Page 130 of The Price of Forever

My brows trekked slowly toward the center of my face. There was no way he had an office and hadn’t told me. “Why on earth does he need an office?”

“It’s the headquarters for Silva Security,” Axel said. “I think that’s the name. What does Silva mean anyway?”

My heart was beating more rapidly now. “Has he had a security company since…you met him?”

“No, he just started it not too long ago.” Axel rummaged in his pockets for something, glancing down as he hunted.

“I was his first hire,” Chico supplied with a smile.

I stared at him, trying my best not to react. I wasn’t supposed to care about what Seven did with his life, in his free time, or with his purported business. In front of everyone here, I was supposed to be a regular client. Not some broken-hearted little girl who fell in love with her bodyguard.

“Are there more?” My voice came out strained as I tried to maintain some degree of lightheartedness.

“Yeah, he just hired a new guy, I think.” Axel swore to himself. “I had the business card here, and I cannot fucking find it.”

“Which one are you looking for?” Damian asked from the front.

“Seven’s!” Axel grunted in frustration and gave up. “Whatever. I had his card, but now I don’t. Metaphor for life.”

“Oh, I have it,” Damian said. “I took it off your desk.”

Axel sent me a flat look. “Damian has it. He took it off my desk.”

I laughed but it died quickly. Not only was there something happening that everyone knew about but me, it was serious enough that Seven had his own headquarters, employees, and personalized business cards. The news settled like a boulder in the ocean. I’d been fucking this man for weeks. Why were my brothers and the back-up guard the ones to break this news to me?

I wanted to stew. I wanted to fester. I wanted to scream my head off. But nobody in this car was supposed to know that I cared what Seven did with his life, so I crossed my arms and forced myself to stow it away where I could deal with it after this momentous visit to my new apartment.

I drew a few deep, cleansing breaths as my brothers chattered about something else. And then we were in the whirlwind of checking out the apartment: testing the locks, opening the windows, examining the doorframes, discussing wall colors, imagining where the furniture would go. With my brothers—including Trace— and Cora at my side, things moved at light speed. They had the vision and the resources to make whatever they wanted happen. Whatever I wanted happen. Before we concluded our visit, a delivery person arrived with things that Axel ordered on the down low. Cleaning supplies, pantry staples, cookware.

“I’ll work on getting the rest of your things brought over,” Axel promised me. “You could be living here by tonight if you wanted. What do you think?”

All I could do was look at Axel, Damian, and Trace with watery eyes and hug them each in turn.

I was finally starting a new chapter of my life. With my family at my side.

And no matter how good it felt, I couldn’t keep myself from wishing Seven were there, too.

****

Chico and I arrived at Seven’s apartment around dinnertime, much later than I’d expected. I found Seven in the kitchen, chopping onions at the island.

“Hey, guys,” he said brightly.

But his tone and general hotness were no match for the bombshell revelation in the SUV earlier. Just from looking at him, all those bad feelings came back. The secrecy. Keeping me in the dark. Everyone else knew but me.

How fucking dare you.

“How’d your day at the office go?” The question erupted from me like a geyser. There was no dancing around the issue.

Seven looked between me and Chico a few times. “It was fine.”

“Building something big over there, huh?” I crossed my arms, maintaining my stance near the door. Chico backed away slowly.

“Well, I’ll hand this back to you,” Chico said.

“Thanks, Chico. I’ll touch base with you later.” Seven watched as Chico slipped out of the door. Once it clicked shut behind him, his gaze returned to me. “What’s going on?”

“I should ask you the same fucking question!” My voice was nearly a shout, and I couldn’t contain it. I was furious. Humiliated. Depressed. “Turns out everyone and their brother—including my own brothers—knows about this business you’ve started. Axel even has a business card! Yet somehow, conveniently, you forgot to mention it to me?”

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