Brody - Ellie Masters Page 0,120

not that he would with Brody and his brothers standing by my side, but he communicated his thoughts in the righteousness blazing in his eyes and by the twisted grimace on his face.

“I’ll be right by your side.” Brody stands beside me and loops an arm around my shoulders. “And you don’t have to be here. It’s just his arraignment. We can leave.”

Nervousness piles on top of itself within my chest and my belly. I can’t help it, but I’m a bundle of nerves. Terrified to see Mark in person again, I wish I could put this off.

“I know, but I feel like I have to be here.”

My reasons aren’t I can rationally explain. It has to do with a certain white dove who seems to have become a frequent visitor of late. I sense my mother’s spirit at work and she’s sending a message I can no longer ignore. It’s time to live up to my name and practice the grace of forgiveness.

Mark took from me. He took from her. And, while I don’t understand his motives, I feel like I need to see this through. I need to understand why he did what he did.

Two months of a forensic accounting team digging through our books, and countless inquiries from multiple state and federal agencies, it feels as if my entire life has been turned inside out and scoured clean. Two million is the finally tally. Two million in lost revenue skimmed off our profits over the span of a decade, most of that in the past three years.

Today is only the first of many steps. Mark’s arraignment is where the charges against him will be officially read. He’ll either plead guilty, or not guilty. That plea determines my next step. All I want is for him to give back what he took, but even failing to do that, I want to know why.

While hurt, I’m not out for blood. Mark’s the only family I have left and I wish for some sort of resolution. That may, or may not, be possible, but I’m willing to forgive if he’s willing to make things right.

If it wasn’t for Asher, who stepped up to help me run Atwood Estates, and the new marketing campaign launched by Cage’s brilliant mind, I would be bankrupt. Restitution wouldn’t matter. As it is, I’m limping along. Brody recused himself from my account with Sterling Enterprises and assigned a junior member of their team to see us through this process, but he watches over the entire process like a hawk.

Even now, knowing what Mark did, I still think of Atwood Estates as ours. Brody recommended a lawsuit demanding a judicial dissolution of Atwood Estates, formally kicking Mark out of the company. He’s adamant I seek full compensation for the lost profits.

Expensive, and time consuming, it will be some time before that bit of nastiness finishes. Part of me hopes Mark will just sign over his interest in Atwood Estates and make this a clean break, but he hasn’t shown any inclination he’ll do that.

Instead, he’s been out of communication. Only our lawyers speak to one another. I should hate him for what he did, but the truth is far different. I miss my uncle and the loving relationship I thought we had. Brody thinks I’m too soft. I feel differently about the whole thing.

“I’m nervous about seeing him again.” I can, at least, admit that.

I rub my hands up and down my arms. Brody doesn’t understand why I’m not going for the jugular with Mark, but I’ve spent too many years with hatred infesting my heart; not for Mark, but rather for Brody.

If I’ve learned anything it’s that I’m not willing to live my life like that. Forgiveness is a much more powerful, active, and freeing emotion. The proof of it stands beside me right now. If I can forgive Brody, then I owe it to Mark to be open and receptive as well.

“There’s nothing he can do to hurt you.” Brody kisses the top of my head as he snugs me tight against him.

“I don’t think he’s going to hurt me.” At least not more than he already has.

Brody’s been by my side the entire time, a stalwart buffer against Mark’s plan to steal not only Atwood Estates, but the land passed down for generations from mother to daughter as well. He intended to take all of it and I’ve yet to really wrap my head around that.

I reach for Brody’s hand. He’s a big