Mine.
No, she would probably never be mine, but I often told myself that she would be someday. Eventually, she would see past our first time and remember that she loved me.
I ensured Olivia had everything she desired. If she had asked me for the moon, I would have found a way to get it for her. For years, I denied myself the one thing I wanted most. Olivia was on my mind all the time. She tortured me in my dreams and consumed my fantasies.
But I couldn’t touch her.
Tate would not allow it.
Not after the last time.
Besides, Olivia had shown no interest in me since she moved out of the house. Even when she came back for the winter and summer breaks, things were different. We didn’t watch movies the way we had in the past. Nor did she make excuses to come visit me in the Battle Cave.
I licked my lips as she rejoined her classmates in the first row. She flicked her long caramel locks over her shoulder, glowing like sunshine.
Tate nudged me with his elbow. “Off-limits, brother.”
We were back on good terms after a lot of apologizing and promising not to lay a hand on Olivia ever again. The bargain I made with Tate meant giving her up. Besides being tied to me was too dangerous, especially now that Lovelace was a highly sought after artificial intelligence software. She didn’t just run my home and offices anymore.
“I did nothing,” I said, which earned me another elbow, this time to my stomach.
“Uh-huh. I’m not an idiot.” Tate shook his head. “I see the way you two look at each other.”
I couldn’t hide my attraction to Olivia from my best friend. He was very perceptive. Or maybe what gave me away was my inability to look away whenever she entered a room.
After being her guardian for a year, I should have trained myself not to notice her. But forbidden fruit tasted so much sweeter… and I couldn’t help myself. She offered me a taste, and only a fool would have turned her down.
“I plead the fifth,” I whispered, careful not to disrupt the people surrounding us.
“She can never know the truth,” Tate said in a hushed tone. “Relationships require trust. We talked about this.”
After Tate forgave me, we had a heart-to-heart. I told him how I felt about Olivia. Confessed that she was the only woman I’d ever loved. That I would give her anything just to make her happy.
He reminded me that the mile-wide secret we shared created a divide. Until he was ready to tell her everything, I had no future with Olivia. We were better off as friends. At least, that was what I told myself to get through the day.
“She deserves to know,” I said, hoping that Tate would eventually change his mind.
“Liv is happy and looking forward to working with us at Battle Industries. Don’t rock the boat.” Tate squeezed my shoulder and leaned closer, speaking against the shell of my ear. “Think about what the truth would do to her.”
I nodded to end the argument.
Of course, he was right.
Tate always had her best interests in mind. He was my best friend and confidant. As my head of security, he knew everythingabout my business and life, including the parts I couldn’t tell anyone.
My cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I read the text message from Marcello Salvatore and sighed.
Marcello
Luca called a meeting for midnight.
Drake
I’ll be there.
I belonged to a secret society called The Devil’s Knights. We were the bankers of the criminal underworld and had ties to organized crime. As the group’s tech guru, I hacked into servers and stole information—anything they needed. But dealing with criminals also meant spending a lot of time on the dark side of the internet, attracting the attention of unsavory characters.
The Knights had been at war for the past year with a terrorist organization called The Lucaya Group. All the women in our lives were in danger. For that reason, I avoided attachments and was glad Olivia was living in Beacon Bay. I couldn’t risk bringing an innocent person into this mess.
