Page 33 of Trouble

William Steel

Of all my children,my two youngest sons had always been my favorites. I know they say you’re not supposed to have favorites, but let’s be honest here… every parent does. And mine were my two mischievous twins, with their red hair and easy laughter that reminded me so much of their mother—bless hersoul.

Granted, it wasn’t a hard list to top thesedays.

I nodded at Louis as he handed me a cup of tea before he slumped down in the leather sofa across from me and sprawled out. “So what brings you by,Dad?”

“Oh, just catching up. I heard through the grapevine that one of you has a girlfriend now? After the disaster with your brother, I thought it best to check in.” My“grapevine”shifted from one foot to the other behind me. What had the world come to when a man could trust his employees more so than his own flesh andblood?

The twins might be my favorites, but neither of them had taken a bullet for me. In fact, I was pretty sure one of them had been the one to nearly kill Wesley a few months ago, to save their traitorous brother. I hadn’t mentioned it to my right hand man—I didn’t need him getting distracted with idle thoughts of revenge. And, as much as the thought of my own blood saving the worthless scum who’s turned on his own father for a girl made me grit my teeth with anger, I knew my sons were loyal to each other. So long as they were more loyal tome,we didn’t have aproblem.

Besides—no matter how loyal Wesley was, he’d never be aSteel.

Still, being Steels didn’t mean I trusted my two redheaded sons to pick my side over the rest of their family’s’. Not after how every single one of their blasted brothers had betrayed me over the past few years. So, I’d had Wesley keep surveillance onthem.

But if one of them had truly been dumb enough to fall for a girl, maybe I could pull Wesley back to focus on more pressing matters. They were smart enough to know a woman was the easiest way for an opponent in this game to control you. No man with half a brain would hand over his heart if he was about to attempt mutiny against the Steel empire—not even one of the two impulsive twins.t to attempt mutiny against the Steel empire—not even one of the two impulsivetwins.

But of course… if theyhad… controlling them both would be so easy, any plans to overthrow me were dead on the stalk. There was no way either of them would do anything that might harm theother.

“A girlfriend?” Louis’ ginger eyebrows shot up in amusement. “Not to my knowledge. But I’ll text Liam to swing by and tell you as well, if you’dlike.”

I nodded and leaned back in the comfortable arm chair. Family ties were so much easier to put up with when you could control them. “Pleasedo.”

* * *

“Hey, Dad.”Liam gave me a carefree nod as he walked in the door, then glanced at my right hand man. “Wesley.”

“Dad was saying how he wanted to check in to hear more about thisgirlfriendone of us apparently picked up,” Louis said from his position on the couch. “Seeing how Marcus’ bird turned out to be a bit of a safetyrisk.”

“Girlfriend?”Liam’s eyebrows shot up as he sat down next to his twin, an identical expression of bemusement spreading across his face. “You hiding something from me,brother?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” Louisquipped.

“Sorry, Dad, no girlfriend. I’m afraid you’re gonna have to stick with Blaine’s kid, if you were hoping for an upcoming expansion to the Family.” Liam gave me a teasing smile—the little bastards knew I’d had to swallow my words about my grandson’s mother whoring around across the European continent when the kid came out looking like a fucking carbon copy ofBlaine.

I narrowed my eyes at his lip, but didn’t bite. “Huh, well that is odd,” I said, motioning at Wesley. “From the pictures I’ve seen, it certainly looks like it—though I couldn’t say for sure who she belongsto.”

Wesley dropped the first photo on the coffee table in front of them. It was of a brunette girl’s naked back pressed up against a window. One of the twins had an arm wrapped around her and his head resting against hershoulder.

“Aw, that’s real nice, Dad. You got him spying on us shagging now? That’s not creepy at all. Are you planning on getting it framed, too?” Liam looked at me with agrimace.

“Since when did sliding your dick between a willing pair of thighs mean we had a girlfriend?” Louis asked, an eyebrow arched. “I reckon we’ve got close to a thousand at this point, then. Gonna be hella expensive in birthdaypresents.”

“And Christmas,” Liam agreed, shaking his head at me. “Honestly, don’t you have anything better for him to do? The other Families not causing enough trouble at themoment?”

Wesley dropped another photo on the table. This one you could see the girl’s face. She looked up at whichever twin accompanied her, the look of adoration plain as day. And he… even the flat photograph captured every ounce of love written so clearly across his features you had to be blind not to seeit.

Wesley put another photo on the table—the two of them laughing and holding hands. And another. Kissingtenderly.

“I’m sure you can understand how I became a bitconcernedthat there might be just a tiny bit more to this girl than your usual tarts. These three pictures were taken over the span of a few days. As far as I’m aware, you don’t often keep seeing these ladies.” I smiled cooly at my sons, who’d both grown remarkably quiet as they stared at the pictures. “So? Is there something I need to know about? I would hate for either of you to do anything irrational, should our enemies come acrossher.”

“Nah, Dad,” Louis said, the same casual indifference in his voice as before. But I saw the half-second’s panicked look in his eyes when he first saw the second photo. “She’s nice and all, but nothing more than a quality lay. We swap, once in a while. Always do, with the good ones. That’s why there are multiplepictures.”

“Swap?” I asked, staring down Liam who—if I wasn’t mistaken—had a slightly ashier hue thanbefore.

“We both fuck her,” Liam clarified, giving me a smirk. “You don’t let pussy like that just get out of your bed without offering your favorite brother a go, too. I’m sure you’d have done the same with Louisa, if your brothers were still alive. I’ve heard how she squeals more than once, and you know what they say about the loudones.”

“Don’t be crass. She may not be your mother, but she still deserves yourrespect.”

---