I scowl. “I doubt that. She left no impression. At all.”
Bryce swallows his lobster. “Then how did you check if she was the one? Don’t you need to use your dick radar?”
“I think it’s more like a probe,” Ares says.
I sigh. “Sometimes my brain can tell without having to go that far.”
“Hopefully this won’t impact your performance eval,” Ares says. He knows my tendency to downplay things to avoid worrying him and Bryce.
“I just got a warning not to have a repeat performance.” I don’t want to get into the details. “How’s Fiona, by the way?” I change the topic before my brothers can probe too deeply. They’re great at cross-examination. I can handle one, but when they tag-team? Yeah, not putting myself through that. “Still suffering from morning sickness?” It’s been about three months since she found out she’s pregnant. Bryce is crazy about her and the coming baby.
He shudders. “The only thing she wants to do is sleep and sleep some more. She avoids eating as much as possible. Apparently, the smell of food makes her nauseated. She can tolerate about a cup of dry cornflakes a day, but anything more than that…”
“Makes sense. It’s your child, after all,” I say.
“Hey now! I was anangel,” Bryce protests, and throws a wadded paper napkin.
“At least she isn’t craving celery sticks topped with key lime pie, like Queen’s friend,” Ares says. His wife’s name is Lareina, but he adoringly calls her Queen.
Bryce gags a little. “That’s disgusting.”
“Could be worse. Canned tuna and broccoli,” I say. “That’s what Jeremiah ate when she was pregnant.”
“Ugh.” Bryce shudders. “I guess I should count my blessings that Fiona doesn’t want to eat bowls of boiled brussels sprouts.”
Even though he acts like Fiona’s food choices are the end of the world, if she told him that’s what she wanted, he’d get it for her like a hopeless simp. It’s fascinating how love has changed him. Just a few months ago, he swore he hated her.
I didn’t trust her, either. I even put a bug and a tracker on her. Bryce was furious when he found out.
I study my twin. Has Dad ever said thathedidn’t act like a true Huxley? Or are things different with him because he’s living his life the right way? We even put our poker nights on hold because Bryce can’t bear to stay away from Fiona more than he has to, and we can’t host it at his place since the smell of food would bother her too much.
So instead, we’re meeting for dinner. That way Bryce can eat without triggering her morning sickness.
Ares’s expression grows serious. “Mom hasn’t tried to reach Fiona since the pregnancy, right?”
“No. If she had, Fiona would’ve told me.” The muscles in Bryce’s jaw flex.
Apprehension slithers down my spine. It isn’t like Mom to be so quiet.
She isn’t known for patience or subtle finesse. But then, she never had to suffer the consequences of her actions because her mob boss father Vincent shielded her.
Perhaps his actions created her belief that she’d be able to push her brother Harvey aside and take over the mob when her father passed away. When Vincent wanted to extend his criminal empire from Nesovia to the States, she decided seducing and marrying Dad in a whirlwind romance was the way to go. Huxley & Webber doesn’t take on clients associated with organized crime, but she thought that once the Huxleys became the Dunkels’ in-laws, the firm would be willing to help them plant their criminal roots here. When Dad discovered the truth and attempted to divorce her, she somehow decided that drugging and kidnapping us would change his mind.
Unfortunately, she never went to jail for that. Vincent offered up a low-level goon to rot in prison instead, and promised to keep her away from us kids until we all had turned thirty. There were other concessions, such as a smooth divorce, with Dad getting almost everything he wanted, but stopping her from getting to us as long as possible was the main one.
Except Mom never planned to honor the spirit of the promise. When I was fifteen, I caught my first serious girlfriend Jessica trying to slip something into my drink at a party. I flipped out; she burst into tears and confessed everything.
Mom had been supplying Jessica with party drugs. All she had to do was tell Mom what she wanted to know about my life, nothing complicated or bad. But then it escalated to having to hand over photos and stories, the kind of slices of life Mom couldn’t get a hold of easily. Then the drugs in my drink because Mom wanted to see me without my noticing.
My mind went white, then red with rage. Uncontrollable tremors ran through me, and—swearing I’d kill Mom—I wenthome and grabbed Akiko’s sashimi knife. Although I didn’t go through with the impulsive plot, I did dump Jessica.
The only person I told about the incident was Grandma Catalina, although I didn’t mention my fury-induced plan to murder Mom. Grandma said she’d deal with it. But I’ve never had a serious long-term girlfriend afterward. I kept an eye on Bryce’s girlfriends as well—I didn’t trust them to not sell him out either, even if Grandmawas“dealing with it.”
After all, the family thought they’d taken care of Mom, but it didn’t really work. I felt the need to do something about it without sharing what happened and freaking out my brothers. Ares was already so damaged he couldn’t even date, and Bryce only coped by getting a golden retriever that loved him unconditionally.
“I thought Mom would make a move by now. She tried to drug you to create a baby,” Ares remarks.
My mouth twists in distaste. She hasn’t changed her MO. Actually, that MO runs in the family. Harvey tried to drug Ares before, ostensibly to hire him. The Dunkels don’t seem to realize drugging a Huxley isn’t the most effective means of convincing us to do their bidding.
