Chapter 13 - Brooke’s Version of Love
I woke on a concrete floor.
My wrists were taped in front of me. My hospital gown had been covered with an old gray sweatshirt. Every bruise felt fresh again.
Brooke sat on a metal chair six feet away.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then she said, “You know what I hated most about you?”
I swallowed. “There’s a list?”
She almost smiled.
“You never even tried to beat me. You didn’t have to. Dad trusted you automatically.”
“This is about Dad loving me?”
“No. It’s about him deciding I was a disaster and you were the responsible one.”
“You stole millions.”
“After he decided that.”
“You hired a man who attacked him.”
Her face tightened.
“I hired Travis to scare him. Evan was the one who turned it violent.”
“And me?”
Brooke looked away.
“You saw too much.”
That answer hurt more than I expected.
We had shared a bedroom as kids. She had slept beside me during thunderstorms. I had paid her college application fees when Dad refused after one of their fights.
Now she could barely look at me.
“Where’s Mom?”
“Safe.”
“Dad?”
Brooke’s eyes flicked toward a door behind her.
Alive.
I heard a muffled cough.
“Let me see him.”
“No.”
“Brooke.”
She stood fast.
“Stop saying my name like you still know me.”
The door opened.
Evan walked in carrying a pistol.
There was blood on his sleeve.
Brooke stared at it.
“What happened?”
“Your mother tried to run.”
Brooke went pale. “You said you wouldn’t hurt her.”
Evan shrugged.
“I said a lot of things.”
For the first time, Brooke looked at him the way I had been looking at her.
Like she had finally seen the truth.
Evan tossed a folder onto the floor in front of me.
“Sign those.”
I looked down.
Transfer agreements. My voting rights. My executor authority.
Everything.
“If I don’t?”
Evan smiled.
He opened the door behind Brooke.
Dad was tied to a chair inside.
May you like
Alive.
Then Evan raised the gun and pressed it against Dad’s head.
