My heart sinks. They’ve worked it out. They know it was us who killed not only their father, but their brother, Antonio, and now they want to make us bleed.
Shit.
They’re right down the opposite end of the long hallway, and just as they go to move around the corner, one of the brother’s peers back up the hall and his eyes come straight to mine, widening with the realization that I was in the bathroom, overhearing their conversation. “Hey,” he calls up the hallway, his brothers immediately looking back at what’s caught his attention.
He turns back to face me and instantly starts making his way back up the hall. I pick up my pace, my heart pounding with fear. “Hey, get back here.”
Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck.
I bolt like a fucking line-backer, my heels slamming down on the hard marble.
“I just want to talk,” the guy calls after me, his brothers barreling down the hall after him. “She fucking heard us,” he says back to his brothers.
He quickly gains on me, and I curse myself for wearing a dress. When the fuck will I learn my lesson? From here on out, I wear tights and runners wherever I go, because apparently having one night free of this bullshit isn’t possible.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” My chants match the speed of the irritating clicking coming from the bottom of my heels, and I push myself faster, gripping the hem of my gold dress and yanking it up. Knowing my luck, I’ll probably trip over the expensive material and face plant right into the floor, and while my nose has always had a slight angle to it, I really don’t have the time for a nose job right now.
The man’s long strides are twice as big as mine, and by the time I reach the entrance of the massive ballroom, the fucker is right on my heels.
I barge in through the throng of people, my eyes bouncing around the room in a panic, desperately searching for those three familiar faces. I don’t look back as bumping into someone could put me right into his murderous hands, so instead, I slip and weave through the crowded bodies, ignoring the gasps and grunts from the people I piss off on the way.
My gaze sweeps the room for the third time, and just as I go to take another step, the desperation begins to get the best of me. A rock-hard arm shoots out and captures my waist. My back slams up against a hard chest, and before a scream can tear out of me, Levi’s lips are at my ear. “What happened?” he growls, knowing all too well that only a massive threat could have me running like that.
My gaze snaps back to the entrance of the big room, finding Victor’s son staring after me, watching through a narrowed, pissed-off gaze. I blink, and as if I’d imagined him there, he’s gone.
Roman moves in beside me and I look back just as Marcus moves in front of me, the three of them boxing me in. “I won’t ask you again,” Levi spits, more than able to feel the rush of my pulse beneath his hold. “What happened?”
“Victor’s sons,” I tell them, panting as I try to catch my breath. “They’re planning an attack after the party. They want you all dead.”
24
The last of the wait staff disappears into the night and I stare after them, knowing what this means. The party is officially over and now we’re on watch, waiting for Victor’s sons to return.
My nerves have been on edge since the fucker chased me into the ballroom. His eyes were filled with such a dark hatred and anger that it’s had a wave of chills sweeping through me ever since.
It’s been hours since the four brothers left, but every cell in my body tells me that they’re still here, still lingering and waiting for their chance to take out their cousins, just as the boys took out their brother.
My heels are long gone, but as we stand at the top of the grand stairs watching the headlights of the last wait staff disappearing down the long drive, I allow the bottom of my dress to trail across the ground. I couldn’t find it in myself to go take it off, separating me from the boys. I’ve stuck right by them all night, and while the boys carried on throughout the party as though there wasn’t a threat coming their way, I sure as fuck couldn’t.
My panic and nerves have more than gotten the best of me.
Roman steps forward, putting him right at the edge of the top step before opening his arms wide. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he calls into the night. “Let’s get this over and done with. I know you’re out there. My yard reeks of your foul stench.”
My eyes bug out of my head and I gape at Roman. “The fuck is wrong with you?” I spit under my breath, trying to keep my comments discreet. “What are you doing?”
“I’m tired,” he snaps back at me. “It’s been a long day. We might as well get it over and done with. Besides, they’re a bunch of fucking pussies. They don’t stand a chance against us. If they wanted us dead, they would have hired a trained assassin who would have demanded more than they could afford. This is nothing but a meeting.”
“A meeting?” I question, my brows furrowed as I watch the four brothers step out from different dark shadows of the yard, their hands up to show they hold no weapons. “No, it’s more than that. I heard them say they’re out for blood. This is an attack and you’re all but cheering them on.”
“Look at them,” he scoffs, his gaze traveling over his cousins as though dealing with their bullshit is beneath him. “Does it look like anything more than some fucked-up meeting trying to get in our back pocket? I wouldn’t be surprised if they offered to suck dick just to get whatever the fuck it is they want.”
“A meeting?” I confirm, glancing over the cousins. “That’s it? Just a meeting and you decided to keep it to yourself all night while I’ve been in a panic, thinking you’re all going to die.”
Roman glances back at me with a bored expression. “I’m not your man, Empress. It’s not my job to cater to your erratic emotions. You’ve got my brothers for that. Take it up with them.”
Anger bubbles through me and I narrow my gaze, reaching back to Marcus. My hand instantly comes in contact with his cock, and I palm him through his pants, not missing the way Roman’s gaze watches my every move. Anger and jealousy flash through his dark eyes, sending a wave of sick satisfaction crashing through me. “You’re right,” I tell him, copying his same bored tone. “You’re not my man. You’re a scared little boy who refuses to take what he wants because his own fucked-up emotions and daddy issues have left him shaking in his boots.”
Knowing Roman’s inability to control himself, Marcus reaches out and takes my waist before gently pulling me back out of Roman’s reach. My hand falls away from his junk as I feel his lips by my ear. “Point proven,” he mutters, nodding down to the four men creeping closer to the mansion. “Can we focus on that, before you give my brother a reason to tear my dick straight off my body?”
My hard glare never leaves Roman’s, holding it with the same intensity in which he holds mine, only forced to look away when the four cousins reach the bottom step and refuse to go any further.
Roman lets out a sigh and the four of us move toward them, not in the mood to have this conversation yelling back and forth up the stairs.
We get three quarters of the way down the stairs when Roman decides that we’ve gone far enough. He comes to a stop and his brothers meet him on the same step while I hover a few steps back, not willing to get quite so close, especially as the brother who’d chased me down the long hallway seems to do nothing but glare at me.