Chapter 5 The Unwelcome Brother

The recovery was a slow, sun-drenched crawl. Liam, pale and propped up on a mountain of pillows on the back porch sofa, became the still center of the Stirling family universe. And orbiting him, with a frequency that grated on Aria's every last nerve, was Elias Vance.

It began subtly. A text message from Elias checking in. Then a delivery of a ridiculously expensive ergonomic pillow "for the back." Then, the day Liam was finally cleared to move about more freely, Elias showed up with two tickets to a championship football game he "couldn't use."

"I can't go, mate," Liam had said, gesturing to his sling with a wry smile. "Unless you fancy pushing me around the stadium in a wheelchair."

Elias had just grinned, a easy, open expression Aria didn't recognize. "Next season, then. It's a date. We'll get box seats."

We. The word echoed in Aria's head.

It became a pattern. Elias started dropping by on Sundays, not for the formal dinners her mother insisted on, but casually. He'd show up wearing a simple henley and jeans, carrying a six-pack of the imported German beer Liam liked. He'd find Liam on the porch, and they'd sit for hours, talking.

Aria would watch them from the kitchen window, a cold knot in her stomach. She'd see Liam throw his head back and laugh at something Elias said. She'd see Elias, his posture relaxed, gesturing with his bottle as he explained some complex business strategy, making it sound like an adventure. She saw the way her brother's eyes, once dull with pain and boredom, now lit up with interest whenever Elias's car pulled into the driveway.

Her safe space, the chaotic, comfortable familiarity of her family home, had been invaded. The sound of his low laugh drifting in from the porch felt like a violation. The sight of his leather jacket slung over the back of her father's favorite armchair made her jaw clench.

She tried to voice her concern once, to her mother as they chopped vegetables for a salad. "Don't you think it's a bit... much? Him being here all the time?"

Her mother didn't look up from the cucumber she was slicing. "Oh, Aria, don't be silly. The poor man is lonely, I expect. All that money, that big empty penthouse. He enjoys the company. And he's so good for Liam. Takes his mind off things."

Poor man? Lonely? Aria wanted to scream. Elias Vance was a apex predator, not a lonely orphan boy. He wasn't here for the company; he was here for the conquest. He'd taken her professional victory, and now he was annexing her family, piece by piece.

The final Sunday of the month was a barbecue. Her father was presiding over the grill with ceremonial importance, the smoke carrying the smell of searing meat across the lawn. Liam was holding court at the patio table, his sling off for the first time, looking more like himself than he had in weeks. And Elias was right beside him, flipping burgers with her dad and handing Liam a plate with a familiarity that made Aria's skin crawl.

She felt like a ghost at her own family's party. She moved between clusters of relatives, accepting hugs and inquiries about work with a tight smile, all the while tracking Elias's movements. He was a chameleon. Discussing investment portfolios with her uncle, admiring a cousin's new baby, helping her mother carry out a heavy tray of potato salad. He was seamlessly stitching himself into the fabric of their lives, and no one but her could see the needle.

The sun began to dip below the hedge, casting long shadows across the lawn. The crowd had thinned. Her parents were inside, starting the cleanup. Aria was gathering empty bottles from the table when she realized Liam and Elias were no longer on the patio.

She found them around the side of the house, near her father's neglected tool shed. They were looking at Liam's car, which had been delivered from the impound lot a few days prior. It was a grotesque sculpture of twisted metal, a brutal reminder of how close they had all come to a very different ending. The sight of it stole the breath from Aria's lungs.

Liam was quiet, just staring at the wreck. Elias stood beside him, his hands in his pockets, saying nothing. The usual easy banter was gone, replaced by a somber, shared understanding.

Aria hung back, hidden by the thick trunk of the old oak tree, her heart thudding painfully. She watched her brother, seeing the shadow of the trauma pass over his face.

Then, Liam spoke, his voice low and thick with an emotion Aria couldn't quite place. "You know, when I woke up in that hospital... the first thing I remembered wasn't the truck. It was the smell of smoke... and someone shouting my name. Really shouting it. Like they were..." He trailed off, shaking his head slightly. "I never got to thank you for that. Properly. Not just for pulling me out. For... for that. For not letting me go."

Elias was silent for a long moment. He didn't offer empty platitudes. He just gave a single, slow nod, accepting the weight of the words.

Liam turned to him then, and the smile he offered was small, genuine, and utterly devastating to the woman listening in the shadows.

"My own sister would have skinned me alive if I'd died in that heap," he said, attempting a joke that fell a little flat. He clapped his good hand on Elias's shoulder. "Seriously, man. I don't know what to say. You're... hell, you're like the brother I never had."

The words landed not like a whisper, but like a physical blow to Aria's chest.

The brother I never had.

The cold knot in her stomach exploded into a torrent of icy, sheer panic. This wasn't just an invasion anymore. This wasn't a game of corporate one-upmanship. He hadn't just stolen a client or charmed her parents.

He had stolen her brother's heart.

And standing there in the gathering dusk, surrounded by the ghosts of the afternoon's laughter and the grim reality of the wrecked car, Aria felt the last vestiges of her own world, her own certainties, crumble to dust. The enemy was no longer at the gates. He was inside the walls, and he had just been named family.