Lucian jumps up from his seat when he sees us approach and rushes toward Elena. She lets go of my hand and lifts her head, a reassuring smile on her face. I don’t think she’s smiled at me even once today, but then I haven’t given her any reason to. I involuntarily clench my jaw when my brother pulls her into a tight hug, burying his face in her neck. She relaxes into him and he presses a kiss to her hair.
I glance at Vaughn, who is leaning against the wall, a concerned expression on his face. He shrinks back when he sees the rage on my face, and he looks at me apologetically. Fucking hell… I can’t even be mad at him. He thought he was doing me a favor by screwing over a Rousseau. What almost happened to Elena… it’s my fault.
“What were you thinking?” Lucian murmurs, his voice soft and worried. That is exactly how I should have reacted, but didn’t. Instead, I condemned her for her choices before seeing the full picture. “Why didn’t you ask me for help?” he asks her, his voice shaking. He looks at her red eyes and then at me, his eyes full of accusation.
One look at Vaughn tells me he must’ve told Lucian at least the basics, and for some reason, that doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t want anyone to know about what she nearly did today. Not even my own brother.
“Why didn’t you?” I ask her. She pulls away from Lucian, and my body relaxes. I didn’t even realize I’d tensed.
“I… we… we’re not that c-close,” she stammers, unable to meet my eyes. A faint blush darkens her face to a lovely shade of pink. I had a feeling the words I spit out in anger earlier today would come back to haunt me. I shake my head and grab her wrist, pulling her along.
Vaughn’s eyes dart from me to her, and I can tell he’s wondering what went down between us, but there’s no way I’m telling him shit. He nods as we walk past him, and I just know he’s not going to let this go. Vaughn is a slut for drama and gossip, though no one would ever have guessed it. Part of me genuinely believes he runs his gentlemen’s club purely to gather intel on the elite that frequent it.
“Where are we going?” Lucian asks.
“Home.”
“We’re taking Elena home? Good.”
My driver opens the door of my limousine, and Elena hesitates before she gets in. Lucian jumps in after her, taking the seat next to her, leaving me to sit opposite her. I’ve always hated this pretentious car, even though I know it’s necessary, since it’s armored. Today though, with Elena’s legs between mine, I hate it a little less.
I lean back and watch Lucian fuss over her. She shifts in her seat, and when she spreads her legs slightly, her short dress rides up. I can tell that her underwear still isn’t back in place properly. It’s still pushed to the side, the way I left it, exposing part of her delectable pussy. Suddenly I’m more than relieved that it’s me sitting opposite her, and not Lucian.
“Sit properly,” I tell her, my voice coming out harsher than I intended. Elena frowns at me, but crosses her legs nonetheless. I grin when she blushes, realizing why I told her to sit properly. She looks away from me, turning to face Lucian instead.
I take in her chestnut waist length hair that’s draped over her chest and her perfect body. I can’t deny that she’s beautiful, but I’ve never let beauty distract me. So why is it that I just couldn’t let her be? Just knowing that she’s Matthew’s sister should be enough to repulse me.
“Why didn’t you come to me for help?” Lucian asks her again. “I know you wouldn’t resort to this unless you were out of options,” he adds.
I grab my tablet and go through the background check Adrian sent me. I read the file twice, certain that this information can’t be right. I glance at Elena and the guilt I feel nearly wrecks me. I don’t remember all that much about Alaric Rousseau, but I don’t remember him being a monster. He always seemed to dote on Elena, even when the tension between him and his now ex-wife was running high. So how did Elena end up in the situation she’s in? Surely, he keeps tabs on his only daughter? If my security team can find out about every single item she’s had to sell in the last two months and every single bill she’s paid for her mother, then there’s no way Alaric is unaware. How did he ever let it get this far?
I listen absentmindedly as Elena hesitatingly tells Lucian that she needs money for her mother’s medical bills, and that she left home years ago. That explains why she said that the one thing she wishes for most is good health for those she loves. She was talking about her mother that night at Inferno.
“I’ve already asked my father for help. If he can’t even help me, how could I expect you to? We haven’t even seen each other in years. Besides,” she says, her voice faltering. “I’ve asked every single one of my friends, and no one could help.”
My brother’s face betrays his hurt. I’ve never seen him care much about anything, least of all a girl. If anyone other than Elena had come knocking on our door, he’d indeed have denied their request for help, no matter how severe the situation. Elena was always his weakness though. My selfish prick of a brother would always save her his last bites of pizza, watch chick flicks with her, and one time when they were little, I even caught him separating M&Ms by color, because Elena only likes the yellow and red ones.
“We were once close friends too, Elena. I’d have been there for you,” Lucian says.
Elena nods and grabs his hand, entwining their fingers. She looks at him with such tenderness, and he looks at her the same way. They’re already lost in their own little world, and it seems like they were never even apart.
“Even if I did come to you for help and you agreed, you’d help me maybe once or twice before I’d turn into a burden. I need a huge amount of money, Lucian. It’s not right of me to rely on you like that.”
I sigh. I can’t fault her for wanting to stand on her own two feet and not trusting anyone else with her mother’s life. She’s right. How long can an outsider provide her with the type of financial assistance she needs?
Lucian clenches his jaw the way he does when he’s trying to bite his words back, and I wonder what he wants to say. I’ve never seen my baby brother so animated before.
“I’d help you unconditionally,” he says.
Elena shakes her head. “I need at least sixty-thousand dollars by the end of the month, and even more over time. That’s not something I can just ask of you.”
Lucian begins to reply, but I cut him off. “We’ll discuss this at home,” I say, my tone sharp. Lucian looks at me helplessly, and my heart softens. He’s looking at me like he used to when we were still children. Like I’m his hero. He hasn’t looked at me with such faith in years.
The driver parks in our driveway and Lucian jumps out, extending his hand to Elena. My eyes drop to her legs, reminding her to be careful when she steps out of the car, and she blushes, nodding at me. However, my brother must’ve interpreted her blush differently, because he blushes in return, his gaze firmly pasted on her face.
An uneasy feeling settles in my stomach as I watch them interact. I accompany them into the house, the two of them clearly already in their own bubble.