Chapter 7

Gage

“What took you so long?” my mom demanded as soon as I walked into her condo. At fifty-five, my mom still looked good. There were a few wrinkles around her soft brown eyes, and her short, dark blonde hair was streaked with gray. Still, she was in good shape, especially considering her rough life in and out of mental institutions.

“I got here six hours after you insisted you needed me home,” I pointed out as I dropped my bag on the ground inside the door.

“Don’t get smart with me, Gage,” she warned. “I’m in no mood to deal with two inconsiderate men.”

I bit back a curse. “Please, don’t tell me you’ve been talking to my dad again,” I muttered. It had been more than a decade since I’d spoken to him, but he still called my mom on occasion. In my opinion, he did it to fuck with her.

“I’m not sure he has my new number,” she remarked thoughtfully before continuing. “This has nothing to do with your father.” She hesitated before adding, “Mostly, nothing to do with your father.”

“Then what’s going on?” I asked gently as I took her hand and led her into the living room. Her hesitation worried me.

“It’s Colin,” she replied with a sigh.

“What’s going on with Colin?” I asked. My half-brother, Colin, had been in a serious car accident about a year ago. The doctors hadn’t expected him to make it. It’s why I was trying to reconnect with him. After he moved out and my mom was institutionalized again, we drifted apart. Then, I’d almost lost him. Now, I didn’t want to risk missing out on having that precious time with my brother.

My mom slapped down a gossip magazine with a picture of Colin on the cover. He was sitting at a table and smiling at the person to his left. That person wasn’t in the photo. It was him and the woman on his right. His hand was resting on hers. It took me a moment to process what I was seeing.

“Unbelievable,” I uttered.

“I know!” my mother exclaimed. “I’ll bet she’s taking advantage of Colin’s diminished capacity to get him to marry her. She’s planning to take all his money. I won’t allow it!”

Colin didn’t need her consent to marry anyone. He was an adult and smarter than most people. These were things I should mention to my mom, but I couldn’t speak yet. My focus was still on the magazine cover. The woman by Colin’s side looked well put together in her simple black cocktail dress. Her brown hair was elegantly styled. In this photo, Bentley only vaguely resembled the woman I’d met on my flight. Her low-cut black dress revealed just enough of her full breasts to tease a man—my brother to be exact. Her breasts were there to tantalize my brother—a thought that filled me with jealousy. Even as I reminded myself she wasn’t mine, I felt betrayed.

Snatching up the magazine, I quickly read the article. Tabloids couldn’t be trusted, but I had a hard time doubting what I was seeing. The article painted a lurid picture of a young woman who had been seen with my brother at several social events since his accident. In fact, she was seen out with him nearly as often as James, my brother’s best friend and business partner.

The image the magazine painted didn’t match up with the woman I’d met. It was likely she didn’t realize Colin was my brother. Colin didn’t have pictures of me around his house, and I’d only recently started visiting him. It was strange that Colin had never mentioned a girlfriend. I felt like a complete dick. I’d kissed my brother’s girlfriend.

“Are you listening to me, Gage?” my mom demanded.

“Sorry,” I replied in a distracted tone. “What were you saying?”

“A reporter from this magazine called to ask my opinion about your brother’s engagement,” she told me. “How could Colin keep this from me?”

“Engagement?” I practically shouted.

“Yes,” she replied angrily. “According to the reporter, someone close to Colin let it slip that he’s getting married soon. They told me Colin is marrying that whore.”

“We don’t know she’s a whore,” I argued. “There may be a logical explanation. It’s possible the rumors of an engagement aren’t true. Did you call, Colin?”

She nodded. “At first, he basically confirmed he’s engaged. We didn’t have much time to talk before he ended the call, claiming to have an appointment.” She looked down at the magazine and shook her head. “The woman’s name is Bentley. What kind of name is Bentley? I’ve never heard of a woman named Bentley. I like unique names, but that’s not a girl’s name.”

“Her father likes cars,” I mumbled as I tried to find an innocent angle for all of this. There had to be an explanation. I sat on the sofa and leaned forward with my elbows on my knees.

“It’s still a ridiculous name,” she insisted before smacking my arm to get my attention. When I looked at her, she continued. “You have to do something.”

“I’m not sure what you expect me to do, Mom,” I began. “Colin’s a grown man, and I doubt he’ll listen to me. Even when we were kids, he didn’t take advice from me.”

My mom waved off my argument. “He’s four years older. That made a bigger difference when you were children. Now, you have some sway with him. This affects you, too.”

It sure as hell did affect me. My brother was marrying the woman I’d kissed earlier that day. This was a total cluster fuck.

“She could steal your inheritance,” my mom continued.

“What inheritance?” I asked with a laugh. My brother had money, but I didn’t expect him to leave any of it to me. Colin would eventually have children who would inherit his money. Thoughts of him having kids with Bentley soured my mood even more.

“After the accident, he told me everything would go to you if he died,” she explained. “With his diagnosis, that may be sooner than we expected.”

“What diagnosis?” I demanded.

My mom fell silent.

“What diagnosis, Mom?” I pushed.

“Brain cancer,” she whispered. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you.”

“Sonofabitch,” I muttered. I wasn’t sure which pissed me off more—my mom failing to tell me this as soon as I’d arrived, or Colin asking her to hide it from me.

“And this Bentley woman is after his money,” she added angrily. “You have to stop her.”

I shrugged. “Let her have it.” While it bothered me that Bentley had fooled me on the flight, I wasn’t sure it was my place to get involved in any of this mess. Even if she was using Colin, he seemed happy. Why shouldn’t he get to have a beautiful woman by his side while he was going through all of this? If he weren’t sick, I’d be more inclined to tell him about the kiss. Now, I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.

“Do you want Colin’s whore owning the record label you’re signed with?” my mom asked.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. She couldn’t possibly mean what I thought she meant.

“Colin bought Mooncast Records before they signed you,” she explained.

“And no one thought to tell me this?” I demanded.

We’d been signed with a much smaller label for the last few years. They’d gotten us some exposure, but we were still struggling. An offer had come in from another record label about six months ago, and we’d been about to sign when Mooncast offered us a better deal.

“Colin asked me to keep it from you,” she explained. “He was certain you’d refuse to sign if you knew he was involved. I disagreed, but he thought you’d be too proud to take his help.”

“He was right,” I told her. “Neither of you should have kept this from me.”

“I just want you to be happy,” she replied with a sniffle.

My mom wasn’t lying about wanting me to be happy, and it’s the reason I didn’t storm out of the condo and head straight back to the Bay Area to confront my brother. “I thought we were signed because of our talent, not because my brother felt sorry for me.”

“You deserve this,” my mom argued. “You’ve already told me your new single is selling well. A lot of people get their big break because of who they know.”

I let out a frustrated sigh. She was right, but I was still annoyed that they’d both lied to me for so long. “This is a mess,” I grumbled.

“You can fix this by talking to Colin,” she insisted. “I’m sure he’ll talk to you.”

“I met this woman on my flight,” I admitted. When my mom looked confused, I pointed at the magazine. “I met Colin’s fiancée.”

“You did?” my mom asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah, she seemed nice,” I told her, leaving out the part about me giving her my number and kissing her. Pushing thoughts of Bentley to the back of my mind, I decided to focus on what was important. I needed to talk to my brother about his cancer. “I’ll go visit Colin.”

“Now?” she asked.

I shook my head before responding. “No. I’ll stay here tonight and see if I can get a flight to the Bay Area tomorrow. Colin won’t respond well to me just showing up at his place. I need to make sure he’s okay with me stopping by first.” My brother had always been a control freak, but he’d gotten worse since his accident.

“Why not just talk to him about all of this when you call him?” she asked.

“No,” I insisted. “I need to talk to him in person.”

“But you need to get him away from that whore today,” my mom argued.

“I’m not my brother’s keeper,” I reminded her. “I plan to talk to him about his prognosis and the record label.” Before my mom could argue more, I continued. “Have you eaten?”

“Not yet,” she replied.

“Let’s go have some dinner,” I suggested. “No more talk about Colin tonight.” I was also hoping to put thoughts of Bentley out of my mind, but it seemed unlikely I’d succeed at that goal.