Page 2 of Lost In The Dark

“Half-sister,” Asher corrected. “I’ll speak to Kane about someone looking into it, but don’t get your hopes up, Eli. It’s probably bullshit. I don’t even think he knows what he’s saying right now.”

“Okay,” I agreed with a nod. But a sister? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a sister in our lives? We had both only ever really had each other to rely on. Our mom died when we were young, but even before that, she suffered with depression and spent so much of her time shut in her room, asleep. Our father was certainly not what anyone would consider loving or caring.

I’d always had Asher to look out for me, and to protect me as much as he could, and I tried to always do the same for him. Since a very young age we’d known we were all the family we ever really needed. No matter what we always had each other’s backs. That was what had gotten us through the miserable childhood we’d had.

We had good friends too – Adam and Jordan. Adam had been Asher’s best friend since they were around five years old. Jordan was his kid brother, and over the years they had become family to us – like brothers. They both lived with us at our place outside the city, and had done for several years. We knew we could always count on them, just as they could us, but having a sister – that would be different, wouldn’t it? I wanted to meet her so badly, if she really did exist. I had longed for more family for so long. Maybe this was our chance?

ASHER

I followed Eli into our house and slammed the door closed behind me. It was such a fucking relief to be home. Two weeks had passed since my father landed his bombshell about our supposed sister, the afternoon before he died.

Now, finally, the funeral was over and it had almost fucking killed me to see the whole damned day through. There had been so many mourners, mainly people my father did business with – not one of whom had truly liked the man. He had been a bastard, in both his personal and business affairs. He treated everyone like they were beneath him, no matter who they were, and it did not make him many friends. But he had allies – people who needed my father and his business dealings on their side. That was who had been at the fucking funeral – people who feared their deals and alliances with our business would be destroyed if they didn’t attend and lavish Eli and I with their false platitudes and bullshit sympathy.

“It went well then?” Adam asked as he walked into the open hallway from the kitchen and looked at Eli and me. I glanced to my brother and instantly felt like shit for not speaking with him the whole drive home. He’d had just as shit a day as me, and he was struggling. It was plain to see in his slouched posture and tense face. I should have shielded him more from all of the bullshit throughout the day. He tended to be more sensitive than me, always had been. He felt things deeply, where as I generally just got pissed off at most things.

“It was okay,” Eli shrugged.

“It was a complete shit show, just as I expected, but it’s over now. He’s gone and buried,” I added as I approached Eli and wrapped my arm around his shoulders. “How about we get out of these fucking suits and have a drink, yeah? I think we could both use one,” I suggested as I tried to force myself to relax for his benefit.

Outside of this house I was forced to wear the armor my father had so carefully fitted me with piece by piece as I grew up. It was the same armor he himself had worn. The armor he felt was needed to present the powerful, almost dictatorial image he wanted his business to be led with. The stiff, uncomfortable, designer suits I wore to the office each day were a part of that. But there, in my home with my brother and the two men I considered as good as, I didn’t need to pretend. I could be myself, or at least as much of me as was left since I returned from that fucking desert. That was who Eli needed in that moment and I knew it.

“I made food. I thought you might both be hungry?” Adam told us as he looked from me to Eli with concern.

Adam was a good man. He had been my best friend since we were little kids. He had always had my back and I knew he was one of very few people I could count on, no matter what. He had wanted to be at the funeral with Eli and I, but I had refused to allow him to go through that bullshit. He had been through enough in his life.

His entire family had been in a terrible car accident about ten years ago. The car had caught fire and Adam had only had time to save Jordan – his younger brother. His parents both died, the car too engulfed in flames for Adam to get to them in time. He’d tried. He had the scars to prove how hard he’d tried, but it had been too late.

Injuries caused in the accident had seen him prescribed strong pain meds. Mixed with the guilt he was drowning in, he turned to the meds to cope. When the pills stopped, he turned to street drugs and for years, no matter how hard or how many times I tracked him down and tried to help, there was nothing I coulddo, except take care of Jordan – his kid brother, and pray he would come to me for help one day before it was too late.

That day had come seven years ago. He had turned up on our doorstep beaten half to death and desperate to get help. He’d spent some time in rehab, then moved in with us. All these years later he had stayed clear of the drugs, not that he didn’t struggle sometimes – I knew he did - but when I noticed him being too quiet or down, I dragged him to the home gym and we worked out until we could barely stand. It worked for him and helped me to exercise some of my own demons.

Now he managed our house, while Eli and I handled the business. I had told him time and again he didn’t need to do it. I was happy to have him and Jordan living with us. They were our family, but Adam was a man of principles and refused to live rent free if he wasn’t contributing. Now, I knew without Adam running the house and keeping us all fed, Eli and I would have starved to death. He kept us all going and we knew it.

“I could definitely eat. I hate all those tiny fucking canapes the caterers put on,” I replied. “Just give us ten to get changed.”

“No problem. Meet you in the kitchen,” Adam agreed.

Eli was worrying me with how quiet he was being, not a word uttered as I followed him up the stairs. I knew the day had been a lot for him. Not because we had buried our father. No – I knew we were both pretty grateful the old bastard was gone. He had made our lives as miserable as he could by putting the both of us down at every opportunity. It was all of the pretense of the day that had gotten to Eli. He didn’t like to lie, and he hated dishonesty, and it had certainly been a day of that, and much more bullshit, ass kissing from every person who had attended.

“Eli?” I called as he headed for his room. He paused and turned to me. He looked completely exhausted and so vulnerable in that moment. I wished I could have spared him the funeral. “It’s over now, brother. The old man is gone and we’re going to start living our lives without his bullshit.”

“I know. I’m just tired,” he told me.

“We’ll be okay now. You know that, right? You don’t have to work at the company anymore. I know you hate it there.” I hated it there too. It had never been in my life plan to work for my father, and it had certainly never been a dream to take over the business, which thrived on pouncing on other dying businesses. It wasn’t who I was.

It was why I had enlisted, with dreams of becoming a SEAL. And I’d gotten there, serving eight years before I realized my head was too fucked up for me to keep going. I had seen and done too much. When our last op went badly sideways and we lost a member of our team, it was the end for me. I got out and with no other direction to go, I had taken my place atLyle Industries. I hated every fucking moment since, but I was determined to make the business work the way I wanted it to, now that the old bastard was gone.

“You hate it too, Ash. I’m not leaving you to do it alone. We’re a team, but I want things to change. I can’t profit from other businesses failures anymore. It’s not right,” he added.

“I know. We’re going to turn it all around. I have plans, and ideas that will make the old bastard turn in his grave,” I laughed.

“That, I can definitely get on board with,” Eli agreed, and finally he smiled just a little.

“Good. Meet you downstairs?” He nodded in reply, then headed into his room.

Our house was modest compared to the mansion, or mausoleum, more like, that we had been raised in. I had started talking with an architect as soon as I turned twenty one and got my trust fund. I wanted to build a place where I could bring Eli, as he had just turned eighteen. I was serving at the time, but I wanted Eli out from under my father’s tyrannical grasp. He was miserable and slipping into depression just like our mom had suffered with. I was so worried about him and I knew I had to get him out.

The house was modest, a modern construction our father completely abhorred. The rooms were open and light. The entire ground floor was one open plan living space with huge windows and several sets of doors out onto the expansive grounds. In the basement I designed my dream home gym and we had an indoor pool for Eli, who liked to do laps every single day. Upstairs were six large bedrooms – enough for the both of us, and Adam and Jordan, with a couple for guests should we ever need them. Then the top floor was all for Eli. I had put enormous skylights in the roof and the huge, open space was flooded with light from those and the windows that were on every side of the space. It was an art studio for him – so he could do what he loved most in the world – paint.