It’s a smart move on her part. Get away from you. Advance in her career. Move?—
“Fuck!”
I ripped the diamond cufflinks off my shirt, tearing it in the process, and hurled them across the room. Only when they had fallen to the ground, still intact but scratched, did I realize how much of a fool I had just acted.
Delilah Reyes had not made a foolish decision. She had made a business decision. She wasn’t spiteful, but strong for what she needed.
And look at what I had become.
So scared of losing people I cared about that when I did, I acted like a fucking kid.
“Fuck!”
The door swung open. My eyes went wide, preparing to shove whoever the fuck was stupid enough to?—
“That’s enough.”
Cassius.
Fucking Cassius Vale.
Oh, this ought to be good. Had big brother come to teach me a lesson? Had the King of Hearts come to tell me how to be a better man? The look on his face suggested as much. He wore a mean scowl, one that said he would not mince words.
Good. I needed a good fight to get some anger out. It had been some time since I’d been in a true fistfight; no better target than the brother who had everything I did not.
“What the fuck are you doing, Adrian?” Cassius said. “Look at yourself. You’re so petulant you threw your iconic cufflinks on the ground. Do you think Delilah would want to be with a man with such little self-control? What would have happened whenyou laid hands on her? She had the good sense to walk away before?—”
I grabbed Cassius by the collar and slammed him against the wall. He just smirked at me, the little shit. It was like he was daring me to hit him, as if he knew he’d win a fight instantly. What a fucking fool. Dante was the strongest of us, but I was second, and it wasn’t close.
“You’re going to fucking tell me how to be a good man?” I sneered, pressing him harder against the wall. “You, who have always been able to offload everything onto us? You, who gets the glory of being CEO without having to do the hard work? You? You?!”
“Yes, me!” Cassius roared, pushing me away. It was only because he was my brother that I didn’t instantly put my hands back on him, dragging him to the ground. “I can say this because I was in your shoes once. I had to fight for my fucking love.”
“No, you didn’t!” I said, laughing. “You got the girl who already loved you. You could’ve cheated on her, and she still would have come crawling back.”
“If you think that’s the case,” Cassius growled, “then you don’t know a fucking thing about Sarah.”
He dusted himself off, took in a breath, and stared that icy glare that had made many a man beg for mercy or lose the negotiation.
“Maybe I got the glory of being CEO,” he said. “But I put up the most money. I am the one who brought our family together after Virgil. Might I remind you, by the way, that I had to come to grips with Sarah being the driver of the car that Virgil died in, even if she wasn’t at fault. Which…”
Something clicked in his eye. Something that, without being said, made me very angry and very concerned. It was like he knew he’d found something.
“Funny, isn’t it?” he said coldly, without emotion. “You fought so hard not to lose Delilah, up until the point when desire for control got the best of you. But now look at you. You’ve lost her. Just like we lost Virgil.”
I snapped.
I fucking tackled Cassius to the ground, and the two of us rolled, trying to get the dominant position. I had him briefly and landed a good punch on his face, only for him to hurl me off before he got me in a chokehold. He did not choke me out, but I had no fucking escape.
The fucking asshole!
“I came here to help you!” Cassius growled. “I did not come here to guilt you. I did not come here to fucking piss you off. But you need to hear the fucking truth, Adrian. Not the jealous brother truth or the dominant asshole truth. But the real, fucking, unvarnished truth. Do you understand?”
I grunted and gave no response. Cassius’ arm slowly slid out from beneath my neck. I hurried to my feet, dusting myself off, trying not to reach for the ache in the back of my head. I still wanted to beat the shit out of the arrogant one before me, the golden child who let the rest of us get smeared. He had no fucking idea how dirty we’d gotten our hands, even when it wasn’t as dirty as some might say.
“I know how to be a monster, Adrian,” Cassius warned. “Just because I haven’t had to as much doesn’t mean I don’t know how. You think you’re the only one who knows how to crush your enemies? I do. Now. Shut the fuck up, sit down, and listen to me.”
“I will not sit before you, brother,” I said, but I took a breath. “But I will hear what you have to say. I will judge whether it’s worth listening to.”
