Chapter 151

Neil looks from me down to the mess he made, and he straightens a little. “I’m sorry that you had to see that.”

The wildness dims from his eyes. He is in more control. But now that I can see him from a better angle, he looks like absolute hell. Somehow even worse than before. He’s still standing straight though. He’s hiding the pain from me, but I’m not an idiot. I can see the dark shadows under his eyes and how gaunt his cheeks are.

“You don’t have to apologize to me for that,” I say. Uncaring of the mess, I move closer to him. He inches back a little, so I stop a couple of feet away. The mess must really bother him. “Let me help you clean it up.”

He nods, and I go into his bathroom. I return with some paper towels and a trash bag. Together, down on our knees, we do our best to clean up the paint. Neil salvages the palette and his brush. I wipe up the paint off the ground. Thank the Gods he was using acrylics today and not oils, or it wouldn’t come out with water alone.

When we finish and the mess is in the trash, Neil looks a bit more like himself. Though he’s still obviously very tired.

“Let’s sit down a minute,” I suggest, motioning toward his bed. He must be too tired to argue. He sits down and I take the spot beside him.

“Neil,” I start.

“The answer is no,” he says firmly. It’s infuriating that he knew what I was going to say.

“If you just let me leave…”

He turns his head toward me and looks deeply into my eyes. “The answer is no, Chloe.”

My heart reaches out across the distance between us. I feel bonded to Neil in a way I don’t totally understand. I know anything between us is hopeless. We could never be the end-all for each other. And even if we could, if I don’t leave at the end of the contract, the silver will actually kill him, no matter how hard he tries to deny it.

If I can’t convince him to change his mind, I can at least check in with him, which was my initial intent.

“How are you feeling, Neil?”

“I’m fine,” he says. It’s a bold-faced lie.

I don’t call him on it but I do give him a flat look to let him know I’m not falling for it.

He sighs and drops his gaze down to the floor. “Abigail’s father has sent a missive to my father about the state of my health, and what it means for the engagement.”

“She’s made her move then, to get out of this.”

“Seems like.” He nods toward his desk, where I see now a pile of papers, most of them folded like they had been tucked into envelopes. “My father has been sending me messages non-stop ever since.”

My curiosity reaches a peak. “What do they say?”

He nods again in the direction of his desk. “Be my guest. But be warned, they aren’t very friendly.”

I rise from the bed and walk toward the desk. Immediately, I can see Neil wasn’t bullshitting me. His father’s scrawl is wild. The words are pressed deeply into the paper, as if he scratched them there.

I don’t need to read much to get the gist. Most of them are threats: If your stubbornness ruins this match for me, I will make certain you regret it the rest of your life.

My heart tightens in my chest. I turn to Neil, ready to argue again for him to give up this foolishness.

“Neither Abigail or I want this match,” Neil says. “It’s no great hardship to disappoint my father in this. Besides, what more can he do to me?” He rubs at his shoulder and winces.

I start toward him. “Neil, if you would only –”

“I’m not going to give in, Chloe. Please stop insisting.”

“I’m only worried about you.” I throw my hands up and let them drop. He truly is the most stubborn man. “I’m not worth all this.”

Neil presses his lips hard together and exhales deeply through his nose. A moment passes, and then he looks up at me and says, “It’s not just you.”

I blink, confused.

He pats the open space beside him on the bed, and I move to sit there. Once I’m settled, I turn to him again.

“What else is going on?” I ask him.

“It’s who,” he replies. “Mia has bonded with you in a way I wasn’t sure was possible. We’ve been trying so hard to keep her safe and happy, and you walk in and make it look so easy. She likes you. She’s safe with you. That means so much, and it’s worth protecting.”

Mia and I are very close. Sometimes I wonder what might have become of me if Mia hadn’t found me and bonded with me. Would I still be a nameless? Would the brothers still treat me like dirt?

Probably yes to both.

Mia changed my life in a huge way. She’s a precious baby, and I can see why the brothers are so fond of her.

Though I can’t help but wonder what their relationship really is. They have this child, but where did she come from? What is her relationship with the brothers?

Gods, is one of them her father? She does kind of look like them.

For months I’ve been too afraid to really ask, but here, with Neil, someone I now trust who is willing to do so much to keep me around and in Mia’s life, I feel a bit bold. I don’t want to be a coward anymore.

“You can tell me to buzz off if it’s none of my business,” I say. “But… What is Mia’s relationship to you guys?”

“I suppose you deserve to know,” Neil says. He sighs. “It’s not easy to talk about.”

Oh my Gods, what if Mia is one of their kids? Whose would she even be? Probably Beau’s right? But as close as Beau is to Mia, he doesn’t act like a Dad. None of them do, really. Maybe they don’t know which one is the father.

No, that’s ridiculous. Neil wouldn’t be so irresponsible, and I can’t see Archer making a mistake like that. Beau again pops into my mind, but surely even he wouldn’t be as careless with a woman as to get her pregnant.

And Steven? There’s no way. Not with how hard he blushed when I so much as mentioned my bust size. The answer has to be something else. Someone else.

But then why else would there be such a strong connection between Mia and the brothers?

If it wasn’t a paternal bond, it had to be something else.

“You have to keep this a secret,” Beau says. “Swear to me.”

I’m alarmed he doesn’t trust me by now. This must truly be of utmost importance. “Of course,” I say. “I swear I won’t say a word.”

Neil sighs. He glances at his desk where the letters from his father sit, and at once I know. Before he even says the words, I know.

“Mia is our half-sister.”