Page 47 of His Bride

“They’ll all be doing it next month, even without the baby bump.”

Mira’s already gone. She left last night. It’s always easier to do shit in the dark, getting people out or in. She’s gone to join Leandra—wherever the fuck that is. It’s safer that way, when none of us knows their exact whereabouts.

It protects them—especially the children.

Initially, we wanted the women and kids out of the goddamn country, but there was no way in hell we could convince Leandra to leave Alexius’ side.

That woman’s love and loyalty toward her husband is to be admired. Respected. She’s a mafia fucking queen. Shaped herself—or rather,foundherself, her strengths, all of it, with my brother.

He found her in that shitty diner thinking he’d marry a nobody just to please our father until he took his last breath and then dispose of her like a used rug.

But Leandra...oh, she was no rug or doormat. She was fire wrapped in silk, with a spine made of iron and a heart full of love for a man who didn't know what he had until it nearly got taken away from him.

Our oldest brother’s got the real deal. Leandra softens him without weakening him, loves him without smothering him.

Mira? She’s different. But she fits perfectly. A firebrand. A lioness and woman of steel who easily holds her own among the mafia wolves.

She has this way of cutting Nicoli down to size when he's getting too big for his boots, a quick word here, a raised eyebrow there, and she reins him in bareback. But she loves him fiercely, in a way that leaves no room for doubt or negotiation.

Me? I got the short end of the stick. I got the wife with enough attitude and sass to light up the Vegas Strip, with a temper to match.

She's as unpredictable as a twister, and just as destructive when she gets going.

One minute she can’t keep her hands off me, and the next she's spewing venom like a pissed-off viper. Wild tempest, that’s what she is. But by God, that woman excites me.

Her passion is as raw as a bleeding wound—impossible to ignore. It's like she taps into every corner of my soul, pulling it into threads while weaving her own pattern of chaos and devastating perfection. Never a dull moment—which it’s been around here since she left.

Dull. Boring. Tedious.

It’s like something was painfully scraped out of me, something vital. And sometimes, I can’t even breathe.Fuck.

I need another drink, and I need to get to work.

Once inside, behind my desk—okay…a desk? Because why do I need a damn desk? I’m not Alexius, and I’m notpretendAlexius either. I’m more your hands-on kind of guy, hot, sexy, and a man who thinks on his feet.

“Stick a label on me and call me Mr. Hot Cakes—” Suddenly, I stop because I find myself turning to give Giana a cocky look.“Fuck, you ass. She’s not here.”

She left me.

Good riddance and blah blah blah-dee-fucking-blah blah. But I’m not buoyed by that. At all. It makes the gaping thing in me bleed a little.

I take my laptop and decide my office will be in the Dark Sovereign room—our headquarters equivalent. It’s got an ambiance that matches my current mood. Dark, enigmatic, and a little bit unsettling.

“You really are an ass.”

I pour myself a drink and dig out my cigarettes. “Go fuck yourself, Isaia,” I mutter, not looking at the moron as he saunters in. It’s the saunter of a man with a stupid yellow car and dick problems, if you ask me.

I’d claim he speeds in it, but he doesn’t. He’s in love with that eyesore. Probably jerks off in that thing and has pillow talk with the steering wheel after.

“And deprive this city’s women of me?” He takes the bottle of bourbon and gets a glass, pouring himself a healthy amount, then he adds some ice.

Which annoys me. “Only sad men have ice.” Mainly because I didn’t think to get any.

“You look like utter shit, Caelian.”

“You always look like shit, so even playing field?” I sit and glance at him over my laptop. “No, I’m the one with the sparkling wit and the winning personality.”

“I was thinking of asking Giana out on a date, skipping the date part and get down to fucking. What do you think, Mr. Deluded?”

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