Burn (Breathless #3)(10)

If they ever set foot inside the HCM offices, they’d be forced to acknowledge his success instead of treating it like a dirty secret no one talked about. They’d be forced to see firsthand that he didn’t need them and he’d succeeded without their help or influence. No way they were going to do either.

A soft knock sounded at his door and he voiced a “come in.”

The door slowly opened and his sister walked in, apprehension written all over her features. She looked more than nervous. She looked terrified.

“Ash?” she asked softly. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Brittany was a replica of his mother. Not that his mother wasn’t a beautiful woman. She was. And Brittany was every bit as beautiful, if not more so, than their mother. The only problem was his mother was ugly on the inside and it forever marred his perception of her looks. Because he knew what resided behind that pretty face. It was a cold and calculating mind. He firmly believed she was incapable of loving anyone but herself. It was a mystery to him why she’d ever had children. And not just one, but four.

Besides Brittany, Ash had two older siblings. Both brothers and both firmly under the grasp of their mother and father. Though younger, Brittany was approaching thirty. Or maybe she’d turned thirty already? He couldn’t remember and he didn’t spare an ounce of sadness over that fact. And she was as solidly under the family thumb as their brothers. Perhaps even more so.

Their mother had handpicked Brittany’s husband. An older guy she’d married Brittany off to when she was barely out of college. Wealthy. Influential. All the right connections. The marriage had barely lasted two years and Ash’s mother blamed that squarely on Brittany. Never mind that in Ash’s digging, he’d found a hell of a lot of skeletons in Robert Hanover’s closet.

He was not a man he’d want his sister—or any woman—married to. But Brittany had meekly submitted to her mother’s desires despite Ash’s warning to her that Robert was not the man he seemed.

At least she’d had the balls to get out of the marriage. That had surprised him.

“What’s up?” Ash asked in an even tone.

He gestured for her to sit in the chair facing his desk. She eased into it, perched gingerly on the edge, nervousness and uncertainty evident in her body language.

“I need your help,” she breathed out.

He cocked one eyebrow upward. “What’s wrong? Get into an argument with mommy dearest?”

Anger flashed in Brittany’s eyes as she stared back at Ash.

“Please don’t, Ash. I know I deserve your mockery and scorn. I deserve a lot of things. But I want out. And I need your help to do that. It shames me to have to come and beg for help from you, but I don’t know where else to go or who else to turn to. If I go to Grandpa, he’d just tell Mom and he probably wouldn’t help me anyway. You’re his favorite. He can’t stand the rest of us.”

Surprise gripped him at the earnestness—and urgency—in her tone. He leaned forward, his gaze narrowing at her.

“You want out. What does that mean exactly, Brittany?”

“I want away from them,” she said shakily. “All of them.”

“What the hell did they do to you?” Ash demanded.

She shook her head. “Nothing. I mean nothing more than usual. You know how they are, Ash. I’ve always envied you so much. You tell them to f**k off and you’ve made your own way. All I’ve done is marry a man my mother wanted me to, try to make the best of a bad situation and fail miserably. I got nothing in the divorce and I was okay with that. I just wanted out. But I have nothing without Mom and Dad’s help. And I don’t want it anymore. Because their help comes with strings. I’m thirty years old and what do I have to show for my life? No life, no money. Nothing.”

The desolation in her voice hit Ash deep. He knew exactly what she meant. It could have easily been him in this same situation. His brothers certainly were. He didn’t like the shadows in her eyes and the beaten down look she currently wore. As much as she’d been a bitch before, mimicking their mother, he’d take that over this whipped-puppy look she now had.

“What do you want to do?” he asked quietly.

“Is it pathetic that I don’t know? I don’t even know where to start. I came to you because I had no one else to go to. My friends aren’t friends when the chips are down. They’re more than willing to support me when things are good, but I can’t count on them for real support.”

“I’ll help you,” he said in an even tone. “Jace owns an apartment that Mia used to live in, and more recently his fiancée lived there. But it’s empty again and just sitting there. I can probably buy it from him or at least use it until we get you situated somewhere else.”

Her eyes widened in shock.

“Do you have a job?” he asked.

She flushed and dropped her gaze.

“I’m not criticizing, Brittany,” he said softly. “I’m asking so I know what kind of help you need.”

She shook her head. “No. I’ve been living with Mom and Dad. It’s not that I don’t want to work, but what am I good at?”

“You could be good at a lot of things,” Ash said. “You’re smart. You have a degree. You’re just afraid to try and get out there in the real world.”