Page 172 of My Dark Prince
Ollie vB:Where’s my fiancée?
Dallas Costa:I ate her. Sorry. :/
Ollie vB:Jokes aren’t supposed to be so realistic.
Dallas Costa:She left my place half an hour ago. Is she okay?
Ollie vB:I’m sure it’s nothing.
I switched over to the security app, sliding the timer back thirty minutes. Normally, I didn’t bother to use it, mostly because I wouldn’t put it past my brother to leave me nasty footage doing god-knows-what out by the lake.
The outdoor cameras confirmed that she’d certainly entered the home, but I’d searched everywhere. So, unless she jumped through one of the windows – unlikely, it was a tall fucking house – she had to still be here.
Butwhere?
My blood ran cold, freezing into icicles in my veins.
No.
No fucking way.
She wouldn’t.
But of course, she would. She wasn’t Briar Rose. She was Briar. And Briar was nothing like the girl I once left behind. She wielded a wild rebellious streak and didn’t take kindly to people telling her what to do.
I rushed to the first baby gate of the south wing, my heart in my goddamn throat. The violent pitter-patter would lead to a heart attack if I didn’t stop to take a breath. This shouldn’t have scared me. Seb wouldn’t hurt her. He knew I’d destroy him if he did.
Still, my knees fucking trembled as I hurled my way to the second baby gate as if my ass was on fire. I nearly ripped itout of the wall on my quest to open it. I stalked deeper into Sebastian’s wing, just short of the bend into his living room.
Then, I heard it.
Laughter.
Not just any laughter.
Sebastian’s laughter.
A sound so rare, so beautiful, so fucking foreign to my own ears at this point, my kneejerk reaction was to think I’d imagined it.
I stopped mid-step, panting hard, swallowing my breaths in a bid to listen.
“… I would literally cheat on my diet for it,” Briar teased, sending Sebastian into another spiral of laughter.
“Is that before or after you overdose on Brigadeiro?”
“Neither.” Briar sighed. “I cannot cheat on something that’s not in existence. Diets are the enemy of humanity. I will always choose carbs. They are my one true love.”
I almost gulped on spit, torn between collapsing into soaring, out-of-control happiness at them having fun together and soaring, out-of-control jealousy at a fucking food group. Briar’s carb addiction aside, Sebastian was having fun.
For the first time.
In fifteen years.
Actually, maybe not the first time. For all I knew, this could’ve started the day she’d entered my home. Judging by their chemistry, this couldn’t be their first meeting. How could I be so blind to it? They must’ve been sneaky. Kept it from me on purpose.
Seb’s idea, no doubt. He probably thought I’d haul him off to a 180-day world-wide cruise, and he’d be right. I was already making a mental note to call everyone. The therapist, the doctors, the travel agency. Holy shit. HOLY SHIT.
My brother might live again.
