Page 32 of Salvaged Hearts

“Not a terrible idea—I wish I’d thought of it first.” That soft, melodic voice had both of our heads snapping sideways to where Alessandra hovered in the doorway. “As it is, we have another problem.”

A mirroring figure appeared—minus a few years—with a scowl on her pretty little face. Her hair was darker than Alessandra’s, but just as long, and it was swept back into a loose braid. With eyes nearly the same shade of slate gray, I assumed this was one of her million sisters. Which—at least judging by the hatred rolling off her in waves—was, indeed, a problem.

Alice

Leighton’s teethwere audibly grinding as she stared down the Hart brothers, with determination in the set of her shoulders and fists clenched so tightly her knuckles were white. As if the two men in front of us couldn’t erase us both from existence with a nod to a couple of well-placed henchmen.

“You don’t have a problem; youarethe problem,” Leighton spat, crossing the distance as both men found their feet.

“Leigh,” I scolded, but she paid me no heed. Nope. My baby sister was marching right across the space on a warpath.

“You can’t just wave your wallet around and order people to give up their lives, you self-centered, nepotistic sack of overpriced wine.”

Ollie and I both choked on our laughter. Judging by his prolonged coughing fit, he’d mixed a bit of saliva with his humor, and even as she glared at him, Leighton smacked him across the back like he’d inhaled a grape. Greyson shot daggers in my direction, but I just shrugged, hands up defensively.

“Don’t look ather,you psycho; look at me,” Leighton snapped her fingers, and I decided I’d never been so damn proud to be a Rhodes before. Adorable little psychopath. Growing up with eleven brothers and sisters had its trials, for sure. But she didn’t even have the full story and was ready to soak this immaculate basement gym with gasoline and strike a match herself. My protests be damned. Hell, Leighton and Kaia had gone full-blown retribution on one of their bullies growing up, and he ended up leaving the school for the shame of it. We were all athletes—save for Finn—but it was the twins we could count on getting red-carded and going toe-to-toe with the refs. Authority had never been a qualifier for respect in her world, and I envied that as she jerked her hand away from Ollie when he straightened, leveling Greyson with a glare capable of igniting him.

With an exasperated huff, Greyson arched a brow, looking down at the infuriated little sprite all up in his business. “Ms. Rhodes, I assume?”

“Leighton, you entitled prick.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance.” I swore the corner of his lips quirked if I wasn't kidding myself.

“Can’t say the same. And you—” she spat, whipping her face to Oliver, whose cheeks were a little flushed. “What the fuck are you doing standing by for this bullshit? You’re going to let him sink three generations of effort by extorting his assistant?”

“Sissy,” I pressed. “It’s not extortion if I agreed to it of my free will,” I insisted.

Not taking her eyes off Greyson, her fists shaking at her side, she snarled, “I. Don’t. Buy it.What did you do?”

It was Oliver’s wide, amused eyes that caught my focus as he took a step back. “This one is fucking feral.”

“Have you had your pet vaccinated for rabies?” Greyson asked flatly, eyes flicking my way, mask impervious.

“Pet!?” Leighton shrieked, and I snatched her arm, yanking her away from him as she cocked it back like she’d deck him right in that obnoxiously pretty face.

“I like her,” Ollie declared definitively to nobody in particular.

“Oh, get fucked,” she spat before whirling back on Greyson. “What do you have over her?Huh?! Because she won’t fucking tell me. And there’s no way on god’s green earth that my sister would marrysomeone like youunless she was blackmailed into it.”

“Huh,” Ollie muttered. “That’s what I said.”

“And I can promise you—wait,what?” Her eyes turned back to Ollie, and I couldn’t decide where to look. At calm, cool, collected Greyson with his deceptively unaffected facade, at Ollie, whose arms fought against the fabric of his suit jacket sleeves where he crossed them over his chest, or Leighton who did, admittedly, look a little feral as her fiery eyes landed on him. Her hand had subconsciously settled on the scar on her chest as her temper ratcheted up.

Ollie shrugged. “My first thought was he had something over her, and my second was?—”

“That she was blackmailing me into it,” Greyson supplied in a monotone, eyes boring holes into his brother.Theydidn’t know what she did or didn’t know. And judging by his expectant eyes on me, he needed me to fill in the blanks.

“I told her about the allegations,” I admitted. “She didn’t think that was substantial enough for me to agree to marry you. She left to kick your ass, and I followed.”

The briefest nod escaped him before Greyson turned those eternally calm eyes on Leighton, who looked notably less likely to bite his face off. “Well. Alessandra, Leighton, would you please join us upstairs for a nightcap?”

“So you can poison us, you robot?!” Leighton interjected, earning a broader smile from Oliver, who took all of this in his usual lighthearted form.

“Yes, thank you. That’s a fantastic idea,” I said over her, elbowing her in the ribs. She shot me a skeptical glare but redirected her irritated huff at Greyson.

Motioning for him to lead the way, she hissed, “Fine.”

AppeasingLeighton and Ollie was a bit like diffusing a bomb. Delicate maneuvers and gentler affirmations. Greyson and I kept locking eyes in desperate attempts to convey information without speaking. While I was battling a gradually rising sense of anxious nausea, he seemed to catch on to the fact that I hadn’t told her aboutThunderstrikedespite the way it burned in my veins. His entire body relaxed back into the cognac leather couch he occupied across from us. More so when he realized I’d already made her sign an NDA before we came here. Like that was a sizable enough reassurance.

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