Page 97 of Filthy Rich Ex's Brothers

“This is amazing, Serena,” Sid says, quickly wiping the back of his hand over his cheek. Grayson smiles a lopsided smile at him, and my heart tugs like it did two years ago, when I first took the pictures. “You’d make an amazing spy.”

“Speaking of spies.”

I jerk and look up as a group of four or five guys wanders over by the gift table. Grayson quickly takes the framed photo from Sid and covers it with the paper again, nestling it in among the other gifts as Sid laughs and starts giving the newcomers those back-thumping, happy sort of hugs.

“Hey!” Sid says, his lip piercing glinting as he smiles. “I didn’t think you were going to make it!”

“And miss out on the wedding of our best operative?” The guy with the booming voice laughs and thrusts a gift toward Sid. “Here—from Cindy, too. She couldn’t make it. On a case.”

The guy seems to notice me for the first time, his eyes sliding in my direction. “I mean, she’s working.”

“It’s fine,” Sid laughs, waving his hand at me nonchalantly. “Serena knows.”

“…knows what?” I ask, laughing nervously when all pairs of eyes reorient toward me.

Sid’s brow pulls together. “About… my line of work?”

Blinking, I look between him and the group of rugged men beside us. “I, uh, don’t. Actually.”

“What are you talking about?” Grayson asks, pushing me lightly on the shoulder. “Remember? That night he told us?”

I shake my head, and Sid and Grayson look at each other for a moment before realization seems to dawn. “She wasn’t there,” Grayson says, at the same time Sid says to me, “Oh, shit, you were gone.”

“Well, are you going to tell me now?” I ask, a little shrilly, as Sid’s friends start tugging him toward the water volleyball area.

“Later!” he calls back, and I look frantically to Grayson, who just laughs and shrugs.

“Sorry, Serena.” He mimes passing a pen in front of my eyes. “Maybe he did tell you, but had to erase your memory after.”

“What does thatmean?” I ask, but Grayson is already heading in the other direction, toward Georgia and Lillie, who are relaxing and chatting with some of Grayson’s brothers.

“He’s in the FBI.”

I jump and turn, finding Graham, Ryan, and Travis dressed and waiting for me. Crossing my arms, I ask, “What are you talking about? How do you know?”

Graham laughs and holds my bag out to me. “I used my eyes.”

“Oh, shut up.” I take the bag, say a quick goodbye to everyone, and let the guys corral me into getting changed and heading for the airfield.

We’ve been back in the city for nearly a month, stretching from Georgia’s graduation to the wedding, and the plan was to leave earlier today. But I had to work up the courage to talk to the grooms about their gift before we could go.

Now, we climb onto the jet, and I feel warm and loose in the way a person always does after swimming for most of the day under the hot sun. Graham tucks himself in next to me, Travis and Ryan across from me.

“We’ve been thinking,” Travis says, just as I’m about to drift off. I blink awake and glance at them, realizing they have the same amount of nervous energy I had earlier.

Sitting up, I force myself awake, force myself to pay attention. “Is everything okay?”

“We want you to marry us.” The moment Ryan says it, the other two men glare at him, like he’s gone off script, then turn to look at me.

“What—?” I sputter, shaking my head, “I—I don’t think we can do that…?”

“Not married, in the traditional sense,” Travis explains, darting another angry look at Ryan. “Something that includes all four of us. It would be a modified contract that binds us together in other civil matters. It would make you a part-owner of Onyx, of Ryan’s holdings. Of everything we share together.”

A lump starts to grow in my throat. “Are you—are you sure that’s something you want to do?”

“Of course we are,” Graham says, reaching over and taking my hand. “Hell, we would have asked two years ago, but we thought it might have been too soon.”

For a flicker of a second, I almost expect that angry, terrified voice in my head to crop up, to send me into a fear spiral over such a commitment. But after everything that happened early on with us, I got back into therapy. Through working on myself, and seeing what a real, healthy relationship could look like, I’ve managed to all but evict that voice from my head.