Page 92 of Van Cort

Lara kept hold of that like the very lifeline it was. All these years, all this time, and everything between them. It only worked if they were together. Yet with one sentence – one command – from their father, the first crack in their connection had been made.

That small fissure allowed all the doubt and worry and fear to seep in, and Lara was drowning within seconds.

Her legs gave out, and she dropped to her knees as Rhett charged after West.

She’d have to choose.

She couldn’t stay with both of them. Because having them both wasn’t normal. It was the truth she could forget about when they were together, certainly here. But now…

Tears tracked down her face as emotion stabbed through her heart and up her throat. She’d worked so hard to make their dream a reality. And now it was being stolen from her. Her fingers dug into the ground, breaking through the mulchy layerbefore she could feel the hard earth and stones beneath. And as her tears gained strength, she lost the will to fight and let them fall, obscuring her vision as the boys – her boys – disappeared from sight.

***

Lara let the cold seep through to her bones, and her tears dry on her cheeks, before she moved to go back inside. She had to re-light the fire, and she tended it with gentle encouragement until the heat began to warm the space around her. The boys would be back. If she had to guess, they’d shout and curse at each other, before one, or both, would throw a punch. They’d cool off eventually, though, and come back to her with a few scrapes, ready to talk.

And sure enough, as she was adding another log to the fire after making hot cocoa, they both traipsed back into the cabin.

West came straight to her and wrapped her in his arms. “I’m sorry, Lara.” He smelt of cool air and pine, and the comfort he gave had tears threatening again.

“It’s all right. You’re angry. We’re all angry.”

She watched Rhett over West’s shoulder, who looked for the broken shards of glass as if he might be able to drink the remnants off the wooden floor. Lara had already cleared it all up, though. She guessed it was the only bottle he had with him and was regretting that decision.

West led her to the chair and pulled her down into his lap.

“Okay. What do we do?” he asked.

“We don’t even know if I’ll be accepted at Harvard yet,” she replied. The fear had been there since she applied weeks ago, but instead of being ignored, she could say it now.

“You will be. I told you. I won’t lose you, Lara. Not ever.” Rhett’s statement was as hard as a stone, like he wasn’teven prepared to accept another option. His strength was astonishing. Also terrifying.

“But what about West? This wasn’t what we agreed. We were meant to stay together. The three of us.” Lara looked between the brothers.

“He’s done it as punishment. He had a fucking smile on his face when he told me. Like he knew it would crush me.”

West’s admission hurt Lara on so many levels. How any father could willingly hurt their own flesh and blood was beyond her comprehension, but she’d seen the bruises on Rhett and had long ago realised that Mr Van Cort wasn’t the model fatherly figure that many thought he was.

West’s hand rested on her thigh, and Rhett came to sit on the chair next to them, his eyes fixed on the casual placement of West’s hand.

She could play the next stages of the argument out in her mind. If West and Rhett were being split up, then what about her? Rhett would be adamant, even with the new information, that she’d be with him. But he’d thought like that without asking for confirmation from her, as if it was part of the plan and wouldn’t need to change. As if she’d naturally choose Rhett over West.

It was a small crack, but it was growing, and wedging open a little further, as she considered, for the first time, who she’d choose if she had to.

Lara turned to look at West, the swelling on his lip beginning to show, confirming she was right in her assumption of what happened between them.

She loved him. With everything in her twisted heart. She loved West.

He was the one who gave her hope. Joy.

What would happen to her and Rhett without him?

Who would keep him in balance?

CHAPTER THIRTY - ONE

BEFORE

RHETT – AGE EIGHTEEN