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Mine and only mine.
Octavius drops the ax and turns around to face me, shock flashing in his dark eyes quickly replaced with anger. “Is it yours?”
“What do you mean is it mine? Of course it’s mine.” I’m about to say some more because I won’t have him doubting my woman when he punches me right in the face, making me stumble and almost fall on the table. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Something Santiago can’t do for now. You had sex with her, Florian? Have you lost your fucking mind?” he bellows while I sit up, holding my nose as blood pours from it. The sting travels through me, not that I care.
We’ve done worse to each other.
“You knew about us.”
“No. I knew she kissed you, and you fell for her. I never thought you’d be so stupid to get her pregnant without a ring on her finger!”
This day just went from bad to worse, considering I’ve managed to piss off not only my pregnant woman but also my best friend, who apparently is okay with me lusting after Jimena but not acting on my urges.
Fuck it all, though. They all act however they want with their women, and I’m the only one who’s supposed to be on a leash?
It’s not my problem or my fault I got around more in the past when I was single.
“I can’t claim her now. Especially not now,” I remind him as he clenches and unclenches his fists, a myriad of emotions appearing on his face while he stays silent, and I understand. He has a younger sister too, and I’m putting him in a difficult position now. “Listen, once this gets out, let’s just pretend you didn’t know anything. It’s my mess, and I’m going to fix it.” He delivers another punch, this time to my gut, and I huff. “What was that for?” One more blow and I’m going to hit him myself. He gets just these two punches, and that’s about it.
“For suggesting I hide like a coward and not stand by you.” His tone grows harsh. “No matter how angry I’m with you, I’d never pick Santiago over you.” He crosses his arms. “That’s not how we work.”
No, it’s not, is it?
Once upon a time, we became the best of friends, and we stood with each other through everything. His hideous past and the son of a bitch stepfather who tortured him all the time, the murder, and everything in between.
Compared to Santiago and Remi, Octavius sees right through my bullshit and never walks away, no matter how much I act like a dick or am careless. He never asks questions about my past, but he’s there.
And sometimes just being there counts for everything.
Who would have thought that day in the hospital would be the beginning of our strong bond rather than one uncomfortable encounter.
Rubbing my busted lip, I grin at him through the sting. “Your punches are really something, my friend.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Hunt the fucker. I found several more clues and some old accounts that lead to Switzerland. To pull off all this shit, he has to have money.”
He ponders my words for several beats and resumes throwing axes as he does so. “Even if Death is alive, he wouldn’t be the one executing the orders. It’s his son.”
“Yes. And somehow, I think his son’s vendetta runs deeper because he’s targeting me.” I’ve thought about this over and over again, coming up with only one conclusion.
Somehow, I crossed him, and he took offense personally, going against the status quo and retaliating.
“If we go by his psychological profile, he’s a psychopath who acted on his urges by sending all these messages but not really directly hitting anywhere. That speaks about the control psychos rarely have. Unless…”
“They get off imagining what would be the outcome.” I finish for him, wiping the blood from my nose with my T-shirt lying next to me. “His loyalty to the man who raised him must be bigger than his hatred for me. So he won’t act until he has a next heir in line.”
“He has him now, Florian.” Octavius throws the last ax and grabs his own whiskey bottle, flicking it open and taking several gulps. “Your baby will be the next in line since your brother can’t inherit anything.”
Rage fills me, consuming everything sane inside me and pushing out the madness at the idea of anyone hurting my child in any way.
My baby will not know what it is like to be in a basement at the mercy of vile men who know nothing about humanity.
I’ll die before I allow this to happen.
Zeus gets up, coming closer to me and growling a little, probably sensing my mood, and I pat him on the muzzle as he watches me and barely manage to relax enough to say something. “We need to protect them, Octavius, and I have to find him. I’m so close, I can I feel it, but for whatever reason, he manages to escape me. As if he knows something I’m too blind to see.”
