Chapter 6
Six
X ander
I stood outside Nerine’s bedroom, waiting to escort her to her daily workout at the gym. Her previous team lead, Stefano, one of the originals, had given me a rundown of her routine. According to him, every day at six thirty sharp, Nerine left her room for a jog and then a weight training or pilates session in the basement gym.
But of course, today, she decided to change things up.
Glancing at my watch, I scowled.
Five to seven.
What the fuck was she doing in there?
Getting impatient, I knocked and then waited for a response. When none came, I knocked again and leaned against the doorframe.
That’s when the familiar surge prickled down my skin. Only two people ever caused that reaction.
Theo and Nerine.
The former was in a meeting in the city.
Which left my assignment.
Why hadn’t my men informed me that she’d slipped out of her room? Weren’t they stationed everywhere?
Releasing a frustrated breath, I said, “How did you leave without us seeing?”
“You’re not as all-knowing as you believe, Mr. Onassis.”
I turned to face her and felt like she’d punched me in the gut.
She wore an old college hoodie with yoga pants that hugged her amazing ass. She hadn’t a stitch of makeup on her face, giving her an aura of youthfulness. And the way she had her thick braids pulled into a high ponytail reminded me of the girl from five years ago. The girl who’d been mine. The girl whose hair I had the right to fist and use to bring her in for a kiss.
We held each other’s gazes. The weight of so many things we couldn’t say sitting so heavy between us. One day, when it all went down, I’d tell her everything. Get her to forgive me.
Her pupils dilated, turning her eyes into rings of blue, and the familiar surge of lust pulsed between us. She licked her plump lips, and her breath grew shallow, hinting at the arousal building inside her.
Fuck. I’d never survive this.
Shaking off the trance, I moved in her direction and asked, “Would you clarify that statement?”
“Nope.” She strode away and then called over her shoulder. “Let’s go. I want to have breakfast.”
Okay, Angel. No matter what version of you that you try to throw at me: brat, diva, bitch, broken, or anything in-between, I can handle it.
I kept a few feet behind her until she entered the kitchen, where I remained on the periphery. There she busied herself, chatting with the staff and preparing the ingredients for her breakfast.
The morning kitchen duty was a tradition she kept up to pay homage to her father. From the time I could remember as a child, Theios Peter would spend the morning with the kitchen staff, preparing his breakfast and learning about them. The short time he’d spent with them gave him a chance to learn different things about the household and any gossip that generally wouldn’t reach his ears.
Peter Angelos was known for being as ruthless as they came, but he cared for his people and knew how to run his empire, inside and out.
His one biggest mistake had been trusting Andraius to the level he had. It had cost him everything.
“Eat.” Nerine stood before me with an omelet, making me realize I’d spaced out.
“You’re feeding me? I thought you hated me.”
Something flickered in her cobalt eyes as I took the plate.
Instead of responding to my statement, she said, “It’s weird to have you staring at us while we have breakfast. Might as well join us.”
I glanced down at my food and looked at hers on the butcher block table behind her. My omelet was filled with sautéed spicy vegetables, the exact way I liked it, and hers had only spinach and cheese. Why would she go out of her way to make something for me?
Then it hit me. It was our thing, too. We’d loved to cook together and make things for each other. I’d taken multiple cooking classes with Nerine under the guise of being her bodyguard while she was in high school.
The pulse of energy hummed between us again. Nerine bit her lower lip, and a flush crept over her cheeks. My body responded, and I’d never been so grateful for the fucking suit jacket covering my now engorged cock.
Fuck. I had to get this under control. This was only the first day.
“Did you make breakfast for Stefano every morning, too?” I asked in a tone meant for her ears only. “Or is this a stroll down memory lane, Angel?”
As if sense came back to her with my words, she closed her eyes briefly, gritted her teeth, and hurried to her place at the table.
The kitchen staff glared at me as if they sensed I’d said something to upset Nerine, but I kept my face stoic. Of course, they weren’t part of the originals who worked on alternate days of the week. So, my experience with this group left me questioning their loyalties. Though if I gauged anything by the frosty reception I garnered now, I’d say they loved Nerine and wanted nothing to do with me.
To keep the peace and stay on their good side, I said, “Thank you, Mrs. Angelos. Making breakfast was very considerate of you.”
“You’re welcome.” Nerine lifted her gaze to mine for the briefest of seconds before digging into her food.
* * *
“How’d the morning go?” Theo asked as he met me outside of the Angelos library, where Nerine had barricaded herself for three hours following the end of breakfast.
“The forecast ranges between ice storms and Antarctic conditions.”
My response garnered chuckles from two team members stationed outside the library’s mahogany doors.
“Then I guess I should have worn a heavy coat.” Theo gestured for me to follow him. “We need to have a proper discussion with her.”
“It’s your funeral.”
“Since when are you so worried about her temper?”
“Since I realized she harbored a powder keg of rage under that bitchy, bitter facade. It’s only a matter of time before she blows, and either we will be the recipients of her wrath, or she will do something that will fuck all of our plans to hell and back.”
Theo studied me and shook his head. “What the fuck happened this morning?”
“She made me breakfast,” I stated.
Surprise flashed in his gray eyes, and then he probed, “And?”
“Nothing. I stayed in my corner, and Nerine was in hers. I know her, and she is up to something. Andraius may be a paranoid bastard, but in this case, he is correct to have his suspicions.”
“She’s going to fuck up our plans.”
“Undoubtedly.”
“That’s all we need.” Theo charged toward the library door and, without knocking, turned the knob and walked inside the giant room.
Snuggled on a long couch with a blanket tucked around her and a laptop on a portable desk, Nerine scowled in our direction. “It is rude to enter a room without permission.”
“We ensure your safety. Where you go, we go,” Theo countered.
“You’re such an asshole.”
He shrugged and then waited until I’d entered to shut the door and lock it. Nerine’s eyes widened, and she sat up.
“What are you doing?”
“We need to have a chat.” Theo sat across from her, and I positioned myself in an armchair near the fireplace.
“I said all I needed to say last night. Unless this concerns something pertinent to your work for my warden, get lost.”
Theo leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “Well, Angel. It is about our job. You are our job.”
“I’m not your Angel. I’m not your anything,” she voiced through gritted teeth, shifting her body to match his position. “And you can fuck yourself with thinking I’m your job. You’re part of my protection detail. Nothing more. Now, what do you want?”
Before Theo could say anything and escalate the situation further, I interjected, “We need a rundown of your daily and weekly schedules. And starting today, we would like for you to update a shared electronic calendar for activities so we can implement appropriate security protocols.”
Nerine cocked her head to the side and studied me, and I couldn’t help but smirk.
“What? Did you think he was the only one who could use proper English? Just because my assignments weren’t in Europe didn’t mean I spent any less time with the upper crust.”
Nerine’s face grew stern. “That’s right. You left the country to keep me safe. So explain to me how letting another man put a gun to my head and force me to marry him and then fuck me without consent kept me safe?”
The bitterness in her words felt like a kick to the gut. I’d done that. I’d let someone force her into a marriage.
Fuck. I had to get it together. I bitched at Theo for living in his guilt and here I was doing it myself.
“It was that, or you died, along with your mother and sisters.”
“I see. Makes complete sense now.” She tapped her finger to her chin. “So you whored me out to save my family?”
Theo clenched his jaw and shifted slightly, telling me Nerine had hit that trigger point for him. He could remain calm in all things but with her.
He’d goaded her by barging into the library, and now she’d pushed back with her words meant to hurt.
“Don’t you dare talk about yourself like that.” The ire in Theo’s voice would have made most men piss themselves, but Nerine laughed.
I couldn’t fucking believe it. She laughed.
“Or what? Andraius has done everything possible to me, so I doubt you could add anything new to the list. Oh, wait. You can’t touch me, can you?” she asked with fake smugness that pulled at my nerves. “Like at all.”
“So it’s the brat today?”
She glared now. “No, there is no brat. You might as well forget about that brat you loved. She’s dead and gone. I’m a raging, cold-hearted bitch. I became one because that’s the only way to survive when you have no one but yourself to depend on.”
Fuck. This wasn’t how we needed this conversation to go.
“You’re not alone. There are many more people on your side than you believe,” I tried to assure her. “We had to stay in the shadows until we could get everyone in position.”
She shook her head. “Oh, I feel so safe with everyone in the shadows, moving me around like a chess piece.”
“Don’t you want your seat? It belongs to you.”
Fire lit her dark eyes as she stood and moved toward me with a fist and more anger directed at me than I’d ever seen before.
“You fucking bastard. How dare you? How fucking dare you?”
Theo grabbed her by the waist and hauled her against him, keeping her from attacking me. She thrashed in his hold, trying her best to get free.
When she realized there was no hope of Theo allowing her to unleash her rage, she said in a tone so cold it was as if she were a different person. “Once upon a time, I may have wanted to fulfill Papa’s dream, take my seat, run his empire. But that all died with him and Linus. Now I want to escape this hell with Mama and the girls and leave all of you assholes behind. Every fucking last one of you. I want nothing to do with any of you.”
“And where would you go?”
She smirked. “As if I’d tell either of you. You’re not my knights in shining armor here to protect me. I’m not depending on you. Were you ever the man I could tell all my secrets?”
I grimaced. “I’m still your Xander. No matter what, you can still talk to me.”
“That’s a fucking lie.” She shook her head. “You’re not my best friend anymore. Neither of you are. I’ll find a way out. I’ll get my revenge one day. Let’s hope you’re not in my way.”
“Angel, all we wanted was to keep you safe.” Theo spoke against the back of her head. “That’s all we still want. You mean everything to us.”
I wasn’t even sure he realized he hadn’t let her go. The lucky bastard got to hold her, even if she was spitting mad at the time.
She dropped her head, and her shoulders sagged. “Theo, I’m not your angel. Please, I beg you. Please stop calling me that. I’m nobody’s angel. And how can you keep me safe when the enemy shares my bed?”
“Let us explain.”
“No. The time for that has long passed.” She settled her attention out the window. “You just stay in your corner, and I’ll stay in mine. We will pretend, as always, that our little Theo-Angel-Xander throuple never existed. I’ll do my best to curb my bitchiness, and you stay out of my way.”
The defeat of her words made it seem as if there was no hope for us in the future.
Fuck that shit.
“Nerine.”
She shifted her gaze to mine.
“Do you remember the promise we made to each other? Or the way we described what we had?”
She said nothing, just stared at me.
“Did you forget? Or is it that you don’t want to remember?” Theo asked as he released her and stepped away. “If you hate us so much, it wouldn’t have meaning. You could talk about it as part of your past, right?”
There he went again, pushing her buttons.
Anger washed over her features. “And what good would talking about us do? It makes no difference.”
“Our feelings haven’t changed,” I informed her. “Unconventional yet permanent. Isn’t that how you described us?”
“You two are fucking idiots.”
“You’ll forever be it for us. We will wait.”
“Xander, do you even listen to what’s coming from your mouth? I’m married—end of story. There is no happy ending. And if Andraius has his way, it will never change. To gain my freedom, one of us will have to die.”
Neither Theo nor I uttered a word in response. We only stared at her. The weight of the statement filled the room.
“You can’t be serious,” she whispered, then shook her head no. “No, don’t do this for me. I don’t need you to save me.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Mrs. Angelos.” I leaned back in my seat. “I suggest you work with us on your daily and weekly schedules and let us see if we can come to some compromise so we don’t invade your space too much.”
Nerine’s attention shifted to Theo.
They stared at each other, and then she nodded as if they’d decided to call a truce. Which I knew was bullshit since one or the other would say something extra annoying. But I guessed I’d deal with it when it came.
When the fuck had I become the peacemaker? I was the one who got in people’s faces and caused scenes. Shit. When it came to Theo and Nerine, though, I was always the peacekeeper. Fucking Switzerland.
I needed a drink to handle this changing personality with Theo’s and Nerine’s shit.
“Let me update you with today’s plans, and then we can go from there.”