"If you love her. If you want her to stay. Fight for her." - Janet Gurtler, The Truth About Us

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Silas's POV

I fucked up. I mean, I've always known I fucked up, but I feel now that I've truly processed how much fuckery I have caused.

It burned me to the see the pain in Caden's eyes; to see the hurt, the pain, the anger. Fuck me and everything I've done to her.

I don't want to not see her again; I want her back. I want her to love me as I love her. But I can't fucking do it when all I do is ignore the elephant in the room. I need to address everything I've done the past year, I just don't know how.

I don't know where to even start. How do I explain the horrible way I treated her? Or the way I pushed her out of my life when she needed me the most? Nothing will ever excuse the way I fucking abandoned her.

I couldn't've pushed her away completely. Right? I needed her. I can't live another minute without her. I just need for her to listen.

I know she doesn't want to see me, that much is obvious. She probably fucking hates my guts right now.

I can't tell her in person when I know she will most likely just throw hot coffee in my face. So, I consulted the one person I know I could trust.

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"How the hell did you manage to screw up this bad?" Sage's baffled face makes me want to just sock him in the nuts but I reel in my urge of violence. "Sage, that's not fucking helpful; tell me what to do."

"You... are coming to me for," he pauses, grinning from ear to ear this time, "for relationship advice?!" And then he absolutely loses it. He doubles down in fits of fucking laughter. I, however, don't find any of this amusing and step forward to sock him where the sun don't shine.

When he sees me approaching and notices my balled-up fist, he takes a step back, scurrying behind my dining table and using a chair as protection. "I know what you're about to do, Silas, but please, have some regard for the baby-maker downstairs." He lifts the chair up and swats it toward me as if it's a fucking sword and he's communicating "Back! Back, I say!"

"Sage, I swear to fucking God, you're centimeter defeater will be fine if you fucking help me on this."

Sage gasps. He fucking gasps, clutching his heart as if I betrayed him. "First of all," he holds his pointer finger to me like a fucking English teacher. "my centimeter-defeater is very much more than a centimeter. It's like more than three centimeters, okay!" I sigh. I fucking hate him.

"Second of all, why the hell are you asking me for advice. I've never even had a long-term relationship." He plops down the chair and makes his way to my fridge, having already cleared the pack of string cheese that were brand fucking new. "Go to Sawyer for this kind of stuff."

"Yeah, I would, but Sawyer is... occupied, right now. With his new boyfriend and shit. Look, are you going to help me out or not?" I ask, exasperated.

Sage looks up, thinking, and I wait a whole of five seconds before I get impatient. "Will you hurry the fuck up!" I demand.

He ignores me, continuing to stroke his chin as if there's actually shit in his dumbass head.

And then his eyes light up and he says, "I got it!" I, admittedly, perk up. "Really!? Alright, spill!"

Waiting expectantly for Sage to open his fucking mouth, he doesn't. Instead, he contemplates something and then fucking says, "But first, you have to give me a foot massage."

My smile drops. My whole face drops as I look at his evil-ass face and see that he is completely serious. There is no way in hell that my little brother is going to force me to give him a fucking foot massage. No. NO! I refuse.

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"Put your finger right there - yeah, there, ohHhhHH, yeahhh baby, JeAsus, that feels fucking good." I am going to punch this motherfucker.

I am going to punch him, then shove his foot down his esophagus.

I am massaging his foot. I am fucking massaging his goddamn feet; I have fucking oil and everything. I am going to kill myself right after I kill Sage, and shove his toe thumb up his nose. It doesn't fucking help that he sounds like he's getting his ass fucked as I fucking do this.

"You are surprisingly good at this." I can feel the amusement laced in his words. "Now, can you get those bunions on the sides of my feet. Those have been giving me hell recently."

I don't say anything. I begin to knead his fucking bunions. I press hard. Then I maneuver his foot so that the palm of my hand is at the center of his foot. I press his foot between my hands and squeeze. I squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze. "Okay, Silas, that's good, it's starting to hurt."

"Oh, really? My mistake." I smile innocently.

I take the heel of his foot into my right hand while my left hand go to his arch. Then I twist his heel to the right, and the body of his foot to the left, hard. "Okay, Silas. O-okay, that's enough. That-that's good. It's good. STOP FUCKING TWISTING MY FEET!"

I don't stop. I switch to his left foot and do the same. "OwWwwwW, Silas. Stop it!" I don't stop. I twist, and twist, and twist, until I feel a greasy plop on my forehead.

My head swings back and I blink back the surprise. He hit me. With his greasy-ass foot. I am going to kill him.

I get up, noticing the pained look on Sage's face and laughing maniacally. "Your face will be bruised but you'll live." I stalk towards him, still on my couch when he quickly notices the evil look in my eyes and the fact that he is completely defenseless.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I just wanted a free massage, come on, you would do the same, don't lie!" Actual fear sets onto his face which makes my revenge that much more sweet. "Maybe you're right. But you know what, I don't fucking care." Then I lunge for him.

Sage leaps from my couch to the marble floor of my penthouse. Trying to scramble away, one foot sets in front of the other, but he doesn't go anywhere.

His oily-ass feet causes him to run in place. Twice he almost slips and falls, trying to get away. Eventually, his legs give out, and he feels on his back, groaning in pain.

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My shoulders shake in laughter as I replay what just happened in my head. Two minutes of me just straight laughing. Tears begin well up in my eyes.

"You're a dickhead, you know that." Sage is looking at me, unamused, his greasy-ass feet now on my carpet. "Don't care. And hey, can you not rub oil all over my carpet."

Wrong fucking thing to say. Immediately after, Sage begins rubbing his big fucking feet all over my 500-dollar carpet. He laughs while doing it and doesn't notice the hard shove I perform on him, making him stumble to the floor again.

"Next time you blackmail me into massaging your feet, I am taking a meter stick and shoving it straight up your asshole, got it?!" The threat did not go as planned. Instead of cowering in fear which is what Sage was supposed to do, he cackled in hysterics, shaking and laughing on the floor like an insect.

"I fucking hate you," I mumble. He has been no help whatsoever, and I've judst lost the last two hours of my life.

As if hearing my mutter, Sage finally says, "Okay, okay, I'll tell you my idea." He is still smiling, and I glower. "Okay, ready? I don't think you're ready for this. You are definitely not going to be ready-"

"Just fucking say it, Sage!"

"A POWERPOINT!"

Sage was brutally murdered that night.

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Caden's POV

It's been a week since the... office incident. I haven't seen or spoken to Silas since. He has stopped dropping off my lunches.

I can't say I regret what I told him. I meant every word. Why he thinks it's okay for him to just walk back into my life as if nothing's happened is beyond me.

I want answers. I want to know why he's always acted as if I was scum on the bottom of his feet. Why he treated me so badly, and then all of a sudden wants me. Why he shut me out when I wasn't ready to open up about my past. Why he abandoned me.

I have so many unanswered questions, and if Silas isn't willing to give me them, then I am not allowing him to have me.

For the first time in my life, I finally know my worth, and I know I deserve a hell of a lot more than what he is offering to me. Now and then.

Arriving at work, I settle into my office, checking Mr. Aldridge's emails, appointments, you know, usual work stuff.

When I sign in to my email account, I notice one email out of place. I don't recognize the email address and there's no title or writing attached. The only thing there is a PowerPoint.

If I get hacked, I swear to God.

Too curious for my own good, I click on the link.

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PowerPoint:

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Silas's POV

Sage looks at me, completely outraged after reading the PowerPoint I just sent to Caden's email.

"WHAT?!" he begins to stutter, baffled and honestly, speechless, after reading. "You-you're letting her go?! Why the fuck are you doing that. That's, like, the last thing you should be doing!"

I sigh. Why the hell did I show this to Sage. Sawyer should have been my first option. "Yes, it's the right thing to do." He still stares at me, not believing a word I am saying, or probably not hearing what I'm saying. "I've fucked up our relationship too much; the damage is irreversible." I take a pause. "But do you like the theme? I thought it totally matched Caden."

He shakes his head. "Who cares about the stupid theme?! Silas, this is Caden. Caden. You can't just let her go! You're like in love or something, aren't you?" He paces in my office and glares down at me as if I've just committed murder.

I sigh. Yeah, I should have known he wouldn't understand. "Bro, it doesn't matter what I feel. The thing that matters is what she feels. And obviously, she wants nothing to do with me. But the least I can do I tell her why. Give her some answers to my douchbaggery."

He opens his mouth to retort something back, but I cut him off. "Enough, Sage. Decision is final. I already sent it."

"WELL, THEN UNSEND IT, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!" And then he lunges for my laptop.

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Caden's POV

I absolutely rush to Sanders Corp, feeling a mixture of anger, and anger, and yeah, more anger after having read that goddamn 11-slide PowerPoint. Well, I got my answers. Yay, I know why Silas was such an asshole, great.

What I am not happy about is that last bit. Yeah, that one is fucking bullshit, and I will make it known to him what a complete moron he is, and I will shove those stupid words down his ugly nostrils.

I can't even think straight with my eyes getting blurred from the angry unshed tears making their up my eyeball sockets.

I ignore the men and women passing by me when I get to the building. Luckily finding an empty elevator, I finally take a breather. I attempt to think rationally, to not react in an unrational way, but fail completely. All I feel is the adrenaline in my blood and the strong urge to strangle Silas with my bare hands.

Finally, when the elevator dings open and I see the familiar floor, my eyes narrow in on the office door.

I stomp my towards that door and make no hesitation to burst in, completely unaware of my surroundings.

My eyes instantly zero in on Silas, who looks startled and flustered to see me, but honestly, I don't give a damn. I am pumped on instinct which is probably why I shouted, "What kind of fucking bullshit is this!"

It's then that I realize Silas, Sage, and Sawyer are not the only people in the room. In fact, there are at least seven other persons, sitting at a large desk that was not previously there before. Silas is directly in front of the door, while Sage and Sawyer sit to the sides of him. How my brain failed to notice such a large object occupying the room is beyond me.

When my eyes dart around to the shocked faces staring back at me, I can feel my dignity evaporate in my body. "Um, sorry, I thought, uh, I thought this was a different room." Why did I say that. WHY THE HELL DID THAT COME OUT OF MY MOUTH??!!

Well, it's too late now. I dart out of the entrance of the door and scramble away from the office, hoping that nobody follows me as I wallow in embarrassment.

My feet rush to the elevator. When I am safely inside, I take deep breaths, trying to slow my racing heart and the fact that I just humiliated myself in front of so many people.

I am so lost in my humiliation that I don't notice the large figure entering the elevator. They stand beside me while I bury my face in my hands, feeling completely defeated.

"Don't cry," the figure whispers. But, I know the figure, and it just makes me cry a little harder.

I can feel his heat, smell the strong cologne on him, and neither of those things makes me feel better. "Go away, Silas," I say in a strangled whisper.

"I can't do that." I don't see him but I feel his body closer to me. "We're in an enclosed space."

Now it's my turn to think of a witty comeback. "Well... then stand over there and face the corner. And don't talk." Yeah, I don't think my brain understood how very much not witty that was, but I don't really care anymore. I just want to wallow in self-pity in peace. Silas is ruining that.

Completely ignoring my order, he says in a low voice, "Why are you crying?"

I scoff. Is he really asking me this. "You want to know why? Because of you, who else. Now go over there, you're in timeout."

He doesn't say anything, but he also doesn't move. After what felt like a lifetime, I hear his feet shift, and look up to see that he is facing the elevator console. He then presses the emergency stop button and then turns to face me.