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28
“Thank you.”
Adrian nods, eyeing me coolly and curiously as he hands me the scotch. He tilts his own glass towards me as sits on the couch opposite mine, near the roaring fireplace. He leans back against the dark leather, his etched features hardening as he studies me.
He’s handsome in a brooding, dark way, with a strong jawline and hardened, defined cheekbones. He’s tall and built—his shoulders tight against the jacket of an expensive looking tailored suit, with the shirt open at the neck. A priceless and heavy looking watch gleams on his wrist as he brings the scotch to his lips.
And the whole time, those stormy blue eyes just lock onto me, picking me apart.
He takes a slow, measured breath.
“First of all, you don’t need to be frightened of me.”
He smiles a warm, but power-laced grin at me. I shiver.
“I know my reputation might proceed me, but your father was one of my closest friends.”
The tensiondoesleave my shoulders and clenched jaw a little. I nod, exhaling a shaky breath.
“Now, it’s not just one question, is it?”
My brow furrows.
“It can be.”
Adrian nods. “But it doesn’t need to be. Because I think you want answers to more than the one.”
I take a small sip of the scotch, nodding.
“Yes.”
“Then speak, please.”
“What is, or what was the Kings and Villains?”
A small smile dances across his face.
“It’s something your father used to say. That in each of us, there is both king and villain. Your father, and your new husband, Noel, and I… we were all friends. Along with a few others. The Kings and Villains were…”
He frowns, twirling his fingers in the air as he thinks.
“Not a club. Not a gang or anything.” He sighs. “Thomas used to call us a fellowship, which, truth be told, I always found a bit silly.”
I grin, remembering my dad reading meThe Lord of The RingsandThe Hobbitbefore bed more times than I can count.
“We were merely a group of like-minded men. We met through your father, all of us students at Lords College. All of us power-hungry little fucks hell-bent on conquering the world.”
“And have you?”
He smirks. “My own small piece of it, at least. Your father, he—”
“Did you know?”
I blurt it out because, for some reason, I just can’t keep it inside anymore. I can’t keep meeting these men who were best friends with a man I loved, truly, but who wasn’t my father, and pretending to be his blood.
Adrian frowns curiously, swirling his scotch.
“Did I know what?”
