Page 5

Zyon

S tanding before the old window in Adam Rivers' office, I watched as Valeria Kellerman talked to her colleague. Alice often worked off the books in my other casinos because she needed money for her father's medical bills, but she never mentioned having such a gorgeous boss.

Anyway, they both looked terrified and nervous.

This entire situation was unpleasant, but I had to find out where Adam disappeared with my five million dollars.

Before throwing money on investigators and ordering my boys to check every fucking hole in this country, I had to speak with his employees.

And thankfully, Valeria had her priorities straight, and she got me something valuable.

I was about to discover if Rivers was stupid enough to hide on his wife's property.

"She is a cutie, isn't she?" Dorian nudged me with his elbow playfully, wiggling his eyebrows when I glared at him.

Yeah, Mrs. Kellerman was “a cutie” and a stunning beauty, but I would never admit to my brothers she made an impression and impact on my stone-cold heart like a nuclear bomb in Nagasaki.

Even my sleep-deprived brain knew that if the rock in my chest started to beat faster when looking into those wide grey-blue eyes, it was weird at best. Nothing could bring me to life, but the redhead goddess who just got into a cab and left was very close to waking up that stupid thing with feelings and emotions from a years-long slumber .

"Are you interested?" I asked, turning to him. I hid my hands in my pants pockets, staring at my sibling, which was like looking in a mirror. Only his childish and sometimes naive personality was the difference between us: that and the lighter brown color of his irises.

"Of course I am." He smiled, lighting his face up. "Have you seen that ass?"

"And legs," Malin added, and I snapped my head in his direction.

He was sitting in the armchair with his head tilted back and eyes closed, but he couldn't stay quiet and pretend he was asleep.

On the contrary, he had to support Dorian's admiration of a woman whose innocent crying face was imprinted into my brain.

"She has amazing legs. Did you notice the panda tattoo? "

He opened his right eye, peeking at me with one corner of his mouth slightly lifted. I could count on one hand how many times he’d smiled in the last year, so I knew he was making fun of me, but it worked. He instantly sparked my curiosity with that stupid question.

"What tattoo?" I barked, glaring at him, noticing Dorian's brows shoot up. He was in the dark, too.

"Yeah, what tattoo?" he repeated when Malin closed his eyes again, suppressing a grin.

"Every time she leaned forward to take chips when I lost," he started, and I immediately understood this was the reason why he'd acted like some gambler and lost thirty thousand dollars. "Her dress rolled up a little, and a tiny panda holding a flower peeked from behind the hem."

I involuntarily growled, jealousy and anger mixed in my chest into a huge mass of unpleasant feelings, and Dorian burst into laughter at my reaction. Before I could say anything in my defense, he high-fived Malin, and they both cast me a knowing glance.

"You're interested, Zee," Dorian said, clapping his hands. I didn't understand why he was so happy. This was a disaster.

"Maybe," I mumbled, turning my back on them.

Just the mere thought of Valeria having the last name Kellerman made me sick. And knowing what a prick Chester was, my insides curled with disgust at the idea of them being a couple. My sick brain illogically began creating scenarios in which I broke Chester's fingers because he touched his wife .

What the fuck was wrong with me?

I knew nothing about her. I had only met her once and already knew it would be difficult to get the picture of her out of my head.

Those big eyes, which stared at me with fear swirling in them, pierced my black soul.

I never wanted her to look at me like that.

I preferred the appreciative glance she flashed me when I walked into the casino.

Valeria liked what she saw. She gently bit her plump lower lip, and her eyes narrowed when she gave me a once-over. When our eyes met for a split second, I noticed how her body tensed, and she quickly averted her gaze, acting as if she didn't notice me.

But she did. She watched me, studied me, admired me.

I felt it from her when she was seated opposite me.

In some twisted way, she was scared and excited to be around me.

With my brothers, we frightened her to the core, but she didn't break.

She chose to cooperate because she was intelligent enough to know she had to give us something.

I was willing to start breaking bones if no one revealed anything about Rivers, and I was glad she prevented the tragedy.

Because once we began, it was tough to stop us.

"Do you think you can get her away from Chester?" Dorian asked, his question hitting all the right places. He knew what he was doing. He provoked me, daring me to start something stupid and immature just because he thought it was right.

"Chester isn't competition for him," Malin replied instead of me, and I smirked. At least one of them acknowledged my qualities. "The bigger issue is the girl. They have a daughter." He opened his eyes and looked at me, the seriousness of his tone making me frown. "Will you destroy a family?"

"What kind of family are we talking about if he's losing money and fucking whores while she's at work?" Dorian snapped, scowling at Malin, who only shrugged.

I lifted my eyebrows, surprised at the amount of information they had about Valeria, but the anger quickly suppressed the shock their words caused. She surely didn't have a healthy relationship with her husband. Still, who was I to judge?

I’d been divorced twice. Both my wives claimed they couldn't stand me. They lived in a golden cage, tied with rules and restrictions, and they just couldn't understand I did it for their safety.

They would be dead if I didn't protect them.

They would've gone through something horrible if I allowed them to live as they wanted.

None of them could comprehend the heaviness of the status they gained by marrying me.

I found no pleasure in arguing and forbidding them to go anywhere, but explaining was pointless.

The easiest way was to divorce and send them to the other side of the world where they could live happily ever after.

Did I want to go through it again? Did I want to start something only to destroy it when it became serious? And to top it all off, children were sacred to me. Dragging an innocent girl into some meaningless game only because I liked the mother wasn't right.

Fuck! Since when was I thinking about what was right?

"Chester is an asshole," Malin stated matter-of-factly, stretching his legs. "But women stay with idiots for less than a child."

"Okay, stop, you two," I groaned, rubbing my tired eyes. In the past few nights, I had not slept for more than three hours, and the exhaustion had taken its toll on me. "I won't do anything regarding Valeria."

"Why?" Dorian whined, staring at me like a wounded puppy. "You like her."

"Malin is right. Family is a delicate matter. And I have other things to care for."

He frowned, clearly not believing my words; truth be told, I didn't believe myself either. Mrs. Redhead ignited a fire that I hadn't felt in years. She broke through the solid, impenetrable barrier surrounding my heart like it was melted butter. After a few looks and one conversation, I was fucked.

Dorian's exasperated sigh made me lift my eyebrows at him, and he shook his head in disapproval.

He always chose the easiest way. If he wanted something, he took it.

I was the same, but here I was, being indecisive.

Maybe, after a few days, I would not remember Valeria at all.

My usual girl could help me forget about those beautiful eyes.

I tried to persuade myself that it was the case. Valeria was gorgeous, and every other man would have a problem resisting her. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary that she had sparked some interest in me, but I could surely move on from this. It was only one meeting. She wasn't that special.

However, the other side of me, the crazy one, thought she was everything. And somewhere inside of me, in the deepest corner of my grim soul, I knew she couldn't run away from me if I ever decided to go after her. She wouldn't be able to resist the temptation.

"Check the information Valeria gave us about Rivers’ wife's property," I ordered, changing the subject.

I didn't want to talk about my new obsession with my brothers anymore.

They knew me too well to hide my thoughts from them, and their sometimes annoying remarks were getting on my nerves.

I needed company for the night to stop thinking about another man's wife.

"And if we find it?" Dorian inquired, checking his phone. He’d most likely already issued orders to our men to start digging.

"Burn it to the ground," I commanded, fisting my palm.

"If Adam is there, I want proof of his death.

I will sacrifice five million dollars to send out the message.

No one will mess with us." I looked at Malin, who nodded, and Dorian quickly confirmed that he understood, too. They never opposed my decisions.

"What about the wife?" Malin asked, standing up.

"She chose to run away with him," I spat, fishing out the phone from my pocket because the text just came. "Her destiny is sealed."

"Okay, boss." Dorian saluted, and with a wink, he left, followed by Malin.

I stayed alone in a vanilla-smelling office, thinking about Valeria's lavender perfume. The soft scent of a delicate flower underlined her gentle beauty and the mystic haze my mind created around her. But I had to be rational. I wasn't a man who would fall obsessed with a woman after one meeting.

However, reality was very different from what I was telling myself. Whether I liked it or not, I had created unnecessary trouble with this unexpected visit to the casino. And that problem had a name: Mrs. Valeria Kellerman.