ric’s POV:


    “Say one more thing, and I swear to fucking god you will never be able breathe through your nose again.”


    I knew that having my brother here was not a good sign, not when he was always running his mouth and ruining things whether he meant to or not.


    “I hit a nerve, huh?” Nn grunted through the pain I was sure he was feeling.


    I could feel Meadow’s eyes boring into my back even before she started to speak. “ric-”


    “Leave us, Meadow,” I said calmly, voice low, eyes not leaving my brother’s amused ones. No matter how bad he felt about what had happened in the past, he never ceased to find delight in my anger.


    “But I-”


    “Now.”


    I felt it. The moment the air thickened. Meadow hadn’t told me yet, but she was already upset about the fact that I didn’t sleep in the roomst night after I was the one who invited her over.


    And now I was dismissing her so tantly.


    But it wasn’t my fault. I couldn’t let her be here to experience this. She’d already heard enough, and she had to leave before my fucking brother would say something that she wasn’t supposed to hear.


    Or know.


    I didn’t turn around to see if she left. I only listened… waited.


    She scoffed, and I could feel the anger in the way the stool screeched against the floors. And then, her soft footsteps.


    <b>“</b>I’m going for a walk,<i>” </i>she bit out.


    That made me freeze, and I let go of Nn’s cor, turning around to see her storm out of the kitchen, a slight limp in her steps.


    “Meadow,” I started. “Your leg-”


    She spun around to face me, angry fire swirling in those beautiful hazel eyes as she red at me. “Why don’t you worry about your family business and I’ll worry about mine. My leg, I mean. Not my family business, you know, since you locked my only family up in the loony bin and made her your business?”


    Essentially calling me a hypocrite.


    I opened my mouth to say something to make this better, but there was nothing I could say.


    I knew she wanted to be here, but I couldn’t ask her to stay.


    “Don’t leave thepound,” I said coolly as my jaw ticked.


    Meadow smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She made a show of bowing slightly, sarcasm dripping from her tone as she said: “Whatever you say, master.”


    I looked away. That should not have made my cock stir. She was upset for fuck’s sake. But I couldn’t fucking help it. I wanted her to call me that again.


    “Mead…” I trailed off when I looked back only to realize that she wasn’t standing there anymore.


    She was gone.


    The moment I heard the front door click shut, I fisted my brother’s cor again, mming him even harder against the wall.


    He didn’t even try to fight it.


    “Christ, you’re gonna give me a concussion, man.”


    “Just a concussion?” I growled. “I’m hoping you lose your fucking memory while at it too.”


    He only smirked. “She seems pissed, Ric. You sure you don’t want to go after her? Or is this something she does more often so you have to win her back with money?<b>” </b>


    My gaze narrowed and I pressed my forearm into his throat.


    “You don’t fucking talk about her.” My voice is low, threatening. “You don’t specte, you don’t ask questions, and you stay the fuck out of my business. And you sure as hell don’t mention ‘her‘.”


    Thest ‘her‘ that I mentioned wasn’t Meadow. And he knew that.


    Nn’s hands came up. Not to fight, just to show me that he couldn’t breathe. I loosened my grip only slightly.


    “Wasn’t trying to start anything, Ric, I swear,” he choked out, though his smirk was back. That fucking smirk that I hated him for. The same one that he used to hide his guilt.


    “You and I both know that this isn’t about your wife.” He tilted his head against the wall. “You’re just


    scared.”


    My jaw ticked.


    <b>“</b>You’re scared that one day she’s gonna see you for what you are.” His voice dropped lower. “Or even worse… you’re scared that she’ll feel it. That she’ll get close enough to figure out what the hell happened <b>to </b>you.”


    He scoffed. “That’s why you didn’t tell us, isn’t it? Because you do care about Meadow, wherever the hell


    she came from.”


    My stomach twisted. One of the veins in my temple throbbed with something I couldn’t understand.


    I would not admit that Nn was right, even though I knew he was.


    I stepped back suddenly and Nn let out a breath,bing his hand through his hair. “I know she’s not a gold digger. I mean, I thought she was at first. But then I watched her behavior, and she… touched you, and you reacted.”


    “You’re not a fucking psychologist, Nn.”


    “You’re right, I’m not. But that was pretty fucking easy to read.”


    Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I opened the security app and pulled up thepound feed. “Keep talking and you’ll end up in the hospital with a broken nose and neck.”


    Meadow was in the garden, admiring the bed of roses and tulips that I had the gardener nt less than six months ago after I discovered that she loved them.


    She was going to be mine from the moment she touched me. It was only a matter of time. And now she was here, and I wasn’t going to do anything to chase her away.


    I wouldn’t even let her leave.


    “Never thought the day woulde when you’d meet someone like her,” Nn muttered.


    I pocketed my phone, pinning my brother with a re. “Why? Because you ruined thest one?”


    Something shed in his eyes, and he looked away. “Well, obviously, I’ll never be forgiven for that.”


    My nostrils red. “You’ve made it your mission to remind me about it every time it looks like I forgot, but


    that’s because you don’t really want me to forget, isn’t it?”


    Nn scoffed, but he knew I was telling the truth.


    He didn’t really want me to forget, or forgive him, and had spent over ten years making sure I never did.


    That was the downside of Nn Ashford’s guilty conscience.


    He didn’t think he should be forgiven.


    “Whatever, man. I have no problem with your wife. I just hope you know that you can’t really keep her


    hidden from all this. I see that’s what you’re trying to do.”


    He grabbed another apple. Seriously, what was his deal with apples? He’d damn near finished the entire


    fruit basket.


    “She’ll only know what I think she needs to,” I said, after a full minute of silence.


    He chuckled, pping his hands together once. “Great. Then I’ll tell Mutti to expect you and your wife this


    weekend.”


    Yeah, that was the one thing I was avoiding.


    But I didn’t tell Nn that, because he didn’t need to know.


    I fixed him with a hard stare, and he arched a pierced brow in response.


    “We’ll be there,” I finally muttered.


    Not like I had a choice.