MY EX-HUSBAND'S BROTHER

Family Ties

Benjamin's POV

My mother's house looked the same as it always did. Perfect gardens, perfect paint, perfect everything. The Harrison family specialized in perfect appearances.

Too bad we were rotten underneath.

Evelyn sat beside me in the car, nervous. "Are you sure about this?"

"No. But it is worth trying."

We walked to the front door together. Before I could knock, it opened.

Grace stood there, dressed impeccably as always, but her eyes were red. She had been crying.

"Benjamin. Evelyn. Come in."

The house was quiet. No sign of Sylvia or anyone else.

Grace led us to the sitting room and poured tea with shaking hands. "I am sorry for the dramatics. This week has been..."

"Difficult," I finished.

"That is putting it mildly." She handed Evelyn a cup. "I owe you an enormous apology, my dear."

"Mrs. Harrison, you do not..."

"Yes, I do. I treated you abominably from the day Richard brought you home. I made assumptions about your character, your intentions, your worth. I was wrong about all of it."

Evelyn set down her tea. "You were protecting your son."

"I was protecting the idea of my son. The version I wanted him to be, not the version he actually is." Grace dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. "When I found out about Tonia, about the children, about the stealing, I realized I did not know my own child."

"None of us did," I said quietly.

Grace looked at me, really looked at me, for the first time in years. "You knew, did you not? That Richard was rotten?"

"I suspected. That is why I left the family business."

"I thought you left because you did not love us anymore."

"I left because I did love you. I did not want to become like Father, like Richard, like everyone else in this family who cares more about money than people."

Grace started crying again, softly. "Your father would be ashamed of what Richard became."

"No, he would not," I said honestly. "He would be proud. Father built his empire on lies and manipulation.

Richard learned from the best."

Grace flinched but did not argue. She knew I was right.

Evelyn reached out and took Grace's hand. "Mrs. Harrison, the prosecutor needs people to testify at Richard's trial. People who can speak to his character, his patterns of behavior."

"You want me to testify against my own son."

"We are asking if you would be willing to testify to the truth. Whatever that truth is."

Grace was quiet for a long time. Then she said, "What do you want to know?"

Over the next hour, Grace told us stories about Richard growing up. How he lied to his teachers, his friends, his family. How he cheated his way through school. How he learned to manipulate people from a young age.

"I thought it was just normal childhood behavior," Grace said. "All children lie sometimes. But with Richard, it was different. He did not lie because he had to. He lied because he enjoyed it."

"Did you ever try to stop him?" I asked.

"Your father said it showed initiative. He said Richard would go far in business if he knew how to bend the rules."

"And you agreed?"

Grace looked at me, her eyes full of regret. "I did not know how to disagree with your father. I was young when we married, barely twenty. He was powerful, successful, intimidating. I learned to go along with whatever he wanted."

"Even when it meant raising a son with no moral compass," I said.

"Yes. And I will regret that for the rest of my life."

Evelyn squeezed Grace's hand. "It is not too late to do the right thing now."

Grace looked at her, then at me. "If I testify, Richard will never forgive me."

"He does not deserve your forgiveness," I said. "He tried to kill Vincent. He stole millions of dollars. He destroyed Evelyn's life. What does he deserve from you?"

"He is still my son."

"And Evelyn was still his wife. That did not stop him from betraying her."

Grace stood up and walked to the window. "You are right. Both of you. I will testify. I will tell them everything I know about Richard's character."

Evelyn stood too. "Thank you, Mrs. Harrison."

"Please, call me Grace. I think we are past formalities now."

The front door opened and Sylvia walked in, stopping short when she saw us. "What is going on here?"

"Evelyn and Benjamin came to ask for my help," Grace explained.

Sylvia looked between us, her expression suspicious. "Help with what?"

"With Richard's trial. I am going to testify."

"You are what?" Sylvia's voice rose. "Mom, he is your son. Our brother."

"He is also a criminal," Grace said firmly.

"But family is supposed to stick together."

"Not when family is wrong." Grace turned to face her daughter. "Sylvia, Richard tried to kill Vincent Henderson. He stole millions of dollars. He fathered children with his mistress while lying to his wife. These are not small mistakes. These are serious crimes."

"But if you testify, everyone will know. The whole city will know our family is a mess."

"Our family has been a mess for a long time," I said. "We just hid it better."

Sylvia glared at me. "You have no right to judge us. You left. You abandoned this family years ago."

"I left because I refused to participate in the corruption. There is a difference."

"You always thought you were better than the rest of us."

"No. I just wanted to be different. And I am sorry that bothers you."

Sylvia looked like she wanted to argue more, but Grace held up her hand. "Enough. Sylvia, I am testifying and that is final. If you cannot support that decision, you can leave."

Sylvia stared at our mother, shocked. Grace had never stood up to her like that before.

"Fine," Sylvia said finally. "Testify. Ruin what is left of this family. See if I care."

She stormed out of the room. A minute later, we heard her car peel out of the driveway.

Grace sighed. "She will come around eventually. She is just scared."

"Scared of what?" Evelyn asked.

"Scared that if Richard can fall so far, maybe the rest of us can too. Maybe none of us are as good as we thought we were."

She was right. That was exactly what Sylvia was afraid of.

Grace walked us to the door. Before we left, she pulled me into a hug. "I am proud of you, Benjamin. For becoming the man you are. For helping Evelyn. For doing what is right even when it is hard."

I hugged her back, feeling years of distance start to close. "Thank you, Mom."

"Take care of her," Grace whispered. "She is special."

"I know."

In the car, Evelyn was quiet. I drove for a few minutes before asking, "What are you thinking?"

"I am thinking about families. About how complicated they are. How you can love someone and still acknowledge they are wrong."

"Are you thinking about Richard?"

"No. I am thinking about Grace. About how much courage it takes to testify against your own child."

"She is a stronger woman than she gives herself credit for."

"So are you a stronger man than you give yourself credit for."

I glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"You left your family to protect your integrity. That could not have been easy."

"It was the hardest thing I ever did. But it was also the right thing."

"No regrets?"

"Only one."

"What is that?"

I pulled over, needing to see her face. "I regret that I did not meet you sooner. Before Richard. Before all of this."

She reached out and touched my face. "Maybe we met exactly when we were supposed to. Maybe I needed to go through all of this to be ready for someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

"Someone who sees me. Who values me. Who does not want to change me into something else."

I leaned in, close enough to kiss her, but still holding back. "Evelyn, I..."

"I know. The timing is terrible. I am still married, still a mess, still figuring out who I am."

"You are not a mess. You are healing."

"Then let me heal with you. Let me figure out who I am while getting to know you."

"Are you sure?"

"No. But I am sure I do not want to wait anymore. Life is too short to wait for perfect timing."

This time, I did not hold back. I kissed her, soft and careful, giving her every chance to pull away.

She did not pull away. She kissed me back, her hand sliding into my hair, her breath mixing with mine.

When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard.

"That was..." she started.

"A bad idea?" I finished.

"The best bad idea I have ever had."

I laughed and kissed her again, longer this time, deeper.

My phone buzzed. Detective Morrison: "Need you both at the station. Richard is asking to see Evelyn. Says he will confess to everything if she agrees to visit him."

I showed Evelyn the message. Her expression hardened.

"Let's go," she said. "It is time to face him.”