My brother puts his hands on my shoulders. “Look at me? I am your brother, damn it.”
I say nothing. I don’t know what to say because I know.
I know.
I know.
I know.
My pulse hammers—I finally have the truth, the one that’s been gnawing at me, forcing me to choose between my brother and Sarah.
I chosehim. I chosewrong.
I pull away from him. “Get out.”
He growls at me in frustration. “This ranch is half mine, don’t forget that.”
“Not anymore, it’s not.” I shove my hands in my pockets because I want to smash his face into the ground, beat him into a pulp, and then hit myself just as hard. “I have sixty-five percent…my sweat equity, remember? Now get out and stay away.”
Landon shakes his head. “Brother, don’t let her come between us.”
“Get. The. Fuck. Out.”
I can see in my mind’s eye how Sarah grabbed Evie and took her away. That was fear. She didn’t want thegirl she loved to be anywhere around Landon because…he sexually assaulted her.
After throwing a couple of dire warnings that don’t register, Landon leaves.
I watch his SUV drive away, unable to construct my next steps because it is still sinking in that my Dove never betrayed me; it was I who destroyed her.
“Did you sleep with my brother and call it rape?”
Her body is shaking. “No, Cade. Landon did?—"
“Tell me the truth, Sarah. Did you come on to Landon? Did you want him?”
I feel like I’m in a horror movie because my girl, my Dove, had sex with my brother and then accused him of something heinous.
“No.” Tears roll down her face. “I don’t want him…I love you; I only want you. He forced?—"
“So, you’re just going to lie to my face? He told me everything, Sarah. He said you’ve been after him for months, throwing yourself at him while I wasn’t looking. And now you’re trying to ruin his life?”
I’m so angry, I don’t know what to do with myself.
I can hear my father say that we Mercer men have to stick together. And…I know my brother. He’s not who she says he is. I know it. I have to know it. I grew up with him. He’s my big brother.
“Cade, on my mother’s grave, Landon raped me. He raped me and….”
I called her a slut after that and walked away, making sure everyone in Wildflower Canyon knew what I thought of her. When they made herlife miserable around town, I egged them on. When she left, I felt like I won.
Now, I hang my head in shame.
I didn’t believe her. I didn’t take care of her. It makes me complicit in what Landon did to her.
I fall to my knees, unable to bear the weight of my crimes against an innocent. Against the woman I love.
Helplessness surges through me. I can’t go back. I can’t change the past. I can’t….
I tip my head back to the sky and let out a ragged cry before slumping forward, eyes burning as I take in the harsh land around me.
