by Nora Ash
A sharp beep from his phone shattered the moment. Marcus let go of my face and grabbed the phone, and I drew in a shuddering mouthful of air, realizing I’d been holding my breath.
“What is it?” I asked when a small frown formed between Marcus’ eyebrows.
“Blaine’s coming over in an hour,” he said, not taking his eyes off the phone. “To talk about our father.”
* * * *
Chapter 15
Evelyn
I don’t know why, but the knowledge that I was about to meet one of Marcus’ family members made butterflies the size of albatrosses take up residence in my stomach.
I spent the first half hour dashing around the flat trying to figure out how to make myself useful, and finally settled on filling the dishwasher and putting on a load of laundry. Perhaps it was Marcus’ brooding energy that set my nerves on edge, or maybe it was the knowledge that I didn’t quite know how he was going to introduce me to his brother—and if he went with “This is the girl Brigs hired to steal from me,” I wasn’t entirely sure his protection would extend to shield me from his family’s wrath.
“What are you doing?”
I stopped wiping down of the sink and looked over my shoulder at Marcus, who had lifted his head for the first time since he got Blaine’s text.
“Cleaning?” I gave the cloth in my hand a shake for emphasis. “We’re getting company in a second.” And also, it was what I did when I was nervous.
He arched an eyebrow at me. “You don’t need to do that.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s what my part of the deal is,” I countered. “I’m your companion, if you recall. Isn’t cleaning and cooking part of the job?”
“It’s not. Come here.”
Hesitantly, I obeyed, putting the cloth down by the sink. When he motioned for me to take a seat on the bar stool next to him, I did. “Then what am I here for?”
“Company,” he said as he bent to snatch up one of my feet. He lifted it up in his lap and gave the bandages a careful inspection. “You shouldn’t be on your feet so much.”
“They’re much better already,” I said, and then sighed when he undid the strip of gauze to adjust it. “You’re fussing.”
Marcus only grunted in reply, and then grabbed my other foot so he could fix that bandage too.
I watched him work, his large hands surprisingly nimble and gentle as he wrapped my damaged feet, and I wondered if he meant that I was here for company, or if it was just a nice way of saying that all he really wanted from me was to breed me like livestock.
A knock on the door startled me. Instinctively, I pulled on the foot still locked in Marcus’ grasp.
He gave me an admonishing look before he finished wrapping the bandage, ensuring it was exactly how he wanted it. Only then did he get up from the stool and walk over to open the door.
The man on the other side was nearly as tall as Marcus, with the same shade of black hair and approximately the same wide build. He was also flanked by a short woman with a fussy toddler in her arms. I recognized them all from the picture on Marcus phone and frowned. Seemed Blaine had brought his family.
“Mira,” Marcus said. He sounded surprised too, but nevertheless bent to brush a kiss against her cheek and press one to the head of the toddler.
“Hi, Marcus,” she chirped happily, and then shoved the kid into his arms without preamble. “He’s been a right pain this week. I think he’s teething again.”
The baby gurgled and twisted in Marcus’ arms, dropping the rattle he’d been happily chewing on to grasp at his uncle with both hands.
“Who’s this?” the man in the door asked, his eerily familiar gray eyes zeroing in on me. They looked so much like Marcus’, only without the looming darkness. It wasn’t that Blaine didn’t look like he could be pretty damn dangerous if you crossed him, but there wasn’t the same viciousness just behind the surface.
“Oh, hello!” the woman—Mira—said, her head popping up as she finally spotted me. She’d been focused on her kid and Marcus up until then.
Marcus looked at me across his shoulder for a moment before turning back to his brother and sister-in-law. “Evelyn. My fiancée,” he said, as if he’d just announced the weather. Still with the baby in his arms he stepped back so the two in the doorway could come in.
It took both of them a moment to move. They stared at Marcus in silence for a moment, both looking suitably stunned, before Mira managed to pull herself together and give her husband a nudge with an elbow as she stepped all the way into the flat.
“I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone. Congratulations!” A wide smile took over her dumbfounded expression, and she raised up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to Marcus’ cheek before she turned her attention to me. “It’s very nice to meet you, Evelyn. I’m Mira—Blaine’s wife.”
I managed to come out of my own stupor in time to slide off the bar stool and accept the hug she pulled me into. “I guess I’m the first to tell you welcome to the family? The twins would have definitely told us if they’d met you.”
“Thank you,” I croaked, shooting a bewildered look at Marcus—who was too busy making sure the baby didn’t escape to pay me any mind. Apparently, letting me know beforehand that he wanted me to play his fiancée in front of his family hadn’t been worth mentioning.
“Yes. Welcome to the family.”
I looked up just in time to see Blaine approach, pulling me in against his leather coat with one arm for a brief moment. He looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes, as if he was trying to work out if I was a threat of some sort.
“Marcus, you asked me to come so we could talk,” he said, and from his tone I guessed he wasn’t too pleased with having a stranger present.
“I did.” Marcus shot me a sideways glance I pretended I didn’t notice. With a small sigh he handed the kid back to its mother and gestured toward the kitchen island. “We should sit.”
Blaine shot me another look. “Perhaps this is something we should discuss in private.”
Marcus arched an eyebrow at him, and something close to defensiveness crossed his features. “Then why did you bring your wife?”
“Because she knows about him,” Blaine countered, crossing his arms over his chest. “And you trust her as much as you trust me.”
Mira grimaced. “This is not a way to treat your brother’s wife-to-be.” She sent Blaine a stern look and then turned to me. “Why don’t we go into the bedroom for some, ah, girl talk while they chat?”
I was more than okay with missing a conversation between the two brothers about their father murdering a third son and gave Mira a grateful smile, but before I could accept, Marcus’ voice cut through.
“Evelyn stays here. And I would prefer if you do, too, Mira. This concerns you and Aidan as much as it does me and Blaine.”
Mira’s expression fell and she exchanged a look with her husband as she shifted the toddler to one hip. “All right, then. I guess we better stay.”
Blaine shot me another glance, clearly not thrilled by my presence, but relented with a sigh. “Fine. If you trust her, so will I.”
Marcus nodded, his lips pinching as he leaned against the kitchen island. Mira sat down next to me, but Blaine remained standing by her side, resting a hip against the counter with his arms folded across his chest.
“Am I correct in assuming this has got something to do with the information Brigs tried to steal?” Blaine said after a moment’s loaded silence, save Aidan’s small noises.
“Yes,” Marcus said, his voice softer than usual. “I had a video of dad ordering Wesley to kill Jeremy. Brigs wanted it, probably to blackmail us.”
Shocked silence followed his words. I glanced from Mira to Blaine. Her face flashed with bitter anger before she put her toddler-free hand on her husband’s back in silent support. Blaine looked stunned for a moment. Then grief, and finally anger, passed over his handsome features.
“He killed Jeremy? When?”
“Two years ago.”
>
“Just before he supposedly traveled to the States,” Blaine said, his voice hard. “I take it he never actually left London?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see the tape before dad told us Jeremy had left. I tried to get in touch with him, but…”
“But he never responded to any communication,” Blaine finished, rubbing his hand over his face. “Fuck.”
“You need to tell him about Isaac, my love,” Mira said quietly as she stroked her husband’s back a few times.
Marcus stiffened, and I saw the briefest flicker of anguish pass over his face before he schooled it into its usual calm mask. “Is he dead, too?”
“No,” Blaine said gruffly. “He’s still in jail—exactly where Dad put him. He set him up to take the fall for that drug bust—Isaac refused to kill someone, and Dad punished him for it by getting him locked up.”
“Dad was worried Jeremy would usurp him,” Marcus said. “That’s why he had him killed. If he put Isaac in jail for disobeying him, I take it you have some sort of hold over him since he hasn’t punished you for saving Mira last year?”
Saving Mira? My eyes flickered to the auburn-haired woman, a brief moment of curiosity making me wonder what had happened last year that required saving her, but now wasn’t the time to ask. There were far more pressing problems to address.
“He knows I know about Isaac,” Blaine said. “I told him I would tell you and the twins—and Jeremy—if he crossed me. I didn’t know he was capable of… murdering one of us.”
“Do you have the video, Marcus?” Mira asked. “I’d like to see it.”
I cringed and sent Marcus a pleading look, but he didn’t even glance in my direction.
“It got destroyed when Brigs tried to steal it,” he said, thankfully choosing not elaborating on how.
“That’s why you decided to tell me?” Blaine guessed. “Because you can’t use it as blackmail if he decides to go after one of us.”
Marcus nodded shortly, his face as dark as ever. “We have to stop him.”
Blaine rubbed his hands across his face again with a grunt. “Yeah. We do. But the timing is terrible. With Brigs sniffing at our heels, we won’t survive it if we turn on each other now.” He paused, clearly mulling something over. “We need to wait until Brigs has been taken care of, but we have to warn the twins. Let them know to watch their backs. When Brigs has been dealt with, we will find a solution. Together.”
“And Isaac?” Marcus asked.
Blaine sighed. “If we can. He’s refused visitors the entire time he’s been in there, and this is not the sort of thing I want to write a letter about. Plus, I doubt Dad’s going to see him as a threat as long as he’s locked up. Let’s tell the twins and then bide our time.”
Marcus nodded again as he drew in a deep breath. “All right.” His gaze slid to Aidan on Mira’s hip. “If there’s any sign of trouble, you got an exit strategy for them?”
Blaine snorted and pushed off the kitchen counter. “Since the day she got back to me.” The look he shared with his wife was so soft and filled with love I felt like I was suddenly intruding on an intimate moment. He reached out and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her up from the bar stool and close against his body.
“We should get back. I’m prepping my crew for the Brigs thing and need to get in touch with a few people. And you,” he nodded at me. I’d more or less assumed I’d been forgotten about in the middle of the sombre family moment. “If you love my brother enough to marry into this shit show, then you make him give you my number. If there’s any trouble and he isn’t around, don’t hesitate to call. Got it?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. Instead he turned to Marcus and clasped his free hand on his shoulder. “Get in touch with the twins. I think they’ll take it better coming from you.”
Mira offered me a brief smile as they left, but her face was drawn with tension. Not that I could blame her—being involved in a double mafia Family showdown was terrifying enough for me—I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a baby to protect in the middle of it all.
I turned to Marcus once the door had been closed.
“Thank you for not telling them I was the one who tried to steal the video for Brigs.”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t important.”
“I guess they wouldn’t have trusted me as easily if they knew,” I said, feeling a stab of guilt. Even from our brief interaction I sensed that they were both good people—as good as members of a crime family can be, anyway.
Marcus grunted. I took that as confirmation.
“Might also have been harder to sell the whole ‘fiancée’ thing, I suppose.” I frowned at him. “Why did you lie about that, anyway?”
“I didn’t lie,” he said, not even bothering to look in my direction. “I’m marrying you.”
* * * *
Chapter 16
Marcus
“Excuse me, you’re what?”
Evelyn’s sharp tone drew my thoughts from the conversation I’d just had with Blaine—and that I’d need to have with the twins. Her pretty face was screwed up in shock and her skin was looking pinker than usual.
“Hmm?”
“You’re marrying me?” she said, her voice hiking up at the end.
“Yes.”
The light pink in her cheeks turned dark and splotchy. “I don’t recall that being part of the deal we made.”
“No.”
Her green eyes narrowed. “You can’t change the rules like that.”
I frowned at her irate expression. “It’s got nothing to do with our deal. I’m not changing the terms.”
“I’m not marrying you!” she hissed.
“Yes, you are.”
“You can’t fucking force me to marry you. What’s wrong with you?” she screeched, opting for the higher part of her voice’s register this time. “Stupid deal or not, I’m not something you own!”
I cocked my head as I took in her ire, trying to work out what had angered her. Even carrying the weight of my father’s deceit, seeing Evelyn this upset pushed other concerns aside as the monster in my chest raised its head as if to sniff out the cause so it could annihilate it. I pushed it down and focused on the small woman in front of me. Every part of me longed to reach out and hold her tight, but I knew we weren’t familiar enough for her to accept my comfort. She accepted more carnal kinds of intimacy readily enough, but I knew there was a difference. I’d had sex with women before and never experienced the urge to wrap my arms around them and never let go. Not the way I did with Evelyn.
“I won’t force you,” I said, hoping that misunderstanding was the cause for her anger.
Both her eyebrows shot up high on her forehead. “Oh? Perhaps you would like explain why I’d marry you, then?”
“You’ll marry me because we belong together,” I said, the magnitude of saying out loud what I’d known since the first time I saw her sending a rush of pleasure through my body. I had tried to deny it, tried to rein in my overwhelming need for her with the knowledge that the darkness in me would destroy her like it had me. But when I’d seen her helpless in Leo’s hands and the anger welled up to consume me, I’d known—even when I lost my mind to the monster, I could never hurt her. Everyone else, but not her. Even the monster wanted to protect her. Be with her.
And so when she’d offered her companionship for my protection I’d accepted, because I knew she was strong enough to not let my darkness taint her. I had asked for a child because even when she left me again, I would still have part of her with me. Part of what could have been. Someone I could love until the end of time. Someone who might love me, too.
It wasn’t until she looked into my eyes and called me a good person that I knew I would never survive if she walked away. She was the only one in the world who saw more than the monster when she looked at me, and I couldn’t lose her. Not when I’d finally found her—when I’d finally felt a shimmer of what it was like to be
whole again.
Evelyn blinked, her mouth dropping to a pouty little “O” as some of the anger on her face was replaced with shock.
“W-what do you mean?” Even her voice was lower, hoarser, than before.
I couldn’t resist reaching for her—touching her. I cupped her cheek and felt the usual buzz of elation when my skin touched hers. She didn’t move away, and I brushed my thumb over her full lower lip. She shivered at my touch, and for a moment I let myself get lost in her wide-eyed stare.
“I know you feel it, too,” I said, softly so as not to spook her. “The attraction between us. It’s more than physical, even if that’s all you see right now. That’s okay. I can wait. I’ve waited all my life for you—I can wait a few more months. Or years, if that’s how long it takes. But one day, you’ll be my wife.”
She stared at me for a long while, still with her mouth half-open. “I… You don’t even know me. I don’t know you.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it matters!” The outrage was back on her pretty face. “If you want a girl to marry you, then getting to know her is kind of the first step. Oh, and pro-tip: trying to force her to have your baby is not really a great selling point, either.”
I released her chin with a regretful twinge. “I will get to know you, Evelyn. I will do anything I must to make you mine. But right now, I have to go see my other brothers. Will you come with me?”
“Oh.” Some of the indignant huff seemed to deflate from her posture, as if she wasn’t sure how to respond—whether to my declaration that she would be mine or the invitation to come with me, I couldn’t tell. Then she visibly steeled herself off and nodded “I’ll come with you if you think that’s a good idea. I’d like to get outside for a bit, but maybe they would rather not a complete stranger was there when you tell them this? Blaine didn’t exactly seem thrilled.”
“You saw the video—you are my proof, if I need it. They are… closer with my father than me or Blaine.” And if I didn’t bring her, they would undoubtedly show up at my doorstep the moment Blaine told them about her, anyway. And I’d rather they knew about her from me before they mentioned anything to my father. I didn’t want him to hear about her without me in the room so I could see his reaction. He likely wouldn’t care much, but I wasn’t about to risk Evelyn’s safety in case the malicious man who had ruled my life from the day I was born decided she didn’t fit into his plans for the Family.