My chest tightens. “Get to the point.”
“He was already marked long before you found him.”
I shake my head. “He was mixed up with the wrong people. You're not telling me anything new.”
Erik’s mouth curves, not a smile. Something darker. “Isaac was a runner. He started small time and got greedy. He was moving product tied to my family.”
“No,” I breathe. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not.” His voice doesn’t rise. “He started skimming off the profits, then trying to build bigger, thinking we wouldn’t notice. He knew exactly what he was doing.”
My hands curl into fists, and my heart hammers against my ribs. Suddenly, every breath is too hard.
“He became a liability.”
“He was a nobody,” I almost whisper, “He was never a real threat to your family.”
“It’s just the way business works, Leoni. He knew the rules. He took the risk anyway and it didn’t pay off for him.”
I take a minute to process before asking the next question. “Did Warren know?”
He stares, like he’s contemplating the answer.
My lungs burn. “You said you’d tell me the truth.”
He steps closer now, careful. “Warren didn’t order Isaac’s death.”
Relief surges so fast it makes me dizzy.
Then Erik finishes. “He ordered the message.” My stomach drops. “The beating. The warning. Enough damage to scare him straight.” Erik’s jaw tightens. “But my father, he doesn’t believe in warnings. He believes in endings.”
I stagger back, hitting the stone behind me.
“You’re saying—”
“I’m saying Warren started the ball rolling, had him beaten. But he knew our father would escalate,” Erik says quietly. The words sink deep. Slow and poisonous. “He chose to protect the business,” Erik continues. “He’ll always choose that.”
Tears blur my vision. “He told me he didn’t know anything.”
“He lied.”
I swallow hard. “Why are you telling me this?”
Erik looks away, jaw flexing. “Because Warren has convinced himself he’s better than the monster who raised him.” Heglances back at me, “He always thinks he’s better than everyone else.”
My heart is in pieces. “Do you hate him?” I ask.
Erik snorts softly. “I hate that he thinks he’s in charge.”
“So, all this, it’s some kind of bitter sibling rivalry?” He falls silent. “You’re trying to ruin my life because you hate your fucking brother?” I scream, balling my fists.
“Would you prefer you didn’t know?” he demands. “Would you prefer to lay beside the man that’s lying to you night after night?”
“What else?” I demand, my voice shaking as I pace the space between us. I can’t stand still. If I stop moving, I might break.When he doesn’t answer, I whirl on him. “You didn’t drag me all this way just to tell me half the truth. So say it. What else don’t I know?”
My heart is pounding so hard it hurts.
“You wanted to burn his world to the ground,” I continue, the words tumbling out faster now. “So what else did your family take from me? Was Nancy telling me the truth? Was he with me because your father told him to be?”
