If I Only Knew(10)

I shake my head. “Do I have my job back or not?”

Callum sits, his chin resting on his hand. “Not.”

I rocket upright. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“I came to America for you!”

He laughs. “We’ve been here almost two years, Milo. You quit a year ago when I said I was going to move here permanently. If I recall correctly, you told me to.” He looks off like he’s trying to remember. “Oh, yes, rot in my stupid fucking company with my stupid fucking wife.”

I don’t recall that, but I don’t deny it either. “I was drunk.”

“You’re always drunk.”

I roll my eyes. “I worked hard for you. I built this company with my blood, sweat, and tears, and then you run off to another country without so much as a, hey, Milo, I want you to run the London office and I’ll run the American one. No, instead, you give it to our numpty cousin Edward! Let’s keep the facts straight on why that happened.”

He decided, not me.

“If that’s how you remember it, you’re wrong. You disappeared, like you always do, for whatever model you’re chasing, leaving this company to deal with your absence! Regardless, you don’t get to march back here now and demand your job back.”

“You can’t tell me she’s doing a better job than I would do.”

Callum huffs like the prick he is. “She’s doing more than you ever did. She shows up, for one.”

“I always showed up,” I say. “When it was actually important!”

He laughs. “Where were you for my wedding? Or have you met your nephew? Hell, do you even know my wife’s name?”

I try to recall. Is it Natalie? Nancy? No, that’s not it. I’m not good with names.

“Nicole!” I shout as though I just won a game show question.

He doesn’t look impressed. “You took off. I replaced you.”

“Just like your father, I see.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I wish I could put them back in. Callum doesn’t need to say anything because his eyes show his hurt. “Fuck, Cal, I’m sorry. That was out of line. I’m . . . a twat.”

I realize that my happiness has come at a cost for him, but I’m ready now. I need my job back. Being rude to my brother probably isn’t the best idea.

“Yeah, you are,” he agrees. “Where have you been the last year?”

“I’ve been living.”

I refuse to show my weakness to anyone, let alone him. I never do. My life has been vastly different than my brother’s. When Callum had doors open to him, they closed for me because I didn’t have to work hard enough for things. My mum forced Callum to become a man, where I was sheltered because she was afraid to “lose me too”. I wanted to live. I had dreams of being on my own, but Mummy had other ideas. Instead of letting me live, I was forced into a cage. My brother may have looked at me like a spoiled, bratty, and entitled prick, but I was secretly jealous of him.

He shakes his head. “Well I’ve been running a business. I’ve been raising a family. I’ve been behaving like a fucking grown up, where you are. . . the same as always.”

That one stings a little.

“I’m here now. I’m asking you to give me another chance.”

Callum starts to pace the room. “I can’t do this again, Milo.”

“Do what?”

“This!” He yells with his hands raised in the air. “Where I bail you out time and time again. It’s always the same story, just a different setting. I’m not going to fire Danielle because you decided you finally wanted to come get your job back. If it was that important to you, you would’ve come with me from the start. Instead, you ran off, like you always do, and left me in a bind.”

If everything was as simple as Callum believed it was, we would have no problems in the world. He doesn’t see what it cost me, for him to leave. We lost our father when I was sixteen. Callum was more than just a brother to me, and it was so easy for him to leave London, for a fucking girl.

“So, you’re going to just toss me out? Homeless, without a job, in another country?”

“You want a job?”

“Are you daft? Of course I want my job.”

He eyes me carefully. “In the acquisitions department?”

He really is slow. “Are you toying with me?”

“No, not at all.” Callum moves toward me, and I suddenly feel like I’m being set up. “You’re reinstated, Milo,” he claps me on the shoulder. “You’re going to be Danielle’s assistant.”





Chapter Five





Danielle





“My assistant?” I ask.

“I know it’s not ideal, but I give him three days—tops. He’ll never last. My brother is . . . well, Milo.”

Great, so basically, I’ve adopted a grown man-child. Ugh. This is not how I planned to start my new career at Dovetail. I wanted to prove myself, not babysit the owner’s brother.

Not to mention that I clearly suck at parenting, if we take my daughter into account.

“Callum, I’m not sure this is going to be a good idea,” I say with a sigh.