Page 129 of Broken & Bound

“Did you do the whole ‘I want him dead’ montage?” I joked.

“No.” She rolled her eyes. “But did you hear what he did to him? Beat him up so bad he needed stitches. And don’t get me started on the cracked ribs.”

I winced. My father had told me they’d gotten into a fight, but I didn’t realize how bad it was.

“Then he basically kicked him out of the house.”

While I relished the quiet, the empty rooms, he was built differently. We’d become his family. And now my brother had discarded him like a pair of old, worn-out shoes. Once more, he was without his favorite ones.

The guilt-shaped knife that was permanently wedged into my heart twisted just a little more.

“That’s how your brother landed on my shit list. I’m officially making him suffer in the worst way. No cookies, no cakes, no special shows. I’ve decided, until he apologizes and sees the error of his ways, he will get the cold shoulder. I’ve got your back.”

“I didn’t ask you to have it, but thank you nonetheless.” I chuckled at her completely accurate assessment of my stupid brother.

Pasha didn’t deserve any of this. I would have to set the asshat, as Kinsley called him, straight. One day soon, when I could control my anger enough not to damage our relationship entirely.

“We should get going,” Tori said, standing. “But I have something for you.”

She reached down into her bag and pulled out a sketchbook. While it was a thoughtful gift, I still had no urge to draw. I could add it to the ones Marcel and Alek had gotten me.

I didn’t have the heart to do anything but accept it.

“Look at the first page,” Tori added.

I turned the page, my breath seizing. The first thing I noticed wasn’t the skill that he’d poured into it. It was the love.

Declan had drawn Pasha and me facing one another. My lion stood tall and strong. His broad shoulders curved inward while I mirrored him from the opposite side.

Our foreheads rested together, our eyes closed as though the rest of the world had disappeared. Our hands were cupped, not quite touching. Together, they formed the shape of a heart. It was innocent and hopeful. Exactly the way a child sees love.

The proportions were astonishing, and I marveled at the time he’d put into it. There was confidence in every pencil stroke, every shadow. I’d seen gifted artists twice his age struggle to capture emotion the way he somehow had.

I looked a little closer, and my breathing faltered. A tiny detail stood out, and Tori didn’t even need to tell me who had been the one to add it. I knew that style like the back of my hand.

Aleksandr.

Inside the heart our hands had created sat four tiny footprints. They were so delicately shaded that they almost disappeared into the paper itself. I stared for the longest time, my breathing faltered.

“He showed it to Alek after he signed it. And even though he felt it was already perfect,” Kinsley swallowed. “He asked Declan if he could add one thing to it.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off them.

“He told Declan that family leaves footprints on the hearts of the people who love them.”

My vision blurred. I traced the air just above the page, unable to bring myself to touch the tiny, perfectly shaped feet. A sob escaped before I could stop it.

“He titled it,” I mused as my fingers traced the neat handwriting at the top. “Family Forever.”

“He did. In fact, he’s been going through his other pieces and thinking of new names. It’s all he talks about. He misses you. Both of you.”

In that moment, I realized the most painful thing in all of this. I’d never be the same. We’d never be the same. And nothing anyone ever did would change that.

Mum seemed lighter when she came in later with a mug of broth. It was about the only thing I could stomach these days. Before leaving, she straightened the blanket over my legs and quietly slipped out again.

Once the room fell silent, I noticed the paperback resting on my bedside table. Got to love Tori. A sticky note clung to the cover.

We just started. You have plenty of time to catch up and join us. You can text us your gripes. It always helps me with my own books when you point things out.