Oliver
Her hand’s in the middle of his chest when I step through the hidden door into the other suite. Anders and Ryder follow me in. True, we could have just come through the front door. There’s no one watching us here; no one will tell what I do behind the doors of the family quarters.
Here’s where I can do almost anything I want. Thayer thinks he has loyal men, but they’re nothing compared to the royal guards of Castoria. My life’s been in their hands from my first breath.
“Wish Havenwood Hall had one of—” Anders cuts himself off when he sees where Emily’s hand is.
My eyes flick first to Thayer. The ass better be damn glad I haven’t told the guys about the secret passages in his home. They’d use them the first chance they got.
Anders glares from Emily’s hand to the scowl on her face. “What’s going on in here?”
Emily jerks her hand back as if she’s been burned. “I’m just informing Thayer how things are going to be.”
“It’s your birthday, seems about right, after all. What are the new laws?” Ryder moves to my side.
Emily grabs Ryder’s hand. “We need to be more . . . discreet with our situation. And we’re going to move faster to take down James. And I’m going to help.”
“I didn’t say that, Emily,” Thayer growls.
“But we can help.” Emily drops Ryder’s hand. Her arms hang at her sides, and she leans toward Thayer.
“The tire princess, the boy scout, the deckhand, and the prince are going to help me take down my father?”
Emily steps up to Thayer; she’s a second away from clocking him. But she’s going to have to get in line. “Thayer, don’t be an ass.”
“That’s who I am, Emily.”
“Fuck you,” Ryder says. “Don’t talk to her that way.”
“I didn’t say—” Thayer is cut off by Anders’s left hook. Thayer stumbles back into a medieval wooden table but bounces up and comes at Anders.
“Hold Anders!” I shout at Ryder as I grab Thayer. And damn if the ass isn’t more solid than he was in college. But I ratchet his arms back, and Ryder pulls Anders across the room.
Emily’s left standing in the middle of the deep-piled Persian rug.
A brisk knock cuts through the chaos. “Everything okay?” a guard’s deep voice asks.
Emily steps to the door, her lips pursed, disapproval worn on her face. She cracks the door, leaving only her face visible to the guard.
Thayer shakes my hand free.
“You good?” I whisper to him.
“Sure,” he growls back as he glares across the room at Anders. Ryder hasn’t let him go.
“Everything is peachy. Thank you for checking in,” Emily states.
I step toward her and catch the eyes of the guard over Emily’s head. I incline my head at him.
“Just let me know if you need us,” the guard says.
“Thank you. I will.” Emily closes the door.
“That’s not careful,” Thayer says, sitting on the table by the window.
“I’m sorry, Emily,” Anders says and steps back through the hidden door.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Emily follows him.
Ryder glares at Thayer and then me before following them.
I stare at Thayer.
“What?”
“You really thought this was going to be easy?”
“I’m not delusional. But yes, I thought I could peel back the layers of my father’s empire with more ease. Any faster and word is going to get back to him that I’m poking around.”
“Doesn’t he want you to take over one day? Shouldn’t you know everything he does?”
“He’s not delusional. He knows I don’t want to keep his empire in motion. I’ve been legitimizing the businesses he doesn’t care about for a decade. He doesn’t care because I’m doing a damn good job and it’s making us money. So he’s let me be. But he knows I don’t want any part of what he does.”
“So, you make him believe you do.” I step closer to Thayer. “You’ve already got two charades in the mix: a wife and baby. What’s one more?”
“Why would he believe I’ve completely stepped out of my skin? That I’m willing to step over to his side now that I have Emily? Emily, who stands for everything he’s not?”
“Do you have a better plan to speed things along? Who is he planning on leaving his legacy to if not you? Darius?”
“No, Darius isn’t interested in any of it.” Thayer shakes his head.
“What if he were?” I raise my eyebrows at Thayer. His brother isn’t the fool he pretends to be. “He blames the disappearance of his mother on James.”
“Rightly so.”
“What if . . .”
“No, I’m not bringing Darius into this. He’s mostly free of my father.”
“But you’re willing to risk Emily?”
“No.”
“Fine, it’s your call. But is it because you don’t think he could do it, he wouldn’t want to do it, or you can’t risk losing him?”
He glares at me.
“That’s what I thought. Well, ante up. You’ve asked Emily to risk her family.
It’s only fair you do the same.” I retreat the same way Anders and Ryder did, and close the door behind me.
Unlike the secret passageway in Havenwood, this one has locks on both doors.
I lock the one to Thayer’s suite and step into mine.
All traces of my childhood are gone. Stuffed in boxes.
I spent most of my youth in boarding schools, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have fond memories of the castle.
Unlike a lot of my school chums, who were shuffled off because their parents didn’t want anything to do with them, my parents rather enjoyed being parents.
They spent as much time as they could visiting the various schools that Sutton, Sloane, and I were attending.
Because somehow, while we’re not that far apart in age, we were never in the same place at the same time.
Emily’s perched on the large bed in the middle of the room, Ryder at her side. Light spills out of the en suite, and the water’s running.
“How’s Anders’s hand?” I tilt my head to the bathroom.
“Red. He’ll be fine,” Ryder says.
“Good, I’m glad he got a shot off. I always feel better when I hit Thayer.”
“You’ve been in fights with him?”
“Yes, but most of my hits were sanctioned in the ring.”
“What did he say to you?”
“It’s more what I said to him. I told him we need to bring his brother in. He mentioned you want things to move faster, Em. And you’re right. If we’re going to break James? We need more help. He needs more help.”
“Darius?”
“Yes, have you met him?”
“Briefly, when he was young,” Emily says.
“He’s exactly like his brother but nothing like him at all. They’re like twins in appearance. But Darius is charismatic—”
Emily cuts me off. “Thayer’s charismatic.
” Ryder and I gawk at her. I’ve seen how she fake-kisses the stoic brood, and I’m beginning to believe it’s not fake; she still feels something for him.
If this were a different timeline, that might do something for me.
Now it just scares the fuck out of me. “What? I suppose he was charismatic. Now he’s—”
“—an asshole,” Anders says, coming out of the bathroom. “Emily, keep your emotions in check. There’s nothing good about Thayer.” He stops in front of her. “He’ll use you and squash you.”
“I’m not saying I like him. Or that I want . . . I don’t want him. Not at all. You know that. Right? I don’t want him. Could never want him in my life for real. I’m doing this to make him gone in the long-term. To protect my family. To protect all the victims that James will hurt in the future.”
I nod. My eyes flick to Ryder. He’s wearing the same expression I imagine I am. One that says bullshit. He wipes it away when he notices me examining him.
“Fine, whatever. I’m sleeping here. If I were so into him, I would have had sex with him. Or touched him on all the nights we slept to—slept in his bed together. Slept.”
Anders steps into her space. “I believe you.” He pulls her to his chest with his good hand.
“Thank you.” She snuggles against him. And damn, if scout Anders gets to hold the girl close to him, sign me up.
“Let’s not let him own the day,” I say, moving around behind her. I skim my hand down her side. “The birthday girl deserves at least three orgasms, if not more.”
Her head thuds back against my chest, and her clear blue eyes stare at Anders. She laughs, shaking off what I’ve said. “Thank you. I really liked coming to see where you grew up. Your family isn’t scary at all.”
It’s not the first time I’ve heard that. “No, they aren’t. But I don’t want to talk about them right now.” I kiss her forehead and make my way to the tender spot behind her ear.
She moans, turning her neck to give me better access.
And a switch is flipped. It’s not just my hands tugging at her clothes; Anders and Ryder are pulling their own weight.
Moments later, she’s standing in just her dragonfly necklace, sexy black bra, and panties.
Ryder’s naked, Anders is on the way, and I’m fighting my belt buckle when Emily’s fingers slap my hand away.
Her nimble fingers make quick work of it.
She sinks to her knees and tugs my suit trousers down as she goes.
“It’s your birthday.” I reach for her, but gravity wins, and her knees hit the ground.
“And I get to do what I want to do.” Her thumbs tug my boxers down, and I kick them and my trousers away.
She has my cock in her left hand and Ryder’s in her right.
Anders has dropped to the parquet floor, his head pushing in between Emily’s legs.
Her head bows, but I don’t give her a second to protest what he’s doing.
Like a greedy bastard, I push my cock into her mouth and gather her hair and hold it taut. The other hand holds her head to me.
She moans around my cock, and the vibration has my knees buckling.
Her tongue twirls around my dick, bringing me to the edge long before I’m ready.
I pull on her hair, guiding her hot fucking mouth from me.
But she moans and strains, keeping the suction going.
It takes a good tug before I pop out of her mouth. Her watery eyes flick to mine.
But it doesn’t take a second before Ryder turns her, pumping his cock between her swollen pink lips.