Page 161 of Seizing Control: Part Two

Those features are only the ones he told me about.

I can also see units capable of creating laser beams once activated.

“This house has tech that I’ve never seen in real-life,” Cub tells me.

From a few feet away, Toker adds his thoughts, “Almost makes me like him again.”

My attention is split as I listen with half an ear as my tech officer launches into an in-depth description of the amazing things the security system can do as I simultaneously track Lazarus and Cherub. They’re standing next to Asher’s incubator, discussing something in low tones. It’s intense, not exactly a quarrel, even if Cherub’s posture is rigid.

Nadia approaches from the other direction. Stepping between them, she draws my wife away from her first love and out of the private NICU. Like we’re puppets on a string, Lazarus and I follow them. Everyone other than the medical staff trails behind us. Their eager prattling is at odds with the foreboding that’s making my gut churn.

“Were you arguin’ with Cherub?” I murmur to Lazarus.

“I don’t think so.” He shakes his head, exhaling slowly while he opens and closes his fists. “She’s happy... but she’s not really. I don’t get it. This solves her problem, no more rushing between the hospital and home. The house is in her name only. Everything we’ve done?—”

“We shoulda talked to her about it first.”

We lapse into silence when we find the two women in the foyer near the front door. They whisper together for a moment, then hug. Our entourage fills the tastefully decorated lobby, circling us in a way that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The appearance of Hunter is the final straw for me. I angle my back to the wall as I brace for my wife to drop the ban hammer on us.

Clear-eyed with her shoulders straight, my duchess says, “I’m so grateful for what you’ve done... it’s hard to believe?—”

“Believe it,” Lazarus replies in a stern tone. “This was all for you... to make your life better.”

His reasoning goes unanswered because Nadia announces, “What Anna is tryna say—” With a terrifying smile on her face, the crazy blonde draws a handgun from the small of her back and points it at me. “—is she appreciates all your help.” Nadia waves the muzzle in Lazarus’ direction when he strides toward Cherub. “But she’d like you to leave now.”

“What the fuck?” Focusing on my wife, I shake my head. She’s half-hidden behind her best friend, but I can see that she’s on board with this confrontation. “Explain yourself.”

“I asked for time and space.”

“And we told you that you’d get it,” Lazarus exclaims. “Within reason.”

A muzzle is notched to the soft spot where my skull meets my spine. “Warned ya that I’m Team Cherub... so listen when I tell you that it’s time to leave and not come back until you’re summoned. My little cuz has made her wishes clear, now you needa heed ’em.” He aims his second Glock over my shoulder at Lazarus. “Both of ya.”

Tilting my head, I scowl at my disloyal SAA. “I’ll have your patch for this.”

“No, you won’t,” my duchess tells me. There is titanium resolve glimmering in her eyes when she circles her index finger in the air. “Nothing will happen to anyone involved in this.”

In response to my wife’s signal, half a dozen new weapons are pointed toward me and the fuming man standing across the room from me. The Moscato & Monet club girls are armed. My tech officer tentatively brandishes his handgun as well, although he is uncommitted. Gabbi is the only person other than my brother without a firearm. I glare at him questioningly. When Hunter simply shrugs in response, unconcerned with the ambush unfolding in front of him, I realise that this was planned. Every person here is in on it, bar me and Lazarus. We were led like lambs to the slaughter. Nadia used us to get the house finished, then she hung us out to dry in support of her best friend. And, although she’s missing, I’d bet my last dollar that Mumma is in on this as well.

“I won’t keep either of you from your children, however, I want the time and space I was promised...” Trailing off, Cherub looks around for strength, and receives it in the form of my younger brother looping his arm over her shoulder. “Six months. I need six months of no lies, no secrets, and no leaving.”

“I won’t stay away from you for six months.” My wife swallows hard in the face of my aggressive denial, then she adjusts her stance to accept the familiar sapphire-blue Sig Sauer that Hunter holds out to her. “Ain’t fuckin’ playin’ here, wife. This is unacceptable. We had an agreement.”

“An agreement that you were intent on ignoring,” Cherub snaps back at me. She sights me up, switching her attention to Lazarus when he makes a sudden move. I can read his intentions, clear as day, and so can my wife because she cautions, “Don’t. I know you’re some kind of secret superhero, nowadays, but I will shoot you.”

“We can talk about this, sweet thing... come to a compromise. I didn’t fake my death for you to destroy our relationship out of some senseless determination to establish boundaries that we don’t even fuckin’ need.” All pretence that Lazarus isn’t Venom resurrected under a new name is forgotten as he becomes reckless in his pursuit to change his woman’s mind. “You don’t have to go to extremes to make your point.”

“Look, I appreciate everything you’ve both done, but this isn’t senseless, it’s important to me to have boundaries and expectations that you respect.” Her cerulean gaze gleams as tears well in her eyes. My duchess sniffs and bites down on her bottom lip. The glare Hunter shoots my way could peel paint, and it ratchets up the guilt that I feel over my role in creating the lack of trust my wife has for me. “We can’t build a relationship on quicksand. Trust is important to me—and, sad as it is to admit in front of everyone—I don’t trust either of you right now.”

“This is bullshit.” Lazarus drags his hands through his hair. His right leg bounces twice. He inhales deep and holds his breath while I brace for his dark side to emerge. I can feel the change coming over him, a shift in his energy that spells disaster for our future if he doesn’t regain control of himself fast. “I’ve done my time. Stuck by your side for months, through thick and thin. That’s gotta mean somethin’, Lil?”

“You destroyed your G-Wagon in a fit of rage,” Cherub retorts.

“Because he—” Lazarus points at me as he defends himself. “—hurt you.”

“The reason is unimportant... what matters is that you’re unpredictable. You keep things from me. You come and go as you please. I’m still being treated like a child, even after I’ve proven over and over to be an asset if you’ll let me.”

“The reason is every-fuckin’-thing... nothing else gets to me, except you. I’m unpredictable because that keeps you safe.” He drags his fingers through his hair before he jabs at the air between them with two fingers to punctuate his next words. “Everything. I. Do. Is. For. You.”

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