Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
OBSIDIAN
A melody plays in my head in the voice of an angel. It takes me a moment to realize what keeps sounding on a loop in my head—a Bee Gees’ song.
I blink my eyes open, squinting at the brazen overhead lights. It takes me a minute to realize I’m in a hospital bed—and not alone. My three brothers are huddled around me, their gazes filled with a mix of worry, relief, and fury.
“How did you find me?” My voice is raspy.
Kol takes pity on me and hands me a cup of water from the bedside table. I sit up and round my shoulders from the pain in my chest. “Someone recognized you and knew where you’d been staying. Found your wallet in that shack you were renting,” he says as I swallow the entire cup of water in three gulps.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Asher says because he’s the oldest and took on the role of caregiver after our dad died.
“How are you feeling?” Nero asks, ever the peacemaker.
“Like I almost drowned.” I tip up the corner of my lips, but it’s clear that none of them will let me use charm to blow this off.
“What happened?” Kol asks seriously.
I shrug. “Apparently, I thought I was a better surfer than I was. Guess Mother Nature wins this round.”
“You almost died,” Asher seethes, his blue eyes boring into my near-black ones.
“Why didn’t I?” I pass Kol the empty cup, and he refills it for me.
“Someone saved you. Pulled you from the water and gave you CPR.”
My memory flits with a voice. That humming that’s been in my head. “A woman…”
“Though no one seems to know who. She didn’t stick around,” Kol says and passes me another cup of water.
A gold locket with pearls along the chain. The image floats through my mind. The woman was wearing it, and it dangled in front of me when she was on top of me.
“Sid,” Asher snaps.
I turn in his direction.
“Do you know who she was?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No idea.”
Asher frowns. Maybe he wants to give her some reward money, but knowing Ash, he probably wants to check my story against hers.
“The important thing is that you’re okay,” Nero says.
The room is quiet for a beat before Kol asks, “Why’d you take off without telling anyone where you were going?”
Because I didn’t want to have this conversation.
“Needed to clear my head.” I down the water, my eyes focusing on the dry erase board in front of me with my name on it.
“That’s all?” Asher says, and I look at him.
“That’s all.” Our gazes hold until he turns away.
“I’m going to call Anabelle and tell her he’s okay,” Asher says to Kol and Nero before leaving the room.
Nero’s eyes shift between me and Kol, who is staring intently at me. “I’m gonna give Cinder a call too.”
Kol’s gaze flicks to Nero, and he nods. Once Nero leaves the room, Kol’s jaw tightens. “So that’s all it was… an accident?”
“What else would it be?” I hold his stare with my own. Daring him to say it. Daring him to accuse me of what he’s assuming.
When he looks away, I know I’ve won this round.
Time to put the mask that I wear for the world back on, and that weight buries me again. “You bring my phone with you?”
Kol nods and pushes his hand into his pocket, emerging with my phone fully charged.
“Thanks.” I take it and pull up Mr. Smith’s contact, typing out a text to him.
Got a job. Need you to find someone. Interested?
I set the phone face down on the bed beside me.
“Who are you texting?” Kol asks.
“Don’t worry about it.”
I want to find the woman who saved me. Although I’m not even sure why. Something in my gut tells me that I should.
Within twenty-four hours, my brothers have me on one of our private planes, whisking me back to Midnight Manor. I don’t have the mental energy to fight them, so I go without protest.
No one questions me further on the way home. I almost think I’ve avoided any further backlash, until Asher sends me a text a few days later. Sometimes I’m jealous of his calculated patience.
Meet me in my office.
“Fuck,” I grumble, pocketing my phone. He doesn’t want to meet with me to see what work I’m behind on since my unannounced departure.
On the walk through Midnight Manor, I do my best to adopt an unaffected air, but it proves pointless because by the time I reach his office, I’m fixing for a fight like I am so often these days. It’s becoming harder and harder to hide behind my mask.
The door is ajar when I arrive, and I stand on the threshold, finding all three of my brothers inside, stationed throughout the sitting area in front of the massive fireplace.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this summoning?” I step inside and prowl over to an empty chair, undoing my suit jacket to sit.
“We’ve been talking, and we think it’s time to make some changes around here.” Asher starts, ever the eldest.
“What kind of changes?” I ask, interest piqued. There’ve been enough changes around this place now that all three of them have their significant others living in the manor.
“It dawned on me that the three of us have been preoccupied, and there’s a possibility that left more work on your shoulders as far as Voss Enterprises is concerned.”
Asher’s not wrong, but I don’t hate it. Now that they’re coupled up for life, it’s more obvious how very alone I am. But we’re not here to talk about our feelings, so I’ll take the win.
“I never said I minded.” I shrug and rest my ankle on my knee.
“Regardless, we think it would be a good idea to hire someone to work by your side. Take some things off your plate and help you with whatever you need.” Asher smooths his tie down his shirt, his eyes following his hand.
“I already have an assistant at the head office.” My eyes narrow.
“True,” Kol says. “But we think you could use someone here. Someone who would be here day in and day out. Someone who could anticipate your needs and step in before they become… overwhelming.”
“Take some of the pressure off,” Nero adds.
I scowl at the three of them. “Why does this feel like you’re hiring a fucking babysitter for me?”
“That’s not what this is,” Kol insists, but they don’t fool me.
They think what happened on the West Coast is a repeat of what happened a decade ago, but they’re too chickenshit to come out and say it. So they want to hire someone to keep an eye on me.
I stand from the chair and button my suit jacket across my waist. “I don’t need a snitch by my side day in and day out.”
“Like Kol said, that’s not what this is. You have a lot on your plate, a lot of moving parts. This person will just help you manage it, and they can do that most efficiently if they’re here,” Asher says.
“So what, they’re going to live here?” I chuckle, but when they just stare at me, the laugh dies on my lips. “You can’t be fucking serious.”
“We think it’s what’s best—for you and for the company.” Asher pins me with a stare, one I’m much too familiar with. It tells me that he’s not going to back down.
I adjust my cufflinks, not looking at them. “Fine. You three do what you need to. As will I.” Then I turn on my heel and stalk out of the office.
And what I’ll do is make this person’s life a living hell until they quit. And then the person after them and the one after them until my brothers figure out that I won’t tolerate a babysitter.