Chapter 15
Kane
“Maybe because the wedding of my dreams was supposed to be with the man of my dreams.”
I’m in the middle of a meeting with Ena Odell, my tech consultant, at the restaurant in the country club, discussing how to take Morgan Enterprises to the next level, but the only thing I can focus on is Brielle.
It wasn’t just what she said, but how she looked when she said it, like she genuinely wanted to marry her dream man and that couldn’t possibly be me.
Who says I can’t be her dream fucking man?
My thoughts go back to when Brielle and I spent the night together. She was looking for the perfect balance of control.
Her dumbass ex had given in to her every whim, which was why he bored her. But with me, while I gave her the control she craved, I also set boundaries she needed.
“You might’ve given me the control that night, but the next day, you took it away.”
That night was supposed to be just that—one night. But like the deadliest spider, she spun me into her web, and rather than risking being caught and killed, I pulled her out and dragged her down with me. Because the thought of never being with her again was unfathomable.
The problem is, forcing Brielle to marry me meant taking away her control …
“Mr. Morgan,” Jack, my assistant, says, tearing me from my thoughts. “I need to take this call.”
I nod and then focus my attention on Ena, who goes back to discussing how purchasing a new program that just came onto the market would improve operations and increase efficiency.
“If you look at line four on page six …”
I flip through the portfolio she gave me, but can’t find what she’s talking about, so she leans in.
“Right—”
“Does Brielle know you’re having lunch with another woman?” a voice cuts in.
Theodore DeSantis.
“Excuse me?” I quirk a brow, daring him to fuck with me.
“You went through all the trouble to steal her from me, and now you’re out with another woman,” he accuses. “Brielle deserves better.”
How old is this guy? Fourteen?
“Steal her from you?” I scoff, standing and towering over him, having had enough of his bullshit.
“That cocktease was mine fir—”
“You’d better watch what you say,” I warn him, backing him against the edge of the bar. “Brielle is mine, and I’m protective of what’s mine.”
“Yours? No way.” He scoffs, refusing to believe it. “I heard you’re working with the Antonovs, and Brielle said she wouldn’t be with anyone associated with them.”
“Hmm … well, she’s living under my roof”—I chuckle mirthlessly just as I spot Matteo and Lorenzo walking over—“sleeping in my bed. Seems like she’s mine to me.”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Theo whines. “I spent months with that bitch playing hard to get …”
Matteo’s jaw flexes as he steps forward, but Lorenzo holds him back.
“She’s wearing my engagement ring,” I add, making Theo’s eyes go wide.
“What? No.” He shakes his head.
I pull my phone out, opening it to the pictures that Brielle’s mom took the night I proposed. And the second Theo sees them, it’s like a switch flips.
“Fuck her then,” he sneers. “I knew I shouldn’t have fucked with that bitch. She wasn’t even good in bed … wanting all that weird shit, like for me to—”
The second his words are out, I connect my fist with his pretty face, refusing to let him finish his thought. His head snaps to the side, and he groans in pain.
“Talk about my future wife like that again, and I’ll fucking bury you.” Another hit, and blood flies out of his mouth. “If I so much as hear that you spoke her name, you’re done.”
I’m about to hit him again when Matteo steps in between us.
“He’s not worth it,” he says. “As much as I appreciate you standing up for my sister, he’s a little bitch, and he’ll press charges. The last thing we need is more heat on us.”
I release a harsh breath and step back as Theo covers his mouth with his hands.
“I’m calling the cops,” he mutters, doing exactly as Matteo predicted.
Matteo chuckles darkly. “No, you’re not because everyone in this room will tell them that you tripped and fell on your ugly fucking face. Leave, DeSantis, now.”
Theo glares from Matteo to me, and then like the little bitch he is, he scurries away.
“What the fuck was Bri thinking, dating that guy?” Lorenzo asks once Theo is gone.
“She was thinking that he was her chance at a normal life,” Matteo says, emotion thick in his tone.
I’m about to respond when my phone rings. I pull it out to make sure it’s not Brielle, but when I don’t recognize the number, I hold up a finger, telling them to give me a minute, and answer the call. With my mom out of town, I always answer in case of an emergency.
“Hello?”
“Good afternoon. This is Patty with American Express. I’m calling for Kane Morgan.”
“This is he.”
The woman walks me through verifying my identity, and the entire time, I’m wondering why she’s calling, until she says, “Generally, we don’t call to approve a purchase since you’re a loyal customer, but due to the amount being so high, we need to confirm your card wasn’t stolen.”
I reach into my pocket, grab my wallet, and open it to make sure I have my card on me. Only it’s not there … because I gave it to Brielle.
“What is the purchase for?” I ask.
“A vehicle, sir. A Nissan GT-R Nismo. Total cost is two hundred twenty-one thousand dollars. A woman by the name of Brielle Antonov is making the purchase, but since she’s not an authorized user …”
“My card hasn’t been stolen,” I say with a chuckle. “My fiancée is trying to prove that she’s in control.”
“Excuse me?” Patty asks in confusion.
“Nothing.” I shake my head, realizing I’m going about this entire thing wrong.
I knew the type of person Brielle was from the first night I met her. She needs to be in control, and if I want her to be on board with this marriage, she has to feel like she’s not being forced, even though she is.
I could easily end the engagement. Dominick already agreed to the waterfront expansion deal. And truth be told, I already veered from my original plan to destroy the Antonovs and Russos when I chose to make the deal—putting business above revenge.
But I’ve gotten a taste of Brielle, so I know how fucking sweet she is underneath all that sour. My mom has always chastised me about having a sweet tooth, and she’s not wrong. The woman has me addicted, and there’s no way I’m giving up her sweetness that easily.
Which leaves me no choice.
I have to get her to fall in love with me.
“Approve the purchase,” I say. “My fiancée has approval to buy whatever she wants.”
I hang up, and Matteo quirks a brow.
“Your sister used my card to buy a two-hundred-thousand-dollar car.”
Matteo laughs. “She’s fucking nuts.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “But I kind of like her that way.”
Brielle might think she’s won this battle, but I’m about to win the war.
The rest of lunch goes smoothly, and once we’re done and I’ve agreed to move forward with the new program, I pay the bill.
I’m walking Ena out when I notice Lorenzo is sitting at the bar, alone, with an entire bottle of whiskey in front of him.
It’s not my business, but if I’m going to win Brielle over, I need to play nice with her family, and Lorenzo, while not by blood, is part of her family.
After seeing Ena off, I let Jack know I’ll meet him back at the office and then head back inside, finding Lorenzo still sitting in the same spot, pouring himself another glass of whiskey.
“Day drinking?” I say, sliding onto the stool next to him.
“When your ex shows up on your front step with a baby, claiming he’s yours, it calls for a drink … or five.”
“Shit. Please tell me you’re having a paternity test done.”
“Of course.” He side-eyes me. “The results are due back anytime now.” He downs what’s left of his drink and pours himself another. “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone, including Brielle. I haven’t told anyone yet.”
“Not even Matteo?”
Anyone who’s been around their family knows that Lorenzo and Matteo are close. Hell, Matteo is even married to Lorenzo’s sister, Daniella.
He shakes his head. “They’ve been busy getting ready for their baby and living in wedded bliss.
And … fuck!” he barks, downing the drink in one gulp and slamming it on the bar top.
“They warned me about her, and I didn’t listen.
She told me she was on birth control. I saw the fucking pills, but she obviously lied. ”
My thoughts go to Brielle. When I saw her shit all over the bathroom counter, there was a packet of birth control pills there. I don’t know if she takes them regularly, but I’ll need to check.
Wonder if she’ll willingly stop them so I can knock her up.
The image of her swollen with my baby is much more appealing than I ever thought it would be.
I always thought after Enrique died, our bloodline and name would end with me.
And when I mentioned wanting an heir, it was only to fuck with the Antonovs since that had been the original deal our families had in place.
But now … the idea of filling Brielle with my cum and putting a baby in her sounds more and more appealing.
“Not that it should surprise me,” Lorenzo goes on. “She’s a professional fucking liar.” He glances over at me. “She worked with your brother to fuck me over.”
“Enrique?”
I think about who he worked with. While I didn’t agree with his tactic, I kept tabs on him in an attempt to keep him under control. Then he spiraled, and it all went downhill fast.
“Yeah,” he says. “Her name is Hillary Sparks. He paid her to seduce me for info about my company when he was trying to take it down, and like an idiot, I fell for it.”
He pours two more fingers and throws it back, and I slide the bottle away and lift my finger for the bartender to come over.
“A bottle of water for this guy, please.”
The bartender nods and grabs one, setting it on the bar top with a glass of ice.
“And where is your possible baby mama now?” I ask, curious.
“At my house, making herself comfortable, I’m sure.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah,” he agrees with a sigh.
“And if the baby is yours?”
“She wants to raise him together.”
“Doesn’t mean you have to be with her,” I point out.
“I don’t trust her. I’d rather have her in my house than living somewhere else.
” He takes a sip of his water. “I’ve always wanted to get married and have kids, but this isn’t how I wanted it to go down.
My parents were from an arranged marriage …
” He looks at me. “Though I guess you probably know that.”
I did know that.
My father and his were best friends. But one night, Maria—Anthony’s mom—seduced my dad.
Giuseppe—Lorenzo’s dad—was in love with her and heartbroken when he learned of her betrayal.
By the time they learned of Maria’s pregnancy, thanks to her hiding it for as long as possible, my dad had already met my mom and fallen in love with her.
But because Maria was pregnant, Giuseppe called off the engagement with her, and she was forced to marry my father. A year later, Giuseppe’s dad arranged a marriage between him and Lorenzo’s mom, Tanya.
“I know my parents loved each other,” Lorenzo says. “But my father … he always loved Maria. I caught him talking to her once, and he played it off, but I don’t think he ever got over her.”
“I get it,” I tell him. “My dad never loved Maria, only stuck it out with her because of Anthony. He was in love with my mom, but he put the business first.”
Lorenzo shakes his head. “I don’t want that … to be married because of a baby. I know I sound like a little bitch for saying this, but I want to marry for love.”
I think about my views on marriage before I met Brielle. Business has always come first, which is why I never planned to marry, not wanting to put a woman in the same position my mom had been in. My dad might’ve loved her, but she was always second to his business.
“Brielle deserves better.”
Theo’s words swirl around in my head.
She does deserve better—she deserves everything. And I’m going to make sure she has it. I was close with my father, but I’m smart enough to learn from his mistakes.
“Why are you pushing this whole thing with Bri?” Lorenzo asks.
For a second, I wonder if I spoke my thoughts out loud.
“You’re a smart businessman. Some of the deals you’ve made …” He whistles lowly. “The TechCorp deal? Fucking genius. And Avalon …”
“You stalking me, Russo?” I smirk.
He chuckles. “Any good businessman knows who he’s getting into bed with. But honestly, I knew who you were before you showed up here. Your father might’ve run the business into the ground—”
“No,” I correct, my blood boiling at the false accusation.
“He didn’t run the business into the ground.
Your father and Andrey pushed him out. They threatened investors to pull out, cut him out of deals he should’ve been a part of.
He had millions invested, and they took his money and then threw him to the wolves, leading to his downfall. ”
“I get that,” he concedes, “but you revived the company and brought it back to life better than your dad had ever run it. You don’t need us or Bri. You’ve created a reputation for yourself that stands on its own.”
“Thanks,” I say, trying to play off the compliment like it’s not a big deal when the truth is, that’s all I wanted.
To make my father’s company successful. It’s all he wanted, and he died, trying to do so.
“But that doesn’t change the fact that my father lived and breathed for that company and put your fathers on a pedestal.
He gave them everything until his last breath, so I owe it to him to right the wrongs, which includes a Rothschild marrying an Antonov. ”
I might’ve changed my last name from Rothschild to Morgan—my mom’s last name—to ensure I’d stay under the radar, but at the end of the day, I’m still my father’s son.
“Shit.” Lorenzo looks down at his phone. “Results are in.”
He taps on the screen and stares at it for several seconds while I drag the bottle back over.
“So … are we toasting or drinking the rest of the bottle?”
“No fucking clue,” he says, “but the baby is mine.” He swallows thickly. “I’m a father.”
“Cheers,” I say, pouring us each two fingers of whiskey. “To fatherhood.”
We clink glasses, and as I drink mine, I picture what Brielle would look like, carrying my baby. Lorenzo might be devastated that he’s stuck with Hillary as the mother of his child, but I want nothing more than for Brielle to have my babies … sooner rather than later.