He finally meets my eyes, but there’s a wall there. “It’s not safe for you here anymore. You’re moving to my half-brother Alex’s place. He’ll keep you protected until this is over.”
Half-brother? Protected? The words tumble through my mind, none of them making sense. “I don’t understand. Safe from what? And since when do you have a half-brother?”
He downs the drink in one swallow. “We have the same father, but different mothers. Just pack. Clothes, toiletries. Leave the rest. Alex will be here soon.”
Betrayal blooms hot and ugly in my chest, and so does despair. I let my apartment go last week, using the rent money plus the generous allowance he gives me to cover another chunk of Ben’s mounting hospital bills. I have nowhere else to go. And now he’s shipping me off like unwanted luggage? “I’m not some package you can just hand off,” I snap, my voice shaking. Tears prick at the corners of my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. Not yet. “Talk to me. What happened to us? Last night you were?—”
“Last night was last night.” His tone is clipped, the possessive edge still there but buried under ice. “This is about keeping you alive. Alex’s house is secure. He’s a Kedrov enforcer. You’ll be safe there with him and Rosie.”
Kedrov. The name hits like a slap.
Everyone in this city knows who the Kedrov family is: the Russian mob. But how can Max be related to them?
He’s Maxim Volkov, the wealthy, intense finance guy who bought me at auction and made me feel things I didn’t know I could. Now it sounds like a lie.
I stand there frozen as he turns away, already pulling out his phone. The tenderness he’s shown me, the way he’d trace my skin after fucking me senseless, the quiet moments where he held me like I mattered, feels like a distant dream. Was any of it real?
The doorbell rings minutes later, sharp and intrusive.
Max opens it, and the tension in the room ratchets up instantly.
Alex is tall, about the same age as Max, and built like a weapon. He has the same dark hair and sharp features as his half-brother, but harder somehow. A woman with raven-black hair and sky-blue eyes stands slightly behind him, her expression soft but wary. She must be Rosie.
Two other men linger in the hallway, sizing each other up.
“Maxim,” Alex says, voice flat with obvious strain. The brothers don’t embrace.
“Alexei.” Max’s reply is equally cold. “Thank you for doing this. Keep her safe. No one in or out without your approval.”
Alex’s gaze flicks to me, assessing. “She’s the sugar baby?”
The casual way he says it makes my cheeks burn. I suddenly feel cheap and exposed. Like all the nights Max claimed me, his hands gripping my hips, his cock buried deep while he growled I was his, were just part of some transaction.
Max doesn’t correct him. Doesn’t soften it. “Yes. Sydney Noble. She stays at your place until I say otherwise.”
I want to scream. Instead, I force my feet to move, heading to the bedroom to pack. My hands shake as I throw clothes into a suitcase. The silk lingerie he loved seeing me in. The dresses he bought for our rare nights out. Everything feels tainted now.
When I come back out, the brothers are standing apart, the air thick with old resentments. Alex’s jaw is tight. “You could have given us a little notice. Rosie and I just got back from our honeymoon. This isn’t exactly convenient.”
“Deal with it,” Max bites back. “It’s family business. Kedrov business.”
Alex’s eyes narrow. “You haven’t been family in years, Maxim. What the hell is this really about?”
Max shakes his head. “I can’t tell you.” The secrecy only deepens the knife in my gut. He’s hiding everything from me. From his own brother.
Rosie steps forward, offering me a small, kind smile that doesn’t quite erase the worry in her eyes. “It’ll be okay. We have plenty of room.”
I nod numbly, clutching the handle of my suitcase.
Max finally looks at me then. For a second, something flickers in his gaze. Fondness? Regret? He reaches out and caresses my cheek, the touch tender despite everything. “This is temporary. I’ll come for you when it’s safe.”
I pull away. “Sure.” I don’t believe him. I know a breakup when I see one. It just hasn’t hurt this bad before.
The ride to Alex’s house is silent and tense. I sit in the back of a black SUV with tinted windows, flanked by a security guy. Alex drives with Rosie in the passenger seat.
Two more enforcers follow in another vehicle. I stare out the window, watching the city blur past, my mind reeling.
What happened tonight? I thought Max cared about me. But how could he if he’s passing me off to strangers on a moment’s notice? And who is he, really?
