Chapter 1The Softest Shield

My brother has been a "princess" since the day he was born.

At twenty-four, he still hands me water bottles because he supposedly can’t twist the caps off. He won't leave the house without a cloud of expensive cologne, his fingernails are always buffed to a high gloss, and his bag is a graveyard of lip glosses and hand mirrors.

My husband, Ethan Grant, despised him.

Every time Ethan finished hurting me, he’d mock my brother to my face.

"Jamie, don't look to your family for backup," he’d sneer, wiping my blood off his knuckles. "What’s that little fairy of a brother going to do? Come over here and cry while he applies glitter to my nails?"

But that night, after the blows stopped and the room went quiet, I couldn’t take it anymore. I crawled into the corner and dialed my brother’s number in secret.

"Riley," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I want to come home."

Half an hour later, the front door was nearly kicked off its hinges.

Riley charged in, sobbing so hard his eyeliner was smearing down his cheeks. His legs were visibly shaking, but he thrust his phone forward like a shield, standing between me and the man I married.

Ethan raised his hand to backhand him.

Riley flinched, his eyes squeezed shut, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "That’s him! Get him!"

A split second later, the man who had followed Riley through the door stepped into the light. He caught Ethan’s wrist mid-air, twisted it with a sickening pop, and slammed him face-first against the wall.

* * *

In our family, my brother was always the "useless" one.

He was the one who couldn’t fight, the one who was terrified of everything, the one who needed constant looking after. When we were kids, a common moth in the house would send him screaming onto the sofa.

Once, my dad asked him to take out the trash. Riley held his nose, walked to the hallway, and ran back crying.

"There was a cockroach by the bin," he wailed. "And it was looking at me!"

My mother would sigh, calling him spineless.

"But it was so black! And it had wings!" he’d argue, his eyes brimming with tears.

Adulthood didn't change much. After college, he didn't go for a corporate job or law school. He went to beauty school to specialize in nails and professional makeup. The relatives gossiped behind his back.

"A grown man doing 'girly' things like that... it’s not right," they’d say.

Riley heard them once and hid in the bathroom for fifteen minutes. When he came out, his eyes were red, but he whispered, "I’m making an honest living with my hands. I’m not stealing from anyone."

I had protected him my whole life. But even I had to admit, he wasn't exactly the kind of brother who could protect me. Especially not after I married Ethan.

Ethan owned a high-end home remodeling firm. At thirty-two, he was handsome, charismatic, and knew exactly what to say. When he was courting me, he was the gentlest man I’d ever known.

My mother said, "He’s stable, he has a career, and he adores you."

I believed her.

One month into the marriage, he told me he didn't like me wearing sundresses. "My wife is too beautiful. I don't like other men looking at what’s mine."

The second month, he convinced me to quit my job and become a housewife. He said he wanted to take care of me. "I hate seeing you stressed at the office. Just stay home. If you want something, I’ll just transfer you the money."

I hesitated. He looked at me, hurt. "Don't you trust me, Jamie?"

I hated conflict, so I gave in.

After I quit, my world began to shrink. If I stayed at my parents’ house for more than three hours, the texts would start.

Not done talking yet?

You have your own home now. Stop running back to your mother every day.

The more I tried to explain, the more volatile he became. The first time he hit me was because Riley sent me a birthday cake. The frosting said: To my sister, forever 21.

Ethan played the perfect host while Riley was there. The moment the door closed, he threw the cake into the trash. "Your brother is pathetic. A grown man obsessing over his sister like a clingy kid. It’s sickening."

"He’s my brother, Ethan," I said.

He slapped me so hard my ears rang.

He froze, looking at his own hand. Then, he dropped to his knees, wrapped his arms around my legs, and sobbed.

"Jamie, I’m so sorry. I love you too much. I just can't stand the thought of anyone else being in your heart. I promise, it’ll never happen again."