Page 163 of Seizing Control: Part Two

After all, we might be a monster and a savage, but we’re also hers.

So, we’ll do what monster’s and savage’s do best...

We’ll test the boundaries, see how far we can push her, bend her to our will without breaking her. It’s only fair. We did warn her. And it would be remiss of us not to follow through on the first promise we made after cementing our truce little more than a week ago.

The final piece of the puzzle falls into place as I realise I was looking at our relationship the wrong way. Wild with the need to be right, I run through the scenario in my head a second time. I get the same answer. Scared that I’m overlooking something, I crunch the numbers again. The odds of success remain that same.

This plan might just work...

Once we’re outside the electronic gates that keep our woman and kids safe from the world, I turn to Lazarus. He regards me with a surly expression that increases my confidence in the scheme circling my head. The hostility radiating from him isn’t for me. Instead, the man looking back at me is in the process of conceding that we’re no longer in competition for Cherub’s heart. He’s my ally. The only other person on this earth who’s claim I’ll ever accept over my wife. We are partners. Collaborators. Dual faces of the destiny my duchess is trying her hardest to control in an inane attempt to stake out the independence she never truly wanted in the first place.

The rest of the world is her anarchy.

When it’s the three of us, we’re her dominion.

In the light, Lilianna Hudson surrenders to no one.

In the darkness, she submits to us... her monster and her savage.

For a long moment, we keep our gazes locked.

Two men facing the possibility of losing their humanity.

Wordlessly, we lay our resentments to rest perpetually.

To do anything less, is to set ourselves up for failure.

An unacceptable outcome that I refuse to contemplate.

“Fucking speak or piss off,” Lazarus rasps.

“Can’t piss off... I need your help with my next move.” When he frowns, I chuckle, a dark sound that borders on malevolent. “The surveillance you had installed can be accessed from anywhere, can’t it?”

“If Layla hasn’t joined Lily’s little revolt,” he mumbles as he taps away on his phone. Angling the screen toward me, he shows me the inside of Cherub’s house. “For now, it seems like my consigliere is still on my side—the feed remains up.”

“Good.”

“You going to elaborate, or do I need out beat the plan out of you?”

“Much as I’d like to roll with you to burn of my frustrations, I will elaborate on the way.”

“To where?”

“On the way to your workshop.” Grinning, I shove his shoulder. He stumbles off the sidewalk and barely avoids being taken out by a mum mobile. When the ponytailed woman lays on the horn, he flips her the bird. “Classy.”

“I’m giving myself the walk back to your house to wallow, then I’ll pull my shit together.”

“Just in time.” He rolls his eyes. Just like Cherub does. It’s a figurative gut punch that makes my mouth fill with bile. Swallowing the bitterness down, I inform my best friend in a low voice that’s deceptively placid considering the circumstances, “’Cause we have a scavenger hunt to arrange, brother.”

As realisation of my next move dawns, Lazarus’ eyes light up. “Fuck, yeah, we do...”

Heads held high, walking side by side, we stride down my street. The security at the head of the road scrambles out of their vehicle to shadow us. My prospects step out of the gates as they slowly open.

We ignore their questions.

Because we have a mission to complete.

You see, my wife has demanded time and space from us for six months.

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