Chapter 13

I try my best to be sly as I walk into one of the gardens in Zane’s observatory, still as terrified of getting caught by Sierra as I’ve always been. For years, I’ve hidden my friendship with her brothers, knowing she’d do whatever she could to put an end to it if she realized just how much I learn about her by attending every month.

More than once, the Windsor brothers have unknowingly given me a competitive advantage against her, and they’ve told me countless stories about her childhood that she definitely wouldn’t want me to know. Over the years, they’ve become brothers to me too, and though they couldn’t possibly know it, they were the ones who kept me going when dealing with Valeria’s absence became too much.

I’m not even sure how we became this close. It was mostly Dion’s doing, but Ares was the one who continued to invite me when Dion moved overseas. Even as my rivalry with Sierra reached new heights, the invites never stopped coming, until eventually, invites were no longer necessary. I wonder if he knew how much I needed those monthly poker nights, if he saw something no one else did.

“You’re late,” Lex says as he sets up the portable poker table he invented for our poker nights.

“Weird,” Ares remarks. “You’re usually very punctual.”

Zane takes a long, hard look at me and sighs. “Whiskey?” he asks.

I nod, and Luca pulls out my chair for me. “What has our sister done this time?” he asks, his sympathetic tone doing nothing to diminish the amusement in his eyes. “I thought you guys were done with your little feud, but that look in your eyes tells me she’s done something crazy again.”

Normally I’d fill them in on the shit she pulled while leaving out some key details, such as what I did to deserve it, but today I don’t have it in me.

“I doubt she did anything,” Lex says, thrusting his phone in Luca’s face. “She’s been too busy parading around town with Graham. I have to say, they look pretty damn good together.”

“Graham fucking Thorne,” I mutter, before knocking back my whiskey. Sierra has been avoiding all my calls and every attempt to be alone with her after business meetings, and all the while, I’ve had to watch her sit next to Graham and laugh with him. Two weeks of that, and I’m at my breaking point.

“I reckon Grandma would actually allow it, you know?” Zane says. “If Sierra went to Grams and told her she wants to marry Graham, I think Grandma would let her. After what she did to me, she won’t risk telling Sierra no when they know each other so well and are clearly a good match.”

I stare at them in pure fucking disbelief. “How the fuck are they a good match?” I ask, my tone aggressive. “He doesn’t fucking know her. Since when is working in the same industry equivalent to knowing someone?”

Ares smiles at me and shrugs. “Well, they are childhood friends.”

I glance at the photo on Lex’s screen, and pure fury rushes through me. They were captured walking out of a restaurant, and he’s got one arm wrapped tightly around her while he holds up an umbrella above their heads. “Does she look like a child to you?” I snap. “He knew her when they were kids, but he doesn’t know who she’s become, what shaped her, what makes her tick.”

“Still,” Luca says. “It’s clear they like each other, and there’s plenty of time for them to get to know each other on a different level once they’re married. A merger between both companies would fulfill Grandma’s criteria. I think she’ll go for it.”

“I quite like Graham,” Lex says. “It’d be nice to have him as a brother-in-law.” He knocks his shoulder against mine then. “We’ll have an extra poker player, Xave. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“There’s no space,” I say dumbly. “This table was designed for the six of us.”

Lex smiles and nods excitedly. “Oh, you think I should already start designing a new table? That’s a great idea. Best to be proactive about that kind of thing.”

“Stop it,” Dion tells Lex, lightly punching his shoulder.

I look at my best friend in surprise, but he merely shakes his head and starts to deal the cards. I never told him how I feel about his sister, and considering the way Sierra and I have treated each other over the years, he’d probably never expect it.

I’m not even sure why we became such bitter rivals, but I’m certain the root cause of it was something I did unknowingly. In part, I think I kept our rivalry going because I knew she wouldn’t really let me into her life any other way, and it provided a much needed escape for me.

Besides, for as long as I’ve known her, she’s been waiting for the spouse her grandmother will eventually choose for her, and she hasn’t been interested in anyone else. So I waited, and I did everything I could to make sure her grandmother would consider me, but maybe I’ve gone too far, maybe that rivalry I enjoyed so much wasn’t enjoyable for Sierra. Maybe she truly does hate me, and my carefully orchestrated actions will push her right into another man’s arms.

“You okay?” Dion asks. “We’ve played three rounds and you haven’t said a single word other than call or fold.”

“Yeah, what’s going on with you, Xavier?” Ares asks, putting his cards down. He looks at me the way he sometimes looks at his younger brothers, like he knows exactly what’s going on but is waiting for me to tell him.

I stare at my cards and place them down, showcasing my Royal Flush. I don’t even bother collecting my winnings, though. No, there’s something far more important I want.

“I’m ready to collect all the favors you’ve all come to owe me throughout the years,” I say. “Every single one of them, at once.”

Ares crosses his arms and leans back, a knowing look in his eyes. “And what, pray tell, is it you want?”

I take a deep breath, knowing full well there’s every chance I won’t walk out of this room in one piece if I say what I need to, but I risk it anyway. “I would like to marry your sister, and I will need all of your support to make it happen.”

I expected backlash, maybe a broken nose, but instead, I’m met with five smiles. “About damn time,” Zane says, grinning as he and his brothers reach for their wallets, taking out wads of cash, and I raise a brow in surprise when it ends up mostly in Dion and Ares’s hands.

“We’d all been wondering how long it’d take you to collect your favors,” Luca explains, shrugging. “Ares bet it’d be this month, and that you’d use them to win Sierra’s hand in marriage. I lost because I thought you’d have done it a month ago, but thankfully I did get your rationale right.”

“You knew,” I murmur, my shoulders sagging in relief.

Lex chuckles, and Luca shakes his head. “Xavier, we’ve known for far longer than you could possibly know,” Zane tells me. “Why did you think we kept inviting you to our poker nights?”

Lex refills my whiskey glass and throws me an amused look. “That seat at the table has always been yours, Xavier. It always will be, provided you can win over both our grandmother and sister.”

“And that, my dear future brothers-in-law, is where you come in.”