“One question and I’ll stop. What did they offer you to stay?”
Drew sighed as he pulled onto another road. “I’ll answer that one question. They offered me sixty percent of the company.”
I coughed so hard, I choked on my iced coffee, spitting it out across the dashboard. Drew pulled off the side and rubbed my back while I relearned how to breathe. That’s how he was. Some people would have screamed about the cost associated with cleaning up the mess I’d just made. But he didn’t. He handedme napkins and I sopped up the coffee. The offer was nothing to scoff at, and the knowledge had me reeling.
“Are you okay, Eli?”
“I’m okay. But did you say sixty percent ownership of the company?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s millions of dollars.”
“I know.”
He navigated onto the road, not saying anything for a while. Drew had turned down an insane amount of money in order to do the same thing that my brother and I had done. It was startling. Millions of dollars. Whatever he had been experiencing there must have been awful. My father likely offered it as a hail Mary to keep at least one of us there. Maybe after all this time, I could finally open up about the cold harsh truth. The real reason I didn’t trust our parents.
“Drew? I might not ever talk to Mom and Dad again.”
“I know,” he said, seemingly lost in his thoughts.
“You don’t know why. It’s not business. They allowed me to be hurt more than once. To keep the attention off of their shady dealings, they put focus on my troubled life.”
Drew pulled the truck to the side of the road splashing through a huge mud puddle before throwing the gear into park. “What did you say?”
“The rumors, the scandals, the visits to rehab? It was all their idea. When I was in my early twenties. Fabricated at first. But Mom and Dad allowed me to be harmed even if it wasn’t intentional. I was assaulted more than once. Drugged a few times. They took zero responsibility.” It hurt my heart to tell him because saying it out loud now had me seeing just how awful they were. They had failed me at every pass.
Drew slammed his fists against the wheel before opening the drivers’ side door and getting out. I wasn’t sure what he wasdoing at first, until he came around and opened the passenger-side door. He unbuckled my seat belt and turned me into his arms. I could count the number of times I’d seen my older brother cry on one hand, but he was teary-eyed. That sight hurt my heart more than anything else.
“Eloise.” His voice cracked.
“You didn’t know. I’m not mad at you,” I tried to assure him.
“No, it’s not okay. Does Dane know? Did you tell him?”
I shook my head. Drew lifted me down out of his huge SUV and hugged me. Soon I was sobbing without answering his question. So many years of feeling unworthy and broken seemed to fade. He kissed the crown of my head. I felt anger pour off of him in waves despite his attempt to calm down. I owed him a better explanation, but I wasn’t sure I could explain. I never fully understood what my parents were doing. Hell, I barely pieced it all together before I resigned.
We stayed standing on the side of the road with my brother holding me in a tight embrace. He whispered soothing words as if he could erase some memories from the horrors I’d experienced. He couldn’t, but I appreciated the solid wall of comfort he provided.
“I was talking to Reed… and I told him. I don’t know how he pulled it out of me, but I told him all the same. I never said anything to you or Dane. I was too afraid that you wouldn’t believe me. Or that Mom and Dad would deny it or say something even worse.”
“Never again. Do you hear me, spitfire? You will never keep something like that from me again.”
“Or?” I couldn’t stop the question from tumbling out of my mouth.
Drew released me and rubbed a hand across his lips. For a moment he looked like he was assessing the situation beforefinally coming to an answer. “You sure you want me to answer that?”
I was way too emotional to compose myself. Tossing my brat at my brother wouldn’t have any repercussions. He probably wouldn’t read into the heart of it anyway. Or so I told myself. “Yeah. Go for it.”
“If I find out that you’ve kept something serious from me? You’ll be completing every mundane chore in my house that I can think of. Washing the floorboards with a toothbrush. Scrubbing the bathroom tiles with a tiny sponge. Cutting the lawn with scissors. Whatever else I tell you to do until you understand how seriously I take your well-being.”
Any thoughts I had about Drew not understanding the more personal type of things I was into suddenly flew out the window. I should have known better than to test him. Drew may not be a Dom, but he sure threw out consequences like he was. The possibility wasn’t that far off in left field. “I’d expect that sort of answer from Dane or Tanner, but not you, if I’m being honest.”
“I’ve drawn a clear line in the sand, spitfire. I have no say about your behavior, but I’ll be damned if you keep important shit from me. Am I understood?”
“Yeah, I understand. I’m sorry. You said not to get into serious topics and here we go diving into the biggest ones,” I said softly.
“Our parents never should have allowed any of that to happen. They should be utterly ashamed of themselves. I knew they made poor decisions, but if I knew about it then–” Drew rubbed his hand across his mouth. “Damnit, Eli. I’m the one who is sorry. I failed you as a brother. If you had felt safe enough to share those sorts of things with me, maybe you wouldn’t be struggling now.”
