Page 16 of Illicit Games

He smirks. “I’m doing your girl a favor by not calling off the wedding. You want to be with her, wait until she fulfils her end of the deal.”

More than furious, I’m disappointed as I listen to him. Is this the brother I was trying to fix my relationship with over the years? As soon as I had heard about our grandfather’s will, which my father had tried very hard to keep buried, I reached out to Nathan privately to tell him he had nothing to worry about.

I walked away from everything eighteen years ago and I have no intention of ever returning. Had he given me a chance, I would’ve told him the truth about what happened the night I left our home, so his fears would have been eradicated. We wouldn’t be standing here right now.

It’s too late.

Because there’s no sign of my brother. Only a cold-hearted and vicious man digging his own grave.

A war between us was inevitable.

“It’s disheartening to see the person you’ve become. Jaded and deceitful. I don’t know why I ever bothered reaching out to you.”

“You were trying to wash away your guilt on your terms,” he growls. A cloudy swirl of anguish and anger meets me as he pins me with a derisive look. “The world doesn’t revolve around you, Kian. You had your chance to explain when I came to you.”

“Believe it or not, I stayed away to protect you.”

“Walking away was formybenefit?” He laughs, the sound hollow. “Well, brother, you sure did a banging job of it.”

“Considering you’ve turned out just like our father, I obviously didn’t.”

An imperceptible flinch crosses his face. “You don’t know me at all to make that judgment.”

“You’re right. Same goes for you because you’re underestimating the lengths I’ll go to protect Iris,” I tell him. “As far as I’m concerned, she’s no longer your fiancée. If you won’t tell her the truth, then I will.”

“You will lose her, too, once she knows of the will.”

“Then you don’t know her as well as you think you do.”

He pushes to his feet, taunting, “You think you do?”

“Yes,” I say in a heartbeat.

That seems to irk him. A vindictive look darkens his eyes. “Did she tell you why she stayed with me for three years?”

I sense his attempt to cause a rift between Iris and me, which I will not let happen. She told me everything there is to know and I trust her.

“It’s between me and her,” I answer Nathan. “I don’t care what you have to say.”

I turn around to leave when he lands the final blow.

“Your precious Iris is a liar.”

Chapter Five

Iris

Kian’s been gone for an hour and I’m already missing him.

Roaming around his place in his shirt that he put on me this morning that smells like him isn’t helping. Putting on shorts, I decide to cook and make my way to the kitchen.

I’m searching for options in the refrigerator when the front door opens with a beep.

It must be Sonya-our house cleaner

A second later, she rounds the corner.

“Hii,” I greet her.