“Father expects you to invest it back in the company.”
“Fuck that.”
Maksim smirked.
“What?”
“I had a feeling you’d say that.”
“Doesn’t that bother you? That your precious father might be upset?”
Maksim paused. “Things are not the same with Father anymore. He is…how should I say this…”
“Batshit crazy? An abusive asshole who should be buried alive? A narcissistic creep who used our mother, turned you against her, and then lied about all of it?”
“Strong feelings.”
“Fuck you too.”
“I don’t mean to make light of it. I—” He looked down into his cup, swirling the milky liquid. “I didn’t know.”
“You didn’twantto know,” Axel corrected him.
“Yes, you’re right.”
Axel frowned. He hadn’t expected agreement. “So why do you believe now? What changed your mind?”
“A letter came a few weeks ago. Mother had left it with Aunt Hester. But Aunt Hester didn’t want to tell me because she knew it would cause me pain.”
So what? Axel had lived with pain for a very long time. Why shouldn’t his perfect brother?
“Mother wrote about the abuse. All of it.”
And that still stung, to know why she’d suffered for so long. For her children, two unworthy sons. One who had never stopped the abuse, the other who hadn’t cared enough to believe it had occurred. The remembrance hurt so much. “Why believe her after death? You thought her a liar when she was still alive and told you the same thing.”
Maksim frowned. “This isn’t easy, Axel. Please.”
“You know what? I lived with it all. With him beating the discipline into me while he held you up as the perfect son. And when I found out he was hitting Mom too, I tried to stop him. But not you. You called her a whore and a liar to her face. Do you have any idea how much that hurt her?”
Maksim’s eyes, a shade lighter than Axel’s, grew cold. “I only knew what he told me. That she had cheated on him, that you knew and covered it up. That you hated him and me and wanted to leave with her.”
“So he beat me because I hated him? I hated himbecausehe beat us.” Axel scoffed. “And he hurt her why? Jannik Heller, the man who buried his dick in half the women in Bavaria, cared about fidelity? That man? She was loyal to him, and she shouldn’t have been. I only wish she would have had an affair for some happiness in her marriage.”
Maksim sighed. “I was young, and he was my father. I was supposed to believe him. And you weren’t the only one he disciplined. The reason I was so perfect was because he’d beaten it into me. That’s the way children should be raised, with a firm hand.” He paused. “That’s what I used to think. But you were a lost cause, always so violent with those episodes, so Father gave up on you. I had no idea he was hitting you too.”
Axel frowned. “You saw my bruises.”
“And when I asked Mother about them, she told me you got them from being an active little boy.”
“She wouldn’t say that.”
“She would in front of Father. I think she did her best to protect us both. I’m only sorry I wasn’t a better son.” He paused. “But, Axel, you did have anger issues. Just like Father. I watched you lose your grip too many times to believe you hadn’t earned at least a spanking or two.”
“With a fucking belt?” Axel just stared at his brother.
“You don’t remember how bad you would get. You hit Mother.”
“I know what I did,” he snapped. “But I didn’t hit her on purpose. I was trying to hit you, you bastard.”
