The office is pretty much empty when I finally reach it. I stomp the snow from my boots and brush the cold from my jacket as I head toward accounting.

Once there, I gather up the papers I need, and then head back toward my office. I sit down in my chair with a sigh.

I don’t want to be at fucking work right now, but these accounts are too important to ignore. I start poring over the data, looking at the numbers.

Something isn’t adding up. I pull out the files from the cabinet next to my secretary’s desk and start comparing them to the numbers Elliot gave accounting. There are clear issues between the two copies, and it looks like Elliot’s are all wrong.

But that makes no sense. I don’t know why he’d hand in numbers that are clearly all made up and don’t match the original contracts. I stare at the numbers for a second before getting out my phone and calling Elliot’s number.

It rings a few times before he finally answers.

“I was wondering when you’d call,” he says.

I pause. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He laughs softly. “I assume you’re looking at my numbers.”

Something feels off. He’s not trying to pretend like nothing happened. In fact, he seems like he knows exactly what happened. The implication there is he did it on purpose, but I can’t imagine why.

“What’s your game this time, Elliot?” I practically growl at him.

“You can throw away all that data,” he says, and the joy in his voice disturbs me. “I’ll submit the real numbers tomorrow. If I were you, I’d get on the road.”

“What did you do?” I ask him softly, horror ringing through me.

“Your little slut is stranded in the middle of the road and she sure looked cold. Better hurry, Carson.”

“What the fuck did you do?” I roar at him.

“Get going,” Elliot says, laughing.

I hang up the phone, rage boiling over, and call Albert. It rings, but he never answers. I call Kylie’s number, but it goes straight to voicemail.

Finally, I call for a company car. I wish I could just get going, but I don’t have any other way to get home. I gather my things and wait a few minutes outside before the car finally pulls up.

I give the driver instructions and he heads out. I’m anxious as anger boils through me.

I don’t know what Elliot did, but if he hurt her, I’m going to kill him. It’s as simple as that. And I know that I can get away with it, too. I’ll hire someone to do it if I have to. But I’ll murder the bastard, slowly and painfully, and he’ll deserve it.

He’s gone too far either way. Elliot has always been trying to sabotage me, but he’s never actually gone as far as attacking someone that I care about before. He usually tries to smear my image in public, or sometimes tries to sabotage my work output, but never something like this.

He’s getting too erratic and dangerous. No matter what, this won’t go unanswered. I’m going to have to be a lot more careful from now on.

My own fucking brother. That’s the truly fucked up part of this, he’s my flesh and blood, my family. We used to be close a long time ago, when we were kids. Days spent playing with my brother were good days, and they still are good memories.

But then we got older. My father sent us to the best private boarding school possible. I thrived there, made lots of friends, but Elliot always hated it. That’s when the resentment started. He resents my success, my popularity. He seems to think that it somehow holds him back. He wants to become the heir to my father’s fortune and the CEO position, but it’s actually much more than that. He wants to take everything away from me, because he thinks I’ve held him back for so long.

For years I’ve wanted to try and mend the rift between us. I still remember the good Elliot, back before we were sent away to school and the anger started. For a long time, I missed my brother.

But not anymore. As we drive up the mountain road, heading toward my house, I know that I have to let the memory of my brother go. I can’t keep holding onto the boy that my brother once was, because that boy is dead and buried.

In his place, there’s this bastard man. This evil fucking bastard that will stop at nothing to destroy me, his own brother.

“Go slow,” I tell the driver as we pull off the main road. If Elliot did something to Kylie, she’s going to be around here somewhere.

I lean forward, watching out the front windshield, anger and worry bubbling through me. Why did I have to leave her like that? If I were with her, things might be different. If she’s badly injured, I’ll never forgive myself, and I sure as hell will make sure Elliot dies.

As we crawl forward, up ahead I spot something strange. I’m not sure what it is until we draw closer.

It’s a car, just sitting in the middle of the road.

“Stop,” I order the driver and then I jump out. My heart is hammering in my chest as I approach the car.

There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s Albert’s. I recognize it as I slowly approach from the back. As I get closer, I realize that someone is sitting in the front seat absolutely motionless, bundled up in clothes.

For a second, I think it might be a trap. I wish I had my gun with me, but unfortunately I left it at home. I creep up the side of the car, not sure what I’m about to see. Images of Kylie covered in blood flash through my mind.

I come up level with the window. Kylie looks back up at me, her eyes suddenly widening.

“Kylie!” I say, pulling the door open.

She jumps out and into my arms. “Carson,” she groans, hugging me tight.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

“I’m okay,” she says. “Just cold. So freezing out here.”

“Come on,” I say, leading her back toward my car. “What happened?”

“Your brother,” she says. “He beat up Albert. Chased me. Stranded me here.”

“Did he hurt you?” I look into Kylie’s eyes.

She shakes her head. “I fell when I was running,” she says. “Wasn’t his fault.”

“You shouldn’t have had to run to begin with.”

“He had men,” she says. “Five of them. Maybe six. I can’t remember. They had guns.”

I frown as I help her into the back seat of the car. I slide in next to her. “Take us back to my place and crank the heat,” I say to the driver.

He nods and puts the divider up.

I realize that she’s shivering, and so I pull her close against me, trying to help warm her up. “Why didn’t you start the car?” I ask her.

“They took the keys,” she says. “I wanted to walk back to your house, but I don’t know the way. I just had to hope someone would find me. So I stayed inside the car.”

I nod. That was smart. She could easily have gotten lost on these back roads. If she did that, I wouldn’t have found her at all, and she might still be wandering in this cold. That could have killed her.

It’s that bastard’s fault. He had men with guns with him, and poor fucking Albert.

“Where’s Albert?” I ask her.

“Elliot took him,” she says.

“Is he alive?”

She nods. “I think so.”

“Okay. Tell me everything when we get back.”

She nods and snuggles closer against me. I hold her tightly, trying to comfort her and warm her up, but inside I’m boiling over with rage.

Once the driver pulls into the garage, I quickly get her out and inside. I instruct the driver to wait a few minutes before heading back out, just in case it’s not safe to stay at my place.

I make Kylie wait in the foyer before I go directly into my bedroom. I grab my gun, load it, and then make sure that the house is empty.

Once I’m sure it’s safe, I bring her into the living room, wrap her in a blanket, and start a fire in the fireplace. When that’s done, I put on a kettle and pour myself a drink.

“I’m okay, really,” she says to me as I pour her some tea.

“Maybe you’re not hurt, but this isn’t okay,” I say. “None of this is okay.” I sit down next to her and she takes the tea gratefully. “Can you tell me what happened now?”

She nods, sipping her drink. “We started driving down the road you found me on and there were cars blocking the way. Albert told me to say in the car and let him do the talking.” She stared into the fire, reliving the moment.

“The men came for Albert, took him away. They beat him. That’s when I just started running, but I didn’t get far. I hit a tree branch and got knocked over. They dragged me back. Elliot stood over me, told me to warn you about something... I couldn’t really listen, I was so afraid.”

“It’s okay,” I say softly. “You’re safe now.”

“I thought he was going to kill me. The men with guns, they just kept smiling at me. It was terrifying.”

“Private security. Elliot hires them sometimes.”

“Do you think Albert is okay?” she asks.

“I doubt he’s dead, if that’s what you mean. We’ll take care of Albert, don’t worry.”

She nods. “He didn’t deserve that. He was trying to protect me.”

“I’m sure he was. I’ll reward him for this.”

“Good.” She frowns, staring at the fire. “Why does he hate you so much, Carson?”

I sigh and lean back into the couch. “It’s a long story. He wants my father’s position and resents everything I have. He blames me for his shortcomings. It’s... it’s a very old battle.”

“I don’t understand why he’d do something like this.”

I shake my head. “I honestly don’t know. Maybe he wants to scare you off.”

“He did tell me to leave,” she says softly.

“It’s not you he wants to hurt, it’s me.”

“Still... ” she says softly. “Maybe it would be better.” She looks at me, frowning. “If I left.”

I sit up and lean against her. “No,” I say. “I won’t have that.”

“If I’m hurting you. Making things harder for you. Maybe I should just go.”

“You’re not hurting me,” I say softly. I take her chin and turn her face toward me. “You’re making things better.”

“I don’t know,” she says.

“Do you want to go? You can, if you want.”

“I don’t want to,” she says quickly.

I kiss her softly on the lips. “Good.” I move my hand then sip my drink as she leans against me, head on my shoulder.

“I was terrified, Carson.”

I shift away from her then take her shoulders, looking into her eyes. “I know you were,” I say. “I promise it won’t happen again.”

“I believe you.”

“I swear.” I kiss her again. “He won’t come near you. And he’ll pay for this.”

“Carson—” I interrupt her with a deeper kiss, and I feel it stir inside of me.

She kisses me back, our bodies wrapping against each other, the fire crackling in front of us, and I know.

I know this is what I want. Regardless of what’s happening with my family. Kylie is what I want, and I’m going to have it.