Rachel whirled around to find Everett standing in the doorway. He carried a wooden box in his hands and a dead-eyed expression on his face.

“It was you?”

She barely got the words out before she started to sob again.

“She was supposed to be mine and your father took her away from me.”

Then the monster, whom she’d known her entire life as her loving uncle, closed the door and began to move toward her.

Decalogue: Top of the World

DECALOGUE

Top of the World

I

Everett Grant hung up the phone; he couldn’t believe what his brother had just told him. How could that even be possible?

Cancer?

Allison had lung cancer and, according to her doctors, it was inoperable.

Austin had delivered the news matter-of-factly, as if reciting crime statistics. Everett presumed that was his way of dealing with shock; stick to the cold, hard truth and don’t let others see how much it affects you.

Didn’t matter. Everett was devastated enough for both of them.

He had been in love with Allison for over thirty years—ever since he’d met her at an Oxford library, brought her home to meet his folks, and his brother had stolen her away from right under his nose.

That hadn’t been how Austin portrayed it. For years, he’d dined out on the story that Everett and Allison hadn’t been serious, just friends. And that shortly after she’d called Austin in London to go for drinks, they couldn’t deny their magnetic attraction.

An outright lie on his older sibling’s part.

While Everett had been getting the teaching degree that would guarantee him a yearly salary, Austin had gotten Allison caught up in a whirlwind romance. By the time he went down to London with a university job and good intentions, Austin and Allison were engaged to be wed, before Everett had gotten the chance to get down on bended knee and propose.

He was convinced that Austin had been aware of his desires and purposefully preyed on Allison, knowing he had a small window to dash Everett’s dreams. He was certain that Austin had meticulously plotted a course that would win her heart—getting back at Everett for besting him at countless endeavors throughout their childhood and adolescence.

Everett had hated his brother ever since.

But he had still been in love with Allison and realized it was better to have her in his life than not at all. He knew if he ever voiced his beliefs about Austin’s courtship and motives, Allison would have stuck by her husband. She was a loyal and loving woman—one of the many reasons Everett continued to adore her.