Craving The Wrong Brother (Sloane and Knox) novel Chapter 137

There’s no such thing as right or wrong to me. There’s only what I want to do and what I don’t.

And I absolutely do not want to apologize to Mateo.

I can feel the pressure around me. Eyes heavy on my face. Every breath in this room is paused, waiting on me. Even Sloane hasn’t looked away once. I can’t bring myself to meet her gaze, not with what she might be silently asking of me.

You know what? A million people owe me apologies. You don’t see me holding the world hostage over it. This whole thing has gone too far. I’m done playing along.

“Tell your man to put the gun down, Mateo,” I say. “What you have is against me. Let’s not involve third parties.”

But the man holding the gun to Hunter’s head doesn’t budge. Instead, I watch him flip the safety off. Sloane’s grip on my hand tightens.

And now, someone is crying.

It's Serena.

Her shoulders are shaking, body jerking in the chair. The man crouched beside her—the one who was tending to her leg—pauses. He’s almost done with the bandaging. Just a few more strips of gauze over the bullet wound. But her crying throws him off. His hands go still.

No one moves.

Even Mateo, who hasn’t stopped breathing heavily into the phone since the call started, goes quiet. That heavy presence of him through the speaker? Gone. He’s holding his breath now, just like the rest of us.

And Serena keeps going.

Head down. Shoulders heaving.

Eventually, she quiets down enough to say, “Just let us go. I want to go home. I am having a bad week. A bad month. Hell, even a bad year. And I want nothing more than to be in my bed.”

Her face is wet with tears, and her mouth trembles as she forces out the words.

“I can't do that,” Mateo says.

“You’re the worst villain I’ve ever seen. An apology? That's what you want? I don’t have anything against you, Mateo. Everyone hates me right now too. My mom. My stepfather. My ex. Even my sister, though she pretends she doesn’t. I’m certain I’m pregnant, but I won’t take any test because confirming the pregnancy would mean having to figure out if the baby’s my ex’s or my stepfather’s—”

“The fuck did she just say?” Jade whispers behind me.

But Serena doesn’t stop. She’s gone too far into the storm of it.

“I’m convinced that if I pretend I don’t notice the missed periods or the nausea, they’ll just stop being a problem. I don’t have any more misfortune-bearing radar left in me. I’d rather be home, sipping wine I know is bad for me, than be in this chair taking a bullet for someone who can’t even say sorry when a gun is pointed at his friend’s head.”

She’s staring into the camera now, or rather, at Mateo.

“If you’re going to shoot me,” she says, “shoot me right now. If you’re not, set me free. I am done with this. Fucking done.”

The silence that follows feels heavier than before. Nobody moves. Even the guy holding the gun to Hunter’s head looks thrown. His eyes find Mateo, waiting for a signal.

The man who was tending Serena’s leg finishes up and steps back without a word. Serena's done a good job of pretending she can't feel the pain anymore. Or maybe she's more angry than she's in pain.

“That’s an interesting story, pretty,” Mateo says. “What did you do to get everyone to hate you? Did you go overseas in the name of serving your country, get captured and tortured, lose an eye, and then come back to everyone you love being uncomfortable you’re alive?”

His voice deepens the more he speaks.

“Because my wife moved on. She won’t even let my daughter see me, says it’ll confuse her. Says she can’t explain how her dead father came back to life. You know what I think? I think she’s afraid all that life insurance and those hero benefits will have to get sorted out if I’m alive. She doesn’t want to lose the money. And the one man who caused all this? He’s on the other end of this call, having his happy ever after with a girl he doesn’t deserve.”

My jaw ticks.

“Tell me if anything about my life sounds like yours,” Mateo says. “And then maybe I’ll say you’re just like me.”

Serena's face is pale, but she's trying to act strong.

“I might not have joined the army,” she says, “or gotten captured. Or tortured. But I’m lonely, just like you are. And lonely people tend to do stupid things. I had the hots for my mother's husband and took advantage of him when he was drunk. And you know what? I didn’t feel guilty until my boyfriend came back home from his Dungeons and Dragons weekend championship or whatever. I can't remember. And I saw his browser history. He was looking up engagement rings.”

She swallows.

“He was about to propose to me. And I cheated on him.”

“I might have to step out,” Jade says. “This chick is pissing me off.”

The sound of the door opening behind me is loud. A beat later, it slams shut again. Jade’s gone.

Serena's still talking. The more I listen, the more it dawns on me that she's not rambling or falling apart. She’s working him. She’s saying exactly what she knows might reach him, which might not be a great move for a man like Mateo. If I’ve picked up on that, Mateo definitely has too. He’s not dumb.