“That was my ex,” I explain, trying to end the sibling squabble before it starts. I lift one shoulder in a shrug.
“That?That’s the guy you dated after Chase?” Justin asks me, pointing out the door. “You’re telling me that’s the guy thatyoudumped?”
I narrow my eyes at him, setting my hands on my hips. “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Justin cringes. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I just meant… He’s a big step up from your last boyfriend.”
“That he is,” Jade agrees. “You should see her other boyfriends. They’re almost as pretty as that one.”
Justin's face freezes, recalibrates. “Her other boyfriends?” he repeats slowly.
“Hey!” Jade points an accusing finger at him. “We do not slut shame in this store. That’s my number one rule!”
“Don’t—” He sputters, motioning toward me. “Don’t call your best friend a slut!”
“Why not?” Jade asks. “There’s nothing wrong with being a slut. Some of the best people I know are sluts.”
“You’re infuriating,” Justin insists. “I forgot how infuriating you can be.”
Jade snorts a laugh. “Whatever, brat. You’re late, by the way.”
He looks down at his watch. “It’s noon. You told me my shift starts at noon.”
“And on time is late. Early is on time. We grew up with the same parents, but it’s like you learned nothing,” Jade says. She nods toward the café trash. “You’re on trash duty until further notice.”
“You’re a dictator, you know that?” Justin mutters. But he moves toward the trash, gathering it up to take it out.
“I am,” Jade agrees. “And don’t you forget it.”
7
ALEC
I stareout my office window at the lights of the city below me.Mycity. My empire that I built from the ground up, that I raised from nothing. I worked so hard to build a legacy that mattered here.
It was all I ever wanted. All I ever dreamed of.
But that was before her.
“So,” I say, fury radiating off me, as I turn my back on the view, glaring at my brothers. “Dante is alive.”
Alive, and after the only woman who matters to me.
Sebastian looks even worse today. He can’t stay still, can’t keep himself from shifting anxiously from foot to foot. Even Viper—knife in hand, flipping it idly as he lounges in his seat—looks on edge.
Sebastian’s icy blue eyes meet mine. “Maybe,” he admits.
“Maybe?” Ashton laughs from his place on the couch. For once, he’s not glued to his phone. The second Sebastian called us in here to tell us Sydney might be in danger, he became laser focused. Determined. “You’re in denial. You get that, don’t you, Doc?”
Sebastian turns to glare at him.
“You were there that night,” Sebastian reminds him. He turns that glare on me. “Both of you. He took two bullets straight to the chest. You really think anyone gets back up from that?”
“Maybe you missed,” Ashton throws back with a shrug.
“I don’t miss.” Sebastian’s voice is cold as ice.
“Yeah, well, maybe this time you did. Maybe you?—”
