Page 70 of Takedown

“I didn’t know we had company.” She looks from me to him, likely waiting for me to make an introduction, but I have no idea what to say. Then something clicks on her face. Her brows furrow and she takes a step closer to him. She looks from him to me, and her mouth opens in shock.

“Adam, who is this and why is he a clone of you?” I stare at her and do my best to come up with a reasonable explanation. “Why the hell is there a clone of you in our kitchen?” she asks again.

“Well, I’m older, so he would be a clone ofme,” the jerk says. “I’m Ethan Bradford, and your husband is my little brother.” He offers Mel his hand, and she takes it. Her hand goes limp, and she continues to look back and forth at us.

“Ethan Bradford? The BradCo CEO? The CEO of the world’s biggest discount chain?ThatEthan Bradford?” The bag in my hand drops to the floor.

“You know who Ethan Bradford is?” I ask when I finally regain my ability to speak.

“Yeah, I used to—” Whatever she was going to say got lost, and she shakes her head as if trying to make sense of something. “Did Ethan Bradford just say that you and he are brothers? But you’re an only child.”

“I’m my mother’s only child.” I stubbornly maintain my position.

“Well, unfortunately for your husband, we share a father. You do understand you have two sides to your family, right?

“Can you shut up and get the hell out of here?”

He has the nerve to smirk at me, but when I take two small steps in his direction, Mel grabs my wrist and stops my advance. She pulls me into the corner opposite Ethan.

“Did you just find out about him? That he’s your brother?” She lowers her voice and points a finger at my unwanted guest. He stands there, watching us and craning his neck. I can’t meet her gaze, and my silence is all the answer she needs.

“I see,” she whispers.

“He’s nothing to me.” I reach for her, but she takes a step back.

“But you knew? I asked you, Adam.” She looks at Ethan again, taking her time studying him. Part of me wants to turn her around so she can look at me, not him. When she finally turns to me again, I know she’s noting the similarities between us. I knew there was a resemblance from the few pictures I’ve seen, but I didn’t realize how many similarities there are until he knocked on the door. There’s no denying that we are closely related.

“I told you he doesn’t matter.”

“Well, that hurts considering we’ve been calling you for months,” he says.

“We? And I guess I know who that New York number belongs to.”

“We have a sister,” Ethan says. “Her name is Elizabeth,” he adds.

“Will you shut up?” I yell.

Mel steps between us, places a hand on my chest, and holds me in place. I feel a sense of comfort from her touch, but when I try and hold her hand, she drops it. “I need to speak to my husband alone for a minute,” she says to Ethan. She doesn’t hold my hand like she does each time we go to the bedroom. She’s ready for bed before me every night, but she never wants to go to bed alone. She always offers me her hand, and I’ll lead her to the bedroom. It’s become our nightly tradition, but right now, she’s avoiding my touch, and I don’t like it.

38

“This kind of explains a lot,” she says the minute she closes the door behind us. “Your lackadaisical attitude about money. The American Express,” she says, lowering her voice as if she’s telling me some secret. “This!” She holds up her left hand and points at her diamond ring. She starts to take it off, but I grab her hand in mine.

“Don’t you dare take that off,wife.” She stares at me, eyes wide, almost as if she’s taken aback by my audacity, but I don’t back down. I won’t ever back down when it comes to her wearing the ring I put on her finger.

“Don’t you dare pull that shit. Not when you’ve been lying to me the entire time.”

“I’ve lied about nothing,” I say with a derisive snort. “I don’t give a shit about that guy out there and want nothing to do with him. I’m Molly Flynn’s son. Her only child. That’s the goddamn truth.”

“So, you’re a billionaire now? The entire time you were living here like a frat boy as if it was some kind of rebellion! Is that what I am? Are you using me to make them mad?”

I picture ten different ways I’m going to make that guy pay as soon as we leave this bedroom, each one more painful than the last. “I’m not a Bradford. I’m a Flynn. And no, I’m not a billionaire. And honestly, Mel, I don’t know what you mean when you accuse me of using you. This,” I say, pointing to the door, “that guy out there. It changes absolutely nothing.”

She wraps her arms around herself, and I’d give anything to have her in my arms right now, but she’s not making any move to walk closer to me.

“I don’t even know you.” She sits on the bed and puts her face in both hands.

“Don’t be so damn dramatic.” My tone comes out sharper than I intend. Yes, I should feel contrite because I can spin this any way I want, but the truth is, I lied. “I’m the same person I was before he showed up here.”

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