Only A Millionaire

Chapter 17

BROOKE

"I  know  it  was  overwhelming   today,"  I  said  hesitantly  as  I   walked

hand in hand down Citrus Beach with Liam.

    My  family  was  always  a  little  bit  too   much   when   we   were   all

together in one place, but seeing and talking to them all had  been  a  re-

life for me. I wished Owen could have  been  here, but  I  knew  it  wasn't

possible.

     I  sighed  as  I  watched  the  waves   crash  onto  the   shore.  There

weren't  many  people  on  the  beautiful  stretch  of   beach   that   I'd

haunted when I was younger. it was too cold to swim, and it was over-

cast, but it felt good to be somewhere so familiar.

     Things  had  changed  for  all  of  my  family, and  nothing  was  quite

the  same  as  it  was  when  I'd  left, but  they  were   positive   changes.

     Noah was slowly building his own empire.

     Seth  and  Aiden  seemed  a  little  bitter  about  what  our  father  had

done to our mother, but  I  couldn't  blame  them  for  that.  I  think  every

single one of us hated our father, and the  bullshit  he'd  put  our  mother

through by being a bigamist.

     Eventually,  maybe   we'd    all   see    everything    differently,   but   I

doubted  it. Someday, I hoped Seth  and  Aiden  could  at  least  be  less

angry  about  what   happened. They  were  in  business   together   now,

and they seemed happy with their fates.

    Jade was the  only  one  who  seemed  troubled, but  she  refused  to

share whatever was bothering her.

    Liam  squeezed  my  hand  as  he  answered, "They're  your  family.  I

don't have to love them all."

   "They'll grow on you," I warned him with a smile.

    Liam  was  seeing  my  siblings  at  their  worst  wright now.  My  broth-

ers  we're  overprotective. But  when  they  joined  forces  for  a  common

cause, they were down right dangerous.

     Liam  stopped  and  turned  to   face  me.  My   breath   caught   as   I

looked  at   him,  his  hair  slightly  rustled  from  the  breeze, and  his  ex-

pression somber.

    "I  haven't  really  gotten   to  know  then,"  he  explained. "But  I  want

to."

     I  searched  his  face. I  knew  he  was   trying   to   tell   me   something.

    "What  are  you  saying?"  I  probed,  my  heart  racing  with  anticipation.

     "I  want  to  stay  here  with  you, Brooke. I  want  to  build  us  a  beauti-