It’s crucial to play all my cards right because a lot is at stake.
Stepping into the gates of The Mirage, I’m swarmed with the scent of expensive liquor, old money, and leather. An exclusive gentleman’s club owned by my older brother, Kian.
Everyone believes we’re estranged and loathe each other, but that changed last year. Revenge against the man who hurt Iris brought us together.
All my life, I thought of him as the villain who walked out on his family, cruelly leaving behind his younger brother and pretending I didn’t exist when I reached out.
Little did I know the real malefactor was my father.
He put the divide between us, ruthlessly cutting Kian off from me. My mother didn’t care, despite my running to her crying and asking for an explanation. I was twelve years old when it happened. I was heartbroken and confused, losing the one person who understood me and mattered the most to me, unlike the rest of my family members. She had no answer or words of comfort to ease my pain.
Why didn’t she care that her oldest son was no longer with us? The question ate away at me for years. The truth was right before my eyes.
Kian thought he was doing me a favor by hiding the sordid truth.
If only he knew he had left me behind in the most blazing pits of hell.
With no one in my corner.
Alone and abandoned. They are the two emotions I’ve grown up feeling. Nobody knows the toll living with them takes on your psyche. Using a façade is all I’ve ever known to the extent that it’s become second nature.
Low classical music hums in the background over the chuckles and murmurs of the members of the club. I walk past the social room and glide through the maze that is Kian’s club to his office in the back.
The bodyguard stationed outside the red door scans his hand to let me through. Inside, one entire wall is lit up with security cameras, playing live footage of every nook and cranny of the establishment.
In front of it stands my brother like a king regarding his kingdom.
A glance at the second corner office reveals Zain, his business partner, isn’t in the house tonight.
“You waiting for a brawl to start?”
“Happens more often than you think,” Kian answers without taking his eyes off the screens. After a moment, he turns around. “You’re late.”
“Traffic.” Following him to his office, I comment, “And I’m only five minutes late.”
“Seven minutes,” he corrects grouchily as he rounds to his seat behind the desk. “I’ll be late for dinner at home.”
“Are you that hungry?”
“I don’t like to keep Iris waiting.”
Ahh. That explains his mood. “Break all the signals. You’ll make it on time.”
“What brings you by?” he asks impatiently.
Rather than going straight to the point, something else spills from my mouth. “How is she doing?”
“You could call her and ask for yourself.”
“I’m asking you.”
Leaning back in his chair, he steeples his fingers across his stomach. “She’s stronger than before, Nathan. Online gossip doesn’t ruffle her.”
After everything they’ve suffered last year, something as small as this won’t bother her. Still, I wanted to make sure to ease my conscience. She wouldn’t be in this predicament if it weren’t for me.
“Don’t worry about her, Nathan,” assures Kian, reading the concern written all over my face. “I’m not letting anything or anyone upset her ever again. Besides, scandals only last for a season. This’ll boil over soon.”
I say nothing.
