Page 90

“By giving you one last chance to live your life without letting you destroy mine.”

His laugh is bitter. “So that’s it. You have new people now and I don’t matter.”

“This isn’t about them.”

“It is.” He gestures toward the road behind us. “You think those men love you? They lied to you. They kidnapped me and kept me locked up, yet you’re still defending them.”

I run my hand over my face. “I’m not defending them lying to me.”

He laughs. “You’re going back to them.”

It’s not a question, it’s a statement, and I nod.

“Yes.” I was always going back to them.

Rowan studies me, trying to find something he can use. When he doesn’t find whatever he is looking for, I see him transform into the man I now know.

“Pathetic. You have known them for what, not even two months?”

I shrug.

“They will get bored and hurt you.”

I shrug again. “Maybe.”

“Then don’t come running to me when it all blows up in your face.”

A laugh catches in my throat—he’s delusional. “I stopped running to you a long time ago. I have been running after you.”

I start the engine again and turn onto the road, as this is getting us nowhere fast. We sit in silence for half an hour, and when he speaks, he says something I’ve been expecting.

“I need money.”

My stomach sinks; it’s always about money.

“How much?”

“A few thousand would get me started.”

I inhale and close my eyes for a second. Just one.

“Started with what?” I ask out of morbid curiosity.

“Find somewhere to live, clothes, food.”

“And drugs?”

His head jerks toward me. “Fuck you. But no.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Then why bother saving me?” he asks.

I have to ask myself that same question, but it boils down to the same thing every fucking time. “Because you’re my brother.”

He gives me half a smile. “Thought sharing blood didn’t make us family.”

“It doesn’t, but I also needed you to know that I wasn’t the kind of person to leave someone locked in a cage when I had the power to open it.” His smile disappears. “I didn’t save you because I have forgotten what you’ve done, or because I trust you, and I didn’t do it because I want you back in my life. I did it because your life was in my hands, and I needed to make a choice I could live with. That is the sole reason you being my brother saved you, and I can live with that.”