Page 75 of Avenging Azalea

Chapter

Twenty-Two

TITUS

Are you fucking kidding me?

I crossed my arms and glared at Ronan.

“You really came down here to escort me off the property,” I asked as he walked into my office. Hailey and Holly were lying in their beds. I held up my finger so they knew to stay put.

“Don’t be stupid. I came to see if I could talk you into staying.”

“Not going to happen.” Grabbing the next item off my bookshelf, I put it in the box. I never saw this day happening.

“Why are you being like this,” he asked.

Putting the book in the box, I gripped the sides and stared at my older brother.

“The better question is, why aren’t you? Father set up Nathaniel, Savannah, and their son, our nephew. Any of them could have been killed in Italy, and then that entire situation followed them back here, and Savannah was shot. I know you don’t give fuck about her…you’ve made that clear. But she’s pregnant with their second child. Your family. Your blood. Why don’t you care about that?”

Ronan marched around my office, a mix of anger and frustration written all over his face. Swiping a bottle of whiskey from one of the boxes I had yet to tape, he cracked the lid and took a swig.

“Please, help yourself,” I drawled.

Ronan stomped across the room. It looked like I wasn’t getting an answer. Instead, he slammed the door and dropped down into one of my leather chairs. If he wasn’t such a murdering sociopath half the time, I would’ve said he looked like he was sulking.

“I do care. Nathaniel and I don’t get along, but he’s my brother. Of course, I don’t want to see him killed.”

“Do you? It doesn’t look like it from here. Hasn’t looked like it for years.”

Placing the lid on the box, I wandered over and sat down across from Ronan, but he was staring off into space.

“We used to be close as well, or have you forgotten,” I asked with a heavy sigh.

His icy blue eyes turned in my direction.

“We’re still close,” Ronan said, full of sincerity.

Laughing, I leaned forward and picked up the bottle of whiskey to take a swig.

“Why is that funny?”

I shook my head. “It just is. It’s obvious you don’t think you’ve changed, but you have.”

“Why is it always me that gets blamed for changing? Nathaniel said the same shit, but have either one of you taken your own advice and looked in a mirror?” Ronan burst from his seat and paced the room like I was caging him in here. “Four years ago, Nathaniel met that FBI agent.”

“Her name is Savannah.”

“I don’t give a fuck what her name is,” he growled and glared at me. Most would be terrified of Ronan, but to me, he was just my brother. “She came along, and Nathaniel decided he was going to do whatever he wanted and didn’t give a fuck about any of the consequences.”

Ronan grabbed a second bottle from my stash, cracked the top, and drank like it was water. After the fourth pull, I was ready to step in, but he stopped and resumed his pacing.

“Our brother had no idea if she was playing him. Nathaniel put all of us at risk, and you and Mom didn’t care. Instead, you felt bad that he lost the love of his life. Fuck off. Was what his dick wanted really worth our lives? He shouldn’t have fucked her in the first place!”

I’d seen Ronan worked up before, but this honesty was new. He’d never truly expressed what was bothering him or why he’d pulled back from Nathaniel four years ago. Folding my hands, I sat calmly and watched him stalk around the room. The other bonus to knowing him our entire lives was that I knew when to interrupt and when to let him rant.

“Okay, fine…so the agent didn’t turn against him. Great for him and us. But at the time, he had no idea. We were just to trust him.” Ronan shook his head. “Who do you think sat through Father’s tirades? Day in and day out, I had to hear how stupid Nathaniel was and how she should be hunted down and killed before she could share whatever Nathaniel had told her. And who the fuck do you think talked Father out of sending a team of soldiers to kill her?”