Sweet Little Nephew

Giovanni

"Nice of you to join us," Declan says.

I ignore him.

Benjamin is sitting behind my father's antique desk and a man I don't recognize is standing beside him pointing to something on a document. He's introduced as Michael Smith, one of the attorneys of the estate.

Declan watches me from his place at the far wall. He's leaning against it and has the bottom of his right foot resting on it. His arms are crossed over his chest and he looks so different to how I remember him. Older than he is.

I wonder how he sees me.

Last time I saw him he was fifteen years old. Benjamin has sent photographs over they years, but I threw most away.

When my father married his mother and he became my brother, I was excited about the idea. I liked Declan, we were close, even.

But that was when I'd thought he was my stepbrother, not a half-brother. We were friends before that, too. When my mother was alive.

But with my mother's death, everything changed.

And being back here, it brings back all those old