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“I’m beginning to sense a trend.” A teasing smile curled over my lips as I indicated the row of black-on-black vehicles.
“Yeah?” He followed my gaze, his own lips kicking up. When his gaze returned to mine, there was something in his eyes. Hope? Whatever it was, it made my heart beat just a little bit faster.
Entering the house, he dropped both our helmets on the table and led me into the kitchen. “Drink?”
I nodded. “Please.” At least holding a drink would give me something to do. Without asking me to elaborate further, he began pulling mugs from the cupboard and stuck a pod in the coffee machine. A couple of minutes later, I was handed a delicious-smelling hot chocolate laced with Baileys. Perfect.
After making himself a black coffee, he walked to the doors that led onto the covered decking area outside. He flipped a switch on the panel next to the wall, which activated a string of fairy lights. A press of another button dimmed the lights to a soft, barely-there glow.
“I asked everyone to give us space,” he told me when I was seated across from him in a large wooden chair with padded cushions, wrapped in a thick, fluffy grey blanket. A small gas firepit-slash-coffee table was between us, taking off the chill of the October evening.
We were so close to the second anniversary of Tim’s death. I sipped my hot chocolate to ease the sudden lump in my throat. “What did you want to talk about?”
“There’s a lot of things we need to discuss. But tonight, we need to focus on this tabloid shitstorm. We tracked down the source of the article, and as we suspected, Joseph was the one behind it. Alstone Holdings’ lawyers are putting out a statement, and the newspaper has been threatened into printing a public apology. It was that, or we sued them for all they were worth.”
“But a lot of that article was true.”
“They can’t prove most of it. They had my mum’s death certificate, and I guess they’d done enough digging to get the details of where I used to live, but most of the rest of it was our word against theirs.” His jaw clenched. “Not that it helps because other reporters are going to be sniffing around for a scoop now. It’s big news since we’re so well connected, especially because we have connections with influential government figures. The prime minister was at the Alstone winter ball, and even if that hadn’t been the case, you know how the fucking tabloid vultures like to drag anyone successful through the mud.”
“So what does this mean?”
“It means that you need to lay low because those fuckers will probably be camped outside our houses for the next few days.”
“James. I need to warn him in case he gets caught up in it. They’ll come after him, won’t they? They know that he’s my cousin.”
Zayde’s expression grew icy. “Yeah. Winter has a plan.”
“I take it you don’t like the plan?”
“No,” he bit out, “but even I can see that it makes sense. He’s coming to stay here, with us. We’re all gonna lay low here for a few days.” His gaze dropped to his coffee mug, and he licked his lips. “We were hoping you’d stay here, too.”
“Wait, James knows about this already?” I focused on the first part of what he’d just told me because my brain needed time to process.
“He will by now. Winter was gonna speak to him. I wanted you here first because I…fuck, I just wanted to talk to you alone before everyone sits down and starts planning shit like they always do.”
My heart beat faster. Making a decision, I stood, tugging my blanket up with me, and rounded the firepit to him. Without either of us needing to say a word, he shifted over in his seat, making a space for me. I sank down next to him, my side pressed against his side. Taking a sip of hot chocolate, I willed my hands to stop trembling. “What are you going to do about Joseph?”
“What do you mean?”
Placing my mug down carefully, I stared into the dancing flames of the firepit. “You’re not going to let this go. I know you.”
He shook his head. “I want to fucking kill him for what he did. But it’s up to you, baby. What do you want to do?”
“You’re really leaving that up to me? Why?”
“He’s your brother. Fuck, angel, I’ve had to hold myself back from doing so much shit to him. When he sucked Granville into his games and fucked with Cade and Winter. When he hit Winter. When we captured him after we found him plotting with Christine Cavendish and your dad at the castle. So many fucking times, I wanted to make him pay, to break him, to make him beg for mercy, but I held back. Went easy on him. Because he was your brother. I knew what he’d done for you. Taking those beatings from your dad on your behalf.” His lashes swept down as his eyes closed, and his voice dropped lower. “But it wasn’t just that. I couldn’t…I couldn’t risk you losing another brother because of me.”
“Zayde.” There were so many things I wanted to say. “Zayde.”
“Yeah?” he rasped.
“I don’t— I can’t…I’m not ready to think about what happened yet. But I think I might…we might be able to…”
He exhaled sharply, his eyes flying open and connecting with mine. His gaze was so intense. “You don’t have to explain. I’m not going anywhere, and if there’s even a one fucking percent chance that we can get past everything that’s happened, I’m taking it.” He reached down to grip my chin. “You know why?”
“N-no.” My lip trembled.
“Because you’re fuckingmine.”
