House of Paine - (A Romantic Suspense - Book 2) by Kylie Walker

less.”
    “Yep. Apparently he did either beat or have Kevin beaten to within an inch of his life. He threatened him and my mother. It was the only way she obtained her freedom. She told him that if he let her take Alex and I away from the business...she would keep her mouth shut. She wouldn’t even tell me. Kevin went along with it because if he didn’t...”
    “People would have died.”
    “Like people do around Jackson Paine.”
    Roxi sat there stunned for several minutes. Then she said, “I guess this explains why I’ve always liked you so much more than I did your asshole brother.”
    Damien laughed again. “I guess you never imagined you’d end up with a brother at this stage in your life.”
    “Nope. I guess you never imagined you’d end up with a smart, savvy, sexy sister like me, huh?”
    Still laughing he said, “No, I would have never imagined.” It felt good to joke about it. It relieved some of the tension. He liked Roxi too. He was glad if he had to have a sister all of a sudden, it was her.
    “So now what?” she asked him.
    He looked at the clock on the wall. “I’m meeting with Alex at noon.”
    “Shit! For what?”
    “You sound like Paige.”
    “The girl is smart. Don’t trust him, Damien.”
    “I have to tell you the same thing I told Paige. He’s my brother, no matter what. I have to trust him. I need his help.”
    “Fuck. Well, it was nice having a brother for a minute.”
    “You give a guy a lot of confidence,” he told her.
    “I’m a realist and the fact here is that Alex is his father’s son. He might care about you...but he’s committed to your father. I’m not sure that you’re not making a grave mistake here, Damien.”
    “I’ve given it a lot of thought, Roxi. We can’t use the evidence we have to bring the Kramer’s down without destroying our family. I know that you don’t want your father...”
    “Our father.” Damien hadn’t quite accepted that yet. He just nodded and said,
    “He doesn’t deserve to be in prison. In spite of the things he’s had to do in order to survive...”
    “I agree.”
    “The only way I’ll be able to do this is with help on the inside.”
    “And what makes you think Alex will help you?”
    “He’s my brother for one thing...and he’s as addicted to power as Jackson is.”
    “Meaning? You think he’ll betray Jackson for a place at the top?”
    “I’m banking on it,” Damien told her.
    “Shit,” Roxi said again.
    *****
    D amien saw his brother standing on the edge of the pier looking down at the water. So many times in the past ten years he wished that they could go back in time to when he was that nineteen year old kid who looked up to his twenty-one year old brother and both of them had hopes for the future. Alex had definitely changed. Damien often wondered if the ruthlessness and callousness that his brother exhibited in his daily life now was always there. He wondered if you had to be born with that kind of thing...or if in ten short years you could learn it as well as Alex had.
    Alex turned and spotted him when Damien was just a few feet away. He didn’t look happy, but Damien hadn’t expected him to. “Hey. He thinks I’m down at the docks. I have to head back within the hour before he starts to wonder what the hell is taking me so long.”
    Damien nodded. He was well aware of the close tabs that Jackson kept on his “sons.” “Walk with me, I’ll try and make this as quick as possible.” Damien walked towards the sandy beach and Alex followed him. Damien loved the ocean. He missed the California beaches that he and Alex had grown up on. He missed the days of surfing with his brother and hanging out around a bonfire at night without a care in the world. He thought about the long days during summer that he and Alex had spent swimming in the ocean, floating in the void, free of gravity or anything else holding them back. He respected the ocean. He understood both the beauty and the dangers of it.
    Jackson