“I'm sure you do, but as it's not a straightforward one, I'm not giving it to you.”
Ethan left the room with his uncle on his heels.
“Nice to see you grew a pair while you were away, nephew.”
Brad found a laugh for the first time in weeks.
“Not that it did me any good.”
They walked along the halls of the house he'd never called home. It was cold and austere, the place was a show home and nothing more. A display of wealth for those who entered. He detested all the trappings his father insisted he live by. He thought about the cabin and how happy he’d been there. He wanted that again, he wanted Macy and Billy. Two weeks without them was hell.
Dinner was served when he and his uncle arrived, and the long table had him and his mother on opposite sides, with EG at one end, like fucking lord of the manor, and Uncle Mitch at the other.
“Evening.”
“Brother.” EG nodded. He ignored Brad, which was just fine by him.
Brad kissed his mother, then seated himself. He'd started doing that because someone needed to offer her some affection in this place, and Brad had noticed that the last few times she'd turned her face to receive his kiss on her cheek.
“I asked Brad why he came back, EG, and he won't tell me.”
Brad shot his uncle a look. He didn't usually get involved in the family politics; he was just there to pick up the pieces.
“That's because he knows what's good for him.” The words were clipped and rude.
“You know why, Eleanor?”
Brad's mother looked startled by the question, and sent her husband a tense look before shaking her head.
“It's as EG says, Mitch.”
“Actually,” Brad said softly as he slowly lowered his fork to his plate, “it's nothing like EG says.”
“You shut your mouth!” EG roared.
Brad looked at his mother, saw the same expression he always had. Dressed immaculately, hair perfect, pearls around her neck, she looked cold and empty. He'd tried to stay calm around her, because she hated the arguments, but enough was enough.
“I love someone, and she loves me, damn you!” He turned to EG. “You are not my master; you can't control me with threats.”
“He brought you back here with threats? What is he holding over you?”
“Stay out of this, Mitch!”
“I've stayed out of this, to my shame, for too many years. You're a bully, EG, and much as I've tried to justify it to myself, I'm damned ashamed of you.”
The shock on EG's face was real. Mitch had never spoken to his brother that way before.
“I've watched each one of your children leave here and never come back. Seen the way you treat them and your wife, and stood aside and let it happen, and it's sat heavy on me, but I convinced myself it was the right thing to do.”
“Get out of my house!”
“I will soon enough,” Uncle Mitch said, looking at Brad. “After he's told me what I want to hear.”
“He said he'd destroy Lake Howling, where Ethan lives, and any surrounding area he can get his hands on. That he'd buy up property in the town and do whatever he could to ruin the place,” Brad said, looking at his father. He had no qualms about stating the truth. There was no loyalty inside him for this man.
“Why?”
“Because he wants me here, where he can be sure a Gelderman will take over when he's gone.”
