Page 75 of Romeo

“Yes.”

“What did he find there?”Riley demands.“He found something that made him suspect something happened to Jules.What was it?”

The look Odie gives Riley is furious, but Riley doesn’t cower.Instead, his own gaze turns murderous once again.

“A pair of earrings.The same ones you went to the mall to buy that night,” Odie replies.“They were apparently in a shallow tray on his desk, and when our grandfather asked about them, Dodger told him that you’d left them in his car that night after he’d dropped you off.”

The pain hits me so hard and fast it might as well be a lightning bolt straight through my soul.I can’t help but picture my grandfather the moment he saw those earrings.He was a smart man—a determined man.

How much did he know?

“Did you tell him that you knew?”

Odie’s expression answers what he chooses not to.

“Of course not.Why would you have confessed to that?Our grandfather would have written you out of everything.Is that why he deeded the house to me?Because you were taking everything else?”

“I worked myself to death for that man.I organized every moment of his life and got him opportunities others would have killed for.Yet, every time I turned around, he was savingyou.”

“He loved you,” I say, tears slipping down my cheeks.

Odie snorts.“The moment my mother died, I knew I had to fight for my place in the Landers family.Otherwise, you’d push me out.”

“I never would have done that.You were family.My brother—blood or not.”

“No,” he replies.“I wasn’t.As far as I’m concerned, you never should have come back.”

Once again, Riley charges for him, but I tighten my grip on his arm.

“You’d better watch your mouth, Landers,” Riley growls.

“Did you know?What kind of man he was?”I ask, my throat burning with emotion.“Dodger.When you invited him to my birthday that night, did you already know?”Was that part of the plan?To get me out of the way?

Odie barely even reacts.“He was a man who had a fondness for younger women.Everyone at the club—including our grandfather—knew that.”

“I was not a woman!”I scream at him.

“You certainly acted like one,” Odie spits out.I don’t even see Riley move this time.He rips his arm free from my grip and moves so fast, he’s across the room before I can even blink.Something cracks, and Odie is thrown back into the wall.Riley rushes forward again, moving like a wall of muscle with one mission: to destroy.

“Riley, stop!”I grab his arm, but he continues forward toward my brother, who—finally—looks absolutely terrified as he cowers on the floor, cradling his injured arm.

“Get in here!Help!”Odie screams.

The door behind us opens as Riley grips the front of Odie’s dress shirt.

A nurse and Odie’s security guard rush forward.I’m shoved aside as the security guard wraps his arm around Riley’s throat.

Riley jams his elbow into the gut of the security guard, and the man releases him long enough for Riley to whirl and slam his fist into the man’s face.The guard falls back, and I get a glimpse at Riley’s expression.

Dark.Furious.

“Riley, stop!”I’m terrified of what will happen to him if he doesn’t.Not because I don’t think he can handle himself but because I know that, if I don’t stop him, he’ll suffer serious legal consequences.Two hospital security guards rush in.

“Riley!”He pauses then leans in closer to Odie.“This isn’t over,” he snarls then drops Odie on the ground.One guard steps between him and my brother, and the other cuffs Riley’s hands behind his back.

“I’m pressing charges!”Odie yells.“Call the police!”

“Shut up, Odie!”It’s the first time I’ve ever spoken to him like that, and while his furious expression would have intimidated me before, now I couldn’t care less.Every shred of love I’d felt for him is gone.

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