Page 75 of Naughty or Nice

I turn on my side and look down into her face. ‘No?’

‘I just don’t want to hurt them or provoke them further.’ Her eyes flick to me. ‘I want to get this right—make them see what they did was wrong. But I can’t push them out entirely. It’s not fair on Mum, for starters, and for all they did wrong they’re...they’re still...’

‘They’re still your family.’

‘Yes.’ It’s a whisper.

‘So what will you tell them when the time comes? Because it will, Eva. You know as well as I do that our companies working together is the right move.’

I don’t say the other thing I’m thinking: We work, her and I...us.

‘The truth.’

‘Which bit?’ I test the water. ‘The work or the personal—this?’

‘All of it.’

She nods her head emphatically, surprising me with her confidence.

‘This deal gets me what I need. It buys them out of my business, and it buys me my total freedom. It’s what I’ve wanted for so long—to be in control of my own destiny, my future, my company.’ She pins me with her brilliant gaze. ‘As for me and you...they have to see they’ve wronged you...’ Her voice trails away, a frown marring her brow as her eyes narrow. ‘Unless...’

Unease spreads like ice in my veins. ‘Unless...?’

‘Is there more to it?’

She’s looking at me earnestly, searchingly.

‘I just don’t get it. They’re good people, Mum and Dad. And Dad knows that Nate has his moments—well enough to suspect that what you told him was the truth—so why side with him?’

Why? I think about it. I think about what I told her. It’s the truth—all of it.

Nate hated me for not stepping in, not saving his arse after he’d screwed up—again. I could’ve done, but I didn’t. Her father just protected his son...and to hell with what was right, fair.

/> I rest my hand over her stomach, feel her warmth seep into my palm. I lower my eyes to the touch and use it to ward off the mounting chill.

‘There’s nothing to tell you that changes anything. It happened just as I told you.’

She’s quiet as she considers me, and then she shakes her head and looks back to the view. ‘I just don’t get it... Nate isn’t a bad person deep down—he isn’t. I wouldn’t look out for him if he wasn’t.’

‘You would. He’s your brother.’

Just as your father protected his son—his real son, his blood.

‘No, I wouldn’t—not if he didn’t deserve it. He’s unreliable, sure, and he messes up sometimes. He clearly messed up with you. But he loved you, you were inseparable, and now... Now he—’

She breaks off, as if she can’t even voice it.

‘He hates me?’

She looks at me, her eyes stabbing me with their pain, eyes that look so similar to Nate’s in that moment, filled with the same blaze of hurt he wore the last time I saw him.

‘Yes.’

I don’t really hear her. I’m transported back five years. To that last argument...to his begging.

‘You owe us! You wouldn’t be anything without our money! You can save us. How can you refuse?’

Their love shouldn’t have been conditional. Mine certainly wasn’t. I thought I was loved. By Nate, by his parents. Eva. And look where it got me.