Mountain comes back downstairs, clearly not making it to his room to change yet.
“I couldn’t quite understand it, but you’re my bro.” He shrugs, his hands flailing about. “Never had a reason to doubt you.” Alex goes to step forward but stumbles instead, grabbing the back of the couch to catch his balance.
“What? You’re drunk,” Kane adds, visibly confused.
“But then I found your name in the file. Which isn’t that alarming considering all of our names were in that file. But yours was—”
“Man, it’s late. You’ve been drinking and not making much sense,” Kane cuts in.
Alex points, shaking his finger. “No. What doesn’t make sense is why my father would be sending you ten thousand dollars on the third of every month. For years.”
I gasp then glance over at Mountain, who’s now standing directly beside me. He and I stare between the two of them.
“What?” we say in unison.
Kane’s shoulders slump and I know right then that this isn’t some drunken misunderstanding.
Dropping his chin to his chest, Kane says, “I didn’t want you to find out like this.”
Alex stalks forward, sizing Kane up and staring him down. “Find out what? That you’re a fucking liar? Hm? Why don’t you spell it the fuck out?”
Mountain moves quickly, planting himself between the twoof them. “Come on, Alex. Calm down and let him speak. Everyone’s tired, am sure there’s a reasonable—”
Alex yanks free from his grasp. “Don’t tell me to calm down.”
“You’re drunk and coming at your friend like he’s the enemy. So, yeah, you need to calm down.”
“Richard is my father,” Kane deadpans.
Silence. It’s heavy, dark, and full of disbelief, emotions, and everything in between.
Alex stumbles back, not quite wrapping his mind around what Kane just said. Quite frankly, neither can I. The chancellor is his dad?
Kane releases a breath. Pain brims in his eyes but there’s something else—relief maybe?
“We’re brothers. Your father got my mother pregnant a month before your mom got pregnant with you.”
CHAPTER FORTY
ALEX
Sleep was the last thing on my mind last night.
After Kane dropped that bomb, I didn’t know what to do with that information. My best friend since second grade just told me that he is my half-brother. That my father—our father—cheated on my mother and all but abandoned him.
All these years, he let us know each other while lying to our faces. The number of times Kane stayed over or spent time at my house after practice. My mother nurtured him and his did the same the few times I’ve seen her. But now knowing about her mental struggles, I know why Kane preferred that we always stayed at my house.
He didn’t want any of us to know, but I can’t help but feel that was my father’s doing as well. He certainly couldn’t send me to his mistress’s house. No, he needed to control the narrative, and he can only do that in a space he governs.
It’s beyond fucked up the lengths that man goes to break the people around him. Because that’s all it’s ever about for him. Certified God complex.
And while I realize that this is tough for Kane, I can’t get over the lies.
Clearly, he knew, and not once did he tell me. Why? We’rebros. Loved each other like brothers. Or at least I thought. Maybe it was never that deep for him; maybe being my brother wasn’t something he wanted. That fucking hurts.
“Good morning,” Sam’s soft voice calls out behind me, followed by the sound of the screen door sliding open.
I’ve been standing on the back deck staring into space for the last hour. My mind’s so gone, the chill in the air doesn’t even faze me.
