Jaak rejected the suggestion with a sharp shake of his head. “Not until I feel I deserve it.” Disapproval flashed in his older brother’s eyes, but Jaak didn’t let it stop him. “I need to pay for my sins,” he grated out, “but if you won’t make me pay them—-”
“I don’t make you pay for anything,” Willem exploded in an undertone, “because there isnothingto pay for.” Shorn of his legendary cool, Willem continued in a furiously biting tone, “It wasnotyour fault you didn’t know what was happening. How many times do I have to say that before you believe me?”
“You can say it a thousand times, and I still won’t believe you.” Jaak’s voice was grim. “Ishouldhave known—-”
“You were onlyten—-”
“And you wereeleven,just one fucking year older,” Jaak snarled back. “Eleven, and you nearly lost your life to protect all of us! I was one fucking year younger, and where was I when he wasbeating you? I was busy fucking and losing my virginity to some girl whose name I don’t even remember—-”
“Goddammit, Jaak.”Willem had the strongest urge to punch his younger brother in the face, just to see if it would shake Jaak up and make him realize that he hadn’t ever been the one to blame for their past. “If you really want to make it up to me,” he said tautly, “if you want to make it up to this family – thenstay.”
Jaak’s lips tightened.
“Don’t turn your back on us. Don’t distance yourself from us. Punishing yourself with a meaningless existence won’t make our past disappear. It will only make our present much more difficult to bear, and if you do that, then isn’t that letting our father win?” When his younger brother still didn’t say anything, Willem made one final attempt to get Jaak to stay. “Weneedyou here—-”
Jaak cut his brother off with a humorless laugh. “Who’s lying now? You’reWillem de Konigh. Europe’s infamous smooth-talking bastard, poised to take over the EU in a decade’s time. The world won’t even notice that I’m gone—-”
“But we will,” Willem said quietly.
Jaak breathed hard. “I appreciate the lengths you’re going to make me stay—-” He picked his jacket off the back of the lounge chair. “But I’ve made up my mind, and nothing will change it.”
The two brothers faced each other.
In Jaak’s eyes, Willem saw the need to carve his own path, and in that moment, he realized that he had to put his controlling nature aside if he didn’t want his relationship with Jaak completely destroyed.
When Willem finally offered his hand, Jaak didn’t hesitate to shake it, knowing that his brother had tacitly agreed to stay out of his way while he did whatever he had to do to figure his shit out.
“See you whenever,” Jaak murmured.
Willem smiled. “See you intwomonths,” he corrected casually. “You need to be here for Anneke’s birthday.”
Jaak raised a brow. “Is that an order?”
“If it is what’s required to get you back home, yes. You can even take that as an official command from the Royal House of Contini if you wish.”
Jaak executed a deep bow, murmuring, “As commanded, sir. In two months’ time.”
Willem watched his younger brother walk away nonchalantly, not a worry in sight despite the fact that he had voluntarily signed away his inheritance a week ago.He neither wanted nor deserved it, Jaak had told him then. The only way he would be able to live with himself and know that he could be strong enough for the people who loved him was to do everything on his own – from scratch.
Jaak gradually disappeared from view, and moments later, Willem saw his younger brother emerge out of the chateau below. Jaak looked up to give him a mocking salute. “Any last words?”
Plenty,Willem thought, and topmost on his mind was the fact that Jaak was wasting his time. Even if his younger brother came back a self-made billionaire, nothing would change. He wouldstill doubt himself, and he always would – for as long as he kept his heart closed to any emotional risk.
But out loud, Willem only said in the formal tone he was starting to get rather infamous for, “If you are truly intent on leaving, then do so and stop dithering.”
Jaak laughed. “That’s cold, man.”
But Willem had already walked back to the house, staying true to his silent promise to his younger brother. From here on, he would no longer interfere in Jaak’s business. From here on, Jaak was on his own. The only thing Willem would allow himself to do was wait until his younger brother was ready to be a part of their family again.
FOUR YEARS AGO
Amsterdam, Netherlands
19-year-old Ilse Muis slid her card into the slot and as the phone at the other end of the line started to ring, she tried to recall the last time she had used a phone booth. Maybe when she was five, and she had thought the green standalone machine a piece of alien innovation?
Issac picked up on the first ring. “Hallo.”
“It’s me, Ilse.”
