“Of course. I’ll leave Miko in charge of calling you with updates.”
She blinks hard, clearly still battling her temper. “Emails will be more than sufficient.”
“My fucking pleasure,” Miko mutters.
“Great.” I drum my fingers against the desk. Once. Succinct. The conclusion to an unwanted situation. “Now that we have communication preferences out of the way, I assume we’re done here.”
Aurelia doesn’t move.
Neither does Miko.
There have never been two people more allergic to each other’s company. Yet both seem reluctant to leave.
“Is that all, Aurelia?” I ask.
Her brow furrows, the slight pinch announcing concern she’s hesitant to voice. “I guess so.”
“As always, it was lovely to see you.” I turn my attention to the door in dismissal.
She mumbles something under her breath. Something that sounds suspiciously likeeat my assthen pivots on her heels and saunters from my office, the whirlwind of her departure not quite as chaotic as her arrival.
“You, too, brother.” I reopen my laptop, anticipating a snapped retort from Miko that doesn’t come.
Instead, he closes in, settling into the space where Aurelia had just been.
“She has every right to be upset.” He waits until I meet his stare, his anger now eclipsed by something far less decipherable, as it often is where our sister is concerned. “And you know Eliseo told her, right?”
I drag in a deep breath, well aware of who’s to blame.
“Their bullshit twin bond is no excuse for him to be stirring up trouble,” he adds. “Not to mention, he’s the entire reason our integrity is in free fall.”
“You’re absolving yourself of any responsibility?”
His eyes narrow in confusion. “What responsibility am I meant to take?”
“We let our brother get this way, Michelo. We buckled under his demands and?—”
“We buckled because he’s fucking crazy,” he accuses. “What were we supposed to do?”
I don’t know.
I massage my temples, fucking tired despite the day barely being started.
We should’ve forced Eli into therapy. But my brother doesn’t unpack trauma. He prefers to gift wrap it, then set it on fire.
A man unwilling to heal, when it’s far more cathartic to burn.
“We had a plan.” I drop my hands back to my desk. “We should’ve stuck to it.”
“I wasn’t the one who fast-tracked the timeline and insisted we make an example of our targets by acquiring them outside of the shell corps.”
I wasn’t either.
But we’re both responsible for caving under the weight of Eli’s torment.
“We let him do this, Michelo. We should’ve pushed back. We’re just as much to blame.”
Me more than Miko.