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I haven’t known Aaron for long, but I’ve never heard such venom and anger in the voice of a man who’s known to be so even-keeled, though slightly sad. Jesse stands frozen, like his feet are superglued to the floor. I’m guessing he expects such talk from Sebastian and their father, but not from Aaron.
“Sebastian, the one who has bailed you out, who has picked you up from clubs that kicked you out, who paid a fortune several times to make sure you didn’t end up in jail, who protected you from Dad when he was at his worst, and the list goes on and on. Seb needs us. Are you so morally corrupt and dead inside that you can’t dredge up any kind of concern that he could go to prison for something he didn’t do?”
Aaron takes a threatening step forward. Jesse tries to move away, but he’s too slow. His brother seizes his collar and jerks him upward. “I swear to fucking God, Jesse, if you do this, I’m done with you. You aren’t my brother anymore. You won’t have any family left, except Dad, and he’ll discard you the moment you become a liability to him.”
The air in the room is charged, and I find myself unsure as to what to do or whether or not I should get between the two men.
“Sebastian thinks he’s saving the company,” I say, looking between the two brothers. “I need you to show him that what he’s doing is wrong, and that he needs to stop protecting your father—and you.”
Jesse looks at Aaron. Aaron nods, his face still full of anger and contempt. He finally lets his brother go, shoving Jesse back a little in the process.
“I have the data that proves your father and Corinth Capital have something to do with it. I begged the hacker to help me get the files back.”
I step closer to Jesse, trying to reach the human side of him, hoping he isn’t too far gone. “Help us save your brother, Jesse. Sebastian needs you.”
Something flashes in his eyes. “What if I get in trouble?”
He sounds like a lost little boy, one who’s been given everything but still has nothing.
“Then maybe it’s time you start taking responsibility for your mistakes. Be more like Sebastian than Dad,” Aaron tells him, sounding like the father he is.
Another tense moment before finally, Jesse’s shoulders drop.
“Okay, I’ll help.”
34
ISABELLA
The horizon changes from the deep blue of night to the soft gray of dawn. I sit beside Aaron as he maneuvers the Porsche SUV while Jesse sits in the back seat, hunched over himself as though he’s disconnecting from the world.
Or trying to, anyway.
I wonder if he’s actually going to help Sebastian, if he has the guts to do what’s right when it comes down to it, if he’ll be able to step up when he might be the one facing the consequences. I have my doubts, and I’m frantically trying to come up with a Plan B when Plan A isn’t even fully formed yet.
I’m figuring this out as I go, trying to look at the problem from all angles so I can select the best way to attack. There’s just action and reaction, and when I see several black official-looking SUVs clustered around the entrance to the King Corporation headquarters, it throws me completely off balance.
“We’re too late,” I say, my voice somewhere between a cry and a moan.
“Fuck!” Aaron shouts and pounds a fist on the steering wheel.
I’m spiraling, my chest squeezed so tight I can barely get a breath in. I break out in a cold sweat. Sebastian is going to federal prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
The fight, the fire that he always admired in me, flares to life. I’m not going to let this happen. Sebastian is not going to prison. His father’s not going to get away with this.
Fuck. That.
“Pull up by the curb.”
Startled, Aaron does as I say, tires squealing. I place my palms on the dash as he jams on the brakes. I’m already half out of the car before he’s come to a full stop. The two brothers jump out after me, and I grab Jesse’s hand as soon as his feet hit the pavement, my laptop held tightly beneath my other arm.
“Come on, let’s go!”
The three of us run toward the entrance, and I blast past the surprised agents milling around the door. I hear Aaron behind us talking to them, but I don’t look back. I keep going, dragging Jesse with me.
The elevator ride to the executive floor is the longest thirty seconds of my life. When the doors finally open, the silence is deafening.
With the sky just beginning to lighten in the east, no one is in the office yet. No one but the agents in blue windbreakers with FBI in bright yellow lettering on the back clustered around Sebastian’s office.
