Page 35 of Promise of Hellfire

“You knew this entire time and didn’t tell me,” I mumbled to him under my breath, watching Ethan uncork the bottle.

He winked as I sat down. “It was a surprise.”

Ethan poured everyone a glass of wine and Dominic pulled whatever he was making off the stove. “I can’t cook like Hunter, but hopefully it’s at least edible,” Dominic said as he plated up the food.

When he set a plate in front of me, my stomach growled. Pasta in cream sauce, blackened chicken, and salad. “It looks perfect. Thank you for this, guys. I don’t really know what to say or how to thank you.”

Dominic frowned as he sat next to me. “You don’t need to thank us. We wanted to do something nice for you. Since we’ve known you, your life has been completely flipped upside down.” He picked up his fork and stared at me. “In fact, if it weren’t for the situation with Ayers, I would have insisted we go out.”

Ethan chimed in, “You know, we haven’t really been able to carry you out and spoil you the way we want to.”

My mind raced through all the things I’d done with each of them. Hunter painting me. Dominic taking me on a picnic. Riding with Ethan on the back of my motorcycle. I didn’t need a fancy dinner at a restaurant. Spending time with them was enough.

Initially, their protectiveness infuriated me. I didn’t want someone else to keep me safe; I’d been doing it on my own my whole life. Now, the fact that they insisted on keeping me close made me feel like I belonged. Not that I would admit that out loud.

“I don’t need you to spoil me,” I told them, “and you really didn’t have to do this.”

Dominic leaned closer and rested his hand on my thigh. “Rayne, we don’t do anything because we have to. We wanted to. Besides, isn’t this,” he gestured broadly at the table, “what people do to show their love? If this makes you uncomfortable, I regret to inform you it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

What people do to show their love. My heart skipped a beat. Dominic was more aloof than Hunter and Ethan. He was careful with his words and his actions. He wasn’t one to throw around empty platitudes.

“What else do you have planned?” I asked, pretending to scowl.

“Presents of course,” Ethan piped in, smiling lazily.

They had just gotten me something for Christmas, and gifts were completely unnecessary. I was already living in their house for free. I started to open my mouth, but Hunter cut me off. “No arguments. It’s something you’re going to need soon.”

I swirled a bite of pasta onto the end of my fork, knowing that any resistance was futile. It was three versus one and I wouldn’t win against any of them. They were all just as stubborn as I was.

Placing the bite of food into my mouth, I nearly melted into my chair. Dominic claimed he didn’t cook as well as Hunter, but the taste was heavenly. “Good?” he asked, studying me with amusement.

“It’s fantastic,” I replied between bites. After I gorged myself on pasta and wine, Ethan passed around a tray of chocolate cupcakes and we settled into easy conversation. Dominic discussed several client meetings that were coming up in the next month and plans for Jupiter Financial. Hunter nodded along to what he was saying, occasionally interjecting an idea. Ethan shoved bites of cake into his mouth and rolled his eyes at the discussion happening around us. When he caught me staring, he winked.

“When is your father’s funeral?” Hunter asked and Ethan choked a little. Bits of cake flew from his mouth as he stood up and Hunter patted him on the back before handing him a glass of water.

After Ethan seemed to recover, and his color turned back to normal, Dominic pressed the question. “That wasn’t exactly an answer. When?”

Ethan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “My stepmom called earlier. They’re doing a viewing tomorrow night and the funeral on Saturday afternoon.”

Hunter raised his eyebrows at him. “And you didn’t think we needed to know?”

I took a sip of wine, allowing the bitterness to coat my tongue as I watched them. I was honestly so full and content, I didn’t want to move, much less get in the middle of their argument.

Ethan shrugged at him. “I’m not going. There’s no love lost between my family and me. I’ve never cared for my stepmother, and honestly, it’s nothing more than a charade. All the elite gathered in one place, claiming that my father was a good man when it couldn’t be further from the truth.”

I tried biting my tongue, but I couldn’t stop myself. “It’s a charade you have to participate in. If you don’t show up, it will look suspicious.”

Dominic nodded in agreement and clasped his hands behind his head. “She has a good point and you know it.”

Ethan clenched his jaw and cursed under his breath. “I thought after dinner we were supposed to be talking about taking down Ayers, not whether to go to my sperm donor’s memorial.”

Dominic’s nostrils flared at the bite in his voice. “We’ll discuss that after the funeral. We just need to wait two more days. All you need to worry about is acting like the slightly distraught son.”

Ethan’s eyes narrowed, and he turned on his heel before heading to the elevator. “Fine, I’ll go,” he said over his shoulder. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’ll do everything that I’m supposed to, but first I want to show Rayne what we got her.”

I stood and walked over to him, lacing my fingers with his to comfort him. It was obvious the discussion of his father’s funeral put a damper on his mood, and I just prayed he wouldn’t disappear tonight. Hunter and Dominic followed us silently, piling into the elevator.

Once we reached the parking garage, Ethan headed to the back corner where something was covered with a white drop cloth and the world around me spun as my heart lurched in my chest. I already knew what was under there and it was too much. If a simple bracelet made me feel uncomfortable at Christmas, surely they realized a gift of this size would multiply that feeling by a hundred.

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