Stale darkness smothered the private vi; not the faintest shard of light dared intrude.

In the gloom, Nichs slumped against a bare wall, half-buried in an ocean of empty liquor bottles. Sleep tugged at him like an undertow, yet he clung to consciousness out of sheer habit.

A sudden scrape of hinges shattered the hush. The heavy door swung inward, admitting a narrow de of daylight

Nichs flinched and threw up an arm, shielding bloodshot eyes until they adjusted.

When the blur settled, he saw a man backlit by brilliance-polished dress shoes clicking forward with deliberate menace.

Nathaniel stepped fully inside, flipped on the overhead light, and surveyed the wreckage with a muted sigh. Nichsy at the epicenter-bearded, unwashed, every inch of him broadcasting defeat.

Nathaniel''s brow creased as he picked his way through the ss like a man crossing a battlefield.

"Is this really the life you''ve chosen for yourself-forever?" Nathaniel asked, voice calm yet cutting.

Nichs lifted dull eyes. "You came to mock me, is that it?"

Nathaniel dragged a chair into the wreckage, sat, and flicked him a nce brimming with contempt. "Mock you?"

His lips curved in a chilly half-smile. "You''d have to be worth the effort first."

The words lodged in Nichs'' throat; no retort surfaced.

After a bout of harsh coughing, he rasped, "So why are you here? Surely you''re not here to visit me."

"I need something from you," Nathaniel said, unapologetic.

"What could that possibly be?"

"Custody of Dahlia." Nathaniel didn''t bother with a preamble. "Meredith Seiler can give her the life she deserves."

The child''s name wed across Nichs''s face, dragging shadows in its wake. He stared at the floor, wordless, torn between tenacious love and festering spite.

"Hate me all you want," Nathaniel continued, voice dropping to steel. "If you had real courage, you''de at me directly instead of using an innocent girl as your pawn."

Silence pooled wide and deep, swallowing the room.

At length, Nichs muttered, "Fine."

He straightened, eyes glittering with a feral light. "But first-beg me."

All his life, he''d been measured andpared against Nathaniel by his family.

Nathaniel was the summit he could never scale.

Nathaniel said nothing, his expression unreadable.

Nichs staggered upright, one hand braced over his mouth as another coughing fit racked his chest. When the spasm passed, he barkadaugh, half-mad. "What''s wrong? Too proud? If you can''t swallow that ego, why should I give you anything?"  s

"I''m begging you." Nathaniel forced each syble through a throat lined with sand. "Please-hand over custody of Dahlia."

Nichs'' eyes widened, disbelief rippling across his face like ss struck by a pebble.

Not once in their shared past had Nathaniel apologized, let alone pleaded. That iron certainty was suddenly, impossibly, bending before him.

"So you really do care about Ceci," Nichs muttered, bitterness coating every word.

"I don''t just care," Nathaniel said. "I love her—deeply."

Hearing the brother he once idolizedfne522 For original chapters go to find{n}ovel/fne522

confess love for the woman he

himself had coveted left Nichs

hollow, adrift, unsure which hurt

more-jealousy or shame.  s

He scraped together a smile that never reached his eyes. "Good. You love her.

Good for you."

Nathaniel rose, palms settling on Nichs''s tense shoulders. "When will you finally see yourself clearly? You call it devotion, but your feelings for Cec are nothing more than another contest you refuse to fose to me."  s

Nichs pped the hand away, as though it burned.

"Fine. I''ll sign the papers. Now get out."

He could not bear another second of Nathaniel''s moral lecture.

Some truths cut so cleanly they needed no voice.

Nathaniel offered no further sermon. He stepped through the doorway and, before

thetch clicked, called back, "Take care of yourself, Nichs."

Minutester, Meredith''s phone chimed with Nichs'' terse message. He would relinquish custody of little Dahlia.