by Ebony Olson
Darius wrapped me in his arms and lowered his face towards mine. "I promise to love you, to be a good and worthy husband for you, to adore you. I promise to love and be here for our children, to be a good father to them, to take care of all of you. I promise I am never leaving you again, Mora. Not until the day I die, and even then, I'll haunt your fine ass, making love to you in ghost form every night until you join me in the afterlife."
I laughed. "I saw a movie about a woman being raped violently by a ghost over and over once. It was a bit scary."
Darius chuckled. "I said I'd make love to you, not rape you. You know I'm all about the slow seduction, baby." Darius's hand slowly curved around to fondle my breast. Things tightened down below and I winced, pulling his hand away.
"Slow seduction is not what got me pregnant with Willow, which is why I now have two stitches in my snatch, making any sexual stimulation very uncomfortable," I reminded him.
Darius smiled down at me, his hazel eyes filled with joy, but he moved his hands back to a safe place. "I promise to kiss her all better when you're ready, Mora."
I clenched, cringed, and smacked his chest. "Stop. That shit hurts, you know."
"Sorry," Darius murmured, threading his fingers into my hair. No, he wasn't. His eyes told me he was happy my body was reacting to him already. He kissed me gently, exploring my lips with his for several minutes before encouraging me to open my mouth and kissed me deeper. We kissed until we were breathless and then I stepped back, taking his hand and leading him back to the house.
Darius turned off the light and shut the door. "Steffen will be back tomorrow. I'll bring him over to show him the space and see if I need to organize anything to happen before he moves in."
"Okay," I replied, happy that we were finally together. Yes, a part of me worried and was still hurt, but I wanted to be loved, to be part of a loving family. "How long until you think you'll move in permanently?"
Darius stopped me and turned me to face him. "Baby, I moved in three days ago. I've just been waiting for you to realize." He kissed me again, gentle and tender, before I could react. "I meant it, Mora. I'm never leaving you again," he whispered against my lips.
"Except when you have to travel for work," I reminded him.
"Except then, but I'll be taking you with me when I can," he murmured. "You and the kids can sightsee while I work."
"And when I'm away performing?" I challenged.
"We'll be there too," Darius breathed, his lips brushing over my forehead. "Other than that first time I had Jacob, I've never missed a performance I knew about, Mora. Not even after you ran away. I saw you in Paris, Denmark, and even here in Edinburgh. I just didn't know where you were calling home. I tried to approach you after the concerts, but I couldn't get near you."
Darius lowered his mouth and kissed the tears descending my cheeks. "I've been an ass. I've hurt you every time I was hurting, unable to handle how you made me feel. That's never going to happen again, because I know exactly how I feel about you now, Mora. Even better, I know how I feel without you. Never again will I risk losing you."
I kissed him. Slow and deep and full of how much I loved him. "Let's go to bed, Mr. Rafal."
"Lead the way, Mrs. Rafal."
Chapter Fifteen
Darius held my hand with a grip that suggested he thought he might lose me. Marshall walked in front of us as we entered the elevator of one of the most prestigious buildings in town. Darius turned me and wrapped his arm around my waist, reminding me how soft my belly now felt.
"I still don't agree with you being here, Mora," Marshall grumbled. "You've only just had a baby, you should be home resting."
"I want to make sure they have the story straight, Dad," I argued for the umpteenth time in the last twenty-four hours. "You have both sacrificed enough. I've sacrificed enough."
The day after Boxing Day, a week ago exactly, Marshall and Darius had both been called to attend a special Fehu meeting. They'd made the mistake of discussing it in front of me, and I'd insisted I'd come. As a bonus, we spent New Year’s Eve in London with our friends. The kids were currently sleeping at Darius's London apartment, under Steffen and Bill's watchful eyes.
Darius tightened his grip on my hand. "They will take my interview as the truth, even though they know otherwise. They will use it to take what they want."
"Which is?" I asked.
I winced when Darius suddenly tightened his grip.
"Money, power, whatever it is, we will deal with it when it's finally spoken," Marshall growled. Darius nodded.
"Finally spoken?" I asked.
"They will suggest otherwise, dance around what they are after, hint at something they know we won't part with, so that when they finally do take what they seek, it doesn't seem that great a loss," Darius educated me. "It's how they work."
"It's not how I work," I muttered. It made Darius and my father smirk.
The elevator doors opened and two men in butlers’ attire greeted us.
"Masters Blake and Rafal, you are the last to arrive, please follow us," the shortest of the men announced and turned to lead the way, but not before he gave me a disdainful look. I rolled my eyes at him, which, to my pleasure, seemed to shock him and ruffle his feathers.
Darius put his mouth to my ear as we walked. "They've told us the wrong time and have already met and deliberated. We will be walking into an execution."
"Yes, but it won't be ours," I mumbled back. Darius looked at me, surprised. I gave him my apologetic eyes. "I might have prepared for this after they kept interfering in our lives and set something up to protect myself and my interests."
Darius looked at me, worry clear in his hazel eyes. "Mora, what have you done?"
I turned my head and kissed his lips. "Shh," I whispered as we entered the boardroom.
Members of the Fehu sat around the large cherry wood table, polished to within an inch of its life, so that the sour faces of all the seated members reflected back at you even if you tried to avoid looking at them.
"Master Blake and Master Rafal, how good of you to join us," the man at the far end of the table greeted, his eyes flicking to me. "Mrs. Rafal, we weren't expecting you."
"Well, I think you men have spoken enough about me behind my back. Since you seem so determined to interfere in my life, I thought I should be present."
He adjusted his tie, as if my presence made him uncomfortable. "Really, Mrs. Rafal, you needn't have inconvenienced yourself, you have a young baby at home."
"She's nearby, and after you kept my husband and I apart for nearly two years with your archaic bullshit, I really don't think another few hours will make a difference. Inconvenience away," I dismissed his concern, taking an empty seat at this end of the table.
Jeremy, who sat next to the empty chair at the other end of the table, smothered a laugh.
"Should I sit by my daughter, or take my chair?" Marshall asked.
"Sit by your daughter so you can keep her quiet," Dr. Lennon Brook, my least favorite of all the Fehu members, grumbled.
"Please, Lennon, you told me you like to hear me scream," I purred.
Everyone around the table froze, their mouths falling open. Darius's hand gripped mine hard enough to hurt.
I looked at everyone, surprised. "Oh, you didn't tell your brothers about our little encounter?"
"Shut up!" Brooks growled menacingly.
"How you guaranteed to allow the knowledge that Darius and I were still married to go unreported if I became your secret mistress?" I continued. "Actually, you weren't exactly giving me a choice in being your mistress, were you?"
"Shut your slut mouth now!" Brooks stood, outraged. The brothers fell deadly quiet.
"When was this?" Marshall asked angrily.
"Right before I fled London," I admitted. "It's why I left."
The man at the head of the table sat down, shocked. Jeremy covered his face, like he was going to cry.
"Mora?" Darius murmured.
"You see, gent
lemen, Darius abided by your rules," I continued, trying not to let the hurt of it show, but it came through in my voice anyway. "He left me, he signed the annulment papers and gave them to me. He gave them to me the day I discovered I was pregnant with his child. It was I who burned the papers, and I never told anyone. Darius, my family, our friends, they all thought the marriage was annulled. I never contacted Darius again, nor did he contact me."
"But the interview?" Gabe Reynold Riley inquired.
"Was filmed after I left the brotherhood and my personal life had been opened up for public speculation," Darius explained. "You couldn't expect me to admit I was part of a secret society that made me destroy the woman I loved?"
"We didn't destroy her," Brooks butted in. "She's become successful and famous since all that nonsense occurred."
"Nonsense?" Marshall growled. "That nonsense saw my daughter missing for half a week. When she came back, she wouldn't talk, eat, or leave the house. She was suffering from severe depression and would have possibly stayed like that if she hadn't discovered she was pregnant. Don't you dare tell me it didn't affect her. Even now, my relationship with my daughter is fragile, all because I arrived at her wedding and told the groom they couldn't be married. I was there, I saw my daughter’s heart get ripped out, and I listened to her dying for two weeks. I watched her struggle, pretending to be over it, as she found a job which got her away, from not only the memory, but from me." Marshall let the first tears I'd ever seen him shed run down his cheeks.
"The archaic laws of this brotherhood haven't just cost my daughter the man she loved, they cost me the woman I love, plus my daughter. They cost Darius two years with his son and wife. Neil, the woman you loved divorced you the moment you told her she must be shared. Craig, your daughter fell in love with Mark, and when you told her she couldn't date him, she left your house and you haven't heard from her since. How many before us lost the chance at true happiness because of this one law?"
"What are you suggesting, Master Blake?" The man at the far end stood in question.
Marshall swallowed and stood tall, meeting the eyes of every man around the table. "I'm asking that we take a vote to remove the sharing of wives law, to allow our members to be happy in love as well as success. To let our daughters love where their hearts must."
"Out of the question!" another man groused. He was kind of hideous.
"Come now, Keith," Jeremy smirked. "Surely your money and prestige can get you laid rather than forcing the wives of others?"
The hideous one showed contempt at the comment. "You could just pay for it," I blurted. "You are obviously rich enough to afford it. Hell, go on that sugar daddy site and get some young nubile airhead to hang on your every word."
Darius squeezed my hand, and a few others chuckled.
"I for one am for it," Jeremy stood up. "I have nothing to gain or lose in this."
"Bullshit!" Brooks raged. "You want to fuck her too, that's why you want the law overruled."
"Master Brooks!" The man at the end snapped. "We are gentlemen, and we do not curse such filth."
"In case none of you noticed, the ‘she’ Master Brooks is referring to is my best friend’s wife. Sex with her isn't an option anymore," Jeremy defended. "I forward the motion to remove the sharing of wives law."
Another man stood up, "I second the motion." He met Marshall's eyes, then those of the man seated to his right. "My daughter has never married, neither has Mark. If they love each other that much, I would like to see them both find their happiness. A happiness I was denied when the woman I truly loved refused to marry me because of the brotherhood." He met Marshall's eyes. "The wife I took was not the one my heart chose."
"This is not what we decided on!" Brooks thundered, making the room dissolve into silence. "We cannot punish Master Rafal for his deception; he has already forfeited his business to be with the woman he loved. However, Master Blake was aware of their deception and never brought it to our attention when something could have been done. We agreed the punishment would be the surrender of Blake industries and all the companies thereunder."
Silence filled the room. Darius cursed.
"That's everything," I muttered. They would take everything that was my father and destroy him, and at the same time seize control of Lynwood.
Darius put his mouth to my ear and whispered. "They've gone for the absolute worst. Whatever they are truly after must be bad."
"When did you know?" The man closest to my father asked. He was the oldest, I could see that when he met Marshall's eyes. "That they were still married?"
Marshall rolled his shoulders. "The television interview," he answered quietly. "I thought the annulment had gone through, that their occasional fling was that of two single people. Even when Darius surrendered Lynwood to me, admitting he couldn't let Mora go, that he wanted to be with the woman he loved and his children, I thought they would remarry if she took him back."
The man looked up the table. "Master Green, did you know?"
"No, Master Pprile, I did not," Jeremy admitted. "Not until the interview."
"Did you know they were still lovers?" Master Pprile inquired.
Jeremy cleared his throat. "I knew that on occasion, when they ended up in the same place, that they would use each other to vent their hate for what happened between them. I only know of this happening twice."
"Do you believe it was pre-arranged?" The elderly brother continued.
Jeremy shook his head. "I know it wasn't. The first time, Mora was working for me. She was starting something with another man and very angry when Darius entered the vicinity. He couldn't resist her, or her him."
"The second time?"
"Mora was at the recording studio working. Darius came to the studio to lodge a complaint about the woman handling his business there. I believe Darius saw Mora and took his frustrations out on her." Jeremy swallowed. "At least that's how it appeared when I walked in on them."
The elderly man nodded his head. "So, Master Brooks, it would appear you were aware of Mrs. Rafal's secret before any brother in this room." Brooks’s mouth dropped open. "And, by what Mrs. Rafal confessed earlier, you tried to use that information to force a brother’s wife..."
"Pregnant wife," I interjected. "I was six months pregnant at the time."
Master Pprile nodded. "A brother’s heavily pregnant wife into a relationship with you. I believe you are the deceptive one at this table. I have watched you spend the last two years trying everything to force Master Blake to hand his daughter over to you, to destroy those who she turned to in need. I believe, Doctor Brooks, that you are obsessed with Master Blake's daughter and would destroy the honor of this brotherhood, manipulate our rules and principles to your gain. I question your integrity and your membership."
"What?" Brooks muttered.
"I call on Master Sieman to announce the decision of the brotherhood." The elderly man sat back.
The man at the end of the table stood. "Master Brooks, you are herein stripped of your membership of this brotherhood. You have no second to take your place, as you have never volunteered for mentorship. Your assets, gained by your membership, shall be repaid. Master Fin, could you number his loss please?"
Another man stood, opening a ledger and tabbing through to a page. "To date, you are indebted to the brotherhood for a total of fifteen million, two-hundred and ninety-thousand pounds." The man looked at another page. "Your total assets at the last assessment were in excess of thirty million. Would you like to nominate the assets you will forfeit, or should I pick according to the item values that will satisfy the debt?"
Brooks looked ready to vomit. That, or turn into a Hulk and smash everything, especially me. "If you will grant me twenty-four hours, I will draw up a list of forfeiture."
Everyone looked to the old master. He nodded. "Agreed. You may take your leave." Master Fin shut his books and sat back.
Everyone sat quietly while Doctor Lennon Brooks took his exit.
"Master Blake, would
you resume your seat please? Master Rafal, Mrs. Rafal, a pleasure to see you again. May your years together be full of happiness," Master Sieman dismissed us.
Darius stood, keeping hold of my hand. Marshall kissed my cheek, "I'll see you at the hotel. Don't leave before I get to see you, please?"
I kissed him back and nodded. Marshall walked to the other end, taking the empty seat next to Jeremy.
"Mrs. Rafal?" Master Pprile called me closer. I let go of Darius's hand and moved towards him. He handed me my diary back. "I have no idea how you found me, Mrs. Rafal, although I could take a guess," he murmured, his eyes flicking to Jeremy. "I must say, Dr. Brooks greatly underestimated your strength or your ability to put into words the events of your life. I would suggest you publish this as I'm sure you could be a great author, but, to save your children the pain of your childhood or your broken heart, and to save your father blushing, I recommend you burn it, or hide it very well," he whispered, making sure no one could hear what was said.
I nodded, "Thank you." I bowed my head a little, taking my diary back and tucking it in my purse.
I went to Darius, taking his hand and snuggling into him as we walked out.
"Master Sieman, the vote please?" Master Pprile husked out as the door closed behind us.
Darius waited until we were in the elevator. "What did he give you?"
"My diary."
"You have a diary?"
"Since I was fourteen," I acknowledged. "I sent it to Master Pprile last week, when you told me about the meeting."
"How did you know about him?" Darius asked.
"Cass. I asked her who the most influential member of the brotherhood was that I didn't already know. Before you ask, that's also how I got his address. Cass has a terrible habit of knowing Jeremy's PIN to his phone."
Darius smirked. "I'll warn him to get a burner if he ever takes a mistress." Darius encircled me in the elevator, and, while kissing me, retrieved my diary from my bag. Holding me to his chest, he lifted it behind my head and opened it.
