Xander chitchats with her, while I sigh in boredom to let her know she’s interrupting.
I exhale through my lips. “We’re fine, thanks.”
Her face reddens, and she scurries away finally.
Xander gives me a raised eyebrow. I ignore it. Social expectations bounce off me. Always have.
My brother copes with our upbringing and the pressure of being a Stone through jokes and lightheartedness.
My mask has been a bored expression. It’s been working well for me. Glowering is my weapon.
Xander shakes his head and returns to the topic at hand. “What is his obsession with the Lock family? Those people are shady, and it’s not like he needs them.”
“Who knows? You didn’t marry Tawny Lock. I’m the replacement.”
He glares at me, but then he nods. “I’m sorry.”
“Lock wants a Stone at the helm of one of his legitimate businesses. He thinks it would buy him entry into old money.”
“The fucker doesn’t know what he’s asking for.” Xander snorts. “His motivations are understandable, though. What he has on Dad is the bigger question.”
Oh, I will find that out. Even if it costs me my personal freedom.
“It doesn’t matter,” I lie to my brother. “Since you left, I’m too much on Sterling’s radar. I’m not getting married. Ever. Let alone to someone barely out of childhood.”
I’m not opposed to a strategic marriage, one that stays on paper only, but I’m certainly against Sterling dictating the conditions.
“She is not that young…” He sighs, not finishing the sentence because she is barely eighteen.
Xander pinches the bridge of his nose, and I canalmost see how his loyalty to his former partners at Merged wages a war with his loyalty to me.
I should be offended that it is even a choice.
“Okay, but why Merged?” Xander plays with the grilled veggies on his plate, ignoring the steak like our conversation is giving him indigestion.
That I’m definitely not sharing. Not yet, anyway. I glance at the building across the street again.
The key to my revenge is in that building. Without it, I’m just a son who endured for nothing.
The sequined chaos flashes through my mind. Little Thunder.
I almost smile. What the fuck?
She is my leverage. And I don’t need to marry her. I just need proximity.
“Why not?” I take a bite of my fish.
He shakes his head and cuts his meat with measured movements, thinking. When he finally opens his mouth to continue the conversation, he frowns. “What happened to your hand?” He eyes the bandage covering the nasty cut from the base of my thumb to my wrist.
“Nothing.” I dismiss his inquiry. I should have kept my hand under the table.
“Lottie told me you were gone for a month again.” He tilts his head, like that would get me to talk, or him to comprehend.
Our sister currently lives in Paris. She told him I was gone. Jesus. The need to talk about everything. Just the idea is exhausting.
Xander waits. I don’t answer.
Not because I don’t trust him, but because I wouldn’t survive explaining it.
