say this.

“You know who told Mama to start King Developments?” He stepped closer. “Me. ’Cause I saw you reading them architecture books all the time. You ain’t even know I was paying attention, huh?”

His voice dropped. “I didn’t want the company. She offered it to me, and I told her I was too busy. But I knew you’d kill it.”

I sucked in a sharp breath.

“You think I wanted to inherit all of this? I wake up every day wondering if I’m fuckin’ it all up. You know what it’s like to carry this family and have nobody ask if you tired? If you scared? If youcan’tdo it one more goddamn day?”

I looked away.

“I kept it together for all of us. I hold the line so you don’t have to,” he said, softer now, eyes rimmed red. “You don’t even know the things we’ve kept from you all. But some days, I don’t even know who the hell I am outside of holding this shit down.”

He exhaled like he’d been holding that in for years.

“When Laurene wanted to run off, who booked her flight?” He kept going. “When Gigi got picked up in LA for drinking, I bailed her out before anybody in the family knew. You think Miles the only one out here protecting you?”

He beat a hand against his chest. “Have you asked how I was doing? Just once in the last six years? I lost my best friend too.”

For so many years, I’d had this one-sided competition with Erik, and now for him to say he created King Developmentsfor me?

“You really think this is about me being petty toward Miles?” Erik said. “It’s not. It’s because he’s hiding things from you, Serena. Big things.”

I crossed my arms, and gave him a sour look.

“Miles is doing business with a known criminal. Victor Raines.” Erik’s voice was clipped. “He took money from him years ago. And a few weeks ago, I saw the bastard leaving Miles’s office.” I stared at Erik like he’d grown a second head. “No. No, that’s—no, you must’ve seen someone else. Miles wouldn’t—he’s not?—”

Erik’s expression didn’t change.

“He is. I know what I saw. And Iknowwhat I’m talkin’ about.”

I shook my head. “How do you even know this?”

“Miles told me years ago when he first got the money from Victor. I didn’t trust the man, so I looked into him. I told Miles, but he didn’t care.”

His eyes searched mine. “That’s one of the reason he and I fell out. I didn’t want his shit to affect us.”

My chest squeezed tight. Milesnevertold me. Not once. Not even when we were?—

“Victor’s name been tied to an open Fed investigation. An employee died under mysterious circumstances and other bad shit. I came to your office one night to talk to him about it, maybe put our shit to the side. I found them together… We don’t really know Miles. What if all this has been a big ‘get back’ at us because of what I did?—”

“What did you do?” I said darkly.

“You remember the whistleblower from back when Omar got exposed? The one who tipped off the press?”