Love Me in the Dark

KREW

I developed a sick habit of checking my phone if River texted or emailed me, but I had not sent a message myself, so why the fuck would she do that after how I treated her? A man could hope, couldn't he? Well, at least as my employee or a housemate, she would care to ask if I arrived safely, but that did not happen. It pissed me off somehow.

When Kai called me, I knew something did not add up, or he was up to something that he had to see me personally. He didn't tell me anything other than he wanted to meet and could not wait till next week. His driver was already waiting for me in the airport to pick me up and send me to his office, or more likely, the driver he paid for me every time I came to visit.

"I'm here. What's the emergency?" I didn't beat around the bushes.

He was typing something on his laptop. The glass window of his office was the perfect view of skyscrapers. Either in a day or nighttime, they looked stellar. "You didn't do what I said." He closed his laptop.

"You meant to say ordered? You maybe are my big brother, but you know my stubborn ass. Why'd you even have to try?"

His mood shifted from a businessman to a father-like. I knew he would play that card on me, but this time, I didn't give a damn. "Should I do it myself?" Considering his gargantuan ego, ran a billion-dollar empire, and lived in a skyscraper, he didn't even have to tell me.

My stomach was in knots. "Don't even try, Kai. I would always do what I thought was right. Try it sometimes. It feels good, you know. To do something off the book."

"You're still blaming me, aren't you? You did more than help. You gave something that she didn't deserve." His voice was calm but enough to make every cell in my body vibrate.

"Glad you still remember what you did. And don't ever talk about it. Dad would have done the same thing if I was there in that bed." My heart pounded like mad. I knew once we opened the topic about River would only reopen old wounds. This time I wouldn't back down.

"I was doing you a favor. For this family." His voice sharpened.

"You did it for your own good. Don't use our family to cover your shit. Don't worry, I know how to keep a secret. Until now, she has no idea that you are the one who tried to pay her. Instead of resenting you, she's resented me."

"Don't try pushing my button, Krew. You are my brother, but I'm still older than you. And I have—"

"You have what exactly that I don't?" I cut him off, which he hated. "You cut my connections, this and that, blah blah blah because I can make my own decisions. And I chose to live a life away from the spotlight and your empire. Well, newsflash, brother. I don't give a shit. I am very much happy if you may ask." I threw my hands in the air. "What am I even doing here, Kai? If you could only be straight with your call, with your threat and warning, and told me to stop helping River because I did more than I already should, I could have just given you the answer right away. You should talk to your sister first. She was the one who led River to my house in the first place."

"Why her?" He rose from his chair, sat on the edge of his desk with his jaw locked.

"You won't believe a shit I say if you don't wanna see it right."

"You've never forgiven me, have you?" He calmed a little bit, but he still didn't agree with what I was doing.

"Water under the bridge."

"And after all these years, you still have a thing for her."

"A thing? I don't have a thing for her," I denied. "She needs help, and that's what I do for my free time, helping people."

He inhaled a heavy breath, mocking me. "I still don't get it."

"You should start seeing women from different perspectives, Kai. They're not the same. See, for instance, our sister. She didn't turn out to be like Mom." I knew it was a sensitive topic, but I wanted him to see my point once and for all.

"Leave Krystyn out of this. She's our sister." He tried to suppress his anger, but it was right there in his eyes.

"So as Mom. She's our mother, but have you forgiven her? Not all women are like your ex, Kai. It just happened that you met the wrong person at the wrong time. You deserved-"

"I don't wanna talk about it," he roared. "Your mother-" He was just about to burst into flame. I knew my brother, but sometimes you had to let him see that everything was not black and white.

"Is selfish? She made her decision to leave us, but did Dad do something and give her reasons to stay? No. He pushed her away instead. We all make bad and good decisions, but we can't exactly foresee the future. Mom did something she thought was right. And she's nothing like your ex. They have different reasons for leaving the people in their lives."

"I said I don't wanna talk about them!" His voice thundered around the office, vibrating the surface that I thought it was a low-magnitude earthquake. Sometimes, he still intimidated me, but I couldn't let anything hold me from saying what I thought was right and voicing out my opinions, especially if it was about my family.

"And I don't wanna talk about River, either. As long as she's in my protection, she's off-limits. You won't touch her. Ever."

"What is it in her that you can't stay away?"

I tried hard not to roll my eyes. I locked my jaw hard not to remind him of what he did. "I just want to help her. Krys had us when she had a stalker, while River had no one."

"She has one, but there's more to it. Are you in love with her?"

I shot him a flaming stare. "Why does it have to involve emotions when helping someone?"

"She ruined your life—"

"You ruined hers! You tried to buy her silence for what? For the sake of your shitty publicity? You ruined Selik because of your own definition of extracurricular. You were womanizing, partying, and drinking to oblivion while Dad was working his ass off to put food on our plates. Then you ruined an innocent woman. You didn't even try to ask me what happened that night. You ruined her. She lost something that mattered to her because of what you did. And now she came to me, and I was trying to help her life back, and here you are wanting to get in our way."

"I don't like her for you."00000000