“None of your business,” I reply without looking up.
“If you dare order that dress again, I will burn the boutique down, with the designers and workers inside.”
I set my phone down and turn toward him. “What’s your problem? I’m not taking this from you. How is whatever I wear on my wedding day any of your business?”
He says nothing. I swear, I want to strangle him, just a little less than enough to kill him.
chapter 28
Zloban
This woman is testing the limits of my patience. She does one thing, I recover from its impact, and before I can fully regain my composure, she does another.
“When will he come to pick you?” Mom asks.
She checks her phone. “He said he’ll be here by 9?pm. I’ll pack some necessary things and then leave.” She kisses Mom and Dad and walks out.
I had been having dinner with Mom and Dad when she arrived, took a few bites from my plate, chatted here and there, and then announced her night outwith Roxion.
Losing my appetite, I rise and nod to Mom and Dad, bidding them good night, then follow her. I catch up to her at the penthouse door, where she is entering the code.
“You’re not going out,” I say.
She hums softly. “Anything else, brother dearest?”
The door opens, and she steps inside. I follow her to her room. I need to have a serious conversation. This is the second time today she has called me brother, and it is driving me insane.
I enter her room and close the door behind me.
She spins on her heel, hands on her hips. “What do you want now?”
“I want you to stop acting like a spoiled brat.”
She steps closer, a fierce blaze igniting in her eyes. “Can you hear yourself, Zoan? Me going out with a man I’m going to marry in just four nights makes me a spoiled brat?”
She jabs at my chest. “I am not a spoiled brat. You are a confused brat. You don’t even know how you’re supposed to behave.”
She takes a step back and smirks. “Let me help you. All you need to do is behave like a brother.”
I walk closer to her, and she moves back until the back of her knees hit the bed.
“How many times do I have to tell you? I. Am. Not. Your. Brother.”
She sits on her bed, never leaving my eyes.
“Then what are you? If you’re not my brother, what right do you have to interfere in my life like this? Whether I go out with my future husband or not, how is that your business? Whoever the fuck I fuck should not be something you give a fuck about.”
I clench my jaw and push her down, then pick her up and throw her onto the center of the bed. She yelps at the impact. I remove my shoes, climb onto the bed, and pull off my belt.
“What are you doing?” she asks, moving away from me.
“What? Are you afraid of your brother?”
She scrambles toward the other side of the bed. I grab her ankle and yank her back toward me. She screams. Caging her body between me and the bed, I press her down against the mattress with my weight.
“Zoan, leave me!” she screams.
I seize her wrists, pull them above her head, and tie them with my belt to the headboard. Her eyes dart between my face and her restrained hands.
