Page 13 of Anton

My gaze swept around the room, and for the first time in months, a genuine smile crept onto my face. These were my family. Like my Bratva Blood Brothers, these men were the family I had chosen. The chatter grew louder as the guys ate, but a thought lingered in the back of my mind. At some point, I’d leteach of these men into my heart. So why was it so hard to do the same with Marcie? If I could trust them, why not her?

I always focused on the women I’d lost in life, but I’d lost men, too. Good men. Friends. But it wasn’t quite the same. Because even with my Bratva Blood Brothers, a little bit of my heart had always been held back. But not with Louisa, not with Elaine, and if I wasn’t careful, not with Marcie either. And that was the issue. I couldn’t take that level of devastation again.

As my thoughts turned broody once more, snippets of conversation drifted to me, my focus flickering back to Derrick and Nick, who had stepped a little apart from the group. I hadn’t meant to overhear, but my attention snapped back when I caught Marcie’s name.

“She’s nervous. She hasn’t dated anyone since her stalker. Of course, she hadn’t wanted to, not when she was obsessed with Anton. But since he’s made it clear he doesn’t want her, she finally decided it was time,” Derrick was saying, his voice low but just loud enough for me to hear, though I didn’t think he realised.

My blood ran cold, and I froze with my coffee cup halfway to my lips.

“What’s he like?” Nick asked.

“He seems like a decent enough guy, but time will tell. Still, he doesn’t need to be Mr Right, he just needs to be Mr Right Now. Anyone will do, really—just to help her get over her crush on a certain sexy soldier boy,” he said, the amusement clear in his voice before he grew serious again. “She needs to do this for her own sanity. Obsessing over Anton isn’t healthy.”

My chest tightened, a dull ache radiating from somewhere deep inside as Derrick’s words settled over me.She’s moving on? Seeing someone else?I only had myself to blame. I’d pushed her away, kept her at arm’s length, told myself it was for the best—for her safety, her happiness, even her sanity. But hearing aboutit now, that some other man might be the one making her laugh, filling the space in her life I should have claimed, felt like a punch to the gut.

Nick nodded.“So, when’s she seeing the guy?”

The mention of a “guy” and Marcie in the same sentence made my jaw tighten, and bile rose in my throat. I kept my back to them, pretending to listen to the guys I was standing with while straining to hear more of their conversation.

“Tomorrow night,” Derrick responded, and my heart sank. Confirmation that Marcie was indeed attempting to move on should’ve made me pleased, but instead, it threatened to tear me apart.

Tomorrow night—the words hit me like a punch to the gut.

“And you think she’ll go through with it this time?” Nick asked sceptically. “She didn’t the last time she’d planned a date.”

“I know,” Derrick replied, his voice quieter. “But I think she might this time. She’s been talking to him on the phone. I think she wants to see where it goes.”

My grip on the coffee cup tightened, as my mind flashed to Marcie, the way her eyes softened when she looked at me, and the electric tension that sparked between us.

Turning quickly, I stepped closer to Derrick.

“Who is this guy?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, the words slipping out before I could rein them in.

Derrick glanced at me, his expression cautious but amused, as if he could see the faint flicker of jealousy in my eyes despite how hard I tried to keep it from showing in my voice.

“I don’t know much about him. Just that he’s someone she met through her work. But she seems to like him.”

My gut churned as a dozen questions swirled inside my head, none of them making it to my lips. Could she really move on from me? That’s what I wanted, wasn’t it? So, why was the little voice in my head screamingNo?

I wanted to scream it out loud, but instead, I forced myself to speak, my voice cool despite the storm raging inside me. “What’s his name?”

Derrick shrugged. “Don’t know. She didn’t say. She’s keeping it low-key for now. You know how she is.”

I didn’t know how she was. Not anymore. And that thought twisted something deep inside me. She was slipping away, moving on, and I couldn’t—and doubted—I ever would.

“She met him through work, you said?” Nick smirked, noticing my jealousy, more in tune with the rising tension inside me than Derrick was.

Derrick’s gaze narrowed as I continued.

“That’s how she got her bloody stalker in the first place,” I practically shouted at him.

“I’m well aware of that, Anton. I had her hire you as a bodyguard, remember? But that guy is still in jail, and she can’t go around worrying that every man she meets is a potential stalker.”

I went to speak, but he held up his hand, cutting me off before I could.

“Don’t interfere. You can’t refuse to get involved with her one minute, then interfere in her life the next. She needs to get over you, and you need to let her,” he said, his voice barely controlled with fury.

I set the coffee cup down, my hands momentarily shaking.

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