He tried to raise his fingers to his head to see how badly he was hurt but quickly figured out that he was trussed tighter than a Christmas turkey.
Goddamn it.
He wiggled his fingers experimentally and tried to restore some feeling to them. His hands were tied behind his back and his ankles were bound together.
Fear washed over him. Not for himself but for Reggie. Was this the same asshole who’d attacked her? What was it she’d said? That this whole thing was some sort of payback against him?
He didn’t have any fucking enemies that he knew of. His only close friends were Reggie, Sawyer and Cam. He’d fired a few construction workers, but come on. That happened a lot and they didn’t go around killing people over it.
The pounding in his head viciously increased, and he had to pant against the nausea curling in his stomach. He had to get the hell out of here. He had to find Reggie.
“I see you’re awake.”
The sneer echoed across the dimly lit room and startled him into stillness. He lay there unmoving, uncertain of where the man’s voice had originated from.
He didn’t have to wait long. Light from a kerosene lamp flooded the room as it bobbed closer to him.
A large figure loomed over him. Christ, the man was big. Fear tightened his gut. Was this the asshole who attacked Reggie? Rage replaced his fear.
“Look at me,” the man said angrily.
Hutch stared back at the man. “Do I know you?”
Rage simmered across the other man’s face. Hatred. Hatred directed at Hutch.
“You don’t recognize your brother, Hutch?” he snarled.
Hutch blinked in shock. Brother? Daniel?
“Yeah, that’s right. Your little brother in the flesh. Although,” he said, “you’re looking more like the little brother right about now, don’t you think?”
God, it was like looking at his father. They were nearly identical in size and personality. Bile rose in his throat as memories of the night his mother died came crashing back.
“Why do you hate me so much?” Hutch asked faintly. “Why are you trying to destroy the people I love? What have I ever done to you? If you want to hate someone, hate our father.”
Daniel’s eyes went cold. “Why do I hate you? Because you left me, you son of a bitch. You left me with that bastard. I endured years of his beatings, his drinking and his mood swings while you were off getting a new life, replacing me with other brothers. You had everything and you never once gave a damn about me.”
The words, so harshly spoken yet with such an edge of pain, took Hutch’s breath away. His chest swelled until he had a hard time breathing.
“I was just a kid,” he said hoarsely. “You can’t hold it against me that I had to get away from that monster.”
“You left me with him,” Daniel choked out. “I’ll never forgive you for that. I’m going to take away everything you replaced me with. Your foster mother. Birdie’s her name, isn’t it? Sweet lady. She could have been my mother too, but you didn’t give a damn what happened to me.”
“Christ,” Hutch said, the words he wanted to say nearly strangling him. “Daniel, listen to me. Birdie isn’t to blame. All she did was take in boys who didn’t have a home. She would have taken you too if she’d known about you. Don’t blame her. Blame me.”
“And your cop girlfriend,” Daniel continued on as if Hutch hadn’t spoken. “I would have killed her but the bitch fought back.”
That’s my girl.Thank God she was so damn ornery. Now that he’d seen Daniel, he didn’t know how the hell Reggie had managed to escape with her life.
“And your business partners. Do you call them your brothers? You were all raised together.”
“They’re my best friends,” Hutch said quietly. “They didn’t know about you either, Daniel. They had a rough childhood just like you. It’s me you’re angry with. Deal with me. I’m the only one to blame for leaving you.”
“Yes, you are,” he said simply. “But if I kill you first, you won’t suffer. I want you to live long enough to suffer the knowledge that the people most important to you are dead.”
Helpless rage boiled over him, bubbling up and threatening to explode. He was completely helpless. Unable to do a goddamn thing but lie there and listen to his own brother plot to kill the people he loved most.
“Daniel, what can I do to make this up to you, to make things right?” Hutch said as calmly as he knew how. His only chance was to reason with him, though God only knew how he was supposed to reason with someone who’d obviously lost his grip on sanity a long time ago.
