Page 16 of King of Desire

“I’m sorry to hear it, Honeyeh. Is it serious?”

“Thank you,” she says to Killian. “His liver was damaged from the overproduction of bile. He needs a lot of care while we wait for a transplant.”

“Jesus,” Killian quietly responds while my chest grows tight. That’s a big fucking burden for her to carry.

“We’ll be all right,” she smiles again, like she’s trying to convince everyone. I want to pull her into my fucking lap. “This position is a real help, and I have a really good surgeon who’s taken on his case.” She stops, clasping her hands again. “Butenough about me. Your bride was so beautiful. Her dress, her hair, the flowers. It was like a fairytale.”

Killian’s smile turns soft. “Thank you. I have to agree. Chloe is the most beautiful person I know inside and out.”

I look at my brother. I know he loves Chloe. That he’s wildly attracted to her. But what I hear in his voice is respect…

I don’t hear Killian give those kinds of accolades to anyone.

We reach the bus stop and Honeyeh opens her own door, sliding out of the car. “Thank you for the ride,” she says to Killian. “I look forward to tomorrow,” she murmurs to me before she closes the door to the car and walks over to the covered bench, sitting down on the metal seat.

There is no one else there and I feel this prick of annoyance at the thought of leaving her alone here.

“Want me to wait?” Killian asks from the driver’s seat.

I scowl at him, even though he’s said out loud exactly what I was thinking. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you going all caveman.”

“Caveman?” I repeat at a higher volume.

“Protective, predatorial. I half expected you to throw her over your shoulder and stomp upstairs.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I just got married. I know exactly what I’m talking about.” He puts the car in gear, gives Honeyeh a wave, and reverses direction. “And I like her. “

“You like her?” I am trying to be nicer to Killian. But he says shit that irritates me. Like right now.

“Honest. Sweet. Caring. Gorgeous.” He draws that last one out and gives another whistle. “And the body… A man could do a lot worse,” he wiggles his eyebrows.

I let out a rumble of frustration. “Even if I were the type of man who might settle, Honeyeh is not the sort of woman I’d choose.”

“Is Veronica?” he asks, wrinkling his nose. “Do you want to make some power couple?”

“I don’t want to make any couple. You, of all people, should understand.”

“Why is that?” he asks, approaching the gate.

I pull out the phone and hit the button. In my family, our brother Win is the oldest and the new Duke of Grandmont. Being the heir, he was off at boarding school from a fairly early age.

I’m next, older than my twin, Gris, by four minutes. But apparently four minutes matters. Since a I was a kid, I was expected to bear the brunt of our shitty father’s vitriol. And it’s been my job ever since to hold the whole operation together.

But Killian and I don’t need to get into it. “What did you come here for?”

“Did you speak with Mason today?” He asks, parking the car once again.

I turn in my seat to face him. “Yes. Why?”

“He wants me to keep an eye on the Russian’s brothels. It’s the one part of their business I haven’t really gathered intel for. I know their drug trading routes, their casinos.”

I frown. First, I don’t agree with Mason on this topic. While I dislike the Russian Bratva, Dimitri is a man with a fair bit of ethics when it comes to the women in his employ.

While he runs some of Las Vegas’s most well-known brothels, his business is designed to both protect the women and gain their consent. It wouldn’t be Sin City without a sex trade, and Dimitri is the best there is. “I don’t like it.”

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