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CHAPTER2
Kane
“Are you listening to a word I’m saying?” Charlotte snaps at me, her words barbed as usual. Considering I wasn’t paying the remotest amount of attention, she’s right to be annoyed, but I’m over this shit.
So very over it.
“I don’t give a fuck what kind of flowers you order. I don’t give a fuck about the food, the wine, or any other mundane detail you’re trying to get me to care about. I just don’t give two fucks.”
My mother drops her hands to her hips, her brows drawing together. Does she really expect me to be excited about marrying a total stranger? All I know about Elena Adams is that she’s ‘spirited’, which tells me Elena is difficult to control.
Just what I need.
A brat under my roof.
If I had my choice, I would remain single and alone for the rest of my fucking days. I don’t see what benefit there can be from marrying some stuck-up bitch undoubtedly with one hand in my bank account. Alliances can be forged in other ways.
“This is your wedding, Kane! At least show some pretence of caring.”
I curl my fingers into a fist, resting it on the top of the glass boardroom table. The urge to wrap them around my mother’s neck and watch her eyes as I squeeze the life out of her is growing with every passing moment. Part of me wonders if she would fight against me, or if she would just accept her fate—
“Kane!”
I slide my eyes in her direction and give her a dark glare that usually has men shitting themselves. Charlotte doesn’t even flinch, even though she must know I would kill her without thought if she pushed me.
For some reason, she thinks she’s safe from me.
She couldn’t be more wrong.
I tolerate my parents, mostly because I don’t want to make my siblings orphans, but given the chance, I’d slit both their fucking throats. Particularly Charlotte. She annoys me the most. Her meddling and attempts at kingmaking are irritating beyond belief.
“How many ways can I say this? I don’t care. Do whatever you want.”
She moves around the end of the table, stopping a few feet in front of me. It’s a dangerous position to put herself in, considering she’s within reach of my knives. I watch as she leans against it, her heeled feet crossing in front of her as she folds her arms over her chest, making her blouse tighten to inappropriate levels.
Fuck my life.
I avert my eyes, studying the London skyline through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of Fraser Holdings. It has a view right across Canary Wharf, and it is a spectacular one.
These towers that house the rich and powerful of society also hide the darkness and depravity they used to get where they are. My family may be criminals, but no more so than the suits who have offices around us.
“Kane, she’s not a hag. She’s a smart, effervescent, beautiful young woman. You’re lucky your father and I found you such a good match.”
Lucky?
That’s a joke. “Am I supposed to be grateful?” I sneer at her.
“Yes, you are! You have responsibilities towards our family, Kane. You will take over one day from your father, and you have to ensure the continuation of the Fraser legacy.”
It’s a sermon I’ve heard before. Many times. It’s as effective now as it was in the past. I couldn’t give a shit about legacy or progeny. I care about keeping Zeke, Lucas and Aurelia safe. My siblings have been my only constant. They have never let me down or let me go. Even when I’ve sunk into the darkest of pits, they have been there to drag me out. I can’t say the same about our parents. Charlotte and Anthony never cared if we were drowning. They just continued with whatever Machiavellian plans they had cooked up between them.
I hated them for making us a part of that.
But for my siblings, I will do whatever I have to in order to protect them. They are safer inside the world we have built than outside of it.
As terrifying as that is.
“Have I ever suggested I’m not doing what my family needs?”
