Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
“I always found it interesting that in the original French fairy tale, the Beast never kidnapped the Beauty.
He gave her a choice, and she chose to sacrifice herself in order to save her father.
And yet for generations to come, they would use this story to describe all kinds of fucked-up relationships.
How foolish, right?
To blame the one who never forced anyone to do anything.
That’s life, though.
It’s never fair. And the sooner we learn this fact?
The easier it is to bear it.”
Orion
Orion
“That’s a lot of work,” the architect says as he looks around the library and winces when something drops from the roof along with several books in the distance.
“Truth be told, Orion, I’m not sure it’s even safe to be here right now.
” He takes out a cigarette from his back pocket and lights it, inhaling the nicotine and sending the smoke flying with a loud exhale.
“Based on the sketches and infrastructure, this building should have been demolished a long time ago. I’m surprised the owner managed to sell it to her.
Any legit inspection would have shown all these issues.
” He hunches down and knocks on the floor, and it cracks under his knuckles. “Yeah, this place is one giant hazard.”
Anger glides through my veins, infecting my blood and causing the roaring monster to awaken within me that wishes to kill whoever put my wife in such danger. I hate thinking about what might have happened to her here.
Trapped, cold, and alone in pain whenever this fucking building decides to give up…
My fists clench, and I barely restrain the fury from my voice because Eros would tell me to fuck off right away. Patient man, he is not. He’s the best of the best in his field, though. I wouldn’t have called in a quick favor if he weren’t. “Can you fix it?”
He gets up and exhales more smoke, smirking. “Of course. I would demolish most of it and build a certain structure over it. We can still preserve the original design and make it perfect.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. Money and time are not an issue.”
The minute we got married, I sent her home because I could hardly breathe in her company. My possessive cravings were urging me to grab her and lock her away somewhere so I could discover all the ways her body would respond to me.
Only me.
My frustration and hard-on couldn’t be helped, though, so I could always channel the energy into something else, which is when I put my plan in motion. I discovered in these short hours that I wanted to see the place my wife loved so much because, fucking yes.
I’m possessive when it comes to her, and it’s something I have to admit, no matter how ridiculous that makes me.
Eros runs his gaze up and down my form. “You must really love your wife if you want to do all that.” He circles his finger in the air. “For her. Congratulations on the wedding, by the way.”
“My wife’s safety comes first.” I prefer not to delve into why I love calling her my wife for all the men to hear and know she’s off-limits. It fills me with satisfaction so strong I can get off on the feeling alone. Which reminds me. “I need to ask you for a favor.”
“I assumed you dragging me from bed this early was the favor.”
Both of us have huge empires to run. The only difference between us is that Eros cannot function in the mornings and usually creates his masterpieces after nine in the evening, ignoring the outside world before it. His younger sister handles the management side of things during his absence.
“Since the wedding was on short notice, my wife doesn’t have a proper ring on her finger.” I decided not to tell anyone my true reasons for this wedding, including Eros.
“Don’t you have some family heirloom to give her?”
“My wife will wear a ring I bought for her.” Surprise flashes in his gaze at my clipped tone, because the idea of her wearing all that bullshit my father and grandfather bought sends me into a different kind of maddening spiral.
These rings might as well be hunted since all the women who wore them were rarely happy. “I want a Price engagement ring.”
The Price family jewelry house is legendary for its unique and exquisite diamonds, making it one of the most sought-after jewelry houses in the world. To get the engagement ring designed by one of them, you have to go through certain hoops, and even that might not be enough.
In fact, they are meticulous, maybe because the couples they design rings for usually last for decades, so their rings have almost become synonymous with the word commitment.
But also, because of the price tag, few can afford one. They usually show that men adore their women whenever they do, and I won’t have anyone thinking otherwise.
It still pisses me off that Diana had to endure all the bullying from her family and high school classmates. If I could find every single one of them and make them pay, I would. In fact, what a brilliant idea.
Eros snaps me back to the conversation at hand.
“Then buy it.” He coughs on the smoke when I push him hard, and he stumbles to the side, chuckling. “Sensitive, are we?”
“Florian Price told me to fuck off because he’s on vacation with his wife.” Yesterday, I would have questioned him even though I’ve heard various rumors about the guy over the years.
The most notable one was that he fell in love with his best friend’s little sister and got her pregnant, which angered his godfather, who happened to be his wife’s father.
Fucked-up dynamic if you ask me, but it must have worked out for them. You can’t come near his wife without him being somewhere close by, and I can’t say I judge the guy.
I don’t want anyone near Diana either, and while my obsession seems fast and unhealthy, I don’t give a damn.
My wife is mine, and I will ensure the whole world knows it in every way possible.
“So you want me for my connections, is that it?” Eros asks and hisses through his teeth. “What a bad friend you are.”
“We aren’t friends.”
We’ve known each other since we were five years old, and we bonded over our mutual hatred for our fathers, who used their children as weapons and never gave a fuck about them.
Family functions and vacations, private boarding schools, and even prestigious universities.
Our mothers’ funerals.
We moved through life together, always seeing one another but never trusting each other with our secrets, as our fathers taught us a valuable lesson.
Vulnerability can and will be used against you when you least expect it.
So while we always have each other’s backs, and he was the only one who visited me at the hospital after the fire and helped me out… we never called each other friends or asked for anything but favors.
“Whatever you say, lover boy. I think we need to accept that fact because it doesn’t seem like you and I made any friends in life.”
“We have families, and speaking of families…talk to your brother-in-law. Now.”
“My brother-in-law might be younger than Florian by twelve years, but he’s still a Price. He can and will tell you to fuck off as well. And he’ll do it while laughing in your face.”
Yeah, Kian Price is known for his temper, and he’s hilarious while he causes mayhem, and I admired that about him.
Eros, not so much, especially when he kidnapped his sister, but that’s a whole other thing.
“He won’t tell you to fuck off. Or better yet…call Mirabelle. He’ll do whatever she asks.”
One of the reasons Eros didn’t kill the guy all those years ago, although I wouldn’t have blamed him if he did. The man is a complete psycho, and I think Mirabelle is the only one who keeps him in line.
Well, he almost burned the entire island for her, so there is that.
“Come to think of it…he was working on an engagement ring a few days back. Called it one of his best masterpieces that he planned to auction off.”
“Sounds like a ring fitting for my wife. Call him. Now.”
He rolls his eyes. “Please, not you too. I’ll soon be allergic to the word wife for how frequently you all use it.” He sighs. “I’ll call him, and you’ll have to pay,” he warns, and my lips twitch as if these kinds of warnings ever affected me.
“Money is not an issue. You know that better than anyone.”
We both constantly top the richest bachelors list, and Eros rarely, if ever, attends gatherings. He ignores women most days.
In fact, I’ve never seen him with a date, and he never paid any attention to women while we were growing up. Or anyone, for that matter.
I just assumed he had no interest in sex whatsoever.
“If I do this, I want a favor too.”
The last time he called in a favor was to locate Kian on one of his private islands that bordered mine.
“Name it.”
“I have to play nice with a certain family to get what I want from them. The mother is adamant about selling off one of her two young daughters to me. If you ask me, she’d happily give both of them to me.
That’s how unhinged she seems about my fortune.
” We both grin because some mothers don’t deserve to be mothers at all and only see dollar signs, ignoring their daughters’ happiness.
“What’s the family name?”
His lips thin as thunder shakes the sky once again, and the rain falls through the small cracks in the ceiling, dripping all over the books and furniture.
Diana had to endure all this?
I'd better get the hell out of here soon before I demolish the structure myself because of how dangerous it has been for my wife.
“Williams.”
My brow rises, and I cross my arms, resting my back against one of the shelves as I study him. “Williams, as in Dr. Williams, who was your mother’s oncologist?”
One of the best in his field, according to Eros’s father, except that the minute his mother started being treated by him, she got worse and died in agony.
He always blamed the doctor and believed his father paid him off to kill his mom in the most natural way, but he never had any proof. I thought he dropped the notion.
Apparently, he was just waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
“The one and only.”
I fail to see how I can help him, but I still ask, “What kind of favor do you want?”
“His oldest daughter is your wife’s best friend. Her name is Psyche.”
The name rings a bell, and I remember reading a report on her while studying her picture. “She has an issue with her leg from a dangerous fall.”
“Nothing surgery won’t fix, but her stepmother won’t pay for it.” I don’t miss how his voice strains. “Either way…she is the sole heir to her mother’s fortune, and her father loves her.”
Debatable. When you love your kid, you don’t let anyone, let alone your wife, mistreat them.
“I’m still failing to see what the favor is.”
“The favor is the following: whenever I need your help with Psyche…you will do what I ask, even if it might anger your wife. Agree now, or I won’t make the call to Kian.”
I straighten up. “I won’t promise anything. If you plan to do some bullshit…”
“No,” he snaps, twisting the butt of the smoke in the nearest surface, clearly not caring about the furniture we’ll throw out anyway.
“I won’t hurt her physically, but she’s a weapon I want to use against her father if necessary.
Our methods aren’t always nice, and we both know it.
Your wife might have an issue with that, and you have to promise to stand by me.
And I promise that whatever I do won’t be dangerous to Psyche or force her into anything. ”
We assess one another for a few beats before I finally extend my hand. “We have a deal, but if you ever go back on it, or Psyche comes running crying to me? The deal is off.”
As a child of an abusive father who led a double life, I would never ignore a woman’s cry for help.
“Deal.” He fishes out his phone and presses something on the screen, then raises it to his ear. In a second, he says, “Kian, remember that ring you designed?” He walks off to hash out the details when my own phone rings.
I see Matilda’s name flashing on the screen and pick it up. “Hello?”
“Mr. Wright, I’m calling to inform you that dinner will be served in an hour.”
“What?” Glancing at the crooked clock hanging on the wall, I realize it’s seven already. “Since when do you inform me about such things?” I haven’t had dinner at home in forever, and whenever I actually show my face at the mansion, it is to either crash or recharge.
The only reason I’m still keeping the property and keeping all the staff on is out of respect. They’ve worked for my family since I was born, and Matilda was my nanny once upon a time.
Even if the woman is anal about the rules that make zero sense, not that I question her about them.
“Mr. Wright, you’re married now, and per rules, the married couple dines together in this house.”
Despite coming here and getting the ring, I plan to ignore my wife because if I see her in my house wearing my ring while she eats my food?
Yeah, I might just throw everything from the table and take her right there if she’s willing.
It’s a disaster in the making, and I won’t subject myself to such torture because I’m not strong enough to withstand it.
“I don’t care about the rules, Matilda. I’m not coming, so don’t wait up for me.”
“You will come to dinner and dine with your new bride, Mr. Wright, or so help me God,” she almost screeches into the phone, then hangs up on me.
For Matilda to lose her temper like this, she must really care about this dinner. Although I can’t remember my parents ever dining together, but then again, they aren’t a great example since my father never respected his marriage.
I would have still ignored it, except I know Matilda well. When she’s annoyed, she tends to choose the target to unload her frustration on. If I don’t show up, she will take it out on Diana, and that’s unacceptable.
So even if it kills me, I will go and have dinner with my wife.
Let’s just hope I don’t end up chaining her to my bed afterward.