CHAPTER 5: THE BROTHER
Grant showed up at my apartment the following week.
He looked worse than I had ever seen him. Dark circles under his eyes. Clothes that were wrinkled and stained. He was sober, for once, but his hands were shaking.
"Evie," he said. "I need your help."
"Grant, what happened?"
"I lost everything. The business. The house. Paige left me."
"How much do you owe?"
"Almost three hundred thousand. I'm going to lose everything."
I stood in the doorway, looking at my brother. He was a mess. He had always been a mess. But he was still my brother.
"Grant, I can't give you money."
"Please, Evie. You're my only hope."
"Your only hope is to get help. Real help. Gambling addiction treatment. Not my money."
"It's not gambling. It was bad investments."
"Grant, I know about the gambling. Mom told me."
His face went pale.
"She told me you needed money for debts. She didn't say how you got them, but I figured it out."
"Evie—"
"I can't help you. Not because I don't want to. But because giving you money would only make it worse."
He stared at me. Then, something in his expression shifted.
"You're just like Grandfather," he said. "Cold. Hard. Selfish."
"I'm not selfish. I'm protecting myself."
"Protecting yourself? You've got millions in the bank, and you won't even help your own brother."
"You got yourself into this mess, Grant. You have to get yourself out."
He turned and walked away.
I closed the door and leaned against it.
May you like
I had just turned away my own brother.
And I didn't regret it.
