Page 10 of His Last Will

“Don’t go too far, darling. You hold my life in your hands,” he says loud enough for the crowd to hear, but I can see his hidden smirk. Bastard is taunting me. The only life he cares about is his own. And with the newfound power at his fingertips, he will guard it with everything he has.

Moving away from the crowd, I make my way to the corner of the garden, just behind the plush trellis. Vines and buds of white roses yet to bloom frame the old iron. White stone benches are placed strategically every few feet along the pathway, and little fairy lights decorate the nearby foliage. The garden is my favorite place on the property and one of my most coveted hiding places.

Gage is eyeing the crowd from just under the trellis. His jaw is clenched, hands in his pockets, eyes on the guests. Observing, watching, always on the outside looking in. Gage was Brodie’s former bodyguard, primed for the position since birth. His father was tasked with protecting Anthony. His father before him protected Anthony’s father. It was a family business.

Gage is now Aiden’s bodyguard, switched over after the funeral, given that he wasn’t needed to protect a plot of land at the cemetery. He was to protect the heir. No matter who the heir was.

I now have a bodyguard as well. His name is Tony, and he’s been Anthony’s informant for almost a decade. Always spying on us, trying to gather intel to suck up to Anthony with, which is wildly upsetting. Everything I do is being watched, every face I make or perceived slight is being fed back as currency to Anthony.

And honestly, he guards me about as well as Tom catches Jerry. Every time Tony scurries off to report back to Anthony, I’m left alone. Or when he deems whatever I am doing unworthy of his attention, he can be found scrolling his phone in the corner or shooting the shit with some of the other guards. He is really just doing this as a desperate attempt to garner Anthony’s attention. So needless to say, he’s useless.

When he turns toward me, his jaw clenches, silent as I approach. I wonder if he is noticing the cracks in my exterior. The turmoil bottled up inside of me that I’m hiding from the rest of the world.

“Gage.” My voice cracks at the end. I’m already reaching for him as he extends his arms and pulls me in. Tears form in the corner of my eyes, and I try to hold back my whimper, but Gage hears it and tightens his hold on me.

Gage is big, a similar size to Brodie, and that thought almost brings me to my knees as I imagine Brodie’s arms around me. Thankfully, the similarities between Brodie and Gage end there.

Gage’s dark, wavy hair is unkempt and long enough now that he can hide his eyes when he wants. The dark stubble on his cheeks is just past a five o’clock shadow, making him appear rougher than the rest of the crowd. Mixed with his tattoos, piercings, silver eyes, and large muscles, people do well to be wary of him.

Despite his rough exterior and utter disdain for the common man, Gage has always had a soft spot for me. Whether it’s because we grew up similarly, on the outskirts of the family, or because I always knew where he was hiding, I am unsure. But Gage was always there for me.

“Princess, shhh,” he says softly under his breath. The familiar nickname comforts me as I rest my cheek on his chest and listen to his steady heartbeat, blocking out the party noise around us. Breathing in the stillness, I momentarily allow myself to feel the sadness right beneath the surface. “Do not let them see.”

“Do you feel it, Gage?” I ask, wondering if his grief mirrors mine. Brodie was the love of my life, my best friend, but Gage was part of Brodie’s chosen family. More of a second brother than a simple employee.

Rubbing his hand up and down my back, he makes a gruff noise. “Feel what?”

I breathe in Gage’s scent, musk and sweat with a hint of cinnamon from his gum before answering. “The profound loss. The emptiness in every room. The inability to stop looking for him wherever you go.” I figure he might struggle the most with the last one, given it was his job to watch Brodie.

Humming softly, he adjusts his grip and puts some space between us, looking down at me as he replies. “Pain is not something that simply goes away, princess. It’s like a mark on your body, a painful but permanent reminder that, with time, can lessen. But a simple brush of the damaged area brings everything back to the surface.

“With the world we live in, we must bury it. We cannot show weakness to those that might want to take advantage.” Gage’s voice trails off, and the quiet surrounds us again.

I know he is right. No good can ever come of breaking down in public, in front of this family. The gossip mill would never stop. Under the cover of night, alone in my room, is when I can break down again. In the darkness is where I have always felt closest to him anyway, and that is where his memory feels the strongest.

“Am I interrupting?” A deep voice cuts into the temporary peace I found. Gage instantly tenses and shuts down as he releases me and returns to his position watching over the party.

Aiden is eyeing us from the pathway I originally came from, looking at Gage like he wishes he had his gun in his hand. Aiden never liked my bond with Gage, but his attitude has gotten even more hostile since Brodie died.

Gage remains silent, which leaves me to answer for us, “No, I was checking in with Gage.”

Aiden raises his pierced eyebrow. “Really? And that requires you to be in a man’s arms who is not your fiancé?”

Scoffing, I push back, “Oh, fuck off, Aiden. This may be our engagement party, but I don’t see a ring on this finger.” I throw up my finger to further prove my point. “What are you even doing over here anyway? Shouldn’t you be kissing some elderly ass, or have you finally gotten what you wanted?”

Aiden grabs my lifted arm and steers me back toward the crowd. “You have no idea what I want. You never have.”

“Let go, Aiden. I mean it.” I say with as much vitriol as I can muster.

“Never. You’re mine now, and you better start acting like it.” His possessive growl reignites my anger.

Yanking at my arm to try to loosen his grip is proving utterly useless as he drags me across the garden. “Where are we going?”

“We are rectifying the situation,” he says acidly.

“What—” but I don’t finish before he grabs a flute of champagne off the bar and he clears his throat. “May I please have your attention, everyone? I would like you all to witness this very special moment between my future bride and me.”

A pit starts to form in my stomach. Nothing good can come of Aiden requesting an audience with these people. I see Gage from the corner of my eye, and he is scowling at Aiden. Clearly, he doesn’t think that whatever is about to happen is going to end well either.