The temptation of my brother-in-law-Chapter 165 - One Hundred and Sixty-Five

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Five

Malachi’s POV

I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Alicia. Always Alicia.

Even with Emily back from the dead. Even with threats piling up and operations demanding my attention. Even with everything falling apart around me, my mind kept going back to her.

Where was she? Was she safe? Did she think about me the way I thought about her?

Probably not. She’d heard those recordings. Heard me at my worst. She was probably scared of me now. Disgusted by me.

The thought made something twist in my chest.

I sat in my office staring at reports I wasn’t reading. Emily’s face kept replacing the words on the page. Her voice. The way she’d looked at me like I was something broken that couldn’t be fixed.

Maybe she was right.

But I didn’t have time to think about that now. I had two major problems and not enough resources to handle both.

Emily. Zhao Wei.

One was a ghost come back to destroy my family. The other was a business rival who needed to be eliminated before he became a bigger threat.

I called Maurice.

"I need you to handle something," I said when he answered.

"What is it?"

"Zhao Wei. I want him dealt with, but I can’t focus on it right now. Not with Emily."

Maurice was quiet for a moment. "You want me to assign someone else?"

"I want you to use Travis."

Another pause. Longer this time.

"Travis? He’s been drinking himself into oblivion since Alicia left. You think he’s capable of handling Zhao?"

"I think he needs something to focus on besides his failed marriage. Give him the details. Tell him it’s coming from me. He’ll do it."

"And if he refuses?"

"He won’t."

I hung up before Maurice could argue. Travis was a mess right now, but he was still a Blackwood. Still had the training. Still knew how to hurt people when it was necessary.

And maybe keeping him busy would stop him from calling me every other day asking if I’d found Alicia.

Like I’d tell him if I had.

I grabbed my keys and headed for the garage. I needed to get out of Dark City for a while. Needed space to think. And there was something I needed to do in Silver Lake City anyway.

The drive took three hours. I didn’t turn on music. Didn’t make calls. Just drove in silence, watching the landscape change from urban to suburban to the sprawling estates that marked Silver Lake’s wealthy district.

The Blackwood mansion sat at the end of a private road. Massive. Imposing. The kind of house that reminded you who had power and who didn’t.

I pulled up to the front entrance and got out. The place was silent. Too silent. Usually there were staff moving around. Gardeners. Security. Someone.

But today it felt empty. Dead.

I let myself in with the key I’d never bothered to return. The entrance hall echoed with my footsteps. Everything looked the same as the last time I was here. Same expensive furniture. Same paintings. Same cold, lifeless perfection.

I found Travis in his study. Of course he was in his study. Where else would he be?

He sat behind his desk with a bottle of whiskey in front of him. Not a glass. The bottle. He was drinking straight from it, and from the look of things, it wasn’t his first of the day.

He looked up when I walked in. His eyes were red. His hair was a mess. He’d aged ten years in the past two weeks.

"Malachi," he said, his voice slurred. "Come to check on the family disappointment?"

"Something like that."

I closed the door behind me and walked further into the room. It smelled like alcohol and stale air. Like someone had been locked in here for days.

"She’s not coming back," Travis said, taking another drink. "I know that now. She’s really gone."

"Yes."

"I miss her." He laughed, but it came out broken. "Isn’t that pathetic? I treated her like garbage and now I miss her. Now I realize what I had."

I felt disgusted. Not just at him. At myself too. Because I’d taken advantage of his failures. Had slept with his wife while he was too drunk to notice. Had convinced myself it was justified because he didn’t deserve her.

But standing here looking at him now, I just felt tired.

"Did you come to mock me?" Travis asked. "To remind me that I’m a failure? That I lost the only good thing in my life?"

"No."

"Then why are you here?"

I sat down in the chair across from his desk. Looked at him directly. Let him see that I was serious.

"Emily’s alive."

The bottle slipped from his hand. Hit the desk. Whiskey spilled across the wood, but Travis didn’t move. Just stared at me like I’d spoken a language he didn’t understand.

"What?"

"Emily. Your wife’s sister. She’s alive. I saw her last night."

"That’s impossible. She died five years ago. We were all at the funeral."

"We were at a funeral. Doesn’t mean she was in the casket."

Travis stood up. Swayed slightly. Caught himself on the desk.

"You’re lying. Why would you lie about something like that?"

"I’m not lying. She’s alive. She’s been alive this whole time. And now she’s back with plans to destroy the family."

I watched his face change. Watched the disbelief turn to confusion. The confusion turn to something that looked like hope. Then that hope crumbled into devastation.

Because if Emily was alive, that meant she’d chosen to stay away. Chosen to let everyone think she was dead. Chosen to abandon them.

"Where is she?" Travis asked. His voice was barely a whisper.

"I don’t know. She didn’t exactly give me her address."

"But you saw her? You’re sure it was her?"

"I’m sure."

Travis sat back down. Slowly. Like his legs couldn’t hold him anymore.

"Why would she do that? Why would she let us think she was dead?"

"I don’t know. But she’s planning something. Something big. And when she makes her move, it’s going to hurt."

I stood up. Walked to the door. My hand was on the handle when Travis spoke again.

"Does Alicia know?"

"No."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"If I find her, maybe."

I opened the door.

"Malachi."

I stopped but didn’t turn around.

"Thank you. For telling me."

I almost laughed. Almost told him I hadn’t done it as a favor. That I’d done it because watching him break was the only entertainment I’d get today.

But I didn’t say anything. Just left. Walked back through the silent mansion and got in my car.

I sat there for a minute before starting the engine. Looked at the house. At the windows. Imagined Travis inside, drowning in whiskey and grief and the knowledge that another person he loved had chosen to leave him.

I should have felt satisfied. Should have enjoyed watching him suffer.

But all I felt was empty.

Because I wasn’t any better than him. I’d lost Alicia the same way he had. Through my own actions. My own failures.

And now I was alone in a car outside a house full of ghosts, trying to figure out how to fix something that might be too broken to repair.

I started the engine and drove. Didn’t know where I was going. Didn’t care.

I just needed to move. Needed to do something. Anything.

Because if I stopped. If I sat still for too long.

I might have to face the fact that I’d become exactly what Emily said I was.

A monster.

And monsters didn’t get happy endings.