Page 25 of Midnight Revelations

Ash

I was standing talking to an old school associate in an art gallery when my phone pinged in my pocket. Poppy clung to my arm and smiled at everyone who looked at her. She was the type of woman who turned heads and garnered attention everywhere she went. It was why I picked her to be my date. She was blonde with huge breasts and pouty lips, and the exact opposite of Lucrezia in every way.

If Dad’s eyes were on us, they were away from Lucrezia.

My thumb flicked my messages open and my dick nearly had an aneurism. Lucrezia had a talent with her pencil, creating pictures that came to life. She could have been a painter if the notion had taken her.

Was she trying to fucking kill me?

The female figure was definitely based on her, as if she was wearing those chains and posed in front of a mirror to draw them. I closed my phone and returned to the conversation. There was no way I was looking at that in a public place where I could have an erection on display.

She was playing by the rules and bending them at the same time. It was business, but nothing like I ever expected her to design. Where were the flowers and delicate hearts? In fairness to her, she’d hit on a unique idea that had a certain clientele. There were women in the Twilight Rooms who would practically bend over and present their ass to you to own some of the stuff in those drawings.

“It’s not often I see you as a solo,” Paul said. “Normally you’re part of the three musketeers.”

I’d heard the name for us before and brushed it off. “I’m not solo.” I glanced down at Poppy, whose face lit up in a smile. She leaned closer and her breasts pushed against me, garnering Paul’s attention.

“Some men have all the luck.” He grinned at her in a way that would have lost him some teeth if he’d looked at Lucrezia like that.

Poppy bit the corner of her mouth and looked up at him from under her lashes. “It has nothing to do with luck.” Her giggle made me want to roll my eyes.

“If you’ve quite finished ogling my date,” I interrupted and his gaze cut to mine. “Phone my secretary to set up an appointment for you.”

He needed financial advice that wasn’t about to be forthcoming.

“Thanks, Ash. Father said you were a whiz at anything associated with numbers.”

I smiled benignly before manoeuvring Poppy across the room.

“Hey, Ash. Good to see you here.” My brother Aaron approached us. He owned this gallery and I was here to support him as best I could in current times. “Dad and the others were unavailable.”

They were probably off tormenting some innocent woman or small furry animals.

“You know I’ll always be here to support you, little brother.” I took a sip from the glass in my right hand.

“Are you brothers?” Poppy looked between the two of us, searching for similarities. There wasn’t any. I got all Mum’s genes, and Dad dominated the gene pool of the rest of my brothers. The only thing that Aaron and I shared was our hair colour.

Aaron flashed her a smile. “Yeah, Ash is the oldest and heir to our father’s kingdom. I’m next in line.”

Another high-pitched giggle made me wonder what I ever saw in Poppy. Glancing down, her tits bounced as she laughed. Yep, that was what I’d seen in her. Big breasts and a sense of sexual adventure. Aaron’s gaze automatically dropped to her cleavage.

I pretended to study the art in the gallery. It was a new artist Aaron had taken a chance on and the critics seemed to be loving his paintings, raving about what they thought he meant. The guy was standing over in the corner watching over the rest of us like he was god. They should just go and ask him.

“Ash, are you free for lunch tomorrow?” Aaron asked. “I have something I need to discuss with you.”

I eyed him for a moment. “Am I going to need Zee and Jay with me?” We tended to come as a package when people needed help.

“No, I just need you to be there.”

“Sure. Text me the details and I’ll slot it in.”

The hairs at the back of my neck stood to attention. When I turned around, one of Dad’s security patrols was standing watching me. Marlow had always given me the creeps. He was a sadistic sonofabitch who had taken pleasure in beating the crap out of me in the fighting ring, until the year I was bigger and stronger than him and he ended up with a broken jaw.

I doubted he was here because he was interested in art.

“You need somewhere to stay?” I asked Aaron casually.

His focus flitted to Marlow for a split second before he turned his back and stared at the painting. “Maybe.”

---