Chapter Fourteen
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Alec
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The man had been dead for a decade, or so we thought, and now he's standing in front of us. Very fucking much alive.
We call him uncle because he was our fathers' chief advisor, and their closest friend, the only man they allowed fully into their private circle.
Which made him a permanent fixture in our lives as we grew up and, like our fathers, we respected the hell out of him.
"Hello, boys," he says, smiling broadly at us as if this is a normal fucking Tuesday.
Ten years ago, he supposedly died in a fire. We were in our twenties, away at training, so we only got glimpses of our fathers mourning his death. Did they even mourn his death, or did they know he had disappeared somewhere very much alive?
His body had supposedly been burned beyond recognition, and only dental records were able to identify him.
The cause was an electrical fault in his penthouse building—nothing nefarious.
No hit sent out on him, no assassin claiming the hit, as is a regular thing in our world.
There's no use dying if the family who killed you doesn't get bragging rights.
And here he is. In the flesh, breathing, and with no fucking signs of having retained any injuries from the fire.
But then again, Maximilius Armstrong had always been a chameleon. He drifted through the families at a whim, but his true loyalty lay with our fathers. No one tested his allegiance to them. No one would try.
"He's... he's your uncle?" Raine cries, her face contorted with confusion and horror, and still she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Ours.
"He is working for you? What is going on? I don't understand. No. You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm leaving," she says, determination in her movements now.
Does she honestly think we'll let her walk out of here without taking our name? Did she not understand the hundreds of times we told her she belongs to us, that we meant it? Does she think we're not above tying her to our bed every fucking night of our lives to keep her with us?
Having her here in the apartment and not touching her, was the worst fucking torture we'd endured. We compromised and brought her to what had now become our bedroom every night.
Watching her sleep with a fucking raging hard-on was one thing, but we promised ourselves we would only take her again when she was our bride.
And we had to make the proper arrangements for that to happen.
The fact that everything was delayed by a day was too fucking long, and heads were going to roll when we found out who stood in our way.
Does she also think we didn't know about her little stunt with her sister trying to get to her friend without Donovan's knowledge?
The man was tasked with taking care of her sister as if he were taking care of Raine herself.
And he knows what Raine is to us without us having to spell it out.
Summer is safe with her friend, and Donovan is well within sight of her.
Which is the exact reason we're back at the apartment in the middle of the day to see what exactly she's up to.
It's clear now that Maximilius sent us her name. But the instant we set our eyes on her, she changed our worlds. She was ours from that very first moment, whether she would turn out to be our worst enemy or not.
And now our uncle is back from the 'dead,' and he's the man who had her kidnapped and embroiled in the scheme to steal the Virgin Chalice.
The old man better start talking.
"Please allow me to explain myself," Maximilius says in his grand, robust voice, not a second too late.
"Yes, I'm their uncle, Maximilius Armstrong," he says, directly to Raine.
"Not by blood, but it might as well be. And no, the whole plot with the Virgin Chalice had nothing to do with them.
Ten years ago, I needed a change in scenery and faked my death.
Nothing else to it. More people should do it, I highly recommend it.
"But I decided to reenter the uncivilized world, and my, my, what a mess I walked into. Just in time, too, or there would have been catastrophe, I tell you.
"Serendipitously, I did hear through the grapevine that Belvedere Rossin had his eye on the chalice, something about how it should be in his family if one of his ancestors had won the duel. But I digress.
"So, you see, while there was a legitimate attempt to steal the Virgin Chalice, and based upon a fresh turn of events, when I chose to step out of the shadows of death into the light, it was perfect timing.
"So I had to take a boat ride, three helicopter flights, and a commercial flight, all from my little island off the coast of Costa Rica back into the City of New York."
He puts his hand to his heart. "Ah, I'm going to miss my Marabella. She had a bosom to die for. Again, I digress," Maximilius wipes the dreamy look off his face before he continues.
"I approached Belvedere and told him I knew exactly how to get the Virgin Chalice for him. I mean it's a beautiful cup. I wouldn't mind having possession of it myself. But it was a perfect plan.
"I kidnapped you, lovely Raine, and whispered some awful things in your ears about what Belvedere would do to your sister if you didn't comply.
I'm deeply sorry, but I had to make it look legitimate, you see.
" He looks at Raine as if expecting her forgiveness.
When she just folds her arms, he continues.
"I told Belvedere, who was, thankfully, half-blind, that you were so ordinary no one would bid on you, which meant we needed to get into a ruse, and that's where your clever friend Christopher came in.
Good guy. He loves you. Now, now. Relax, boys," Maximilius says, as if he is still as in tune with us as before.
"No need to hang the man with your bare hands. The lady does not love him back that way, I can tell. And if you harm her friend, you might not make it back to her bed again." He laughs heartily. Fuck this man. Everything seems to be a joke for him. But we know him, and he demands to be listened to.
"Now, where was I? Oh, right. But you see, when I told lovely Miss Raine she was plain enough to be overlooked, what I actually meant was she was perfect for you three, my boys.
From the moment I sent you her name, I knew she was exactly the kind of woman who would capsize your entire universe. And I was right. Was I not?"
"Are you saying you're back from the dead to just be a glorified fucking matchmaker, Maximilius," Theron asks.
The older man nods enthusiastically. "You knew her name.
You knew what she looked like, and when she showed up at your virgin auction, you were not going to let her leave until you got some answers.
But she's already etched into your blood.
I can feel the possession you have over her as if it were a palpable thing. "
We didn't need to see her gaze on us to know she was looking at us, a frown dipping her perfectly silky brows together, while her eyes searched us for something else. Can she not see the possessiveness we feel for her?
"Why?" I ask our uncle, not taking my eyes off her.
"That is a very good question."
"Are you going to answer it?" Conrad asks, his gaze, as is Theron's and mine, only on her. And fuck if our bodies aren't remembering the feel of being inside her. Her flesh pulsing around our cocks, milking us, changing us. Fuck.
"Well, Raine," he says, turning to look at her, forcing her to remove her gaze from us and onto him.
"Your father is Reginald St. Allis, as you probably know by now.
The Morgana family used to be one of the oldest, most revered, and feared mafia families of all time.
Their reach of power is so tremendous it cannot be matched by any one family right now.
One of your ancestors worked as a servant for the Morgana family, and the head of the family entrusted him with a proxy vote for when the council meets.
That vote is overriding and can only be challenged by the Minotaur family.
The Morgana family died out, but the proxy vote was passed down from generation to generation of the St. Allis family.
Your father held the vote before he died.
When he was alive, he was the most powerful man of the underground world.
With him dead, you, as his daughter, are the most powerful woman of the underground. "
Fuck. Trust Maximilius to know all this.
"Now, do you see why I had to put you together, the four of you? There's an uprising coming, and the Minotaurs and the Morgana proxy vote has to be on the same side.
"Now, as the only challengers of the Morgana vote, will you, Alec, Conrad, and Theron, wrap your hands around her pretty neck until she is dead to remove her vote?"
What the fuck was he asking?
We didn't even need to think about it.
"No," we growl impatiently. And we would slaughter anyone who dares touch a strand of her hair. Maximilius can't look more pleased with himself.
"Good. Good. Good. That is what I thought would happen. Now, lovely Raine, will you take a sword and sever their cocks and watch them die out so you may keep your vote, spelling the end of the Minotaurs in its entirety."