Fiance Next Door

Fuck. This was not something I anticipated.

“Oops.” Spike touches his chin. “I think not.”

“You don’t have to tell her,” I tell him. “I’m going to do what you ask so long as you promise to let us both go afterward.”

“Ah, but this is more fun,” Spike says.

My jaw clenches. Son of a bitch.

He turns to Aster. “Do you know that your husband blew up a village in West Africa? A village of men, women and children?”

My hands curl into fists. I’m going to kill that son of a bitch when this is over.

“I don’t believe you,” Aster says. “Mason isn’t a murderer.”

Her faith in me makes me proud, but it also hurts because I know it’s misplaced this time.

“Ah, but he is,” Spike says. “A mass murderer. He hacked into a weapons satellite and aimed it at a village. Then he made it seem like it was the other village who did it, and guess what? They started killing each other.”

I look away. That was not my proudest moment.

“No.” I hear Aster gasp. “There must be some mistake.”

I can’t bear to look at her face.

“No mistake. He was ordered to do it and he did it. That’s what soldiers do, after all. Despicable, right?”

Aster says nothing. I look at Spike.

“At least they didn’t hold someone I cared about hostage,” I tell him. “Do you want me to do the job or not?”

Spike glances at the man holding Aster. “Take her back.”

He brings her to the door. I lift my head to look at her before she disappears, hoping she’ll look my way, but she doesn’t. Of course not. After what she just found out about me, she probably can’t bear to look at me, either.

“So…” Spike pulls out the chair in front of the table with the computers. “Shall we start?”

I draw a deep breath and sit down.

“You know, if you no longer want your wife, you can just say so,” Spike says. “I’ll take her. After all, she doesn’t seem to want you any longer.”

I narrow my gaze at him. “What do you want me to do?”

He’s thrown me a curveball, I admit. Right now, my temper is flaring. My mind is in chaos. But I have to calm down. I’ll take care of things with Aster later.

For now, I have to focus on getting us both out of here. I have to stick to my plan.

Chapter Twenty-Nine ~ Brothers

Aster

I have to come up with my own plan to escape, I think as the man with the stinky breath brings me back to the room where Leander is.

The revelation about Mason’s past was worse than I thought or even imagined. I’m still reeling from it. But I don’t hate him. I feel sorry for him. And I want to make sure he doesn’t go through the same thing again. I won’t just sit here and let Mason follow orders to commit another crime, not for my sake. I have to help him. I have to stop him.

“So how did it go?” Leander asks me after freeing my wrists.

He puts the cuffs on the table again. That gives me an idea.

I sit down, bury my face in my hands and pretend to cry. I know this may not be the best idea, especially since I’m bad at crying, but I’m hoping it will work.

Please let it work.

“That bad, huh?” Leander puts his hand on my shoulder.

I pretend to wipe tears away. “I hate him. I never want to see him again.”

Leander arches an eyebrow. “What?”

“They told me what Mason did in West Africa,” I tell him. “The thing you tried to tell me about.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t want to have anything to do with Mason anymore,” I go on. “I can’t stand him.”

Leander shrugs. “Well, you can divorce him, I guess.”

I feign surprise. “You know what? That’s a good idea.”

I stand up and put my hands on his chest. “I’ll ask for a divorce and demand a lot of money and we can use that to start a new life.”

Leander’s eyebrows crease. “What?”

“Think about it. You can get away from all this. We can just travel the world and do exciting things.” I grip his shoulders and push him down on the chair. “Very exciting things.”

I climb onto Leander’s lap.

“Whoa.” He tries to push me back. “Aster, what are you doing?”

I grab his hands and entwine my fingers with his. “You know, you’re right. I’ve always loved you. It’s you I want, not Mason. It’s always been you.”

Leander looks at me in surprise. I seize the chance and kiss him firmly on the lips. I know Mason isn’t going to like this, but right now, it’s the best plan I can come up with.

And it works. Leander kisses me back. He’s not half as good as Mason, though. While he’s distracted with that, I take the key to the handcuffs from the pocket of his shirt and put it in my own pocket. Then I reach for the pair of handcuffs on the table. Carefully, while moaning out loud to disguise what I’m doing, I cuff his wrist to the chair. As soon as I’ve done that, I jump back. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.