Page 18 of Cruel Knots

Once upon a time...A self-loathing scoff escapes me.

My life is no fairytale.

Lucia was a beautiful princess who had a harem of assassins who’d kill to protect her, but my brothers and I were no fucking princes or knights. Fueled by grief and the need to avenge ourselves, we turned into monsters too.

The curtain beside me flutters slightly, the only sign someone has entered the room. I look toward the floor, noting the lengthening shadow moving toward me.

A smirk rises on my lips.

Not today, Leon, I think, turning around to face the man who’d been slowly creeping toward me.

“What gave me away?” he asks in a low, sulky tone.

“Nothing. I’m just smarter than you.”

“Fuck off!” he scoffs, throwing himself into a winged armchair.

I stare at my younger brother, taking in the single scar that runs across his left eye. Thankfully, his eye was spared when Callum Baldwin lashed out at him for trying to protect me.

The rest of Leon’s face is smooth and flawless. A tiny skull tattoo adorns a spot under his right eye. There’s a wolf’s snarling face tattooed along the column of his neck. Fiery red strands frame his chiseled cheeks, giving him the look of a dark angel.

Over the years, he’s mastered the art of being a shadow. He can be unnaturally silent when he stalks his prey, melting into the night while his target remains oblivious to his lethal presence.

Even now, Leon is garbed in black, his body melting against the dark leather of the couch.

“You look a bit lost tonight,” he says, raising his amber eyes at me.

I shake my head. “It’s nothing. What have you been up to lately?”

“I have big news regarding Lucia tonight.”

Surprise flickers through me at once.

It’s rare for anything to happen at Baldwin Mansion. For the past five years, Leon kept a watch on its occupants. Other than Callum, the rest of the household seems to have gone into hibernation.

Lucia and her father rarely step out of the house, and even if they did, it’d be a small drive to a nearby park. The resident maids and valets carry on with their daily chores without distractions. Callum is the only person that goes in and out of the house regularly.

Walking away from the window, I sit down on a couch. “What’s happening there?”

Before Leon can answer, the door is pushed open loudly. Our youngest brother, Mikhail, walks in, his steel-gray eyes looking between me and Leon.

“Shucks! Did Leon tell you already?” he asks with a huff as he stomps across the room.

Mikhail is a lost case when it comes to being a shadow. He’s always too loud and too impatient, but he picks up the slack by being a master at gathering intel.

A silver cross dangles from his right ear as he sinks into the couch beside Leon. His long limbs are encased in skinny, ripped jeans. An oversized jacket hides his arms which are covered in tattoos.

“What are you talking about?” I say, fixing my gaze on him. “Do you have news to share as well?”

Mikhail glances at Leon before looking at me. A slow grin spreads across his lips. “So, you don’t know.” He cackles. “If you did, you wouldn’t be sitting there so calmly.”

“What is it?” I ask, feeling my insides writhe. “Did Baldwin Sr. die or something?”

“Nah,” says Mikhail. “The old man’s still breathing.”

“It’s Lucia,” says Leon. “She’s getting married.”

“What?” I hiss as rage and despair collide inside me. How can Lucia dare belong to anyone else but me and my brothers? We didn’t go to hell and crawl back out just to lose the person we’d been coveting these past seven years.

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