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be Luke Monroe’s.
                  There wasn’t another letter after that, at least not in this box. Dixie’s mother had run off when Dixie was a toddler, leaving Luke to raise her alone. When Dixie had been five, Luke Monroe remarried a woman named Charlotte who adored Dixie. Charlotte became the mother Dixie had never had. And although Charlotte loved her fiercely, Dixie had always wondered about her real mother. She planned on finding her one day. She longed to know why she had left her.
                  I never wanted her to find Millie Monroe. I hoped the woman was dead and had taken this secret with her. Dixie could never know. She’d had too much loss and pain in her life. It was why I had suffered silently. To protect her. Always to protect her.
                  “Why didn’t you tell her?” Steel asked me.
                  I turned to my gaze to his and studied him. His pain was there. The disbelief in his eyes as he realized his happy world was crumbling. But what I saw most was his lack of need to protect her. No need to keep Dixie safe.
                  “Because I would die to keep her from this kind of pain,” I replied. Because I love her more than you ever could. I didn’t say those last words aloud, but we both knew they were there.
                  “I can’t tell her, can I? You aren’t going to let me explain this to her? I just have to hurt her like you did?”
                  I stood up and moved away from him. I needed some distance between us. He was thinking about himself. He wasn’t thinking about her. That infuriated me. He had planned on making a life with her, yet he wasn’t willing to sacrifice himself for her.
                  “The pain you would cause her by breaking it off with her is nothing compared to this kind of pain. I… made love to her. I’ve been inside her. I took her innocence… and I’m her brother, dammit. That’s fucked with my head. That’s ripped me in two. It sickens me, yet breaks me over and over again. Because… I. Love. Her.”
                  Steel sat there and stared at me silently for several minutes. I waited for him to argue with me, but he didn’t say a word.
                  Finally, when he stood up, he held the letters out to me. “I won’t tell her. I won’t tell anyone,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “I love her too… fuck, this is sick. Does Luke not know? He’s let us both date her. Hell, I’ve asked her to marry me.”
                  I shook my head. “Of course, he don’t know. He woulda never let us date Dixie. This whole fucked up shit happened because the only two people who knew are now gone.”
    I took the letters and held the words that I hated more than anything in this world. “How am I supposed to hurt her?” he sounded so torn. I had been there once too. I had wanted to explain. Every time she had looked at me with those big sad eyes, I wanted to tell her how much I loved her, but it was wrong. This would only hurt her worse. She adored Luke Monroe. Not only would telling her mess her head up, but it would take away the security of knowing her daddy loves her. It would destroy her.
                  “This will kill her. You know that,” I told him.
                  He shook his head and then buried his face in both his hands as we stood there in silence. I understood what he was feeling. I’d been there too. I lived it every day. I missed her with every breath I took. This wasn’t going to get easier for him. But Dixie would heal and she’d find happiness. That was all I had to hold onto. Knowing one day she would get the life she deserved. All the fucking happiness in the world. My girl belonged in the sunshine. I wanted her there. This sick twisted darkness had been mine to suffer through. Now, my brother would share it with