Edward pushed his anger down, grabbing his phone and pulling his brother’s name from his contacts. “Give me a minute.”

“No. I’m done, Edward. I’m not going to do this any longer. I don’t even know why I agreed to meet you tonight.”

“Because I asked you to.” He began to worry that he was losing her, and he wasn’t even sure why yet.

“No. I know now what your plans are. You can’t sweet-talk your way through this one. It’s all right there, Edward.” She stood up and reached for her case. “I can’t believe I ever trusted you. You’re just like your brother, and your father, for that matter.”

He felt the anger push through him as she rushed past him toward the door. He pocketed his phone and ran after her, grabbing her jacket as they reached the street. “Will you stop being so childish and listen to me for just a minute?”

“Me being childish? You’ve been playing me from the beginning. I can’t believe I was too blind to see what you truly were.”

“I don’t know where anything in that file came from. It’s all fictitious and made up to obviously sabotage everything I’ve been working toward, including our relationship. You were meant to find it, Mia.”

“No. I don’t believe you.” Yet she wanted to. He saw that in her eyes. She was scared and becoming more confused as time went on.

“Mia. Listen to me.” He held onto her arms and pulled her close. “I admitted that I hacked into your company and erased everything, but I also put it all back. I admitted my feelings for you. Everything I have told you is the God’s honest truth. That folder, I don’t know where that came from. It isn’t my work.”

She was fighting it. He saw it in her eyes. When she reached up and slapped his face, he knew he had lost. “I can’t afford to make a mistake. Everything that’s happened points to you as the bad guy. I don’t know what to believe, but I’m running out of time, and I have to save my company—if it’s not too late for that.”

“Let me help you, Mia. Please. You have to trust me.”

“I can’t. I can’t handle your mind games. I don’t know if you and your brother are continuing some sort of lifelong war, but I don’t want to be in the middle of your battlefield. I won’t be.”

She stood in front of him for another moment or two before turning and walking away. She didn’t look back once.

His heart ached. He needed to fix this. He didn’t want that moment to be the last moment he had with her. Walking back into the bar, he sat back at his table and called his brother.

“Hey, little brother! I was just thinking about you.”

“You didn’t meet me earlier.”

“Yeah, I got hung up. You know how it is.”

“I’m here now. Come out. Caledonia’s on Second.”

“You okay? You sound pissed off.”

“Meet me. I’ll explain when you get here.”

“Give me an hour.”

Edward clenched his jaw tight. He needed to play this right. Jack was behind this whole mess, he was sure of it. “An hour.” He picked up his wine and swirled the last swallow around the sides before tipping it back and swallowing it down. He should have left the bar and walked the city for an hour. He should have done anything else, rather than order a scotch. Mia messed up his head. He could no longer say he’d never let a woman get to him.

An hour and three scotches later, Jack walked in through the front door and ordered two drinks at the bar before joining him. “It looks like you could use a drink.”

“That’s the last thing I need right now.”

“Aw, come on. Brother to brother. For old times’ sake.”

“We’ve never had an old times’ sake.” He pushed his glass back and sat back in his chair. “I don’t want another drink. I just want to get this over with.”

“Get what over with? You okay, little brother?”

“Not really.”

“Here. Have one drink with me, and I’ll discuss whatever you want to discuss.” Jack set the glass of dark brown whiskey in front of Edward, holding his own up toward him.

“Fine. One. That’s all.”

“Here’s to new beginnings and fresh starts.”

Edward shook his head, looking up at him through squinted eyes. “You’re a piece of shit, Jack. Did I ever tell you that?”

“I’m offended you would say such a thing.”

Edward heard the sarcasm in his voice. He drank the whiskey down, leaving Jack with his drink still in the air. He held his breath until the burn dissipated to a bearable sensation. When he set his glass on the table, a folder laid there between them. Edward looked at him, already knowing what was inside. “You’ve always had to have the upper hand in everything, Jack. And when something finally goes my way, you can’t wait to squash it by any means necessary, can you?”

“I have done some beautiful work, haven’t I? You have to admit, it’s pretty impressive. Especially this last endeavor. I’m pretty proud of myself.”

“So, you admit it.”

“Oh, of course. Did you think I was going to sit back and watch you rip this deal out from under me without a fight? You still underestimate me, after all these years.” He pushed the folder toward Edward.

“We could have worked together on this.”

“No.” Jack shook his head, a more serious tone in his voice. “You know that’s complete bullshit. Sign the documents inside, Edward.”

“What documents?”

“You will be signing control over to me: all rights and stocks you currently own.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because if you don’t, I will destroy you. At least this way, you’ll still have a position at Donovan.”

Edward put his hand on the folder and flicked the side with his finger. “You can use these documents to wipe your ass. It’s all they’re worth to me. I’m not signing anything.”

“You’re making a grave mistake.”

He saw the fire in Jack’s eyes, but he was done cowering to him. “Answer me one thing. Why did you have to rip Mia out of my life, too? You knew how much she meant to me.”

“Oh, that was just a bonus. I didn’t try to do that. Okay, maybe I did.” He snickered and downed his drink. “Two more!” he shouted toward the bar. “Stick around, little brother. We have a lot to discuss.”

“I’m done here.” He ignored the folder and stood up to get away from Jack. A wave floated through him, pushing him back into his chair. He looked down at his glass and mentally counted the drinks.

“Damn. I never took you for much of a drinker. Stress getting to you?”

“No,” he snapped. “I only had a few.” He rubbed his forehead and ran his hands down his face, trying to wipe the feeling away. “What the hell is happening?” He tried focusing on Jack, but the harder he tried, the more his face contorted.

“I do believe you’re drunk, little brother. Maybe we should do this another time.”

Before he opened his eyes, Edward felt a deep dull throb in his skull. He groaned and rolled over, feeling the familiarity of his bed. At least I made it home, he thought. He cracked an eye open and peered at his bedside clock, the sun threatening to blind him from the window. It was pushing ten o’clock. What day is it?

It took him a few moments to recollect what had happened. “Jack.” He rubbed his head and forced himself to sit up. The events from the night before came back to him, and his anger grew as he remembered. Jack sabotaged his relationship with Mia. What was he trying to make him sign? Did he really think he would? He grabbed his phone with two unread texts. He opened the first one, hoping Mia had a change of heart.

Hey, little brother. Wanted to thank you for a good time last night. Maybe next time you can hold back on the liquor a little more.

“Asshole.” He hit the second text.

I almost forgot, thanks for deciding to help me out. Now I can get these documents filed and get this deal back on track. You’re the best, bro. I left your copies in your case.

“Documents.” Edward thought hard. The last thing he remembered was his brother trying to get him to sign. He’d refused. He remembered that he told Jack what he could do with those documents. Now they were signed? He jumped up off the bed, the throbbing in his head deepening. He tried to ignore it, and grabbed his case and rummaged through it. Original documents with a sloppy signature were slightly crumpled up but very legible. “There’s no way I signed these.”

He grabbed his phone and looked through it. There was a placed call to Mia after midnight, showing a thirty-six-second conversation. He tried thinking about the night and couldn’t remember anything more. He hit the call button and put her on speaker while he carried his phone to the bathroom in search of ibuprofen.

“You’ve reached Mia Walker. Please leave a message, and I will get back to you when I can. Thank you.”

He had a lot to say but didn’t want to say it to her voicemail. Would she give him a chance? “Mia. It’s Edward. Listen, I don’t know what happened last night after you left, but I need to see you. I have a lot of new information you need to hear, and it involves Jack. I think he’s going to do something rash. Call me as soon as you get this. Please.”

He hung up his phone and downed a handful of ibuprofen. Would she believe him? Would she let him explain? He would keep trying until she did.