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I spin with hope in my heart. He's standing by the elevator. "Marco! Help!" I'm safe now. Thank god.
"Help?" he asks warily. His eyes travel past me; they narrow on the man in the entryway. I brace myself for how he'll launch forward and beat my would-be-assaulter into a mushy mess. But a moment passes and there’s no mush to speak of. "Derek?"
I blink. Why does Marco know the kidnapper’s name? "Derek?"
"Hey, Marco," the other man says. He groans, glaring at me as he wipes at the coffee stains. "What a nice way to say good morning."
"I don't understand," I say, looking between them. "You know each other?"
"Unfortunately," Marco says grimly. He smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Filia, meet my older brother."
Chapter Eight
"You've been avoiding me," Derek accuses, brushing past me until he's toe to toe with Marco.
"I haven't." Marco replies.
"We agreed to get together two days ago," Derek says. He jerks a finger at me. "This what you've been doing instead? Banging her?"
"Relax, Derek," Marco says.
"You love to act likeyou'rethe one taking our business seriously. I guess even the high and mighty like to get their hands dirty when they think no one will see." He whirls on me, the cruelty in his sneer making me take a step back. "So, what about my brother do you love more? His piles of money or his big dick?"
"Excuse me?" I gasp.
"Derek," Marco snarls.
Laughing rudely, Derek advances on me. "Sorry, sorry. It's just all I hear the ladies talking about when I’m forced to attend these horrendous shareholder meets and have no choice but to be in my brother's vicinity."
I don't back away this time, instead I clench my hands and lean closer to Derek––he blinks, surprised. "You don't even know my name. How dare you talk to me like that. If he didn't say it was the case, I'd never guess you were related to Marco."
Barking out a hard laugh, Derek nods at Marco. "Right, he's the epitome of chivalrous. Anyway, I've got to clean up. I was going to shower after my run but now I'll need to call a maid to handle laundry, too." He shoots me one more smirk before shoving past Marco and into the elevator.
"Wait, you're staying here?" Marco asks.
"Yeah. It's a miracle you kept avoiding me. I thought it was on purpose, but maybe you were seriously distracted this whole time." With a pointed look at me, he vanishes behind the mechanical doors.
Marco rushes to me instantly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Bending down, I retrieve the bag of pastries. Without looking I can tell they're crushed and broken from how hard I threw them. "I wish the secret breakfast and coffees I wanted to surprise you with were also fine."
He takes a big breath, rubbing his neck. He's still on edge. "That doesn't matter. We can get new breakfast."
"It does matter," I huff. "I wanted to do something sweet for you." I shake my head, clearing my thoughts. "Whatever. Why didn't you warn me?"
"About?"
"How much of an asshole your older brother is."
That gets a small chuckle out of him. "I never planned for you to meet him."
A tiny knife cuts into my heart.Oh. Of course. Why would I meet his family? We're just having fun, it's nothing serious.Derek's cruel words enter my brain.What'about my brother do you love more? His piles of money or his dick?And what does Marco love most, what shallow thing about me? Hook ups are shallow, after all, and this is just that.
Marco scoops my hands up, squeezing my fingers. "Hey. What's going on in your head right now? You're frowning so hard."
Your brother," I whisper. "He's horrible."
"He loves pushing my buttons."
