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“No,” I shook my head, back and forth, back and forth. “No. Hell no. No.”
He stood tall, pushing his shoulders back. “You think I would just stand back and let them fucking kill you?”
I backed away, out through his office door and into the hallway. “You think I want you to risk yourself and your brothers because I chose to step in and save that girl? I made that decision. Not you. No. There won’t be a war, Bishop.”
“You’re right,” he growled, slamming his palms against the doorframe. “Because we’re gonna go to that party and be the perfect couple, and they will be none the fucking wiser. Right?”
Right.
Go to a mob boss’s party and pretend to be in love with the man you’re currently trying not to be in love with so that the mob boss’s son doesn’t try to murder you… again.
“Right. Easy.”
I’m fucked.
Chapter Sixteen
SHAY
“Hey, sis!” Ali beamed as he pulled the large, heavy door open. “Come in.”
He stepped to the side, and I shuffled in, my eyes wandering around the wide-open space. “Wow, this place is something,” I gushed, taking in the double staircases that wound up both sides of the foyer to an open landing at the top.
The floors were all marble—the expensive-looking kind with what looked like veins running through it, and there was a chandelier hanging from the second story that was almost the size of my car and no doubt cost three times as much.
Ali grinned, holding his arms out and spinning a couple of times. “It’s pretty cool, right? There are six bedrooms, and they all have attached bathrooms,” he rambled as I followed him through the foyer and into a large formal lounge with a wall of windows looking out onto a small inlet. Large, mansion-like houses, the same as the one we were in, lined both sides of the water, each with a private pier. “Jason has this cool boat we take out on the river. He’s upstairs taking a nap at the moment, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you want to—”
“No, it’s okay,” I assured him with a laugh. “I haven’t been on a boat since that one time Mom convinced us to go out to the Statue of Liberty, and that little boy puked on me.”
He scrunched up his nose and pressed his fingers to his mouth, the memory obviously just as vivid in his mind as mine. “I could have gone the rest of my life without you reminding me of that.” He fell back onto the fancy, cloud-like sofa that filled the center of the room, pressing his hand to his stomach. “Every time we moved, she would find all those tourist-type things and make us go to them. She was so obsessed with the pictures and the memories.”
His mocking tone was unexpected, and I found myself pulling back a little. “Someone was trying to kill her, Ali. Of course, she wanted to do things with us and make memories. Wouldn’t you want to make the most of your life too?”
“Woah,” he exclaimed, his laughter agitating me even more. “Okay, okay. I didn’t mean it like that.”
When I was younger, I’d seen Ali as my rock, my savior.
He helped me escape our house when Dad burned it down.
He made sure we had pills so we could sleep at night.
And he made a deal with the judge so they wouldn’t lock me up.
For those things, I was grateful, but while Ali was still the same person, living the same life we were stuck in ten years ago, I had moved on. I’d grown. I wanted more for my life.
But for Ali, it was almost like time had frozen, and a part of me felt like that was my fault, so instead of losing my shit, I tossed my bag onto the coffee table and took a seat next to him. I sank into the soft, pillowy cushions. “Sorry it took me so long to come by,” I explained, shoving my hand into my pocket and pulling out the handful of hundred-dollar bills. “I had some issues at work this week. I’ve had to take some time off.”
I could have called and told Ali I didn’t have the money, but I’d dealt with my brother’s guilt trips before, and honestly, me having to go without a few things for a couple of weeks was nothing compared to how bad he’d make me feel for letting him down.
He took the pile of cash, quickly flicking through it. “Thanks, Shay. This is great. It’s gonna help a lot.” He shoved the money into his back pocket. “What happened at work?”
I shook my head. “It’s nothing. Just got into a fight with some guy who was abusing his girlfriend.”
“You win?”
I snorted out a laugh. “Is there any question?”
He chuckled softly. “You get hurt?”
