Sitting behind his desk at home, Liam went through all the investment documents he needed to send to Mark in NYC. His real estate contacts had sent over a few locations for them to decide on for the new bar and Mark would be viewing them and giving him his assessment. He was jealous of Mark who was embarking on a new adventure. He’d get to build something from the ground up, make it his own and run it the way he wanted. Liam’s life had become anything but that. Everyone was always trying to get him to do things based on manipulation, whether it was his kind-hearted jackass of a brother or not so much in the case of his ex.

Going through the documents he’d had to have signed by his ex, Yvonne, Liam shook his head. After two years together, you’d have thought she truly loved him. It was a kick in the teeth to learn it was all a ruse to get him to marry her. The palimony payments she’d be getting and the non-disclosure agreement she’d had to sign meant he’d never have to see her again. His lawyers advised that the monthly payments over three years and the non-disclosure were the quickest and easiest way to handle things.

Pushing the papers aside, he uncovered the small custom onesie he’d had printed up. ‘My daddy can hack your daddy’s computer.’ She’d lied about so much and why? It didn’t even make sense, he’d already bought the ring. She didn’t know that, but he’d planned the perfect evening to propose. A yacht down at the marina, their favorite dishes made by a chef on board and a sunset cruise. It seemed his preparations weren’t on her timeline and he wasn’t moving quickly enough. She’d shown him a positive test and everything. She thought a pregnancy would get him moving in the right direction.

It had, he’d been over the moon about it. Until he overhead her conversation after coming home early from work one night.

“It’s awesome. I can eat whatever I want.”

He smiled standing just outside the doorway to the bedroom, glad she would stop obsessing about her body for once.

“I’ll need to get a little fat in the beginning, at least make it look good. Then I’ll tell him I lost it. I’m sure that will light a fire under him. He’ll feel so guilty, he’ll definitely propose. If he doesn’t get to it soon,” she said, almost giddy.

For a moment, he thought he had heard her incorrectly. What the hell was she talking about? Then it started to feel like the walls were closing in on him, crushing him down. The sinking, desolate feeling that punched him in the stomach was almost enough to bring him to his knees. This was a woman he loved, who he thought loved him, was ready to marry and she was faking a pregnancy? And prepared to fake a miscarriage. He slid back down the hallway, all the blood draining from his head, standing there frozen in shock.

He didn’t even stay to confront her, knowing that it could get ugly. If she was capable of lying about being pregnant, who knew what other lies she could come up with. He went straight to his lawyers, had them draw up papers and kicked her out of his house. She’d tried to say she really was pregnant and threatened to go to the press over it. That was when the agreement for three years of palimony was plopped on her lap and she promptly gave up the act and took the money and ran. He didn’t have to pay it, but it kept her from trying to screw things up with his company and ensured he'd never had to see her again.

He hadn’t told Lucas about all this. Couldn’t stand the embarrassment and looks of pity from his happily married twin. These types of things had always come so easy to Luc. Maybe that was why he had wanted to get married and start a family with Yvonne in the first place. He was always left behind when it came to Lucas’s accomplishments, so maybe he’d pictured Yvonne as his chance to catch back up in the game of life, even surpass Lucas with the new addition.

He’d been so close to throwing his life away on her. Who knows what she would have pulled if they’d been married and he’d been ready to do it without a pre-nup. What an idiot. That was only a couple of days before Mark approached him about The Bramble. A change of pace, change of scenery, change of lifestyle was what he needed and he’d jumped right in. And a certain exceptional chef was making it harder and harder for him to focus because of her food and everything else about her. He didn’t know how to get her to stop hating him, but he was determined to find out. Every day was a test of his patience not to storm into the kitchen and demand to know what the hell he’d done to make her hate him. His phone vibrated across the desk.

Lucas: Meet me at Doppel in 20 minutes. I need to talk to you.

Liam: I’m not coming back.

Lucas: Just get your ass here!

Liam: I’ll meet you somewhere else.

Lucas: Meet me here or I’ll have your phone hacked and send male strippers to your location every day for the next month.

Liam: How the hell would you do that?

Lucas: I have my ways…

Liam: Fine, I’ll be there.

* * *

Pulling up to the building, Liam knew this was not a great idea. Meeting here was only going to cause problems. He hadn’t been back since his meeting with Mark where he decided to become an investor and co-owner of The Bramble. A sinking pit formed in his stomach as he opened the front door. It used to be one of the most exciting parts of his day. Not so much anymore.

Everyone in the office sent up a cheer when he walked in the doorway of the open plan office. They clapped and gave him hugs as he walked back to Luc’s office, cursing Luc the whole way. This was his plan all along. Luc knew that once he came back into the office everyone would be on him, making him feel guilty and he’d decide to come back. He’d underestimated Liam’s resolve in taking a break.

He was peppered with questions about when he was coming back and what he was up to. He grimaced as he tried to come up with something good to say, but just let them know that he was helping a friend by managing their place for a while. What they didn’t know was that he hoped it would be permanent. He pushed his was into his brother’s office.

“Why did you want me to come here? You knew everyone was going to be asking questions about where I am and when I’m coming back?” He knew the answer, but wanted to hear his smug brother say it.

“Exactly, I thought that maybe if you saw how much you mean to the team, you would reconsider your sabbatical.”

“It’s not a sabbatical, Luc.” He resisted the urge to roll his eyes—barely.

“We’ll see.”

“You don’t think I can do it!” He’d always been the follower. Luc was the suggestions guy and Liam went with the flow, but he wanted to go with a different flow now.

“I never said that, but I know you and I know you’ll never be satisfied in that place.”

“How the hell would you know?” He ground his teeth.

“Liam, you know you’re made for more than that. Without you, this place wouldn’t have worked.”

“I did the technical stuff and left the business side up to you. I’m sure if you weren’t pushing that angle, we’d still be in that sweaty co-working space hot desking it every day.” It was true. Liam had the tech know-how, but without someone out there gathering up clients and making business contacts, things never would have taken off.

“Yes, but if I didn’t have your products to sell, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference,” Luc said, leaning against his desk.

“You’ve always underestimated yourself. That’s what I think you’re doing now. We’re on the verge of something great, Liam. Something huge for the two of us and I don’t want you to back away from it just because you’re afraid of succeeding.” Liam’s head whipped up at that.

“Is that why you think I’m stepping back? Because I’m afraid of success?”

“It’s your M.O. We’re twins, remember? Every time you’ve ever had the chance to pull ahead, you freak out and bail.”

“Name one time,” Liam said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Swimming, eighth grade.” Luc said, poking his finger into the desk. “You could have beaten me in the finals, instead, you pulled back and let me win.”

“I did not. I had a calf cramp.” The thought of standing up in front of the crowd in his speedo made him never want to get out of the pool. The walk out to the starting block was bad enough. Once he was in the pool, he felt right at home, but outside, he was like a beached whale.

“Sure. Fine, let’s go with the hack-a-thon junior year of college.”

“What about it?” Liam said, shrugging. He’d been up all night, could barely keep his eyes open. The last thing he’d wanted to do was stand up in front of a crowd and try to pitch their project.

“You let me take the lead for our team and put together the pitch instead of taking the helm. You did most of the programming. Why wouldn’t you just step up and get it done?” Again, standing up in front of a crowd trying to wow them was not his idea of fun.

“Maybe it’s because I just don’t enjoy that stuff. But you know what? I did this,” he said, gesturing to everything around him and staring out the windows of Luc’s office. “Because I wanted to delay adulthood a bit longer. Working on a tech start up is the best way to take some time after college without people thinking you’re a deadbeat. Against all the startup odds, it took off and here we are now. This is not my idea of something fun and chill anymore.”

“And running The Bramble is fun and chill?” Luc said, trying to catch Liam’s eye.

“Not exactly, but the stakes are nowhere near as high. I can handle issues that come up there. If things fall apart here, what the hell am I meant to do? Look at any one of our employees out there and let them go or have to talk to investors about why we lost money last quarter.” He shook his head. Everyone out there was working hard, but he was not the guy to keep pushing. There’s a limit and there’s only so much money you need and he’d reached his max on both. “It’s too much pressure. I’m not afraid of succeeding. I’m afraid if I don’t stop now it might never be enough.”

“Is that why you broke up with Yvonne?”

Liam had to drain the venom out of his stare before turning back to his brother. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“I thought things were going well. You were ready to propose and everything. I was with you when you bought the ring.” Liam clenched and unclenched his fists.

“She wasn’t the person I thought she was,” he said through gritted teeth. “Sometimes the people that gravitate toward people doing what we’re doing aren’t as caring and trustworthy as Anna. You really lucked out with that one. He let out a deep breath. Luc’s eyes lit up at the mention of his blushing bride.

“See, just look at that dopey look you get on your face whenever anyone mentions her. I didn’t feel that way about Yvonne. I liked her, I liked her a lot and thought that it was something more, but it wasn’t. And she certainly didn’t feel the same way about me.”

“Seriously? Whenever I saw you two together it always looked like you were great together.”

“Looks can be deceiving.” His nostrils flared and his lips flattened into a tight line. Forget about her, he told himself, she’s long gone and isn’t going to be coming back, ever.

“What happened?”

“She’s gone and that’s all you need to know.” Luc opened his mouth, but Liam held up his hand. “I don’t have to tell you everything.”

“I wish you would. You never used to keep things from me. We shared everything,” Luc said, his eyebrows drawn together.

“Not everything. Remember the husky clothes mom would buy for me? You certainly weren’t sharing those with me.” Liam chuckled.

“You forget, I did get those clothes, but about five years later when they were always three inches too short. Mom was never one to let anything go to waste,” Luc said, wistfully.

“No, she wasn’t, still isn’t. You should have seen her in my place last visit. She kept trying to save the aluminum foil and put it back in the box. I had to reassure her it would be okay and I could afford more.”

“Waste not, want not. That’s her motto.” Luc paused, checking out the staff through the windows and let out a sigh. “I didn’t know you were so unhappy here. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he said, glancing over at Liam.

“I don’t think I realized it either until Mark’s offer came up. I didn’t think I was this unhappy, but there were so many things that happened one right after another and I needed to get out while I was still me. I’m not the 9 to 5 Executive Suite kind of guy, Luc. I like to get my hands dirty, I want to be out there with them, but it’s not possible here. There are too many expectations and I’m the boss. You should see how everyone changes the minute I walk into The Bramble, I’m the bumbling idiot who’s trying to replace Mark. Punching up is always where I’m at my best.”

“I guess that’s true. Do you promise you’ll think about coming back after a couple of months? I can sell it to the investors.” Liam tried to interrupt, but Luc held up his hand. “I know you don’t care and you don’t want to sell, but think about what an acquisition would mean to everyone out there. They are all stockholders too. It wouldn’t just impact us, it would set some of them up for life,” he said, gesturing to everyone beyond the glass.

“See, this is why you were always the business guy. You know how to tap into the things that make people tick and push them.” He took some time and thought it over. “I won’t be coming back full time if I do, but yes, I’ll think about taking on some kind of advisory role only in a few months. I want to see what I can do with The Bramble and help Mark get set up in New York.”

“I’ll take it!” Luc said, smiling wide. They shook on it and Luc pulled him in for a big bear hug. “Have fun, little brother.” Luc gave him a noogie and he pushed him away.

“Only by six minutes.”

“Still counts,” Luc sing-songed. “And you know I’ll be stopping by for drinks. On the house, right? Family discount.”

“Sure, if I don’t run the place into the ground first,” he mumbled under his breath.