Page 67 of The Photograph

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As we step out of the elevator, I greet my new assistant who stares up at Mike with a blushing smile.

“Catch you later, Mike.”

My baby brother nods, and winks at Erica before walking to his office one door down from mine.

It’s been three days since his return, and already half of the staff has fallen for Mike’s charms. Even as a kid, Mike never seemed to get angry at anything, and women have been flocking to him wanting to bask in his charming attentions.But the one he fell for … what happened between him and Aelin?

Once in my office, I make my way to the window. Mike’s been staying at my house for the last two days, and we’ve been catching up on his work as the brilliant architect my brother is.

Looking at the sky for answers, I stretch my neck side to side.

How am I going to tell him?

How I took her virginity, the thought makes me hard because I’m an asshole. How I got her pregnant, and… Fuck.

A knock on the door provides the distraction I need. I turn as Erica’s head peeks past the doorjamb.

“Gabe, there’s uh … someone’s h—”

She stumbles through the door in an uncoordinated flurry of limbs before regaining her footing.

What the f…?I reach for her. “Are you all right?”

Erica barely nods before a slim brunette with wild curls tamed into a high ponytail and her glare pointed at me, stomps her combat boots into the room. I freeze for a second and stare at the woman, a dead ringer for Aelin.Cara.

I’ve seen the pictures, but I wasn’t ready for how similar they look. And how different they would be. Cara’s eyes are paler, her hair more an ashy blonde than the deep mahogany of Aelin’s.

She turns toward Erica. “Can you leave us, please?” When Erica glances up, I nod, and my assistant hurries out of the office.

Aelin’s sister marches further into the room. Her lips are pinched into a thin line.

“Who the hell do you think you are, you pathetic motherfucker?”

I notice too late the large canvas bag in her hand she hurls at me. It hits my shoulder before landing on the rug in a muted thump. The wide box falls open at my feet. The Chanel dress I sent Aelin. The one she was wearing the night, I…

I deserve everything you throw at me.When she reaches in her purse, I lock my body into place. The bangle clocks my jaw and lodges somewhere under my desk. And the contract is next.

“You miserable asshole. You think you can just throw your giant bully ass around and hurt my sister?”

Guilty. Of all of it.I keep still as she steps closer. Her voice pitches higher. “What kind of perverted asshole are you? She’s innocent and good…” Tears fill her eyes before hatred dries them out. “You got her pregnant—”

The door of my office bangs open. We both snap our eyes to Mike wearing a thunderous expression before his eyes widen as they set on her.

“What the… Cara?”

She spins toward my brother. “Mitch?”

Her breath hitches while Mike’s expression becomes proprietary. Fuck. It’sher.The woman who broke my brother is Cara. A renewed wave of guilt washes over me, and I lock my knees as Mike nears her.

As he gets close, she jumps back, and pain flickers in my brother’s eyes. “Do you hate me so much you’d send your brother, a brother you never talked about after my baby sister?”

Mike whips his eyes to mine then back to Cara. “Cara, I was out of the country until last week. I have no idea what you’re talking about, and—”

Aelin’s sister’s tone hardens. “No? Your asshole brother seduced Aelin, got her pregnant, then threatened to ruin her career and everyone she knows if she didn’t leave. Because apparently, she wanted your money and was after his.Is that what you tell people? That I wanted your money? I never took you for a liar.” She turns to me and scoffs. “But knowing what that asshole did, I can see it now. You were in on this.”

Mike blanches and glances at me before returning his attention back to Cara.

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