Page 69 of Fractured Memories

Huffing, I roll my head to look down at her. “Yeah. I was raised here.”

Now, she’s starting to lose that playful edge. Eden starts to twist away, clearly not willing to put up with me being an arse right now.

I catch her arm. “Fine.” I finish my glass and pluck hers from her hand. “My father’s grandparents built the house. I lived here with my parents until my father died when I was ten. My mother ran the mafia until she passed eleven years ago.”

She blinks at me. “You took control of the city at twenty-three?”

I nod, the whiskey burning pleasantly in my veins. It helps right now. “Lochlan and Rohan were orphaned young, so they stepped into their roles at the same time.”

Eden doesn’t offer any apologies for my past, not that I’d expect her to. “You three were raised together?”

“Yeah.” I pause to take a sip, rationing this glass. “Mostly trained by my mother, who should have never been allowed near children.” My voice turns hard. If she asks me about that, I might find something I can’t give Eden.

I’m a cold man, but even I don’t believe in working children. Training them to fight. Making them kill. I don’t starve or beat them—nor do I turn a blind eye to anyone that does.

Not traits I inherited from my heartless mother.

“That’s why you call them your brothers,” she says softly, and I’m thankful she doesn’t ask about the topic I desperately want to avoid.

I nod. “They are my family. Even if I consider putting a bullet in one of them weekly. They are the only ones I trust with my life—along with Mika and Jude.”

Eden’s mouth opens to ask another question, but a heavy knock on the door stops her. I don’t move to answer, but that only earns me three more raps on the wood.

“Go away!” I shout. My wife wants answers, and I’ll give them to her. Even if it fucking kills me.

“No,” Jude barks back from the other side. I recognize his voice immediately.

Eden fights a smile. She loves how no one actually listens to me in my own home.

“I’m naked.” That should deter him.

“Lochlan was shot.”

I’m on my feet in an instant. Eden’s scrambling out of the bed, too, rushing to the closet. I cross to my dresser to pull out a pair of underwear, stepping into them before pulling the door open.

“What?”

Jude doesn’t look too concerned, which eases my racing pulse. Instead, there’s fury in his ice blue eyes. “It was his shoulder, and he’s in your sitting room.”

I exhale slowly, the fear that shot through my veins dissipating. “He’s fine, then?” Not that I won’t go see him. But I will put on more clothes if his life isn’t on the line.

“He’s raging and bloody, but he’ll live.”

“Give me two minutes.”

I slip back into my room, finding Eden still in the closet. “It was his shoulder,” I tell her as I pull on clothes. “He’ll need to get it cleaned, but he’ll be fine.”

Relief filters over her features, and that eases something in me. She really cares about him. In the last few weeks, she’s been spending more time with Rohan and Lochlan—and sees Mika and Jude daily—but I like knowing my family is her family.

I lace up my boots and then grab my gloves, stuffing them in my back pocket just in case. “I’m going to see how he is.”

“I’ll come with you.” She pulls on her shoes, fully dressed.

“Let me see him first.” I give her a smirk. “He can get a little violent when he’s angry.”

Eden crosses her arms. “You think I can’t handle him?”

I finish rolling up my sleeves and step forward, pinching her chin. Tilting her face up, I hover my lips just above hers. “I think he doesn’t need another bleeding wound to be stitched up because he pissed you off.”