Page 49 of His Bride

He raises a brow. “You don’t care, remember?”

“Right,” I say, punctuating my feigned indifference with a mock chuckle that leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

“Fine.” He stands. “Maybe I’ll take her back to Myth, reenact our little primal play, only this time…it’ll just be me and her.”

“I’m starting to think you crave the taste of a bullet in your mouth when I shoot you in the motherfucking face.”

“Threatening your own brother over a woman you don’t care about?” That cocky grin of his is begging to be slapped off and shoved down his throat. “All these violent tendencies over a woman you don’t even seem to want.”

I stare at him. Deadpan. Not saying a word.

“Great. It’s settled, then.” He straightens. “I’ll just head over there right now, take her for a ride in my eyesore of a car.”

“Now look what you did.” This time I pull out my gun and aim at his crotch. “You went too far, and now I’d like to shoot an inch or two off your dick. And let’s be honest here, you can’t afford to lose any length.”

Isaia’s grin turns into a low chuckle, like he’s amused while I’m dead fucking seriously considering shooting his cock off.

“You love that woman, brother,” he says. “And the only person around here who doesn’t know it yet…is you.”

Chapter 13

CAELIAN

It’s about four hours later, and I’m tired of staring at a screen. I rub my eyes, then notice Nicoli glancing at me from behind his laptop.

He looks uncomfortable sitting at Alexius’ desk. Or maybe he’s grown tired of the pretend stick up his ass after a few hours of impersonating his twin.

Maybe moving Nicoli’s shit to Alexius’ office wasn’t entirely necessary, but since the world is going to believe Nicoli is Alexius, the staff around here needs to believe it, too. Even the goddamn security around here knows nothing of our plan.

The ones protecting Leandra and Mirabella were made to understand that the threat Aurelio poses is real. Well, itisreal, but let’s just say they were fed some bullshit plan we uncovered of a fake imminent attack. And Maximo has Alexius’ doctors and nurses locked down with him, with zero contact with the outside world without Maximo’s approval.

Operation fake-Alexius is now in full swing.

Enough mourning time has passed for things to go back to normal. Enough in the modern world. There are meetings, people to see, fronts to keep propped up. An injured brother to impersonate. And a fucking snake in the grass to bring down.

“What if someone asks to see the wound?” Isaia asks.

Nicoli raises a brow. “Who the fuck would ask Alexius that?”

“I don’t know. There are some weird-ass fucks out there,” he says.

“Thing is, someone might.” I frown.

I go through enemies and those who wait in the wings, but the only deadbeat I can think of who’d do that would be the dick, Aurelio.

“Oh, that jackass wouldn’t dare,” Isaia says, following my train of thought.

“He might. He’s that stupid.”

“Well,” Nicoli says, “I’d punch the fucker, but Alexius might just take a finger. You know, for old time’s sake. Or, just say no and give a speech about manners and the dangers of insulting your superiors after trying to shoot them.”

“One of the long, boring, and scary ones?” Isaia asks. “I’m not scared, but others would be.”

I want to make a joke. The situation begs for a joke. But even with me getting stuck into him earlier and making merry of the situation, I don’t feel particularly witty right now. I feel drained, hurting. And I’m going to have to go to bed alone again.

I could get a woman; I know that. We run a club full of hot women whose job is to fuck and do whatever the hell it is we tell them to.

So if I want a blowjob and a nice spooning afterward, they’ll do it with a smile on their faces. And with vigor. But I don’t want that with any of those girls, even if it’s discreet and no one knows.

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