Page 33 of King of Sinners

“What the actual fuck!” I don’t yell very often, preferring a quiet, lethal sort of rage, but I’m yelling now. An inch from Leo’s face. It’s been coming for a while. There’s a part of me that likes to believe that I started it with what I did that night at the club, but I actually know the truth.

As a man who pays attention to the details, I can’t ignore this one. Leo has been unhappy for a long time. He wants to be an alpha and he’s been chafing under my leadership.

And if it had been Roman, I’d have given him more power. But Leo is too volatile, and I don’t trust him.

He knows it too, which is why this fight has been brewing for a long time. I’ve been avoiding it, not because I’m scared of Leo, but because I know, once it’s done, we might never come back from it. We might be done forever.

“You’ve got a ring on her finger?” Leo spits back, just as loudly. “You’re really going there?”

“I’ve got two, actually,” I respond because I’ve got nothing to hide and I’m not ashamed either, and now that we’re here, there is no holding back. There was a part of me that kept away from Charlotte because of the way I’d gotten between her and Leo.

But I see it clearly now. Charlotte was never going to be his. And my brother and I…it’s time to let all the shit out and see where we land. Roman was right about that.

And what I know for a fact is that Leo wasn’t right for her. Never had been. And there can only be one boss in the Kincaid family and that is me. He can fall in line or he can leave.

“This is the same girl that yesterday, you said you’d sacrifice—” I punch him in the nuts before he can finish. Hard. He goes down like a sack. Pun fucking intended.

It’s not something I’ve done to either of my brothers or anyone else for that matter, since I was twelve, maybe thirteen, but I can’t have Charlotte hearing him. What would she think if she heard I told them she was a just a pawn to get what I wanted.

“What the fuck?” he groans from the floor, his voice high pitched like he’s the one who is thirteen again.

“If she hears you and she bolts, what are we going to do then? Use your head, Leo.” I love my brother, but his temper gets in his way. Often. One of the many reasons he’s not fit to run this operation. He should know that.

He starts to get up, pressing one hand on the floor as he lifts his torso. “So what if she bolts? She was never our problem. Your priorities are so out of whack.”

He needs to think in this moment, strategize more, not just react. I may have ulterior motives where Charlotte is concerned but that doesn’t mean my plan isn’t solid. “There is clearly a war going on between the Dukes and our largest competitors. The men we want to make pay for what they did to our father.” I stare at him like this should all be obvious.

Not that’d I’d give Charlotte over to anyone. I said I’d do anything for my family, and I will, but I can accomplish this without one pretty little brown hair ever falling out of place. That is becoming clear to me now. Charlotte is not a pawn to be sacrificed.

But for right now, I need to manage Leo. He’s got it in his head that I took his favorite toy, and it’s time we settled things brother to brother.

An angry Leo is a problem far more dangerous than either pissed-off, murdering Italians or upstart, thumb-up-their-ass Brits.

I’m not going to tell him that I’m using Charlotte in this war, because I’m not. But if he takes that as an implied part of the plan then so be it.

Leo has got to stand down and today is the day.

Because Leo, he won’t ever be king, but he could be the man who tears the castle down.

Leo slowly gets up, I don’t help him. “I know Roman is siding with you, but that doesn’t make you right. And if you don’t make this right?—”

I straighten up, glaring at my brother. “And you think I’m wrong?”

Leo’s teeth clench. “I know you are. You can paint it however you want, but it should be me between her legs. That was my ass to hit. Not yours.”

It takes everything in me not to punch him again. I know it’s a problem that his words make me want to hit things. Charlotte should be worshipped, not used and thrown away. And any man talking about her ass fills me with rage. “Get the fuck out, Leo.”

Leo steps closer instead. “I’m not leaving.”

“Why not?”

“Fine. I’ll go. But I’m taking her with me.”

I stare at him. Leo is losing his shit. “Let me ask you a question first.”

“What?”

“Did you think about her once in the last two years?”

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