Maybe the knowledge that she can’t have children was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s proof of how damaged she truly is. She’s a recovering drug addict. Homeless. Penniless. And she can’t even help him grow his family if he wanted more future Kings.
These days, he’s holed up in the office with his brothers. He leaves the bedroom extremely early and doesn’t return until well past nightfall. Though he still holds her at night, she can feel his thoughts a mile away.
She shoves her sketchbook across the tabletop out of frustration. She’d been doodling the past few days, even making a sort of children’s flipbook, but now she finds she’s lacking the inspiration to continue.
“What’s wrong?” Stella asks from in front of the range.
“Feeling a little uninspired,” she replies.
“Yeah,” Stella says as she walks over to Rian with a bowl of whatever she’s made her son for lunch. “It seems everyone is in a funk lately. Derrick has been sleeping on the couch in the office except I’m not the one who put him there.”
Stella and Derrick too? What the hell is going on?
“Did…do you happen to know what happened at the meeting?” she asks Stella.
“I don’t but I think it might be why everyone’s down. From the information you gave about that family, this might be a deal they have steered clear of their entire careers. We have a truce with my friends, Ben and Cael. It’s not going to sit well with them either if they find out that we’re doing…those…deals now too.”
That makes a lot of sense.
“Miss Ariana!” Claire calls her name out breathlessly even before the housekeeper makes her entrance into the kitchen.
“What is it?” Stella asks immediately.
“We have uninvited guests,” Claire informs. “The Romanos—”
“Take Rian upstairs, Ari.” Stella hands the baby over to her. “Claire, go up the back stairs with them but come back down as fast as you can,” Stella instructs before picking up the tablet with the security feed.
“Come right back downstairs, Claire. Jazzy and Pam will be home soon and I need you to catch them before they get in the house. Make sure they know that they can either keep out of sight or understand that they can’t make a peep about Ariana.”
Claire nods and hurriedly helps her to the staircase with a fussy baby Rian who’s trying to reach out for his mother. Thank goodness Claire had the wit to grab the baby’s food before the left the kitchen.
Chapter Thirty
Isabella and her brother’s surprise visit here means nothing good but they can’t dodge this bullet right now so they’re just going to have to suck it up and face off. Mason already informed him earlier that Ariana is well out of firing range so at least that’s a relief.
Stella, on the other hand, is right in front of Isabella.
He and Derrick watch the camera feed on the monitor. Derrick gets out of his seat first but he stops his brother when he sees Rory entering the frame.
“Ro’s got her back,” he tells Derrick.
“That’s not what I’m scared of and you know that,” Derrick hisses to him.
Yeah. The white elephant in the room that they’ve all been fucking avoiding the past few days has stomped right up their front steps. He’s well aware.
It may have only been seconds but it seems like forever before they see Stella gesturing a warm welcome to Isabella and Cristian. Their men stay with their cars. Wise choice.
Stella doesn’t bring them to the office but instead leads the siblings to the living room. He and Derrick walk in and hears Cristian trying his best to charm the shoes off of Stella. He’s failing fantastically, of course.
“Hey,” Stella greets them. “I didn’t know you guys invited them over for tonight.”
They didn’t.
“Unfinished business,” Derrick answers instead.
“Indeed,” Isabella purrs.
He’s sure that the extremely subtle remark didn’t make it past Stella either because Stella cranes her neck to look at Rory questioningly instead of at her husband.
“We didn’t get to settle all the details of business last time,” Isabella adds after clearing her throat.
“Well, you all can meet in the office. I’ll bring in some refreshments,” Stella says before she’s out of her seat.
She gives Derrick a stiff kiss on the cheek and his brother lingers his hand around Stella’s waist a bit longer.
“This way if you don’t already know,” Rory tells the siblings.
Shit. Neither Rory nor Chase knows what happened yet either. They were hoping the test results would be back by now before having to spill everything to their siblings. In honesty, he’s thankful because he isn’t quite prepared for the blowout it’s going to cause yet.
Ariana’s sobriety is on the line just as much as Derrick’s marriage right now. And the bomb to set off that blowout has just seated herself right on their office couch. Her dark red pantsuit is a stark contrast to the creamed colored upholstery.
Cristian also makes himself right at home, immediately rounding the bar and examining the bottles available.
“What do you want?” Derrick rumbles at Isabella.
Cristian doesn’t even flinch but then again, the bastard didn’t seem like he was interested in what this conversation is going to be about.
“Oh, love,” Isabella says with her pretentious tone. “Is that the proper way to greet good friends?”
That sure as hell didn’t get past Rory. He sees his brother’s facial expression.
“Well, then. Right to business,” Isabella says with her air of disgusting arrogance. “We need passage for a shipment arriving in two weeks. It’s for the official grand opening of Olympus. I know that you can make that passage with the snap of a finger. You’re close associates with your friend to the west.”
Gaston’s territory and if that’s the passage they need, the shipment can only mean one thing.
“Not happening,” Derrick replies immediately. “We told you before that you don’t have a say or any control of our men or our businesses. You, for sure, can’t use our connections.”
“Don’t be a sourpuss, love. We’re family now, after all. This merge is going to happen whether you like it or not. Right, Adam?”
She turns to him with those piercing soulless eyes. It doesn’t fucking scare him.
“Nothing’s been announced yet. Until there’s something solid, things can change,” he replies as coolly as possible.
In his mind, his hands are around her throat and squeezing as tight as he can. He can just imagine the crush of her esophagus within his hands.
“Is that what you’re waiting on?” she stands and snarks. Her claws are showing again. “You’re waiting on an announcement?” she asks now, with a much calmer tone.
The calm tone and drastic mood swings scare him more than her bark.
They’re interrupted when Stella walks in with Willa carrying a tray of various drinks. Stella captures him for a moment before she turns and beams at her husband when she sets the tray down. Willa does the same with her tray and immediately leaves.