“You do realise what you’re doing is illegal right?”I say quietly.“You have to know that.”
“You don’t know shit?—”
“Then explain it to me.”My voice cracks around the edges.“Help me understand why your name is on those documents tied to South Eden.”
He flinches, barely but I see it and everything I’ve been holding back snaps loose.
“Do you know what happened to Jay’s mom?”My voice rises, and I hate it.I hate how much I sound like Scott.“They burnt her house down.And now she’s sleeping in a fucking shelter while you—while you’re helping him do this below the line shit to other families.”
Jake’s face goes still.
“Have you even gone down there?”I ask.“Have you seen what your signature on those documents actually means?Or are you just sitting behind screens, pretending Scott is some misunderstood businessman?”
“I…” He swallows.Hard.
“You haven’t.”
Silence stretches out between us.
“Stop acting like you know anything.”He finally says.
“You know, someone once told me words were good.Promises were great.Actions were better.”
The silence stretches to the point where you could probably hear a pin drop.
“You were right about what you said to me at the hospital,” I say softly.“About taking responsibility.About owning the things I broke.”
Jake’s eyes flick up to mine.
“But the difference between us?I’m actually doing it.”
He looks away like the truth is too bright to stare at.
“I don’t know if you can say the same.”
His jaw trembles.
“Fuck.You.”It’s whispered, like it hurts him to say it.
And God help me—it hurts to hear it.
“Jake…” I step closer.My voice is gentle.“I know you think he’s giving you something you’ve been missing your whole life.But you’re wrong.And he’ll ruin you before he ever saves you.”
His eyes finally meet mine.And for a split second, I see the boy he used to be.The kid who’d fall asleep on my shoulder during storms.The one I used to hide in closets with so Scott wouldn’t find us and I’d tell him to count to infinity with me.
“You were the most important thing to me,” I say, voice shaking.“I know I never said it right.I know I never said it enough.But I would burn this whole fucking town down before I let anything happen to you.”
His face cracks—barely—but it does.
“I just can’t save you,” I whisper, “if you don’t want to be saved.”
The house around us feels hollow, like a memory of something that was once home.We stand there, two brothers caught in the crossfire of the same man, waiting for something to break.
And knowing, deep down, that something already has.
CHAPTER17
TWO THINGS CAN BE TRUE AT ONCE
