“What is this, an interrogation?”
“I’m just trying to understand you, brother.”
“What’s there not to understand?” I raised my voice again. “They disrespected my wife, and I put them in their place. Whose side are you on anyway?”
“This isn’t about taking sides; it’s about accountability.”
“Don’t lecture me about accountability. You’d do the same if you were me.”
He paused, setting the rising tension to subside a little. It was clear that we were both speaking different languages, and this wasn’t something we should fight over.
I rubbed my eyes, poured myself a glass of vodka, and then swallowed it down my throat in a single shot. “Killing them all was a reckless move, yes,” I admitted, my voice low and even. “But they crossed the line, Demyon.”
He leaned back in his chair, a corny grin tugging at the corners of his lips. “You sound like a man who’s in love,” he said, teasing me.
My brows arched in surprise. “Don’t be ridiculous.” I poured myself another glass.
He laughed, his shoulder shaking slightly. “You’re in denial, brother.”
“No. You’re being delusional.”
He uncrossed his legs and edged closer. “It’s clear as crystal; you love her.”
His words struck me like a dagger to the heart.
“You killed ten men at once because they threatened her,” he said amid chuckles. “If that’s not proof of love, then I don’t know what is.”
I never thought about this way until now, and it made so much sense that it inflicted me with a kind of fear I hadn’t felt before. Sure, the thought had crossed my mind a few times, but I couldn’t find the right word to describe what I felt.
Could it be right? Was it possible that I…?
No. It couldn’t be true.
Right?
Fuck, no.
“Don’t beat yourself up over it; love is a beautiful thing,” he teased me with that pesky little smirk on his face. “Plus, it happens to even the worst of us.”
“Shut up.”
He let out a soft chuckle and reclined in his chair again, cradling his glass in his hand. “Just be careful, brother. Men like us can’t afford to show signs of vulnerability.
I sipped from my glass, watching him in silence.
He continued, “Because there are men like Lucian Sokolov out there who are waiting for the right opportunity to strike.”
The mere thought of that bastard son of a bitch made my blood boil with fury.
“Remember, if you let your heart lead, you could destroy everything we spent years building.”
After my brother left, I sat alone in the privacy of my office, thinking about his warning and his talks about my love for Scarlett. He was right; I needed to be more careful, especially with Lucian circling around like a vulture.
He was wrong, though, when he assumed my wife was my weakness. She wasn’t. She was my strength, the light in my dark, and the one person with the ability to bring out the best in me.
I wasn’t sure I loved her because I’d given up that feeling a long time ago. However, deep down, I thought about the possibility because she was different from the other women I’d been with. She stirred up the humanity in me and was gradually teaching me to view life through a different lens.
No woman had ever done that. No woman had ever gotten close enough to even attempt it. Yet, she was doing it without even trying.
