AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My eyes fly from one brother to the next.
Who are they?
I thought they were just rich, spoiled little boys with more money than sense, but neither flinch at the idea of murder.
Murder.
“Trust that it's far, far less than what anyone else would have, if they'd found you first.”
That’s what he said to me, and I didn’t believe it. But he meant it. His dad would havekilled me.
What the hell did I get myself into?
“The thing is whoever is fucking with you found an opportunity when you came across our get-together, and they took it. They’re asking for a little cash. If that works, they’ll ask for more, and then more. And there’s also a chance that they’d release the video, which would be problematic, as I’m on it. My girlfriend is on it. My brother and his wife are on it.” Markus leans forward.
He’s looking right at me, taking in the shredded clothing, the marks—and he’s not reacting in any way.
I thought Marius was cold; now that I see his brother, I know better. Marius is merely restrained, closing off his reactions behind a carefully constructed mask.
Markus Goltz is ice.
“It’s not your fault as of yet,” he states. “If you deliberately conceal information that could be used to track that person before my family’s hurt? It will be. And I make my brother look like a puppy, darling.”
I believe him. And more to the point, he’s right. Regardless of what his brother did to me today, I don’t want the same asshole who ruined my life to ruin theirs, and Violet’s, and Rhys’s too.
And there’s no point trying to conceal my location anymore, not if there are already cameras in my room.
I lick my lower lip.
“Brandon,” I finally say. “Brandon Clark. He’s my foster brother—the kid of the two last foster parents I had before aging out of the system. He used to film me.”
I opt to leave it at that, though it’s not near the full extent of what the asshole used to do.
“Film you?” Marius probes, his jaw tight.
Ignore him, focusing on the real threat in the room. “He doesn’t like that I’m gone,” I tell Markus. “He kept sending threats in the winter, to my old email address. I stopped checking it—I’m sure getting ignored didn’t sit too well with him…” I bite my lower lip. “Look, I didn’t think he’d have something to do with this—I figured if he knew where I was, he’d try to make contact.”
It baffles me that he hasn’t.Other than the filming, none of this is like him. Brandon doesn’t wait on the sidelines. He doesn’t make veiled threats. He just forges forward and takes what he wants.
“This tracks with her record,” Markus tells Marius.
My record? Have they looked into my past, checked out the skeletons in my closet?
“Is that it?” Marius tilts his head, frowning. “If that’s all, why didn’t you say so two hours ago and spare yourself some humiliation?”
“Fuck you,” I repeat.
I’m starting to be redundant, but that’s the best answer I have for him.
He shakes his head.
“Proud as ever, your highness.”
“Stop with the fucking sarcastic nickname already,” I explode. I’ve had enough of him. “I know I’m the only poor girl at Rothford, no need to keep rubbing it in.”
“You think it’s sarcasm?” Marius tilts his head. “I call you that because you hold yourself like you’re royalty, even now, naked, with my marks all over you.” His gaze takes in all of me in one heated sweep. Then he seems to recall that despite my innocence being proven—or at least, strongly supported—I’m still in fucking bonds. “Help me get her out of these.”
His brother shrugs. “Pass. I don’t touch random wet, naked, women.”
