Chapter 21: For Love

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, exasperated—not because of the news, but because of what had just happened in that studio.

I was afraid. I wanted to run. I wanted her out of this house immediately.

Her eyes widened at my sudden outburst.

“Because we are still deciding if we are going to keep the baby. It’s too soon to tell. We still don’t know if…if the baby is okay.”

My head was about to explode.

“Keep the baby? Damn it, Sarah. With this family? Do you want to raise a baby more fucked up than us?”

I knew I was hurting her with what I said, but I was genuinely worried after my encounter with the soon-to-be grandpa.

“Alexander isn’t like that, Ollie. I love him,” she whispered, placing a hand instinctively over her belly.

“We are leaving. Tonight,” I snarled.

“No. Wait. Sis. I—”

I let her speak, because I could tell how hard this was for her, but I couldn’t go soft on her.

“I know this situation is not ideal, but I can’t just run away,” she went on, trying to remain calm.

“Yes, you can. Let’s leave! Just say goodbye to this fucking shit show and come with me.” I stepped closer and grabbed her hands.

“Leave where?” she demanded. “You barely have any money!”

~Ouch.~ She was not wrong, though.

“I can figure something out. We have friends and credit cards. We can move to a more affordable state, and we can—”

“Listen to yourself,” she cut me off.

“No. ~You~ listen to ~your~self! You don’t need anything from them. Not a single penny.” I hated how I was raising my voice at her.

She didn’t look convinced.

“That’s it, right? It’s all about money.” I scoffed. “You’re willing to endure it all for comfort.”

“No! Not for money.” She blinked those lamb eyes at me. “For love. For love, I will.”

~Kill me now.~

“Love will not keep you safe,” I laughed. “You are not safe here. Do you understand that?”

“Alexander will protect us, Ollie.”

~Is your brain even working?~

“Fucking stupid. You are fucking stupid, choosing a miserable life. Look at what you are doing! Can’t you see they will never accept you?” My words were sharp as a knife.

“But Alexander does, Ollie. That’s all that matters to me.”

“That’s all that matters to me,” I mimicked her, the bully inside me taking over. “For how long? Do you even know if he wants the baby?”

“What if tomorrow he knocks up someone more young and beautiful than you? Stop being so naive, Sarah.”

“Stop, you are hurting me.” Tears started to drop down her cheeks.

~Damn it, I thought you were smarter than this.~

“No, I am opening your eyes by telling you the truth. Hate me if it makes it easier for you to free yourself of…this. Do you even know what you want?”

“I don’t know, it’s all too soon,” she mumbled, confused.

“What do you ~want~?” I grabbed both of her arms, looking for an answer.

She wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Ollie, please stop.”

“~Fuck!~ Tell me what you want!” I shook her.

“I—I don’t know!”

I let go of her, feeling complete disappointment. I had nothing else in me.

“Don’t leave!” She pulled me back into her arms. Her head was hiding in my chest like a small child.

We stayed like that for a couple of minutes.

“You have been my strength, Ollie. Just knowing you are here keeps me going.”

“Please, don’t cry.” ~I would never leave you.~ “Why? Why did you hide it from me?”

“It’s not what you think. Alexander’s family… It’s complicated. He wants to keep it secret until the announcement, but the pressure is too high. He has too much to lose. His family too. It’s delicate.”

“Announcement?”

“Yes, tonight. To the media,” she explained.

Oh, shit. They would not like that.

“I don’t think that’s a great idea. At all.”

This announcement sounded like a death sentence, making me more nervous than ever.

“He said that making it public is the way to keep the baby safe.”

I raised my eyebrows. He was willing to let his family burn in his scandals.

“Safe?” I muttered. “Please believe me when I say you and the baby are not safe here, a stupid announcement won’t change that!” Me included. They wanted my head too.

“No, Alexander doesn’t stand alone, Ollie.”

Right, he had that brute animal of a brother.

His words to his father stuck in my mind. ~Olivia and Sarah are under my protection.~

I knew their family now, and I didn’t want to give them the pleasure of extending their proposal to my sister.

But if she was being honest, so would I.

“They offered us money. Edmund and Luther.”

“They what?” She gasped.

I swallowed thickly. “For us to disappear.”

“Alexander needs to know about this,” she said nervously.

“Darius already knows.”

“Oh, this night is just going so wrong, Ollie.”

No kidding.

She pressed her face against my chest again, closing her eyes.

“I know you are judging me, but wherever Alexander goes, I will follow.”

She was clearly in the misery of being blindly in love.

“You are crazy, do you know that?” I murmured. “You have a real wish to see us both dead.”

“Will you forgive me?”

“No. That’s what you get from keeping secrets from me.” Her tears fell on my neck and chest while my arms encircled her.

“It’s not like I wanted to keep it from you,” she confessed, sobbing. “You are my only family.”

I caressed her head, comforting her while she cried.

I was mad at her, but more with myself.

I’d been so focused on myself that I hadn’t been there to guide my little sister.

It was my fault, and she needed me. I’d been absent for a long time.

“You and me against the world, right?” I reminded her while she hugged me with mixed tears of sadness and relief.

I didn’t cry, but my heart was bruised. I was a failure.

Her sobbing had stopped, and she took a deep, shaky breath.

“I don’t know what I would do without you.”

~I don’t know what I would do without you either~, I thought but didn’t say.

“Please, don’t go more cuckoo on me and shave your head tomorrow,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Her laughter cleared the tension, and the last of my anger disappeared.

“I love my hair,” she said with pride.

“And I love you.” I kissed her head.

“Not more than me.” She squeezed me hard, resting her head on my chest like she used to do when we were kids.

#

~Darius~

“I was eleven years old when I received the most valuable lesson,” I said to the audience in front of me, all of them silently watching my every move.

“We were on a road trip somewhere on the West Coast when a car’s honk alerted us to pull over. We soon found out that our bikes had fallen and been smashed by the car behind us.”

Alexander, being only six, was devastated. That was his favorite bike, and he used to play all day and night with it.

He even brought it into the house, staining my mother’s white Persian carpets with its little wheels.

People started laughing, and I smiled at my mother.

I was used to this, handling a crowd and having control over people, and I could be charismatic when I wanted.

“My father took us to the nearest bike shop and asked the person behind the counter to repair the unique small red bike. As soon as he recognized my father’s name, he said, ‘Rothschild? Edmund Rothschild? ~Why repair an old bike when you can buy a new one?~’”

I glanced at my father and uncle standing together with their usual dark stares focused on me.

They would not distract me. I continued with the speech.

“I watched the salesman pull a red bike, similar to the one we were asking to be repaired, and place it in front of us.”

I paused, looking at the audience. They were captivated.

“My father shook his head. ‘It’s not the same bike,’ he said. I watched how my father paid double the price for the repair, and we waited until it was ready for pickup.”

Now, you all might guess how furious Mother was once she saw Alexander roll around the living room with his little repaired bike.

The audience laughed again.

“My father smiled and told me, ‘That’s life, son. Your dreams. Projects. Expectations. They are just like that red bike. They can get smashed in a split second. So, when things get tough…don’t let other people fool you into thinking that changing a bike that needs work for a new one is the solution.’”

I shook off my father’s intense stare and found my brother’s warm eyes.

Alexander stood calmly. He looked centered. Different.

He nodded for me to continue.

“I always think of the red bike when it comes to our business.” I swallowed. “Why? Because the lesson is simple. It’s about problem-solving and facing facts. It’s about standing up for what has value in your eyes, and believing in and holding your vision. Even when no one else does.”

Alexander watched me expectantly with a light smile on his lips.

There was no turning back now.

“That’s how we, the Rothschilds, have formed our enterprise. Through years and years of fixing the emblematic red bike. No matter the circumstances. No. Matter. The circumstances.”

I stopped to look at my hands and took a deep breath.

“Today, a new beginning starts for our family and the future of our business with these announcements. We are delighted to share with all of you that we are expecting a new family member.”

I waved my hand toward my brother at the back of the room.

“Congratulations to my brother, Alexander Rothschild, and his beautiful girlfriend, Sarah Summer, for their baby on the way.”

A large gasp was heard through the crowd, and my mother choked on her wine, splashing the red liquid on her dress.