He'd been a child himself, living in a dysfunctional home.
"I'm stoked you called me," he said.
"But I have to admit, I'm curious about why.
I'm wondering if it has anything to do with Gideon getting back together with Corinne."
That hurt.
Terribly.
I had to suck in a deep breath, then release my tension with it.
I knew better.
I had no doubts.
But I was honest enough to admit that I wanted ownership of Gideon.
I wanted to claim him, possess him, have everyone know that he was mine.
"Why do you hate him so much?" I asked, preceding him through the revolving doors.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, but the hot, driving rain had ceased, leaving the streets awash in dirty water.
He joined me on the sidewalk and set his hand at the small of my back.
It sent a shiver of revulsion through me.
"Why? You want to exchange notes?" "Sure.
Why not?" By the time lunch was over, I'd gotten a pretty good idea of what fueled Christopher's hatred.
All he cared about was the man he saw in the mirror.
Gideon was more handsome, richer, more powerful, more confident .
just more.
And Christopher was obviously being eaten alive by jealousy.
His memories of Gideon were colored by the belief that Gideon had received all the attention as a child.
Which might have been true, considering how troubled he was.
Worse, the sibling rivalry had crossed over into their professional lives when Cross Industries acquired majority shares in Vidal Records.
I made a mental note to ask Gideon why he'd done that.
We stopped outside the Crossfire to part ways.
A taxi racing through a huge puddle sent a plume of foaming water right at me.
Swearing under my breath, I dodged the spray and almost stumbled into Christopher.
"I'd like to take you out sometime, Eva.
Dinner, perhaps?" "I'll get in touch," I hedged.