Page 35 of Sip
Yet, when I think of her, I have no regrets. She belongs to me. She is mine and I am hers.
“I watched you. I watched you fuck my wife and you enjoyed it.”
Best fucking two weeks of my life. “So did she.” I lean closer with my palms flat on his desk to drive home my point to him. “When she’s treated like more than just an incubator or a substitute for Maeve, she’s incredible.”
“Yeah…” He clears his throat, attempting to remove the thickness from his voice. “I see that now.”
The fucking irony makes me chuckle. His gaze whips to mine from the laughter. I don’t give a damn he’s pissed. So the hell am I. “Jealousy makes you finally realize what you’ve got? You didn’t care about her until someone else wants her.”
A grunt rumbles in his throat, and he stares at the display again with a snarl curling his lips. As much as it sickens me to join him in watching her, I look at the screen too.
She’s so beautiful my chest aches. With her gentle hands cupping my face as she smiles and nods, I see what he sees. What makes him so angry. What makes me so happy.
She wants me too.
I guess he never expected her to fall in love with me. I’m the heir to the spare. Second in command. Prince by proxy. Everyone else idolizes him except me. And, now except her.
“Hurts doesn’t it that you’ve ignored her all this time and now she knows what it feels like to be worshiped?”
Booze slows his reflexes and I easily duck out of the way when he hurls his bottle at me. The glass shattering against the wall does nothing for either of us— not easing his rage nor my resentment. “You did this and you have no choice but to let this play out exactly like you planned.”
“You…brother…” He draws back his arm as if to throw a punch and points a harsh finger at me. “…fucked up my plan. You weren’t supposed to fall in love with her and she sure as hell wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you.”
Unable to be as slick as he normally would be in his haze, he fumbles with the knob on the drawer at his lap. A Glock rests inside as well as another one is taped underneath. My pulse races in my veins from the realization of what he’s considering in his stupor. Or more accurately what I’m going to do to him if he tries. I shake my head. “I loved her before I fucked her. Hell I think I loved her the moment I met her crawling around on the driveway with the worms.”
His body jolts in surprise and he slowly lifts his head, squinting his eyes as he studies me. As if the information he needs resides on my face. “You don’t know about the worms do you?”
Of course he doesn’t. “You don’t know about repurposing furniture or challenging yourself on the hills or making money for the nature center.”
His body stiffens from the insults I pile on him while peace settles over me. I know her. I know everything about her. I know I’m not going to let him take her away from me.
“She’s mine!” With nothing left to trash, he slams his fist onto his keyboard. “Mine!”
I answer his rage with calm. “But the baby growing inside her is mine.”
He leans back, feigning a composure I don’t buy.
“Only three of us know that. If need be, that number can change to two.” He blows out a slow breath. “Or one if she betrays me too.”
That’s what I was waiting for. That’s what I needed to hear. If he considers the idea of killing her, he will someday. “You’ve helped me make my decision now too.”
His hand hovers above his thigh, ready to strike. “Which is?”
“Me killing you.”
We move in parallel but love rather than revenge drives me. I yank my weapon from my back waistband and shoot him point blank in his chest. A few inches from where a heart should be so he’ll die but not yet. Stubborn motherfucker still tries to end me so I put a bullet into his hand too and he yelps from the severity. Surprising to me that his hand bothers him more than his chest.
I lay my gun on the side table and drag a chair forward, a foot from his. He deserves me to wait for death with him.
Adrenaline kicks in, despite the lost cause, and he shakes and starts, fighting the inevitable. None of us are safe in this world. We lost our other sister and two brothers over the years from battles and retaliation. My dad’s faults forced Shane to put him out of his and all of our misery. Some may think killing your own father is cruel but better us than our enemies. Shane was quick and merciful while any other assassin would not be so kind.
I never thought I would have to do the same. I never cared enough about anything or anyone to challenge my brother. I never expected to have to choose between him and a woman. Yet, here we are. The day has come for me to claim what’s mine and keep the mother of my child safe.
Shane strokes the blood on his stiff, trembling fingers. The realization slowly sinks in that he’s dying because of me. His hand slides down to his stomach, smearing scarlet streaks across his stark white dress shirt.
“Sh-she’ll never forgive you.”
He’s right. “I know.”
