Chapter 15
Fifteen
X ander
Five minutes from the Angelos mansion, I studied Nerine as she meticulously dressed. With every item of clothing she slid on her body, I watched the cool, calm, emotionless mask she liked to don slip back in place.
Yes, it was all a lie. She felt a torrent of emotions under the facade. Hell, the vulnerability she’d revealed to Theo and me spoke the truth, not to mention her loss of control when she saw Andraius with his mistress.
Returning to the house meant erecting those cold steel walls and regaining some of the norms she’d lived with for the last few years. It infuriated me to know her only form of protection was acting like a piece of ice sat in her chest instead of a feeling, beating heart.
This woman loved so hard and felt too much to lock it away.
“You don’t have to pretend with us.”
She smirked and shook her head. “You have no idea what you’re even talking about. I’m being me and accepting my reality.”
“What is your reality?” I asked while glancing at Theo, who studied Nerine, assessing her, her words, and her reactions.
He’d remained eerily silent since we’d given Nerine her last orgasm. And no matter how much we wanted to ignore it, our desire, lust, and desperate longing for each other remained a constant presence around us, lingering in the air.
It was as if the moment we’d pulled the last bit of pleasure out of her, we knew this couldn’t happen again. Theo’s normal operating mode was to grow quiet and brood. At the same time, I maintained an open line of communication with the Angel. However, with him, there was this wall I couldn’t fucking break down.
It kept all of our interactions from being one hundred percent authentic.
Now here I was facing the two people who mattered most to me in the world and couldn’t get over the stupid decisions I’d made five years ago.
And from the tension I felt brewing, they were about to go for each other’s throats at any minute.
This was all I needed.
“The only freedom I will ever have is the one I take.”
Theo’s eyes shifted to mine briefly, telling me he caught the same cryptic undertones of her words.
Leaning forward, I asked in the calmest tone possible, “What exactly does that mean?”
“I refuse to be anyone’s pawn much longer. Either Andraius kills me, or I vanish. Let’s hope the former isn’t my fate.”
Before I realized what Theo had planned, he tugged Nerine across the limo and onto his lap.
He brought his face right up against hers. “What are you and your Assassin Squad planning?”
“Let me go, you asshole.” She struggled against his hold, glowering at him.
Fucking hell. In a blink of an eye, they could go from icebergs to molten lava, ready to kill each other.
“Not until you answer the damn question.”
“Why would I tell you? I’m a pawn in your plans, too.” She lifted her chin as if daring him to kiss her. “You don’t listen to me any more than anyone else.”
“Nerine, why would you even say that?” I had to ask, feeling the sting of her words. “What we have isn’t like that, and you know it.”
She whipped her head around, looking in my direction, fire blazing in her bright blue irises. “I accept we have a remembered love, but do you even know me? I’m talking about the woman I am now.”
“Of course, I fucking do. Who the hell have we been around for the last few months?”
“Then tell me, what is it that I want most? What have I said I want more than anything?”
Theo whispered, “To escape with your mother and sisters.”
“Will you let that happen?” She shifted to stare into Theo’s gray eyes. “Will you free me from a life with Andraius and the Angelos legacy?”
“You want us to let you go for a second time? Even after today?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “More than you will ever know. He’s not giving up his throne as easily as you believe.”
Before Theo could respond, the car stopped in the mansion’s driveway. Nerine scrambled off his lap just as the door opened.
We’d barely stepped out of the limo when she said, “I won’t leave the property, but I want some time alone. I don’t need a constant shadow. Is that understood?”
The raw intimacy of the conversation from only moments earlier completely evaporated as if it had never occurred in the first place. Well, except for the fact an immense weight sat like a heavy cloak around us.
“Your security will remain by your side whether you like it or not,” Theo countered and then added, “As you stated, if Andraius has his way, you’ll die by morning. My job is to prevent such things.”
“Follow my traitor husband around then and leave me alone.”
I stepped between Theo and Nerine. “We have guards on him, but he has allies, and we haven’t identified all of them. Work with us, Nerine.”
“You want me to work with you?” Her attention shifted between Theo and me. “Then answer the question I asked before we arrived. Yes or no?”
We remained quiet, neither of us saying anything, only staring at her.
How the fuck could she expect us to let her go?
Anger flared in her blue eyes. “Exactly as I believed. Well, since I am the true Angelos, I have a directive that I expect everyone to follow.”
“And that is?” Theo stepped around me and waited.
“I want the Angelos interloper, his mistress, and his possessions removed from my parents’ room and placed anywhere but near me.” She stalked up to Theo, rage burning all over her face. “You want me to run this family. I’ll do it, even if it means running it into the ground.”
I grabbed Nerine’s wrist before she could move away.
She jerked her wrist and lifted the other arm as if to deck me before I caught it.
I held her hands captive and leaned forward, saying in a low voice so only she could hear, “We did all this to give you back your birthright, not to punish you. We fucking love you.”
“All I want is to have a choice.”
“Stop thinking like a damn child, Nerine,” Theo snapped, moving behind her. “You’re the same damn age we were when everything went down. You’re too smart not to understand how things have to go.”
“Apparently, I’m not since I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I allowed her to tug her hands free of my hold, and she glowered at us as she cocked a hand on her hip.
“What heir of any family has a choice? Did your father have a choice? Did Drakos? All these months, and you’re still thinking like a victim. What the fuck did we do all this for?” Theo gripped the hair on the back of his head.
“Calm the fuck down,” I ordered Theo, knowing this situation drew too much attention.
He rarely lost his temper in public and having him unleash it on Nerine in the open meant trouble. Our secrets had to remain quiet, for all our sakes.
And, of course, Nerine couldn’t keep her mouth shut. “It looks as if it was for nothing. It is useless talking to you about anything. You don’t listen to me. I am finished with you and you bossing me around. Go suck a rotten egg and leave me the hell alone. We are done with this conversation.”
She turned and rushed into the house.
Maybe everyone would chalk it up to emotions of her seeing Andraius and the wedding-gown incident.
“The hell you are finished with anything. This conversation is far from over.” Theo stalked behind her, following her into the mansion.
Fuck me.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm my nerves, I glanced at some of the soldiers, who all grimaced.
Yep. This was bad.
Slowly I surveyed the men and then internally sighed in relief. They were all part of the originals and loyal to Nerine. They’d kept our secrets and would continue to hold them.
After a deep, calming breath, I asked, “Where’s Andraius?”
“We moved him to a more secure location as you ordered,” one of the soldiers responded.
“And his mistress?”
“Returned to her apartment.”
“Keep everyone away from Nerine’s section of the house. I need to defuse this situation before she kills Theo.” I shook my head. “I hate playing peacemaker.”
“It sucks to be on the other side of the table for once,” I heard someone whisper but couldn’t decipher who said it.
A few of the men snickered, and I shot them a scowl. “I didn’t ask for your opinions.”
“I’ve never seen either of them so volatile,” the one who’d answered my earlier questions stated.
“They bring out the best in each other,” I muttered as I made my way to the residential section of the house.
Nerine’s shout of “You’re a fucking asshole!” reached my ears when my foot hit the landing near her bedroom.
Then came Theo’s, “And you’re a spoiled child who needs to grow the hell up.”
I hurried to the room, knowing this would end with her shooting or fucking him, and neither was an option.
I stepped through the doorway to see Nerine hurl one of her boots directly at Theo’s head and him ducking and ready to retaliate.
“How dare you call me a child. You have no idea what I’ve endured.”
“You aren’t the only one who’s suffered.”
“Were you forced to marry and fuck a man thirty years older than you?”
Theo stepped toward Nerine, clenching his jaw. “I lost my mother to this life, then my whole family. You still have your mother and sisters.”
“Is this a game of tit for tat?”
I had to find a way to get these two under control. Nerine teetered on powder-keg mode, which meant if Theo kept poking at her, there was no telling what she’d do.
And after everything that had happened in the limo, our emotions were too charged to think rationally.
“The two of you need to simmer down.”
Ignoring me, Theo took another step in Nerine’s direction. “This isn’t a game at all, brat. Only a child would say it’s a game.”
“Call me a child again, and I’ll punch you in the face.” She smacked her fist against her palm. “Those assassins taught me more than you can imagine. I will fuck you up.”
He lifted and then pointed at his chin. “Give it your best shot, Angel.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I ran to intercept Nerine as she charged for Theo.
Her body collided with my front as Theo’s hit my back. I held Nerine by the waist, trying to steady and push her back. At the same time, Theo fisted her hair, pulling her forward, and she reached over my shoulder and clawed at his forearms.
“You’re a jackass,” Nerine spat. “I hate you.”
Theo jerked her closer, sandwiching me harder between them. “Feeling’s mutual, brat.”
“You two need to calm the hell down before this goes too far.” I threw my head back, willing the biting lust surging forward to ease to something manageable, less demanding.
This was how it had always started—an epic fight between these two morons and me standing in the middle.
The energy in the room seemed to crackle, and my idiot cock wanted to join the party.
Breathing through the raging need, I made the mistake of looking down.
Nerine’s livid attention connected with mine right as she grabbed my shirt.
“You mean like this?” She jerked me toward her, covering her lips with mine.
Her essence exploded against my mouth, causing every one of my good intentions to evaporate into thin air.
My palm slid up her back, dragging her against me. I feasted on her, knowing the memories of the past were nothing compared to the reality of this woman here and now. She tasted better than the rarest scotch, intoxicating, decadent, indulgent.
She moaned, rubbing her pelvis along my cock, and threaded her fingers into my hair.
This was heaven and hell all rolled into one.
Theo tugged her head in his direction, her eyes fluttered open, and she whispered, “Theo, you have to know I don’t hate you.”
“It’s hate-love, remember?” He leaned forward, biting her lower lip, eliciting a whimper from her before sealing his mouth over hers.
Theo and I walked Nerine backward until we pinned her to a nearby wall. He continued to worship her, cupping her breasts and pinching her nipples through her clothes as he devoured her mouth.
When Theo broke the kiss and turned his face toward me, I leaned in and then pulled back. We stared at each other. The draw to him remained the same as it had always been. We’d felt it since we were kids, even before we acted upon it.
At this moment, it was his choice. He either forgave me or he didn’t.
After what felt like minutes and was probably only seconds, I pushed down the disappointment and dropped to my knees, focusing back on Nerine.
I pulled her shoes off and then worked her skintight pants down her curvy ass and thighs. All the while, I kissed and licked along the skin I slowly exposed. Theo lifted her shirt over her head, throwing the material behind him as he bit and nipped down the column of her neck. She arched into the pleasure-filled pain of his teeth.
“I missed this. God, I missed this so much,” she gasped and moaned.
Rising to my feet, I took Nerine’s lips. I couldn’t get enough of her. I wanted every part of her.
Her fingers drifted to the buttons of my shirt and then trailed down to cup my hard, engorged cock, stroking me through my pants.
God, I’d waited years for this—her touch.
There was nothing like her.
At that moment, a glint of light reflected off her wedding ring, making me freeze and bringing some semblance of sanity back.
“W—we have to stop.” I looked up at her, seeing the confusion and hurt.
“No.” She cupped my face. “Please.”
I clenched my jaw, and with all the willpower I could muster, I stepped back. “You aren’t free. We’ve already pushed it beyond anything we should have done. You can never be ours until Andraius is out of the picture.”
Theo nodded. His flushed face and dilated gray eyes told me he was struggling to do the right thing as much as I was.
She took in shallow breaths, her body shaking.
She braced a hand on the wall behind her. In a flash, Nerine’s face grew emotionless, and the mask she wore for the public settled into place.
“Then I guess this is where everything the three of us have ever shared ends.”
No, I wouldn’t allow this. She had to understand the reasons. First Theo and now her, was I ever going to stop fucking up?
“We’re trying to do the right thing,” I pled with her. “We aren’t rejecting you.”
“It’s not rejection, I feel, but acceptance. To find my freedom, I either have to disappear or die. In both scenarios, there is no reconciliation for the three of us.”
“Dammit, Nerine. Stop saying that shit.” Theo got in her face—the anger from moments earlier back in full force. “You will not disappear. Do you hear me? And dying isn’t an option. I have lost everyone I love. I will not fucking lose you, too.”
She set a hand on his chest. “I don’t plan to die. My job is to protect my mother and sisters. As long as I’m alive, they are safe.”
“Stop thinking about yourself as a commodity.” I glared at her over Theo’s shoulder. “You are the Angelos Angel, the heir to the syndicate. Theo’s right. Stop thinking of yourself as a victim and look at yourself as the viper Theios Peter raised you to be.”
“I am Papa’s viper. You don’t want to accept the version of her that I’ve become. We can’t go back in time, Xander. I can only look to my future.”
“Are you kidding me right now? All we’ve done is for your future.” I gestured to her. “Theo and I played fucking traitors to hold your empire.”
“Is it really my empire if you run it?” She lifted a brow. “I’m a figurehead.”
I countered with my own glare. “Do you think everyone doesn’t suspect who funneled the money out of all the accounts? Or who strategically set up the trust with said assets, making it impossible for anyone other than blood-linked Angelos children to inherit?”
She remained quiet for a moment, then said, “Papa and I had an emergency plan. I never thought I’d have to put it into action.”
“Good thing you did. It has helped keep Andraius in a chokehold for nearly five years.”
“It still doesn’t make me anything more than a figurehead, even if you manage to get rid of Andraius.”
“Don’t you remember the golden rule Theios Peter taught you for our world? The reason for so many of our wars.”
She pursed her lips. “The one who controls the wealth is the one who sits at the head of the table.”
“You are the only one who can access the nearly billion dollars you funneled out of the thirty or so accounts.”
“How did you manage it?” Theo asked. “And where did it go? We traced it to multiple Swiss accounts, and then it disappeared. How the fuck do you make a billion dollars vanish?”
“It was Papa’s secret. I’m not at liberty to share.”
“What happens if you die?”
She shrugged. “I suppose God will judge me, and I’ll end up in heaven or hell.”
“You are the most frustrating woman I have ever known.” Theo moved across the room. “Why is it so hard for you to give us a straight answer?”
“You want to know why?”
“Yes.”
“No matter what I feel for you, I will never answer to you. Neither of you is my father or husband, and the being-my-lovers part was out of the question by your choice.”
“You will take the reins once Andraius is out of the picture.”
“And unseat the two of you? I think not.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Believe what you will. Your ingrained loyalties remain with the family. Andraius isn’t the head of the Angelos Syndicate. The two of you are. Maybe in the beginning, my spouse muddled his way through things, but the two young men with the business degrees and street smarts took over, and the moron didn’t even realize. I can’t compete with that. And I don’t want to.”
“You can’t just walk away.”
She moved toward her bathroom, pausing in the archway and glancing over her shoulder. “You’re right. I can’t.”
“Enough with this cryptic shit.”
“Well then, let me make this crystal clear for the two of you.” She took hold of the doorknob and stepped into the bathroom. “I believe our association as anything beyond business is over. As you like to remind me, I’m not free.”
“Is that how you truly want it?”
“It is best to do it that way. I can’t handle this emotional roller coaster.” She dropped her head, closing the door slightly. “I’m sorry. We crossed a line today that should never have occurred. It won’t happen again.”
“You expect us to pretend it is business as usual?”
“Yes. The two of you are Andraius’s right-hand men. And I am his errant wife.”