AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Needing to correct Xander’s perspective, I said, “You’re an idiot if you think it doesn’t. She belongs to Andraius.”
“The fuck she does,” Xander retorted, his pace growing faster. “She is trapped. We will get her out. Then all bets are off.”
“You act as if it is a done deal. We are a long way from that day, and how I look at it, waiting will only make her hate us more.”
“It’s better for her to hate us now and make it believable than to get her killed.”
Nerine glanced over her shoulder as if she wasn’t sure if we’d actually followed her and then quickened her pace. Right before she turned back around, her gaze locked with mine for the briefest of seconds, and that fucking undercurrent of anger mixed with longing hit me.
Christ. With the rollercoaster of emotions Nerine and Xander were about to throw at me, this was never going to work without killing me.
“And how will you explain the attraction if anyone notices it?” I asked.
“You’re good at playing the emotionless asshole. Just keep doing what you do best.”
I scowled at Xander. Not a few seconds ago, he told me that Nerine and I were volatile together. “And you?”
“I’m a flirt.” He shot me a bright grin. “Everyone knows this. Andraius will think I’m sweet-talking her into doing what he wants. I’ve done this shit for him before.”
Hearing him talk about himself like that annoyed the hell out of me. We’d become completely different versions of ourselves to survive our new realities. However, the way we’d moved on wasn’t a topic I anticipated. Especially Nerine’s reaction to the way Xander and I moved on without her.
“We are fucked, and not in the good way. We’ll be lucky if we keep our balls.”
Five
Nerine
I marched through the Drakos mansion’s main hall, feeling my heart thud against my chest as I sensed Theo and Xander’s eyes upon me. Their presence seared into my back, pulling at everything I’d worked so hard to lock away.
All these years, I waited to see, needed to see, just one sign that they hadn’t rolled over when Andraius took over. And now they were here, looking at me with those eyes that knew me too well, making me remember and question everything I’d believed since the day Papa died.
I’d watched them from a distance, caught glimpses of them doing their duties and running Andraius’s empire, but we’d never interacted. Sometimes I’d wondered if they even noticed when I looked in their direction.
Theo’s words echoed in my mind.
Everything we’ve done is to keep you safe.
Had it all been an act?
Andraius had isolated me like a caged bird, determined to keep me away from anyone who could have even the vaguest trace of loyalty to Papa or me.
He kept me trapped and alone.
So fucking alone.
My hands shook as the overwhelming desire to turn around and punch one of them roared through me. They’d let me live with a monster all of these years.
Without so much as a backward glance, I directed, “Please call the car around. I want to go home.”
“Nerine, we can’t leave without Andraius,” Xander informed me in a hushed tone.
“These are your choices, gentlemen. Call the car, or I’ll arrange a ride myself. My spouse is planning to fuck one of his whores tonight. We don’t need his permission to leave. Tick-tock, gentlemen. The rideshare app on my phone is calling my name.”
“When did you become such a brat?” Theo muttered, and I whirled around to face him.
“I’ll answer that question,” I said through clenched teeth, but then closed my eyes to calm my temper.
I couldn’t make a scene here. There were too many people.
