Chapter 77

Adrian: The Mu Chuan from Lakeview?

Adrian: Is that when they met?

Miles stopped typing. Julian had known all along?

Miles: If you knew, why didn't you tell us?

Miles: [angry] [angry]

Julian took his time answering.

Julian: If I couldn't solve the problem, telling you wouldn't have helped.

Miles: ...

Adrian: You're an asshole too.

Theo: What's there to worry about? Ellie has better taste than that. Besides, all she cares about is studying.

Adrian: Good point. I feel better now, thanks.

Theo: You're welcome.

Miles could see their reasoning, but an alarm was still ringing in his head. Mu wasn't like the other guys who had bothered Elise. This time, Miles felt an actual threat.

Miles: I beat him up today. Guess what happened?

Julian: ?

Adrian: He beat you up instead?

Theo: Same guess.

Miles choked on his reply, then kept typing.

Miles: Ellie was so upset she cried. She put medicine on Mu Chuan herself and scolded me. She said if I hit him again, she wouldn't speak to me!

He smiled as he sent it. The account leaned a little away from the truth, but if it made his brothers pay attention, that was enough.

Julian was in his room on a video conference, glancing at the chat from time to time. When he read Miles's message, his face went rigid. Then it grew visibly darker.

The people on the call shifted nervously. What had happened to Mr. Whitmore? Had someone said something wrong?

Adrian, meanwhile, was having his makeup done at the recording site for a hugely popular reality show. The producers had invited him to be a regular cast member. He hadn't wanted to do a variety show, but earning more meant he could buy his sister more pretty dresses. That was why he'd agreed.

He stood up. “Tell them I won't be filming this episode. Say I'm not feeling well. And book me the earliest flight home.”

His manager stared at him. It had taken real effort to get him on this show. How could he just leave?

“What if you upset the production team?”

“Then they're upset,” Adrian said coldly.

This wasn't a level-one alert. It was level ten. If he didn't get home, that Mu guy would steal his sister away before he knew it.

In the team's training room, Theo held his phone in his left hand and stared at the conversation. Finally, he ground his cigarette out in the ashtray, pressing it down several times.

A message notification sounded. He opened it and found a message from Elise.

Elise: Have you thought about it, Theo?

Elise: Come home and live with us. The food at the team house isn't good, and our chef has been amazing lately. Everything is so delicious!!

Elise: Well? Tempted?

After giving Miles a thorough scolding, Elise had gone back to her room. When she came out of the shower and remembered how he'd charged in and hit someone without finding out what had happened, she'd thought of Theo.

At Lakeview, Miles had even asked Theo for fighting tips. That meant Theo was the better fighter. With her third brother home, someone could keep Miles in line. If Miles refused to behave, Theo could beat him up!

She'd sent the messages expecting a difficult campaign. Theo had resisted moving home for a long time. Even after the brothers had begun getting along better at Lakeview, he had quietly changed the subject whenever she brought it up.

Lying on her bed, she swung her feet in the air and considered what argument to try next.

Theo: I'll move back tomorrow.

Elise stared at the screen. She read it again to make sure she hadn't imagined it, then slowly typed a question mark.

Elise: ?

Theo: The food here is awful. I can't stand it.

Elise: Haven't you always eaten the team food?

He'd seemed perfectly happy with it before. Why had he suddenly decided to come home?

After a pause, Theo replied.

Theo: Oh. Suddenly I can't stand it anymore.

Elise: ...

Her confusion lasted into the next day, when Adrian came home too.

Elise had just returned from school when he rushed over and swept her into a crushing hug.

“Ellie, I missed you so much!”

He'd been away working, too busy to stop for breath. And while he'd been gone, Mu Chuan had found an opening. The thought made Adrian grind his teeth.

Elise was used to his dramatic greetings by now. With her brother hanging off her like an oversized stuffed animal, she put down her backpack and patted his arm.

“I'm suffocating,” she said without expression.

Adrian let her go.

Julian sat on the sofa, scrolling through his tablet. Miles came home and immediately poured himself a glass of water, which he gulped down.

At the door, Theo pulled out his earbuds and came in with a suitcase. He stopped to look around the living room. For an instant, his expression was complicated; then it cleared.

Elise's heart lifted. She still didn't understand why he'd changed his mind, but he really had moved back.

She had always hoped the family could live together. Julian, Adrian, and Miles had all lived elsewhere before returning one by one. Now that Theo was back too, they were finally reunited in the fullest sense. A family ought to live together.

Then she grew anxious. The others hadn't said they had completely forgiven Theo. Julian had promised to accept him, but that didn't mean all the distance between them had vanished. What if the others treated him coldly now that he was here?

She could at least give him a warm welcome herself. She started toward his suitcase, only for two figures to get there first.

Miles looked as though his rescuer had arrived. He seemed ready to throw his arms around Theo, but everything he wanted to say came out as, “I'm so glad you're back!”

Theo was a better fighter than he was. Just because Miles couldn't beat Mu Chuan didn't mean Theo couldn't. Theo could give the man a proper beating and put an end to him hanging around their sister all day.

Miles's grin nearly split his face.

Theo didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Adrian folded his arms in front of him. “I got here before you. What took you so long?”

He'd arrived that afternoon; Theo had dawdled until evening.

“I had to ask for time off and pack,” Theo said with a sigh. “Not everyone can be as impulsive as you and leave whenever they feel like it.”

He had to admit he was impressed that Adrian had walked away from a variety show to get home.

Julian glanced up at his brothers, then returned to his tablet. “Your room's been cleaned. It's the one you had before.”

Theo's grip tightened on the suitcase handle. He'd agreed to move back on impulse, and the memories that rushed over him when he walked through the door had caught him off guard.

He was quiet for a moment. “Okay.”

For Elise's sake, making peace with those memories wasn't so hard.

Elise stood frozen beside them.

What was happening? Theo had come home, and Julian, Adrian, and Miles were all welcoming him? Where were the barbed remarks? The jealousy? Why was everyone getting along so strangely well?

At this rate, they didn't need her to mediate at all.

Even after dinner, watching her brothers smile at one another in such unusual harmony, she couldn't make sense of it.

She was about to return to her room to do homework when Adrian caught her and said he wanted a word.

In the study, Theo and Miles were already waiting. Even Julian was there.

Elise sat down. Adrian and Miles took the seats on either side of her. Theo dragged over a chair, turned it backward, and sat facing her.

She edged back. Why did this look like an interrogation?

A short distance away, Julian worked on his laptop. He knew what his brothers were up to and was content to let them carry on.

He'd already crossed swords with Mu. As far as he could tell, the man's feelings for Elise were sincere. His family background, character, and ability were beyond reproach, and more unusually, he treated her well. Julian still wasn't entirely comfortable with the situation, but for now he intended to watch and see how long Mu could keep it up. If his brothers wanted to make things difficult for the man, Julian was happy to watch that too.

Elise widened her eyes. “What are you all doing?”

The brothers exchanged looks. None of them seemed to know how to begin, and each was a little embarrassed to ask.

At last Theo said, “Tell us how you met Mu Chuan.”

Elise bit her lip. She understood now. Adrian and Theo thought the same thing Miles did: that Mu was pursuing her.

With a sigh, she explained how they'd met and described each of their encounters in detail. “Mu Chuan really doesn't like me that way,” she concluded.

The brothers fell silent. There was a reason their sister had never dated in her previous life. How could she be this oblivious?

It seemed Mu was drawing close to her without making his intentions obvious. That made him harder to deal with than the boys who started by confessing their feelings.

Adrian and Theo looked at Miles. He spread his hands helplessly. Ellie had made up her mind. No matter how often he told her Mu had designs on her, she wouldn't believe him, and bringing it up only upset her. They couldn't speak too plainly about it.

Theo folded his arms over the back of the chair and rubbed his chin with his thumb. “Ellie.”

“Yes?”

His voice turned coaxing. “Who's more important to you, your brothers or Mu Chuan?”

Elise drew a sharp breath. What kind of jealousy was this? Family and friends were entirely different things.

“Of course my brothers are more important.”

The three of them relaxed. Adrian pressed a hand to his chest, feeling some of the danger recede. Theo's expression softened, and he smiled. “Good girl.”

Julian paused over his keyboard. He looked at his sister's profile and couldn't help smiling too.

“Because it's completely different,” Elise added. “You're family, and Mu Chuan is my friend. You can't compare the two.”

The brothers went still again. Their newly mended hearts felt as though they had been pierced full of holes.

Theo pressed his lips together, his expression growing serious. “Then put family and friendship aside. Who do you like more, your brothers or Mu Chuan?”

Adrian and Miles watched her face. Julian looked up from his laptop too.

Elise swallowed. Judging by their expressions, if she didn't say her brothers, she might not make it out of this room alive.

“Of course I like my brothers more,” she said cautiously.

All of them relaxed, trying not to show it.

But Elise remembered Miles attacking Mu without asking what had happened. “Mu Chuan is still a very good friend of mine,” she added quickly, “so please get along with him!”

Before anyone could answer, she jumped up and fled. Behind her, the brothers were left feeling as though their hearts had acquired a fresh set of holes.