Titus allowed her to play, an encouraging presence at her back, allowing her to take the lead in any situation she owned.
“It’s not much fun when they can’t speak back,” she sighed dramatically. She grabbed the top of the fabric covering his head. “Hmmm, let’s see what’s behind door number –”
Rae dropped the fabric, staggering off his lap until her back hit the wall with a crack, the scalpel jumping from her hand to clatter onto the floor.
A block of ice settled against her chest, spreading like icicles until her entire body stung.
“Miles?” she choked out, her brother’s eyes full of feral panic.
A gag had been shoved into his mouth, tied around the back of his head, but he still managed to give her an ugly sneer, a coat of sweat glistening beneath the harsh fluorescent lights. Blood was a neat line down his throat.
Titus unclipped the gag, and Miles spat it out instantly. Snot and tears stained his face, the colour around his right eye darkening with a bruise.
“Let him up,” she said, her voice cold, empty. “I said, ‘let him up.’”
The bonds sagged, Miles watching her before he launched forward, hands curved into claws. His fingers brushed against the lapels of the dressing gown before he was hauled back, Titus pinning him to the chair once more.
“Careful,” he warned, and Rae could hear the beast through his tone, his voice dropping to a growl. His hands were planted on Miles’s shoulders, her brother no longer fighting the restraint.
“It was never yours!” her brother sneered. “I’m the eldest, it should have been mine!”
The ice cracked, her heart a jackhammer that hurt, ached. “Miles,” she asked, not recognising her own voice. “What have you done?”
Angry tears burned down his face. “Mum told me it was for me, but then she fucking gave it to you. That should be my necklace, my fucking money.”
Rae tried to control the rising fury. “Money? There was no money! When dad died he left us nothing!”
“Not that, you stupid bitch.” Miles winced, Titus digging his fingers in. “The necklace is worth hundreds of millions, and it’s supposed to be gifted to the first born!”
Rae reached beneath the dressing gown to hold the pendant, her hand shaking. “It was you, you’re the one that paid for the hit against me.” Everything clicked into place. “You borrowed the money from Angel.”
Miles sobbed, snot dripping beneath his crooked nose. “He said he’d give me two weeks to give the money back. But the fucking liar only gave me a week. Why couldn’t you have just died Rae? Everything would have been so much easier if you’d just fucking died instead of dad.”
“Miles –”
“Everything’s always your fault,” he spat. “You were the reason dad starting taking his anger out on us. It was perfect before you were fucking born.” He laughed, but there was no humour in the sound. “Then you came along and everything changed. You look nothing like him, you know. I wonder why that is?”
“Enough –”
“You really are fucking stupid.” His eyes dipped to her necklace. “All this time, and you had no idea what you had around your neck. Give me the necklace, Rae. It’s mine.”
“I can’t. It doesn’t come off.”
“You’re such a selfish bit –”
Titus yanked his head back, cutting off the rest of his words.
Rae struggled to breathe, the anger so vibrant it burned. “So what, you came here to steal it from me?”
Titus eased his grip, and Miles hung limp, hatred burning from his expression.
“I know it can’t come off, I’ve tried to remove it before, when you were asleep. I’ve even tried to cut it, but no scissors or knives have ever been able to break the chain.”
Rae blinked away the tears, not allowing them to fall. “You really believe you could have killed me, Miles?”
She knew from his desperation he could, the way he met her gaze without flinching. Everything she’d ever done for him, for them, meant nothing. She’d sacrificed her life for his mistakes, and in return he was the one who’d tried to kill her. All for a necklace that was never meant to be his.
A smile cut across her face, cruel and devoid of any warmth. He must have seen something in her expression, because all the colour had drained from his face, his mouth gaping like a fish.
