You Belong to Me – 84

 

“Damn,” Silas whispered, looked distraught.

 

“Do you think I’m wrong?” Corey asked.

 

“No. I was just thinking. Whenever I found a girl I liked, he did his best to break it up. He’d point out how she wasn’t good enough for me. That he was older and wiser and he had to keep me from making a fool of myself over some female.”

 

“He wanted you all to himself.”

 

“Yes. Not… Not like that sounds. He just…. He had no one else in his life but me.”

 

“You told me he was egotistical, domineering.”

 

Silas nodded. “He thought he was the perfect brother. The one who knew what was right for me and God help me if I disagreed.”

 

“Then as you said—when you implied, at least to his way of thinking—that you wished you were me, everything got mixed up in his mind.”

 

“This is crazy,” Silas said forlornly. “He’s crazy.”

 

“Not to sound callous, but I think at this point, that’s a given.”

 

Silas looked at him, tears in his eyes. “Can you ever forgive me for… for what I caused?”

 

“It wasn’t your fault! Whether we’re right about the reasons behind what he did or not, you had no way of knowing he’d take a few drunken words from you and turn them into an obsession.”

 

“I… suppose not. Corey”—Silas looked down, wiping the back of his hand over his eyes—“I didn’t know. I swear it. I didn’t know it was him.”

 

“How could you have? You didn’t have any idea what was going on.”

 

“True… I guess.” Silas smiled weakly. “You did keep it to yourself very well.”

 

“Well, as I told the police after my friend was murdered, I had no proof I was even being stalked. Luckily they believed me and….”

 

“And stopped him before he killed someone else—or you.”

 

         “Yeah.”