Page 27 of Sweet (Chicago Underground 7)
“Well,” I stammered, “it’s still early.”
“Right. Early. And what the hell am I supposed to do if things don’t work out?”
I blinked. “How would it—”
“How would it affect me if my sister breaks the heart of the one man who’s indispensable to my work? What am I going to do if he suddenly quits? This is the business that keeps us all strong, all safe, and you’re risking it for a fling you aren’t even sure about?”
“No. I’m sure about it. About him.”
He made a disbelieving sound. “Hundreds of other men in the world, and you had to pick him. I knew you would date eventually. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but it was inevitable. But him? He’s the one man who’s off-limits to you.”
The subtext sounded more like you can’t have him. He’s mine. I half expected him to pee on Drew just to mark his territory.
Anger bubbled up in me, a welcome respite from the hurt I felt. “That’s not up to you to decide. You don’t own him, where you can decide who he dates. And for that matter, you don’t own me.”
Ruthless calculation filled his eyes. “Are you sure about that?” he asked quietly.
The words dropped like lead. Was this what we had come to? “I have my savings. I don’t need your money or your protection anymore.”
“But he does. I can ruin him, make it so he’s run out of the city. No one will hire him.”
I glared at my brother. Drew’s job was everything to him. The long hours he spent, the years of loyal service proved it was far more than a paycheck to him. His story about how he’d come to work for my brother had been a turning point for him. Would he leave it for me? Could I ask him to?
By the smug look on Philip’s face, he knew exactly where his words had hit.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, though the words sounded desperate to my own ears. “I wish you were okay with us, but we don’t need your blessing. You won’t change my mind, and you won’t change his.”
He leaned in. “I’ve been indulgent with you, so you may have forgotten something. I don’t lose.”
Searching his gaze, I found cold determination where there was usually warmth. “I don’t understand why this makes you so upset. Why can’t you just be happy for us?”
“You left my house when I said you could. He’s done working for me when I say so. I run things, Rose. I co
ntrol things. I keep you and Colin safe by doing so, and that’s not going to change until I’m dead.”
Sadness welled up inside me. He was so caught up in building an empire he didn’t realize it was already too big, overpowering, leaving no room for something as simple as happiness.
I shook my head. “Maybe you can live that way, but I can’t. And Drew shouldn’t have to.”
Philip was right about one thing: he had controlled me. From the moment he took custody of me, he told me what to do, and I did it. He also took care of me, protected me, and for that I would always be grateful. But I couldn’t go on this way. I had always been half a woman. With Drew, I was whole.
For a moment, we said nothing, trapped by our frustration and fear for Drew in a tense stalemate. Finally Philip offered curtly, “I’ll call you a cab. You should get some rest.”
“I can’t leave him.”
Philip scowled.
I looked down at the bright reflective tile, seeing instead Drew lying in the street, damp with rain and blood, eyes closed and unmoving.
He’s a lucky man. The words echoed what I had thought in the minutes before Drew had been struck and what the doctor had said about me. I was lucky, he was lucky, both of us. And look what happened. It felt a little like punishment, like flying too close to the sun and being made to melt.
I’d acted like I had all the time in the world. Just waited and waited while my dreams were within reach, while the man I loved sat across the table at Christmas dinner. We’d finally gotten together—too late.
“Hey,” Philip said softly, lifting my chin with his finger. “He’ll be okay.”
Tears sprang to my eyes. We had been cast as enemies for the first time in forever, but he was still my brother.
A nurse came out, asking for the kin of Drew Laramie.
