Callum paced, his mind obviously going a mile a minute. "Either way, they left. I didn't say it was rational. Our feelings, our motivations, they aren't always logical, either. She's terrified, and not just of having her world fall apart again. My god, I don't know a single woman worth loving who wouldn't be afraid of us. We're asking her to be the center of three worlds. We can pretend that we'll live in harmony, but we're human. There's going to be conflict, and Tori will have to deal with it. She's young and inexperienced and she's not handling things as perfectly as we would want her to. That's no reason to leave her completely alone. Don't you see? Being alone is what she really fears most. She just has to realize it."
Rory tried very hard not to punch his brother. "Would you open your eyes? She left us. She's done."
Callum rolled his eyes. "Grow up. You and Oliver always think you've had it so much harder than I did because I played football. You know what I learned because I wasn't in some ivory fucking tower either learning how to run a business or allowing people to run it for me? I figured out we've all got it rough because we're human, and every person ever born went through bad shit. The only way to survive is to hold on to what you love with both hands. She's scared and I love her, so I won't let her be alone. Your problem is you don't think she's worth loving if she can't love you back the way you demand it. That's fucking selfish. I'm going after her. Until she tells me her life is worse for having me in it, I'm going to make her world better. You and Oliver can cling to your damage like some shield."
Callum charged away, and Rory could hear him in the closet. He was packing. The minute the plane touched down in London, Callum would hop on a flight to Dallas. Being a professional athlete had clearly taught his older brother never to give up. And somewhere along the way, his brother had learned to love with his whole heart.
Rory stared out the window. Somewhere out there, Tori was alone. Had she lied or had she not understood how she would feel the next day? Had she meant to deceive them or been inundated by fear in the cold light of day?
He took a deep breath and made a decision. Life came down to decisions. He'd taken responsibility for her the night before. The Tori he knew would never mean to hurt anyone, and nothing that had happened this morning changed his view of her or how he felt. She belonged to them, and it was time to show her what that meant.
Even if he had to go all the way to Texas to do it.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Oliver stared at the spot where he'd almost died and he put a hand on his chest. He could still feel the bullet pierce him, feel his knees hit the marble floor, smell the coppery scent of blood fill his world.
And he could hear her.
I've set everything up so it looks like you killed yourself and poor dumb Oliver.
Yasmin had prowled around, stalking Alea who had always been her target. That day, he'd discovered she'd married him under false pretenses and every moment of their life together had been a lie. Still, that wasn't what hurt the most.
His brother already thinks very little of him. When he hears about this, he'll think even less.
Of course she'd been talking about his made-up affair with Alea, but that wasn't what haunted him all these years afterward.
He was fairly certain Rory thought less of him for being so weak, for allowing himself to fall into that relationship, for being so pathetically blind.
And now he knew what Tori really thought.
For one brief moment, he'd thought it could work. Oh, he'd certainly intended to be in the background. He didn't deserve to take control. A company was one thing, but a woman as fragile and priceless as Tori? Never. He wasn't that man, but any time at all with her had seemed better than none. Now he knew what heaven tasted like.
It hurt to be sent back to hell.
"Tal told me I would find you here," a familiar voice said. Alea. "You know I moved to a different part of the palace after I married. I haven't been in here in a while."
Ah, Talib was sending in the troops to make sure there was an orderly dismissal. He'd been surprised the sheikh had so readily accepted him into the palace in the first place. He'd shocked himself by asking to stay in the very rooms where he'd almost died. Then again, he'd come here looking for insight or closure-something that escaped him now. He'd thought he needed to walk this room again, remember … and try to forget.
He'd needed to see that the room had moved on even if he hadn't.
All he'd really learned was that none of it mattered. He couldn't change what happened here. Staying in these rooms, making love to Tori-those things didn't fix the truth he'd learned about himself.