Page 28 of Red

“Zeev and I have gotten married, and I will take you up on your offer of learning about The Wolves, taking over for you when it’s time.”

The room goes silent once the words leave my mouth. You could hear a pin drop. I never understood the saying until this very moment. It’s so quiet with tension growing more and more as the silence goes on.

My eyes haven’t left my grandmother’s face, trying to decipher what she’s thinking, but the queen of indifference is stoic as ever. Shifting in her seat, her eyes start to ping between Zeev and me. Finally breaking her silence with a tone laced with sarcasm, she says, “Well, congratulations on getting married. It seems we’ll need to celebrate tonight.”

I’m shocked by her response. Even though she says it with sarcasm, I expected anger. My hackles start to rise. Something bad is coming. As the thoughts enter my mind, a crash of thunder sounds throughout the room. Fuck, a storm is coming.

My grandmother continues leaving no room to argue, “We will have a drink after dinner to celebrate.”

Grandmother interrogates Zeev as soon as the first bite is taken. “Zeev, that is such a usual name. What does it mean?

Zeev responds with no emotion in his voice, “It means wolf.”

Grandmother and Nicholas quickly look at each other, not letting anything show. The questions continue, “What is your family name? A long time ago, I had a friend who had a son named Zeev. The family disappeared many years ago.”

Zeev gives her a detached look giving nothing away. The only way you can tell that he’s having a hard time reigning in his emotions is by the small tick in his jaw. You might even miss it, unless you know what to look for.

Before we arrived, we discussed the possible questions and conversations that might come up while we were at the mansion. One of them was his family name. Hoping it would throw her off, since as far as she knows, the whole family is gone.

Wanting the upper hand, since we have limited resources compared to The Wolves, Zeev clears his throat, slowly allowing his hatred seep through. “My family name is Fortin. Though some might call me The Wolf.”

My grandmother and Nicholas’ faces turn ghost white. They did not expect that answer. Nicholas curses, and looks at Zeev, stuttering, “You're The Wolf?”

Zeev nods, holding his head up with pride, then a wicked grin comes over his face. Nicholas throws his fork down, his face getting red. It seems Nicholas is realizing something. He stands, leaving us all sitting there and cursing.

Chapter 21

Zeev

Dropping my name at the table gave me the best reaction I could’ve asked for, possibly even better than I could’ve imagined. Glad that Blanche and I went over a series of questions and conversational prompts that could come up, Blanche had been certain that her grandmother would demand to know my surname.

A few minutes pass because these assholes don’t know what to say. It makes me want to laugh right in their faces. But I have to play it cool. We need them to think that we’re playing by their rules. Blanche thinks we’re going to destroy the business.

She thinks this is the answer, but I‘m going to prove to her that we will rule together. I’ll be the king of The Wolves and she will be my queen. I refuse to rule this world without her. Finally, Nicholas the asshole speaks up, looking ghastly, and stutters out, “You’re The Wolf?”

It seems that my answer has fully registered in this dumbass’ head. I bet that he is starting to put together that I’m the one who has been stopping some of their ‘transactions’ from taking place.”

I’ve been able to keep my true identity a secret from The Wolves by only leaving one name behind: The Wolf. He finally gets up without explanation and leaves the room, cursing as he goes. I’m sure that he is going to do a little bit more investigating, maybe even setting up more security, now that he knows who I am.

Old Lady seems to recover once Nicholas leaves the room, finally speaking up. It seems she decided to take back on the role of the doting grandmother. She starts asking me more random questions, as she says in an effort to know me better. The last questions pique my attention “What is it that you do for work?”

“Security.”

I keep it simple because I don’t want them to know what I do. I’ve already given them my calling card name. I need to protect Jake and the company. It would be easy to connect the dots between the company and I, and realize the company has also been causing havoc within their system. Using it to keep tabs on them and the goods that they move throughout this country.

Blanche’s grandmother seems to give up on fishing for more information. Not sure if she feels that she has all the information she needs or is just tired of the charade of being a normal family, the conversation becomes stunted after this. This dinner is the most awkward thing I’ve ever had to deal with, and I’ve been in some pretty fucked up situations. I would suffer through a million dinners like this just for her. Since the moment I saw her, I knew that I would do anything for her. The only woman who brings me to my knees.

Finishing up dinner, Gregory walks over to talk to Old Lady Marelle, whispering to each other. It seems a bit heated. I can’t hear what they’re discussing, but Gregory seems to relent as his shoulders start to sag. I look over at Blanche and nod towards them to see if she has any ideas what it could be about. Shrugging, it seems she’s clueless too. I love how we read each other without speaking.

It goes to show that I was right about us being destined for each other. The stubborn beauty still seems unsure that we’re meant for each other, but her body tells me a different story. Every time she’s near, her body responds to me. I can see the goosebumps that take over her body as her nipples harden. She thinks I don’t notice, but there’s nothing about her I don’t see. She is an extension of me and soon I’ll have her heart and soul too.

Old Lady Marelle interrupts my thoughts of my beautiful wife.

“Now that dinner is done, let’s move to the sitting room. Gregory is preparing our drinks now. I hope you like scotch, Mr. Fortin. We’ll be drinking The Macallan 1926 Fine, which was given to my late husband before he passed away.”

Nicholas decides to rejoin the group for after dinner drinks, walking over to the old lady he leans down and whispers in her ear, causing my eyes to narrow in on them. I’m not even sure why he has to be included. He didn’t contribute anything during dinner except to leer at my wife. Is he such a bitch for Old Lady Marelle that he needs to heel right by her side?

Nicholas comes around sitting opposite of my Red. I give him a look of disgust as he does. I do not like Nicholas being around my wife. To pass the time, I pull out my knife Lucille and start playing with it in my hands to keep them busy. Nicholas is staring at my wife’s gorgeous toned legs. I try to draw his eyes away from her.

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